The Shark Awards Kinsale has announced that Lewis Aramayo, a copywriter with Ogilvy Sydney is the winner of this year’s Young Shark competition.
Aramayo beat his competitors to come top in the contest for young creatives under the age of 26 with his social media campaign, ‘A Shark is Following You.’
The brief was to create a social media-based piece to promote the Shark Awards Festival. The young entrants were advised that the winning idea couldn’t be a print ad design simply placed online, or a tv script placed on social channels, and that it should be a bespoke piece that would work in a non-traditional online media format.
His winning idea saw him create an Instagram page with the handle ‘@a_shark’ enabling it to follow up-and-coming ‘fresh blood’ in the creative community. Using LinkedIn, he then followed copywriters and art directors from around the world while sending them direct messages. ‘The Kinsale Shark knows fresh blood when it smells it. That’s why you’ve been followed. Visit the Kinsale Shark Awards from 18-21 September 2019, and plunge into an ocean of world class ideas,’ the copy read. He wins a trip to the festival held in the picturesque town of Kinsale, Ireland in September which includes flights, accommodation, Festival pass and an all-important dinner with the jurors – the perfect opportunity to make contacts and get facetime with creative peers.
According to jury member Shay Madden, art director with Rothco | Accenture Interactive: “I think I’ve now seen every shark-related pun there is and it was great to see so many entries come in from around the world. Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest… and Lewis’s one is a brilliant example. Ps. Special mention must go to Mihir Padia and Maryann Rodrigues, a team from Mumbai, India for their ‘Play with Sharks’ idea.”
Aramayo adds: “Winning a trip to the Kinsale Shark Awards is a huge feather in the cap. It’s not every day you get to rub shoulders with the best creatives in the biz, gain valuable career experience and drink pints of Guinness along the way. I feel very lucky to have won the opportunity…must be the luck of the Irish!”
The deadline for entries is 30th August and entries can be made here. The festival takes place from September 18th-21st. All entrants from Australia receive a 30% discount when submitting three entries or more at the same time.
With a passionate focus on craft, this year’s Festival has added new categories for this awards season. Prominent design writer and consultant Lynda Relph-Knight will oversee the design category which is newly expanded to reward design craft.
Recognising the importance of innovative technology within our creative landscape, is the brand-new Immersive category which will award emerging and innovative tech ideas in AR, VR and experiential campaigns.
This is also the first time that Animation has its own category looking at the craft of direction specifically to animation, design, character design and animation VFX.
According to Festival director Aisling White: “We’re all aware that this world of advertising and brand communications has become multi-faceted, with brands trying to engage with their audiences on a variety of platforms and channels. That coupled with the increasing importance of craft, is why we’ve worked hard to make sure the new categories at the Shark Awards this year reflects that.”
For more information on the Kinsale Sharks and to purchase entry passes click here.
