SLIM picks team for Cannes Festival 2013

Two young marketers, Lakshitha Wijesinghe and Hiruni Mendis of Etisalat Lanka, are the lucky winners of the SLIM Young Lions Marketer Competition and will represent Sri Lanka at the Cannes Advertising Festival 2013. This is the second consecutive time that the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) has made a selection for the festival.

SLIM has stepped in to provide a 50% sponsorship for the two young marketers to attend the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2013.”This is yet another example of our commitment towards harnessing young marketing talent and taking them beyond boundaries and across shores,” stated SLIM President Gamika De Silva.

Expressing his appreciation to the 4As and IAA for cooperating with SLIM in the event, Project Chairman Shohan Chandiram says that the Cannes Festival provides a golden opportunity to the young marketers of Sri Lanka to become the face of Sri Lanka’s marketing fraternity. He added that the response to the competition was most encouraging and the judges had a tough time in doing the final selection.

The applicants were briefed by Elangovan Karthik – AGM, Marketing Citizens Development Business Finance/Assistant Secretary, SLIM and Russell Miranda – Executive Creative Director, Grant McCann Erickson.

Following the briefing session, the teams were asked to tackle a business case study, which they presented to the judges. The panel of judges comprised of Michael Holsinger – CEO, Starcom Worldwide Sri Lanka, Sheron Jayasundera – Chief Operating Officer, Bates Strategic Alliance, Rochelle de Silva – Director, Brands, Hemas Manufacturing and M. Makshoodh – Marketing Manager, Home Care and Pureit, Unilever Sri Lanka.

The Young Lions Marketer Competitions offer a space for national teams of young talent from around the world to compete against each other and showcase their talent. Country representatives will be competing against the most talented creative young professionals from across the world.

The Sri Lankan marketers will also have the opportunity to attend seminars and workshops specially designed for them under the guidance of a leading international professional. In addition to attending the program designed for the marketers, these participants will also have access to many of the programs conducted at festival.