Six young professionals from Sri Lanka’s advertising industry and an under graduate have been selected to represent the country at the annual Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity, which is set to take place in Singapore from 21-23 September 2016. These 3 teams were selected to represent Sri Lanka following the recent Young Spikes Competition which was conducted in Colombo facilitated by Metal Factor in partnership with the industry bodies. These 6 young professionals will now have the opportunity to compete at the regional competition alongside teams from the leading markets in Asia Pacificat the Young Spikes Competitions.

The under graduate from the Moratuwa University was chosen by the organizers, in Singapore after the evaluation of his portfolio. He will have the opportunity to attend the Young Creative Academy, which is an in-depth training programme that is made available to a small selection of students from the region. The three-day programme provides students with the opportunity to attend exclusive seminars and tutorials, where they can learn from top industry professionals and gain valuable international exposure. VikasithaAnumevan from the Moratuwa University was selected to attend this year. 

The three Young Spikes teams from Sri Lanka will compete in the Digital, Integrated and Media categories of the Young Spikes Competition which is being held in Singapore. Sagar Hiranand and Chevin Mandawala from Mullen Lowe emerged as the winners of the Digital competition, Randula de Silva and Natasha Fernando from Neo@Ogilvysecured the opportunity to participate at the Integrated competition and Bratheepa Puvirajasekaram and Himaya Judith Peiris from Media Factory won the Media competition. 

Commenting on the competition, Ranil de Silva, the Sri Lanka Representative for the Spikes Asia Festival said: “This year the Young Spikes competition had the highest participation. It is very fulfilling to know that young professionals from a diverse cross section of agencies came together to compete at the local competitions to be selected to represent the country at the Young Spikes Competition. I would like to congratulate the six outstanding young professionals who won their rightful place to represent Sri Lanka at one of the region’s foremost marketing communications festivals. I hope that they will continue to excel and gain recognition for the country and the Sri Lankan advertising industry. I am also delighted to know that an under graduate from the Moratuwa University will attend the Young Creative Academy. This success is a tribute to the National University and it will prove to be an invaluable experience for him.”

A total of 108 young professionals competed in the local competition and were issued briefs to which they had to respond within 12 hours. The competitors in the Digital category were required to showcase how they could build the brand image and awareness of a food product amongst SEC A and B audiences by using digital channels and tactics. In the Integrated category, competitors were asked to create a national conversation to help take children off the streets of Sri Lanka and in the Media category, competitors had to use strategic media platforms and strategies to encourage Sri Lankans to increase their consumption of eggs in order to help them meet their overall nutritional requirements. 

The Spikes Asia Festival is heralded as one of the region’s oldest and most prestigious events that recognizes the best work in the region across a broad range of categories such as Film, Print, Outdoor, Radio, Digital, Direct, Promo and Activations, Media, Design, Poster, Craft, Integrated, Mobile and PR. This festival is a collaboration between the organizers of the Cannes Lions Festival and Haymarket.The Spikes Asia Festival provides the region’s rapidly growing creative and advertising industry with an opportunity to interact, network, exchange ideas and think creatively. It also provides a platform for showcasing and recognizing the best work and most creative campaigns in the region. The festival also gives the brightest young professionals in the region an opportunity to experience world-class standards of creative excellence and to learn from Asia Pacific’s renowned creative leaders and most progressive thinkers.