From left: Managing Director Chrishani Kotalawela, Art Director Sahil Gunasekera, Creative Group Head Kaushalya Kathireson and Director Sujeewa Samarasekera

Two creative stars from SHIFT, an integrated brand agency championing ‘Future Forward Brand Building’, have been selected as the winners in the Young Lions local competition in the Film category and will head to France where they will take part in the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity from June 17 to 24, 2017. 
Thirteen young marketing communications professionals in total will represent the county at the festival. A local competition to select the winners was recently organised by Metal Factor in collaboration with the International Advertising Association (IAA), Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies (4As) and Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM). 
Creative Group Head Kaushalya Kathireson and Art Director Sahil Gunasekere were placed first in the Film category by an eminent jury after a strict scrutiny in the Film category. 
“The Cannes Lions is the leading celebration of creativity in communication and recognizes the best creative work around the globe. I am extremely proud of these two young individuals who have been selected to represent Sri Lanka at the 64th edition of this event. We, as an agency, believe marketing in the Age of Now is not only about sharp strategy and great creative but also about engaging the right audience at the right time with the right message. Understanding this dynamic is what frames our ‘Future Forward’ thinking,” said Chief Executive Officer Sujeewa Samarasekera. 
This is the second time SHIFT has marked a milestone with the win this year. Last year’s local competition saw Senior Interactive Designer Sameera Ratnayake and Manager Social Media Ryan Rebeira winning in the Cyber category.  SHIFT boasts of having some of the youngest and brightest team of thinkers who work on diverse portfolio of brands to deliver memorable and effective work across the marketing mix. 
“We believe in building brands keeping people, product and purpose at the core of our planning process leading to work that works for our client brands. We encourage a strong learning culture within the agency to keep our key asset, our people focused and inspired. I’m delighted to see two of our young team members winning this great opportunity to bring something back to the company and the industry,” said Managing Director Chrishani Kotalawela.  SHIFT, the parent company is owned and managed by these two veterans from the marketing communications industry ably supported by a young, energetic team to serve multitude of brands across categories within Sri Lanka and beyond. 
In addition to total creative services across platforms, SHIFT serves its clients with a strategic media planning and buying solution as well as events and activations making it a fully integrated agency.