As the exclusive Cannes Lions Festival Representative for South Africa, Ster-Kinekor is committed to the nurturing of creativity in brand communication. Screenings of highlights and winning work from Cannes Lions are hosted at select Ster-Kinekor Theatres after each international Festival.
Ster-Kinekor is also responsible for managing the Young Lions competition locally – two young talented creative people are selected every year to compete the Festival in Cannes and represent South Africa in a global version of the competition.
South Africa selects 2 delegates to compete in the film section of the Cannes Young Lions competition each year. A local competition is run whereby a copywriter and art director respond to a brief to create awareness for a CSR initiative.
Good things come in threes, the saying goes. For young creatives, Bernice Puleng Mosala and Raphael Janan Kuppasamy from agency Joe Public Johannesburg, never have truer words been spoken. Having won the Ster-Kinekor Cannes Young Lions competition in 2020, but with travel plans scuppered when Covid cancelled out the Cannes International Festival of Creativity that year, their dream has been answered this year.
This week, their entry into the 2023 Cannes Young Lions – Film Category competition for South Africa, sponsored by Cannes official local representative Ster-Kinekor, was judged the winner. So, this year they will find themselves at the world’s most prestigious celebration of creativity in Cannes, France in June.
“Winning this competition means so much to us. To be honest, we’re still in disbelief. And, after not being able to attend the last in-person event when we won in 2020, this means even more to us,” said the duo. “We have been creative partners since 2019, and we’ve been entering the Cannes Young Lions competition together since 2020, so we’ve really learnt to play on each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
The Young Lions competition gives the next generation of industry creatives the chance to prove themselves under immense pressure, answering a charity brief to produce an advert in just 48 hours, from brief to finished product, with the theme: ‘Teen suicide shouldn’t be a secret’.
Lynne Wylie, Chief Marketing Officer of Ster-Kinekor, says the more than 80 entries received were of a high standard in response to the brief. “We are privileged to represent the Cannes Festival locally and sponsor the Young Lions competition. We partnered with the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) and the theme focused on the prevention of teenage suicide. While this is a sensitive topic, we were so impressed with how the teams tackled the brief. Selecting the final winner from the shortlisted entries proved to be a difficult task for the panel of judges that comprised some esteemed creative minds.
“As it turned out, we are of course delighted that Bernice and Raphael’s entry was the winner, and we can now honour the prize they should have won in 2020, together with this year’s prize!”
The creative teams of two had just 48 hours from brief to film, edit and produce a 30, 45 or 60-second commercial. SADAG wished to convey a message about safely engaging young people in communicating about mental health and suicide, thereby reducing the stigma, normalising mental health check-ins, and talking about mental health and suicide openly and without shame.
The panel of judges comprised Pete Khoury – TBWA; Clare Trafankowska – Dentsu; Krystle Kemp – SADAG; Bruce Murphy – ex McCann; and Brad Knowles – aHead Marketing Services.
Representing SADAG, Krystle Kemp said SADAG was humbled to be invited to be part of this year's Ster-Kinekor Cannes Young Lions competition. “Mental health is often stigmatised and considered a taboo subject. To have this opportunity to highlight and create more awareness around mental health, as well as the help that is available to those in need, was a privilege.
“The calibre of entries was incredible. As SADAG, we were blown away by the creative, relevant and hard-hitting messages the shortlisted finalists put into their entries. Getting to see the creative executions put together by young individuals who really seemed to understand the importance of mental health and awareness was so inspirational and touching. We are grateful to all the teams for their work, immense effort and research as the campaigns were all unique and impactful. It was an amazing opportunity to be part of this – congratulations to the winners.”
Talking about their winning entry, Bernice and Raphael said they love to create work that makes a difference and touches people’s lives. “Mental health is close to both of our hearts so creating this piece was important to us. We even stayed up for the last 30 hours of the competition to make sure that everything was aligned to our vision of helping young people connect with SADAG to overcome mental health issues.”
As the team to make the final cut, they will go on to represent South Africa at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity – Young Lions competition, taking place from 19 – 23 June, with their trip fully sponsored by Ster-Kinekor. There, Bernice and Raphael will be up against other winning teams from around the world to compete for the ultimate honour of being crowned this year’s Film Young Lions.
“We’re so excited to attend the Cannes International Festival of Creativity and soak up as much knowledge and creative inspiration as we can. It’s a dream come true to compete on a global stage in the Cannes Young Lions competition. We don’t quite know what to expect but we know that we will give the competition our all and hopefully make the South African advertising industry proud,” commented Bernice and Raphael.
– The 70th edition of the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity takes place in Cannes, France, from 19 – 23 June this year. This much anticipated and globally celebrated festival is recognised as the ‘Oscars’ of the creative industry but, like the Academy Awards, not everyone gets invited!
If you are in Johannesburg or Cape Town however, you’re in luck! Ster-Kinekor, as the official representative of Cannes Lions in South Africa, will be hosting two Cannes Lions Wrap-Up events to bring you the highlights from this year’s festival.
As in previous years, Ster-Kinekor and an expert industry panel including some of this year's Cannes jury members, will share highlights of their personal Cannes experiences, discuss current and future trends emerging from the festival that got their creative juices flowing, and showcase some of the award-winning work across the categories they are judging.
The two official Cannes Lions Wrap-Up events take place from 10:00 – 12:30 on 12 July at Ster-Kinekor Mall of Africa (Midrand) and 14 July at the Ster-Kinekor V&A Waterfront cinema complex in Cape Town. Tickets are R100 per person, with all proceeds going back into the creative industry to support various deserving projects.
The following speakers have been confirmed for the post-Cannes Lions Wrap-Up events, hosted by Ster-Kinekor:
“As the official Cannes Lions Festival representative for the South African market, we are delighted once again to be bringing the insights, trends, learnings and winning campaigns direct from the stages of Cannes to our cinemas, for the benefit of the local industry,” says Lynne Wylie, chief marketing officer of Ster-Kinekor.
“The annual festival attracts the top creative minds from around the world. Our talented and knowledgeable panel of speakers, some of whom have been selected onto various Cannes Jury panels, will have the opportunity to tap into all this global knowledge to share with us back home.”
The post-Cannes Lions talks are always a must-attend event on the creative industry calendar. Ster-Kinekor is looking forward to hosting the two sessions in Johannesburg and Cape Town to give the industry an opportunity to experience some of this year’s Cannes International Festival of Creativity highlights.
Bookings for the two official Cannes Lions Wrap-Up events on 12 July in Johannesburg and 14 July in Cape Town are now open. Book your tickets at www.sterkinekor.com or download the SK App on your smartphone. For news and updates, go to Facebook: Ster-Kinekor Theatres | follow Ster-Kinekor on Twitter: @Ster-Kinekor. For all queries, call Ticketline on 0861-Movies (668 437).
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