Georgia Gets Gold in Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity
TBILISI - The Leavingstone Advertisement Agency from Tbilisi received its second Bronze Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity following on from the previous year’s success.
At the same time, the representatives of the marketing department of the Bank of Georgia took Gold.
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in the creative communications, advertising and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of worldwide advertising professionals, designers, digital innovators and marketers.
Representatives of Georgia’s creative industries participated in the Festival for the second time and both were successful for the country.
This year, the Leavingstone Agency presented the advertisement of Old Irish beer by Natakhtari Brewery. People in the ad are able to make a virtual journey to Ireland via a special device, in which they see the beautiful Irish scenery, and a bar with Irish beer. The product took third place in the PR Lions section.
Last year the Agency received the same award in the same category.
Representatives of the marketing department of the Bank of Georgia, Ana Markozashvili and Nino Ungiadze, said they had just 24 hours to present a two-page “perfect” brief for one of the UN’s campaigns.
“The brief topic was Climate Change and it was a bit complicated because this theme is unfortunately quite unpopular in Georgia. However, we had an experience of unity of the people during the flood on June 13, 2015, that really helped us. In addition, we stressed the bank’s role and opportunity in all these processes,” said Ungiadze. Their entry won them Gold.
Prior to getting to Cannes, all the participants won local qualifying rounds. Georgia presented its candidates in four sections – Print, Cyber, Design, and Marketing. In the marketing competition, representatives from the Bank of Georgia were named the best among the 17 competitors from around the world.
“This is confirmation of the fact that there are no barriers for young people with a desire and the will to pursue knowledge and experience. Moreover, we now believe in Georgia being able to achieve such great success. This is an example for all young people,” said Murtaz Kikoria, CEO of the Bank of Georgia.
The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Dimitry Kumsishvili, also agreed that this award is a real success for the country.
“This is the first time in the Festival’s 63-year history that the flag of Georgia was raised on the Cannes stage,” he said at a meeting with the winners, adding that it opens new opportunities for young people and presents Georgia from a new creative side.
The 63rd Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity took place on June 18-25 and gathered creative people from around the globe. According to Georgia’s Cannes Lions representatives, this year’s success will allow Georgia to send an even bigger delegation next year.
By Eka Karsaulidze