MIKE COOPER, PRASOON JOSHI & ARMIN JOCHUM - FIRST JURY PRESIDENTS ANNOUNCED FOR DUBAI LYNX 2011

The first three of four jury presidents are announced for the Dubai International Advertising Festival, the leading creative advertising and communication awards for the Middle East and North Africa.

The very talented and multi award winner Prasoon Joshi, Executive Chairman & Regional Executive Creative Director APAC McCann Erickson, will head the Film, Print, Outdoor and Radio Jury. Under his leadership McCann Erickson India has transformed into a veritable creative powerhouse and has been acknowledged as one of the most respected and admired agencies in India. Prasoon has won more than 400 national and international advertising awards and has chaired the Outdoor Cannes Lions jury in 2008 and served on the Titanium and Integrated jury at Cannes in 2009. Prasoon has been named a ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum, joining leading public figures and intellectuals under the age of 40 who have been selected to collectively shape the world’s future. He was recently appointed Chairman of McCann Worldgroup Creative Leadership Council.

“I am honored to be part of Dubai International Advertising Festival. The creative tradition from this part of our world has always fascinated me especially when I came to know that in ancient times there were instances of disputes settled through use of poetry, whilst laying arms aside. I am keen to see and gain a finer understanding of the distinctive cultural codes that are bound to reflect in the work. Regional shows like Dubai Lynx are extremely important as they bring to light and celebrate work whose unique texture sometimes remains unrecognised internationally. Encouragement and appreciation is an important part of a creative fraternity’s need and the Dubai International Advertising Festival has provided a stellar platform for this. The team of Dubai Lynx is responsible for bringing in international standards of excellence to this festival in all aspects and I look forward to a creatively stimulating and enriching experience,” said Prasoon.

The Direct, Sales Promotion & Activation and Interactive Jury will be chaired by the Chief Creative Officer of Jung von Matt, Armin Jochum. He is responsible for driving creative excellence across all Jung von Matt agencies culminating in them being honoured with Independent Agency of the Year at Cannes Lions 2010.

Working on prestigious accounts over the last 20 years, such as Porsche, MTV and Mercedes-Benz, his work has been honoured at Cannes Lions, Clio, One show, D&AD and ADC to name but a few. Armin has also chaired the 2008 Cannes Lions Promo and Activation jury and is member of the German Art Directors Club and D&AD. With his track record of hundreds of awards he is one of Europe’s most awarded Creatives.

Commenting on his role, Armin said, “It is a powerful region with gifted, upcoming creative talents. I am really proud to be able to share fresh and ambitious masterpieces of today’s communication with the jury.”

Mike Cooper, Worldwide Chief Executive Officer of PHD, in charge of over 70 offices and over 2,500 staff around the globe, will lead the Media jury. PHD is one of the world’s fastest growing and most awarded media agencies known for pioneering work in the areas of content and planning.

PHD works with prestigious international clients such as Elizabeth Arden, Kraft/Cadbury, HBO, Hewlett Packard, Canon and Porsche. In early 2010, PHD was awarded the Unilever business in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as the digital account in India. PHD was voted Media Magazine’s Agency of the Year in Asia at the end of 2009, the UK office was awarded runner-up Media Agency of the Year by both Campaign and Marketing and in the USA PHD won Adweek’s Media Plan of the Year. Mike is co-author of PHD’s thought-leader book: 2014, PHD On The Future Of The Media Agency.

Mike commented, “I am extremely excited to be the jury President at the Dubai Lynx in 2011. The Middle East and North Africa are at a pivotal stage of development as a major advertising and creative force so the timing is perfect”

“It’s an honour to have such highly regarded authorities as Prasoon, Armin and Mike guiding the judging procedure to ensure that all the work is evaluated fairly. We look forward to welcoming them and working with them at the Dubai International Advertising Festival where their role as jury presidents will ultimately help the creative development of the industry in the region,” said Terry Savage, Chairman of Cannes Lions who with Motivate Publishing are joint organisers of the event.

The inaugural jury chair for the new Design competition will be announced shortly. All entries being judged can be viewed during the festival to be held at the Madinat Jumeirah, in Dubai 27 to 29 March; the Dubai Lynx Awards, where the winners will be revealed, will be held on 30 March.

For further information about the 2011 Dubai International Festival, please go to www.dubailynx.com.

For further information about the 2011 Dubai International Festival, please go to www.dubailynx.com.

Text of Opening Speech at Cannes Lions Rewind, 9 September 2010

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Cannes Lions theme for this year is “Connections Made Easy”. This is so apt as indeed the festival this year has been a time when industry professionals from around the world made connections for learning, connections for business and connections for friendship.

With an impressive 35% increase in attendance and 7% increase in entries, the industry once again proved that recession or no recession, creativity is unstoppable. As you will soon see from the two film categories that we’re going to review tonight, creativity is alive and strong. Our colleagues around the world produced mind blowing works, some of which were supported by very low budgets.

My hope is that by the time we shall leave here, we would have been sufficiently inspired to work together as agency and client to achieve extraordinary results.

Right at the core of our hearts as representatives of the festival in Nigeria are two events, the Young Lions Competition and Roger Hatchuel Academy. We are particularly interested in these programmes because we know that our creative future lies in developing tomorrow’s workforce. So far we have had 12 young professionals participate in the Young Lions Competition in Cannes. We are grateful to their employers namely, DDB Lagos, MediaReach OMD and TBWA/CONCEPT who have acted as our partners in this vision.

In this light also, we can not thank APCON enough for supporting the Roger Hatchuel Academy and sponsoring Nigeria’s delegate to Cannes. It is important to add that Nigeria’s delegate was the only African in a class of 34 students from around the world. I recall the young man telling me recently that he found himself carrying the burden of Africa! This year 2 student of the University of Lagos has also been selected by Draft FCB, sponsors of the Roger Hatchuel Academy in Cannes, for internship in one of any 3 countries of his choice in which Draft FCB has an office. Imagine the level at which he will engage the industry on graduation from school.

I welcome all of us tonight, to support the future of the industry by supporting the Young Lions Competition and the Roger Hatchuel Academy.

As for the numerous arguments about whether Nigeria can or cannot win a Lion, that is a story for another day. But suffice it to say that Cannes is where true creativity is rewarded. And true creativity can neither be masked by colour, culture nor language. And yes, nations, agencies and networks battle for rank on the awards table, but beyond these competitions, Cannes is a place for learning, a place for networking and making connections with your aspirations.

Due to time constraints, we can only show you materials from Film and Film Craft categories tonight. But the other ten categories: Media, Direct Marketing, PR, Outdoor, Design, Print, Radio, Promo and Activation, Titanium and Integrated, as well as their support audio-visual documentaries are available in the Official Cannes Lions Winners DVDs.

As they say in Cannes, Merci d'être venus. Please enjoy the show and I look forward to seeing you in Cannes in June 2011.

Cannes Lions Commend Chris Doghudje

The outgoing chairman of APCON, Mr. Chris Doghudje has been commended by the organizers of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival for his role in promoting creativity in Nigeria by encouraging agencies to produce high quality work that can be entered for Cannes and sending students to participate in the global competitions that take place in Cannes.

The presentation was made at Cannes Lions Rewind - which took place in Planet One, Maryland, Lagos on the 9^th of September 2010 - by the Cannes Lions Representative in Nigeria, Nnamdi Ndu and Jean-Pierre Bey of the French Embassy in Nigeria, who was represented by Mohammed Musulumi. The Chairman of Cannes Lions, Terry Savage, in a letter which was read during the presentation stated that Chris Doghudje has demonstrated “vision that one day Nigeria will be standing on stage collecting a Lion and for that vision and creative commitment we would tonight like to recognize and thank Chris Doghudje.”

The Cannes Lions Rewind is an annual event organized by Chini Productions, the official Cannes Lions representatives in Nigeria to promote the festival locally. According to the Managing Director, Nnamdi Ndu, the event this year recorded an increase in attendance of over 40% compared to 2009 which shows that interest in Cannes Lions is growing.

More importantly, is the fact that more clients are attending. This is a mirror of what is happening at the global stage in Cannes. We recorded more attendees from Guinness Nigeria this year than from any other single organization. When clients begin to embrace this level of creativity, it’s a strong indication that the hour of change has come.

The financial sector was not left out with participants coming from Oceanic Bank and some insurance companies. Unlike in previous years when it was an all ad agency affair, the media independents were also strongly represented by delegates from mediaReach OMD and Capital Media. It is hoped that subsequently, PR agencies will make their presence felt as Cannes Lions is not just about adverting but covers all aspects of Marketing Communications.

The event was anchored by Clara Okoro of Brandworld Media, who has consistently attended the Festival in Cannes for over 3 years. The Film Craft Category Winners Reel was presented by Tolu Ajayi, Associate Director Broadcast Production at SO&U Saatchi & Saatchi, while the Film Category Winners Reel was presented by Lanre Adisa, Managing Director Noah’s Ark.

The Nigerian participants at the Young Lions Competition from DDB and mediaReach OMD as well as the Roger Hatchuel Academy delegate from the University of Lagos were also in attendance to share their Cannes experience.

Cannes Lions Rewind 2010 for September 9 in Lagos

The official festival representatives of Cannes Lions in Nigeria, Chini Productions, have announced that “Cannes Lions Rewind 2010” will hold on September 9^th in Lagos at Planet One, Maryland by 4:00pm.

Since 2007, Chini Productions have been organizing this event annually in Nigeria. The aim of the event is to review, be challenged and inspired by the winning works from the Cannes Lions Festival that held in June. The event creates an opportunity to relive the exciting moments of the Festival especially as it affects Nigeria’s participation and follow the progress of our young professionals in the Young Lions Competition. Till date, Chini Productions have facilitated the trip to France for 12 young Nigerian professionals under the Young Lions programme as well as 3 students in Nigerian universities under the Roger Hatchuel Academy programme to experience world-class advertising.

It is hoped that very soon Nigeria will begin to win medals, awards and Lions in Cannes, so that this event will also serve as the platform for handing out the trophies, medals and certificates as only a few are presented in Cannes, the rest are usually dispatched to the various countries of the winners to be handled by their national representative.

This year’s event is also enjoying the full support of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), who have made a remarkable contribution in helping to promote creativity in Nigerian advertising by challenging advertisers and agencies to identify with world class advertising, sponsoring entries from LAIF Grand Prix winners to Cannes and also sponsoring a Nigerian student, Emmanuel Eferobor of the Mass Communication Department, University of Lagos to represent Nigeria at the Roger Hatchuel Academy in Cannes.

Chini Productions are particularly thankful to APCON for being so supportive of the usually very unconventional ideas. Chini have adopted a 3 tier approach to the goal of helping agencies and advertisers achieve world class standards. The first is training, which comes in the form of workshops and seminars, the second is by providing inspiring materials like the Lürzer’s Archive or the Cannes Lions Winners Reel and the third is the celebration of creativity and great ideas. The Cannes Lions Rewind is an example of an activity in this 3^rd tier.

First Day of Awards 2010 - Promo & Activation, PR & Direct Lions

The first of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival winners were honoured last night at the first of four Awards Ceremonies taking place during the Festival week.

Both the Promo & Activation Grand Prix and the PR Grand Prix went toTBWA\CHIAT\DAY LA in the USA, with assistance from Paragon Marketing Group and Fleishman-Hillard, for their entry ‘Replay’ to promote the energy drink Gatorade.

Of the 1,595 entries submitted in the Promo & Activation category, a 43% increase versus last year, 150 were shortlisted from which 55 were selected as winners by the international jury led by Tina Manikas, Global Retail & Promotions Officer of Draftfcb. Along with the Grand Prix a further 8 Gold, 20 Silver and 26 Bronze Lions were also awarded.

In its second year the PR category received 571 entries, up 32% from last year. Due to the high increase in entries, the jury decided that it was necessary to award Gold and Silver Lions, rather than only PR Lions, which is normal for a new category. The PR jury, chaired by Paul Taaffe, Global Chairman and CEO of Hill & Knowlton, awarded 11 Gold Lions and 32 Silver Lions from an initial shortlist of 87.

Of the 1,441 entries submitted in the Direct Lions category, 164 went on to make the shortlist of which 19 Gold, 24 Silver and 31 Bronze Lions were awarded. Special Group Auckland in New Zealand won the Grand Prix for their entry ‘Orcon + Iggy Pop’ for Orcon Broadband. The Direct Lions Jury of 30 members was chaired by Pablo Alzugaray, Chief Executive Officer of Shackleton.

The prestigious Direct Agency of the Year award was won by Abbott Mead Vickers, BBDO, London, UK.

All the Promo & Activation, PR and Direct Lions winners along with their credits can be viewed online at www.canneslions.com/work .

Since the Festival opened on Sunday, delegates have enjoyed presentations by key industry leaders including, JWT’s Bob Jeffrey, Fernando Vega Olmos and Guy Murphy who offered an inside peek at how three pioneering initiatives have impacted the industry; Ogilvy’s Vice Chairman, Rory Sutherland introduced three of the most persuasive salespeople from their World’s Greatest Salesperson competition with the audience deciding the winner via real-time voting and Electronic Arts examined how interactive entertainment is evolving as a game-changing medium.

The 57th Annual Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the largest and most coveted awards in the industry’s calendar is currently taking place in France, attended by 8,000 industry peers.

Lions League Radio Workshop Holds in Lagos May 31

Chini Productions, official representatives of Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in Nigeria have announced May 31 as the date for the 2010 radio workshop in the Lions League series. The workshop titled “Creating Radio in a Plasma Screen World” will take place in Lagos. The workshop will be conducted by Tony Hertz, an internationally acclaimed radio writer, director and teacher. Tony Hertz is known for his passion for radio. He is Cannes Lions Radio Jury member 2005 and 2010. He also conducted workshops at Cannes in 2006 and 2007 and Eurobest in 2008. The acclaimed radio guru was the Jury President of Golden Drum in 2004 as well as the Radio Jury President for AdFest (Asia-Pacific) in 2007. Among his numerous accolades are the D&AD Radio Gold and Silver.

”Creating Radio in a Plasma Screen World” is designed to show agencies and advertisers how to use their visual orientation in a sound medium because advertising has become almost 100% visual, and the age-old dictum, Make Pictures in Sound simply doesn’t mean much.

The Workshop is a full, interactive 2-day programme. The first day is on 31st May 2010 followed by a break on the second day to enable participants prepare materials for the production day which is on the 2^nd of June. In-between the two workshop days, Tony Hertz plans to have a lecture specially designed for clients. The goal of the lecture is to impart knowledge that will improve working relationship between agency and client personnel in the process of creating radio commercials.

The workshop covers three interlocking elements - Creating Radio, Communicating (Selling Radio Ideas) as well as Producing and Directing. Creating Radio includes topics like: “The Secret to finding radio ideas”, “Adapting TV/Print/Outdoor Concept” and “Writing believable dialogue”. In Communicating Radio Hertz will discuss The Secret Killer of radio ideas”, “Different and effective ways to present radio”, “How to help scripts survive the client corridors” and “Making sure everyone’s buying the same commercial”.

In Producing and Directing, participants will learn how to choose the best voice actors, how to avoid the usual suspect voices and how to find talent and carry out effective auditions, the 7 secrets of directing actors, how to direct children and how to work with sound engineers in the studio and also how to use sound and music to great advantage.

The participants will have hands on session in groups of about 3 – 5 where they will be given briefs to tackle. According to Tony Hertz, “the workshop is ideal for mixed disciplines and creative, account, clients work amazingly well together.”

Lions League is a series of events, workshops, seminars and publications initiated by Chini Productions as a vehicle for leveraging on the partnership with Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival to promote skill development in the Nigerian Advertising and Marketing Communications industry.

BURSARIES FOR THE CANNES CREATIVE LEADERS PROGRAMME AWARDED TO LATVIA, NIGERIA & VIETNAM

The three Cannes Creative Leaders Programme bursaries, awarded to professionals working in the industry based in one of the 151 countries that have never previously won a Cannes Gold Lion, have been granted to:

Vairis Strazds, Creative Director of DDB in Riga, Latvia; Akinpelu Adesola, Managing Director and Chief Creative Officer of The Newton Project Room Ltd in Lagos, Nigeria; and David Smail, Executive Creative Director, BBDO in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Selected from more than 50 applicants, Vairis Strazds, Akinpelu Adesola and David Smail will enjoy a complimentary place on the Cannes Creative Leaders Programme joining fellow participants on the two-week module taking place in Berlin and Cannes in June 2010. During the first week, participants will be based at the Berlin School, one of the world's leading creative training institutions, which has built a global reputation with its innovative Executive MBA programme to help creative industry executives lead for excellence in their organisations. There they will engage in six days of intensive training from the Berlin School's professors after which they will relocate to Cannes during the Festival week, where the course continues with bespoke sessions, group projects, speeches and lectures as well as the use of Cannes Lions' incredible array of workshops, master-classes and seminars. All facilities of the full week in Cannes will be available to the participants, including all Festival content, exhibitions, screenings, award shows and galas.

“We had a phenomenal response to the bursaries, so the selection process wasn’t easy, but we believe that the successful three candidates were the most deserving,” said Philip Thomas, Festival CEO. “They will benefit from the unique and fantastic opportunity that the Cannes Creative Leaders Programme offers to anybody in the industry who wish to perfect their creative leadership strategy skills to produce creative excellence,” he continued.

Clark Parsons, Managing Director of Berlin School of Creative Leadership, commented, “As we move ever further into the digital age, the means of communicating, associating, buying and selling are clearly shifting. In establishing the Cannes Creative Leadership Programme, Cannes Lions and the Berlin School of Creative Leadership aim to help participants to become even more effective leaders at shaping the future for the industry, their organisation and themselves.”

There are a few spaces left for the Cannes Creatives Leaders Programme which costs €7950, and includes all tuition fees over the two weeks, a Cannes Lions full week delegate registration and lunches. Flights, accommodation, incidentals and other meals are not included. Class size is planned at circa 30 places.

For more information click on http://www.canneslions.com/festival/creative_leaders_programme.cfm
Interested parties need to apply to cannesleaders@berlin-school.com. A brief written submission will be required.

Winners emerge for Nigeria Young Lions, Roger Hatchuel Academy

The Young Lions Competition which began on Wednesday, 7th of April was concluded on Saturday, 10th of April 2010 with teams from the following ad agencies and media independents emerging as winners in the various categories. The team of Plumptre Yanju and Okonkwo Jideobi Christopher of DDB Lagos emerged as winners in the Cyber category. MediaReach OMD’s Ufelle Ogechukwu Joy and Okeleke Isioma became winners in the Media category. The film category was won by TBWA\Concept’s team of Okeke Nnenna and Ndubuisi, while141 Worldwide’s team of Olabode Ojomo and Chris Ogunlowo clinched the Print category. All the winners will represent Nigeria in their various categories during the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in June. DDB Lagos is producing a team to represent Nigeria in the competition for the 3rd consecutive year, while MediaReach is presenting teams for the second time. TBWA/Concept and 141 Worldwide are winning the ticket to send teams to represent Nigeria in the prestigious Cannes Lions Festival for the first time.

The various teams tackled briefs presented by Hope Worldwide Nigeria to develop communication strategies and concepts to drive their intervention services to Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in various Nigerian communities. The verdict for the Media Competition was presented by Jayne Okonkwo, General Manager, Media Integra, while Tunde Ojo, Managing Director, Touchstone Advertising, presented the verdict for the creative categories.

In a similar development, Emmanuel Otega Eferobor of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos won the contest in the Roger Hatchuel Academy Category. He will now represent Nigeria in the high profile Roger Hatchuel Academy class organized for international students during the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. With this winning he will get an all-expense paid trip to Cannes, France for the event as well as $500 pocket money courtesy of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON). The Advertising and PR Department of the Lagos State University produced the first runner-up, Odeyemi Abisola Alaba and the second runner-up came from the Department of Mass Communication, Novena University. However, all the participants received consolation prizes courtesy of the organizers, Chini Productions, the official representatives of Cannes Lions in Nigeria. The Mass Communication Department of the University of Lagos is producing a winner in this event for the second time.

Before the quiz segment of the programme that produced the winner, the participants who came from universities across the country, received seminars presented by various advertising professionals. Nnamdi Ndu, Cannes Lions Representative, gave an overview of the Cannes Lions Festival and Roger Hatchuel Academy, Akpo Daniyan, Communication Manager at Etisalat and author of I Have an Idea spoke on Client/Agency Relationship, Uche Nworah, a brand scholar and Outdoor Communication Manager of Globacom gave a lecture titled Between School And Practice In Nigerian Advertising and the Functions Of Various Departments In An Ad Agency. Other speakers at the programme were Joe Onuorah, Head of Education at APCON whose seminar topic was: An Introduction to APCON, Functions and Processes. Paul Ugoagwu, Creative Consultant and former Creative Director STB McCann delivered a seminar titled: What does it take to work in the Creative Department? Qualities of a Copywriter, Art Director and Creative Director. To round up the seminar presentation was a dramatic presentation by Colin Morris, Executive Creative Director LTC/JWT on New Media and the Social Networks. The programme ended with the presentation of certificates to participants and prizes to the winners.

It’s a positive sign that more companies are sending teams to Cannes this year and I hope they will come back with medals. But beyond winning, the experience that they’re about to have will literally transform their lives, they will gain such insights and learning about advertising that nothing else can give them and above all, especially now that our image has been so dented, these nine young men and women for one week in the full glare of the world media will be painting a different picture of the Nigerian youth.

Young Lions Competition in Nigeria Kicks Off

Young Lions Competition in Nigeria started Wednesday 7th of April 2010 with a briefing session by the client, HOPE Worldwide, to intimate participants on the tasks that lay ahead of them. In the yearly tradition of the Young Lions Competition, Hope Worldwide was named as the charity of the year. The organization, whose identity remained secret until the briefing session, was represented at the event by Mr. Steve Emeh, Head of Communications and Public Affairs and Mr. Ola Ayemona, Logistics Officer. Also present at the session were several journalist from various media houses in Nigeria.

Mr. Emeh told the competitors that “HOPE worldwide Nigeria is an International non-governmental and not-for-profit charity that is part of the HOPE worldwide global network presently in over seventy nations and two hundred cities. He said that HOPE Worldwide provides holistic intervention services to Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in various Nigerian communities.”

He went on to describe the tripartite strategy which brings together the community, funding agency or organization and HOPE worldwide Nigeria and emphasized the need to retain Orphan and Vulnerable Children within their immediate environment and with a care giver. He said that this strategy has been applauded globally as ‘best practice’ and has helped in no small measure in helping the Orphan or Vulnerable Child to grow up within a family ambiance, inculcating the necessary communal cultures, practices and traditions.

The participants are expected to come up with media strategy and advertising concepts and materials which will be donated to HOPE Worldwide to enable it achieve its campaign objectives. Agencies represented at the briefing session were DDB Lagos, TBWA\Concept, 141 Worldwide as well as Media Reach OMD and Capital Media. The materials created during the competition will be judged by the creative jury headed by Mr. James McTavish, Executive Creative Director of Insight Communications and media jury headed by Mr. Tolu Ogunkoya, Managing Director of MediaReach OMD on Saturday 10th of April 2010. The winners from each category namely: Media, Film, Cyber and Print will represent Nigeria in the various categories during the 2010 Cannes Lions Festival in June.

Also taking place on the 10th of April is the Lions League Workshop and Seminars, Exhibition and Screening of Winning ads from 2009 Cannes Lions and the Roger Hatchuel Lions Academy which is being organized by Chini Productions, official Cannes Lions representatives in Nigeria in collaboration with the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON). Students from several universities across Nigeria studying advertising related courses are expected to be at the programme. There will be a quiz segment of the programme where the winner will qualify to represent Nigeria at the Roger Hatchuel Academy session holding in France during the 2010 Cannes Lions Festival in June.

APCON to sponsor student to Cannes Academy

Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) has pledged to provide financial assistance to enable the winner of the Nigeria qualifying contest to attend the Cannes Academy also known as the Roger Hatchuel Academy in France. The programme will take place during the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in June. The winner will receive $500 pocket money and will have all travel expenses taken care of courtesy of APCON. APCON has partnered with Roger Hatchuel Academy Nigeria for three consecutive years in the area of moderating the tests and selecting the winner and now it is going further to sponsor the winner to Cannes. It’s an indication of the Council’s unrivalled passion to promote creativity and equip Nigerian youths for international leadership of the industry.

Registration is presently going on for the Nigeria contest which will take place in Lagos between the 6th and 10th of April, 2010. It is open to students from ages 18 to 23 studying advertising, graphic arts, marketing, communications or other courses related to advertising. To register, qualified students should send their full name, date of birth, school, department and phone number to office@chiniproductions.com before March 24, 2010. The Roger Hatchuel Academy is a high profile one-week course in advertising. The programme is made up of seminars, screenings and workshops. It is anchored by some of the leading lights in international advertising. Participants are able to network with their peers from other countries. At the end of the programme, they receive a certificate that is of international value during a graduation ceremony. The programme is designed for students who intend to practise advertising on leaving school.

The Nigeria programme will include sessions where students are taught by senior practitioners from the advertising industry. The reason for this is to ensure that everybody benefits even if they don’t get selected to participate in France. After the short training programme, a test will be administered by the Advertising Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria, APCON, based on the programme content and general knowledge of advertising, to select the best student, who will represent Nigeria at the main Roger Hatchuel Academy in Cannes, France. There will also be consolation prizes for runners up and all participants will receive certificates of participation in Nigeria. In 2009, Opeyemi Adeniran, a student of Mass Communications Department, University of Lagos and Oluwaseyi Ogundoro, a student of the School of Journalism, Lagos State University participated in the Roger Hatchuel Academy in France.

Philip Thomas, Cannes Lions Festival CEO said, “The Academy is one of the Festival’s efforts to reach out to young people at the very beginning of their careers. There is nowhere, and nothing, to compare with the Cannes Lions as a learning experience for people starting out in advertising and communications. I hear it from young people every year: coming to Cannes changed my life”.

Part of the package for 2009 were tutorials by some of the top names in the industry, including Nick Law, chief creative officer, North America, of R/GA; Mary Lee Sjonell, executive creative director of Bongo; Alex Bogusky, co-chairman of Crispin Porter + Bogusky; Laura Jordan Bambach, co-founder of She Says and executive creative director LBi, Dean of the Academy was Rick Boyko, who is a director and professor at Brandcenter. Also present were Michael Conrad, formerly of Leo Burnett, who has also been a dean of the Academy and now president of the Berlin School of Creative Leadership and Academy tutor Clive Challis, head of the advertising course at Central Saint Martins in London. Clive Challis will also be providing the students with a full week of intense training this year.

Cannes Lions official representatives in Nigeria, Chini Productions have announced the opening of entries from February 1, 2009 for the Nigeria qualifying competitions for Young Lions Film Competition, Young Lions Cyber Competition, Young Lions Media Competition, Young Lions Marketers Competition and the Roger Hatchuel Lions Academy also known as Cannes Academy. The winners from each category will represent Nigeria at the international competition in France during the 2010 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival from 20th – 26th June.

To enter for the Roger Hatchuel Lions Academy, applicants should send email to entry@chiniproductions.com including their full name, date of birth, department, school, phone number (preferably GSM), and contact address. The Young Lions Competitions are available to teams who must be sponsored by their organisations. The application must be done on behalf of the teams by their company. However, there is no limit to the number of teams a particular organisation can send. To request for entry forms for the Young Lions Competitions, email should be sent to office@chiniproductions.com specifying the category of Young Lions Competitions. Entries for all the categories will close on March 24, 2010. All participants should have been contacted by March 31, 2010 with details of their participation. The competitions in Nigeria will take place in Lagos between the 6th and 10th of April 2010.
The Young Lions Marketers Competition is a new introduction worldwide. The goal of the Nigeria event is to select a team of two Young Marketers from a client organisation aged 30 years or under (born on or after 26 June 1980) who will represent Nigeria at the international finals in France during the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. The Young Marketers Competition will require each team to have strong knowledge of their organisation’s products and brand objectives. Each team is expected to produce a Brief (maximum two pages) that will be presented to an advertising agency. For the purposes of the competition, the advertising agency will be represented by a select jury of Creatives and Strategists. Each team will also be required to give a maximum of 5 minutes presentation to the jury using Apple’s Keynote software. A maximum of 8 slides will be allowed (title slide optional – must form part of 8 slides). The jury will have a maximum of 5 minutes to ask questions immediately after the presentation.

The Young Lions Cyber Competition provides the opportunity for the new breed of cyber creatives to compete against each other. The internet has added new advertising options for today’s advertisers and the Young Lions Cyber Competition is an ideal opportunity for the best of the world’s young cyber creatives to showcase their talents. A series of training sessions will be handled in Cannes by Apple, Adobe and Getty Images. The brief will be presented by the client who must be a charity or public service organisation, whose identity is kept secret until the briefing begins when their name, objectives, strategies and target audience are revealed by a senior member of the charity. Participants in the Young Lions Cyber Competition must not be more than 28 years.

The Young Lions Media Competition challenges the brightest professional minds to demonstrate their strategic thinking and innovative approaches to solving an important marketing challenge to drive critical business success. Each team, made up of two participants, will be required to develop a media plan from a supplied brief for a charity organization within 24 hours and present in 5 minutes to a media jury, using specified software. In 2009, the team of Theresa Ogah and Dozie Okafor of MediaReach OMD represented Nigeria at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in France.

The Young Lions Film competition seeks to discover the creative geniuses of the future. Teams of two young creatives will receive a brief from a selected charity to produce 30-second commercials filmed completely with a mobile phone and edited within 72 hours. The winning team will represent Nigeria at the international event during Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in June 2010. Participants who must be born on or after June 26, 1982 will undergo an initial training on use of software and accessories. In 2009, DDB presented the team of Abolaji Alausa and Adebola Babatunde to represent Nigeria at this event for the second consecutive year.

The Roger Hatchuel Lions Academy is a high profile one week course in advertising held during the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. It is attended by international students studying advertising, marketing or related fields. The programme is made up of seminars, screenings and workshops. It is anchored by some of the leading lights in international advertising. Participants are able to network with their peers from other countries. At the end of the programme, they receive a certificate during a graduation ceremony that is of international value.

Participants of the Roger Hatchuel Lions Academy should be students of communications or marketing related courses, who have the intention of practicing advertising in future. Since 2009, Chini Productions have been organizing sessions where students are taught by senior practitioners from the advertising industry. The idea is to ensure that everybody benefits even if they don’t get selected to participate in France. After the short training programme, a test will be administered by the Advertising Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria, APCON, based on the programme content and their general knowledge of advertising, to select the best student, who will have the opportunity of representing Nigeria at the main Roger Hatchuel Lions Academy in Cannes, France. All participants will receive a certificate of participation. Participants should be between 18 and 23 years old. In 2009, Chini Productions facilitated the participation of 2 students (Opeyemi Adeniran, Mass Communications Department, University of Lagos and Oluwaseyi Ogundoro, School of Journalism, Lagos State University) in the Roger Hatchuel Lions Academy in France. It was the first time in the history of the academy to have students from sub-Saharan Africa in attendance.

The 2010 Dubai Lynx Awards, the leading creative advertising competition for the Middle East and Africa, will be chaired by three top industry leaders.

Amir Kassaei, Chief Creative Officer of DDB Group Germany will head the TV/Cinema, Print, Outdoor and Radio Jury.

David Nobay, Creative Chairman of Droga5 Australia, will chair the Direct & Sales Promotion and Interactive Jury.

The Media Jury will be led by Barry Cupples, CEO of Omnicom Media Group Asia Pacific.

"Once again, we are delighted to welcome to Dubai Lynx three highly respected international award-winning professionals to guide the juries as they continue to set the standard and ultimately raise the creative bar in the Middle East and Africa," said Philip Thomas, CEO of Cannes Lions, organiser of Dubai Lynx.

Amir Kassaei has been Creative Director and Managing Partner of the DDB Group in Germany since 2003, an agency that he has catapulted out of nowhere within the space of two short years, transforming it into one of Germany’s most creative shops.
He is one of the most highly-decorated creatives in the world, having won over 1600 national and international awards and has served on the most noted award shows around the globe. According to the Big Won Report (2007, 2008 and 2009), he is one of the three best chief creative officers in the world.

"I am honoured and proud to be this year’s TV/Cinema, Print, Outdoor and Radio Jury President. On the one hand because the Middle East will be the emerging region concerning communication, on the other hand it is like a journey home as I was born in Iran," said Amir on his appointment.
David Nobay is ranked in Archive Magazine’s Top Ten most published copywriters of the last millennium as well as being named as Australia’s most awarded creative director by Campaign Brief Magazine in 2008. In January of the same year, he was invited by David Droga to launch Droga5 Australia, the New York-based agency’s first foray into an international network.
During his career, David has been recognised by D&AD, Art Directors Club, New York Festivals, London Festivals, the Clio Awards, Cannes Lions and The One Show for a myriad of international clients, including Toyota, Lexus, Lion Nathan, Milk, the New York Times, Sony, Fox Sports, Intel and Datek Online. Under his leadership, Droga5 Sydney has just been named Agency of the Year in Australia by B&T magazine.

"Of course, I'm honoured to be leading the Direct & Sales Promotion and Interactive juries, but even more so, I’m genuinely intrigued: the categories are, in my opinion, where the most ambitious creativity is happening and geographically this is a region I've never worked in so I'm fascinated to see what will be revealed," commented David.
As CEO of Omnicom Media Group’s (OMG) Asia Pacific region since October 2007, Barry Cupples oversees media operations in 26 offices, spanning 13 countries.
Barry moved to OMG in 2006, serving both the media communications company OMD and the newly-launched media services company PHD. Under Barry’s leadership, OMD won significantly more awards on behalf of clients than any other regional competitor and, for the fourth time, was named Media Magazine's Media Agency of the Year in 2008.

"I am very honoured to have been asked to take part in such a prestigious event and I take the responsibility seriously to ensure that the best work gets the recognition it will surely deserve. Great work is no respecter of borders and I am really excited at the prospect of seeing this year’s entries and the solutions to business challenges that they will represent," said Barry.

"The world we live in has changed so much in the last 12 months and that seismic change is matched by the Communications industry where media platforms driven by technology and content and fed by a socially-aware consumer are evolving at a pace that is both inspirational and exciting for the future," he continued.

Entries can now be submitted online in the categories of TV/Cinema, Outdoor, Print, Radio, Interactive, Direct & Sales Promotion, Media, Integrated and, new for 2010, Craft. To submit entries or register to attend the Dubai International Festival, please go to http://www.dubailynx.com/.