Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
By: Ekrem Dupanović
Four winning pairs at national Young Lions competitions in Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in this year’s Cannes Lions festival, competing in the Young Lions competition. After the excitement has passed, and the impressions settled in, we were interested in their experiences: what did they learn in Cannes, and how are they now looking at their future in the communications industry? What are their plans? One thing is certain, all of them are hungry for a real Cannes Lion soon.
Gregor Vuk, Conceptual Copywriter, Saatchi&Saatchi Slovenia
Winning at the national level has changed everything for me. For a long time that victory was a goal on my personal creative GPS that guided me. More important than the title of the best young creative is the knowledge I’ve absorbed like a sponge since the moment of being proclaimed a winner. Options have opened for me that weren’t there before. I’ve met people who have achieved much in the marketing world, and have generously shared their experiences with me. The Saatchi & Saatchi agency has given me more responsibility and trust than ever before, and that’s why I grabbed this challenge with both paws. As I was extremely result-oriented, my preparations for Cannes were as tense as the festival itself. No, it did not leave me cold – the sun was incredibly hot. Cannes Lions are a sort of a graduation for a creative – a graduation that I would gladly go through several times over. Lions are the center of my target, into which I will shoot when I create campaigns that will represent the pleasure and pride of the clients. That’s the only way I’ll get my festival and personal standards. I am extremely proud that I was in France with a friend designer, and defended the colors of Slovenia. But for me, the biggest trophy will always be a job well done. This is always in my mind as I create a concept.
Boštjan Laznik, Publicis One Slovenia, Designer On-line
Cote d’Azur, the rosé in advertising – all mixed into a great French cocktail. After winning in the competition of young creatives, it was time for Vuk and I to try our hand at the world level. It has been a week of unexpected events, top speakers, superb atmosphere and everything that this great festival carries. From Facebook and YouTube with presentations of all the new technologies, to motivating speakers such as Steven Gerrard, whose speech, as a longtime fan of Liverpool, I very much looked forward to. Of course, there was also no shortage of complementary food and drinks within the festival, after which some partying and making new acquaintances were in order.
The competition itself was extremely intense, although the two of us quickly came to our main idea. It was fascinating to watch the young minds from around the world looking for a solution. I think the future of advertising is in good hands.
Cannes Lions is an excellent experience for all creatives, and everyone who has the opportunity should experience it.
Milica Radović, Wireless media, Senior Copywriter
Going to Cannes Lions was a dream come true in itself, and to go there as a competitor… that’s something we definitely did not expect to happen to us so early in our careers. The competition itself passed well and I am personally very satisfied with our work. We had some stage freight, but a positive one, and everything went fine in the end. It was a huge educational experience to work on such a big brief from a world-class client, where, of course, the expected result is at an exceptionally high level, in a very short time. At the contest, we met some people we are still in touch with, and with whom we spent most of our time in Cannes, so now we are planning some visits and social gatherings, and this positive atmosphere of cooperation that was present on the day of the competition was something which particularly surprised me.
The lectures at the festival were great, and I was most impressed by the ones from the Lions Innovation edition where we played with the robots, VR, listened about advanced tools … Also the R/GA and NASA lectures were extremely entertaining and instructive, each in its own way, as well as the many settings and exhibitions throughout the Cannes Lions venue.
The strongest impression that stayed with me from the festival is that there is nothing that can’t be done, and of course the ideas should not be kept jealously for ourselves if we want them to grow and develop. And many, many wonderful people with similar mindsets, from various meridians, some of which I already consider friends.
Katarina Keti Zaharijev, Graphic Designer, Leo Burnett Serbia
Being in Cannes during the festival is a great feeling and a very important experience. We had the opportunity to see the best creative ideas of the world, to get acquainted with the different approaches to advertising, and see all the innovations in technology from first-row seats. In addition, we had the opportunity to exchange opinions and network with highly talented people from the industry.
The victory at the national competition for Young Lions alone has shown us that we are on the right track, though it came as a complete surprise.
The Festival in Cannes definitely inspired us to tackle new challenges, and it is up to us to use the gained experience and knowledge in the best possible way.
Fran Mubrin, Creative Director, Agency 404
After winning at the national Young Lions competition I was happy and proud, but by the time I came to Cannes, I realized that the prize was much more than happiness and pride. Traveling to Cannes was definitely one of the most exciting experiences, through which I’ve learned a lot of new things and opened up some new perspectives on the job I do.
I learned how to turn from a winner into a loser :) but, apart from the “harsh” realities of young Croats in Cannes, I’ve learned a lot of useful things I could talk about for three days. What I find most useful is that I’ve learned more about my own creative capacities through both competitions and I discovered in what areas I have to work even more to make my ideas better. The competition in Cannes has shown me that good ideas are largely born out of struggle with limited capacities and challenges, and sometimes we have to create these constraints ourselves, so we could come up with ideas to effectively solve the real problems.
Cannes definitely gave me the idea of thinking a little more about the awards, and one day about the real Lion, but tomorrow’s plan is to continue with the good work and development of the creative team at Agency 404, and the awards will come on their own. In addition, my personal goal is to learn as much as possible every day, and to grow through interdisciplinary approach to design and creativity in the digital era.
Matko Buntić, Designer, Agency 404
The experience of going to the Cannes Lions Festival was an unforgettable, exciting and everyday full of new experiences. Someone who does this job has no better festival to go to and learn about the novelties from the profession, and find inspiration. Every day, from morning to midnight, was filled with excellent lectures by top class speakers, and it was hard to visit everything that interested us, because the day was not long enough. As for the competition, Fran and I are a good team, we manage very well in that kind of work pace and we love competing with colleagues. We didn’t achieve the best result, but that did not discourage us. Very soon we were back to the mood of explorers of the festival.
The Cannes Festival is a place for learning and widening your horizons. Wherever you look, and whichever lecture you visit, you will learn something new or have fun. That is why it’s difficult to set aside something specific, but something that definitely came back with me from Cannes is the inspiration for widening my reach in daily work. It is clear there are equally valuable ideas and projects come from diametrically different circles, and are born among different people, and that in any environment an idea can be brought to top level. What succeeds are the discipline, hard work, and critical thinking.
Plans for the future are to continue working in a company I’m currently in. Agency 404 has been on the climbing path for a while now. I intend to take on challenges that come in this environment every day, and I want to tackle them with this newly found inspiration that I ‘imported’ from France. And as for the Young Lions competition, next year is another opportunity, so we may once again visit Cannes.
