MANILA – A thirst for excellence prompts competition. Then turning a decade old, the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines was in such thirst. To quench it, IMMAP looked towards a bigger goal and chose the Cannes Cyber Young Lions. In 2016 IMMAP held the first competition that pitted the talents of young creatives in the digital medium.
IMMAP’s first winning agency tandem was James Mendoza and Wacky Torres, then from Ogilvy and Mather. In 2017, Sam Teaño and Lea Valenzuela from Ace Saatchi and Saatchi won the competition. Then dubbed as the Cannes Cyber Young Lions, the last two years churned some changes.
Today, Torres is the sub-committee Chair of the competition, and Mendoza its resident artist.
Even Cannes Lions made headlines with many changes this year, leading to the local competition following suit. What was a simple competition to send Philippine representatives to Cannes is now a series of programs to develop young advertising creative talent.
“Before this year, the contest was known as the Cyber Young Lions Competition. But to develop digitally-fluent creatives, an annual competition isn’t enough. So we decided to branch out to training and education programs for young creatives. Now, we call ourselves the IMMAP Digital Young Creatives to broaden our functions with the DYC Competition as our flagship event,” says Torres.
Mendoza, the designer of the new logo says, “We designed the logo to look like a lion for it embodies the goal of the program — to give birth to young lions. The lion’s face was formed using the initial letters of the Digital Young Creatives, DYC. We also used an element from the IMMAP logo and incorporated it in the lion’s ear. The logo design was made simple and clean to appeal to a young audience.”
During the first two years, IMMAP used its advocacy on Cyber Safety for Children as the brief. The regenerated competition still strictly adheres to the Cannes Young Lions guidelines. After getting the brief from a pre-chosen sponsor, the teams have 24 hours to work on their piece.
“We want to set the standard for digital creatives competitions. The brief will be sharp with a well-defined objective. By doing so, we set the stage for our talented young creatives to truly flourish. I expect the jurors to have a really, really difficult time,” Torres adds.
Twenty-seven teams from IMMAP member agencies signed up for the competition last year. For 2018, the teams have the lucky benefit of attending the opening and closing Plenaries of DigiCon XE Day 1. Yes, teams that sign up for the Digital Young Creatives competition get to catch Keynote Speaker Bozoma Saint John at the PICC on October 3, 2018.
Around 80 teams from all over the world compete in Cannes Young Lions, and the Philippine flag waves with theirs. “This is one major undertaking by IMMAP as we go full-swing with our support of the country’s young creatives. IMMAP believes we have the talent, and we are there to nurture and support them,” says Rudy Villar, Education Committee Co-chair.
