Ogilvy duo wins Silver in Singapore at prestigious Young Spikes competition
Thursday, 26 September 2013 00:00
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Recognised from among the best in Asia for innovative use of media
Dexter Shadrach and Infas Iqbal of Phoenix O&M Ltd. walked away with Silver at the recently-held Young Spikes Media Competition, once again highlighting the exciting promise and potential of Sri Lanka’s industry talent.
Conducted during the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity which is held annually in Singapore, the competition challenges teams from around the Asia-Pacific region to use their business insight and strategic skills to develop an innovative media strategy and plan.
Commenting on their win, Dexter said: “It was indeed a huge honour to have the opportunity to compete with some of the best young talent in the Asia-Pacific region, and to be recognised from among them and awarded for our ideas is truly gratifying. We are continuously exploring ways in which the evolving media landscape can be effectively utilised, and attending the Spikes Asia 2013 creative festival and competing in the Young Spikes Competition was a great way for us to expand our thinking and receive feedback from some of the most respected individuals in the creative communications industry in the region.”
Locally held individual competitions select each team of two to represent their respective countries at the international Young Spikes Competitions, which is organized with the objective of providing Asia Pacific’s next generation of creative talent the chance to showcase their skills and abilities.
Participating teams are briefed by a non-profit organisation or charity on certain specific media requirements, and then given 24 hours in which to brainstorm, prepare and submit their ideas in the form of a short presentation delivered to a panel of media experts.
Explaining the details of this year’s competition, Infas said, “Our brief was to create awareness and increase the readership of the flagship magazine of the non-profit organisation Humaneity. Based on our insight of their main target audience of CSR leaders, philanthropists and social entrepreneurs, our core idea revolved around an interactive digital magazine which could be downloaded to smart phones, tablets, etc., making the magazine all the more available. This enabled the audience to not only access the magazine whenever convenient, but to also share the same with friends and family; thereby ‘Sharing Humaneity’.”
Senior executives at Ogilvy Media and Neo@Ogilvy respectively, a testament to the capabilities of Dexter and Infas is the way they are able to absorb and learn from their surroundings. The duo explains that the opportunity to experience the seminars and forums by industry experts during the Spikes Asia Creative Festival prior to the competition gave them the perfect opportunity to observe, learn and apply when presenting at the Young Spikes Competition.
Commenting on his team’s achievement, Lalith Sumanasiri, Managing Director of Ogilvy Media and Neo@Ogilvy, a part of Phoenix O&M, said: “I am extremely proud of our team for once again putting Sri Lanka on the map by being recognised for their talent and capabilities. The service we provide to our clients at Ogilvy is based on the same principle with which Dexter and Infas achieved so much success; to come up with the most creative and effective idea which can be implemented across all media.
Going forward, this is the only way to guarantee success in the ever-evolving media environment, and it is very promising when young executives such as our team are awarded for their progressive thinking.” The Young Spikes Competitions are designed to provide the next generation of young creative talent in the Asia Pacific region an opportunity to showcase their abilities.
The competitions are held in conjunctions with the Spikes Asia Festival, which sees the gathering of some of the best creative minds, and provides the burgeoning creative industry in the Asia-Pacific region a forum to network and exchange thoughts and ideas.
