With the countdown to Cannes Lions Festival 2018 well underway, Core has announced that Ciara Shaughnessy and Orla McKinney from Vhi have been named as the winners of the ‘Young Marketers’ category of IAPI’s Cannes Young Lions Competition 2019 which is sponsored by Core, Ireland’s largest marketing communications group.
McKinney and Shaughnessy, who worked as a team to create their entry for the competition, will now travel to the Cannes Lions Festival in June to represent Ireland in the global ‘Young Marketers’ contest, competing against the best young creative marketing talent from over 100 countries. Upon arriving in Cannes, they will have just 24hours to answer a brief set by a non-profit organisation. This year’s non-profit organisation for the Irish regional competition was ENAR Ireland (European Network against Racism).
The Cannes Lions Festival is an eight-day long international festival of creative thinking, digital innovation, education and networking. Attended by nearly 20,000 delegates from all over the world, it is the benchmark for the very best in global creativity.
The ‘Young Marketers’ competition is an opportunity for the brightest professional minds working in the industry to demonstrate their strategic thinking and creative approach to solving important marketing challenges. Core recognises that creativity is not simply reserved for agencies – it’s at the heart of clients’ businesses too.
To win an opportunity to travel to Cannes, entrants, who had to be aged 30 years or under, were asked to develop a ‘big idea’ for ENAR Ireland, the European Network Against Racism. The brief asked marketers to think about how their brands or organisations could creatively highlight the invisibility of racism in Irish society.
A team of 14 Young Lions in total will travel to Cannes with IAPI, representing the best young creative talent in Ireland in the areas of marketing, media, digital, design, PR, print and film.
According to Shane Doyle, Group Strategic Director, Core: “Core sponsor this category in the Cannes Young Lion competition for a specific reason. It is the only competition in this market that supports and celebrates creativity for young marketers. The ‘Young Marketers’ prize recognises that creativity is no longer simply reserved for agencies – it’s at the heart of clients’ businesses too. This process begins and ends with the client and Core believes that great work really does start with brave and imaginative clients.
What has been most enjoyable about being a judge for this competition is witnessing the appetite of young marketers to be creative. This year’s entries showed great clarity, razor sharp thinking, boundless enthusiasm, highly professional presentation skills and above all thing, real creative endeavour. This illustrates the wealth of creative potential of Ireland’s young marketers. As a result, Core is absolutely delighted to be in a position to support the next generation of marketers to unleash their creative thinking, and we are thrilled that Ciara and Orla will be representing Team Ireland this year”.
