By Jeremiah Agada
Brand Communicator can authoritatively confirm that for the very first time in the history of the Nigerian advertising, a Nigerian, Lanre Adisa who is the Managing Director and Chief Creative Officer of the country’s most globally acclaimed creative agency, Noah’s Ark Communications has been appointed to jury of the prestigious Cannes Lions festival.
With the appointment of Adisa as a member of the 2018 Cannes Lions Brand Experience & Activation shortlist jury, the jinx has been broken on the much talked about absence of Nigeria in the Cannes Lions jury.
He has served on the jury of many globally acclaimed festivals and was the jury president in the Heritage category of the 2018 Pitcher Awards. He has also presided over Young Lions creative jury in Nigeria for several years.
Adisa belongs to the very rare breed of Managing Directors in the creative advertising scene that have backgrounds in the creative department. He began his career in the advertising industry in 1990 when he joined MC&A Saatchi & Saatchi as Copy Group Head. He left the agency four years. In 1997, Lanre pitched his tent with Insight Communications (then affiliated with Grey) as Associate Creative Director. By 2003, he was ready to move on again. He joined TBWA Concept as Executive Creative Director. After TBWA, he decided to hang his boots and ‘construct’ the Ark.
He is an experienced creative entrepreneur with a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry. He has close to 30 years of working on some of the most visible local and multinational brands in Nigeria with thriving firms in advertising, public relations and content/production.
This year’s juries are composed of individuals from 50 countries, including for the first time representatives from Georgia, Nigeria, Kenya and Sri Lanka. Continuing the drive for a more diverse mix within the jury room, this year includes 46% female jury members, as well as a wide mix of creative agencies, brands, media owners and production companies.
Jose Papa, Managing Director of Cannes Lions said: “The job of the Cannes Lions jury is to act as the custodians of creativity and celebrate work that demonstrates the value of creativity in all its forms. We are committed to ensuring that our juries include a diverse range of people from across the branded communications ecosystem.”
Last year the Festival announced new Lions with the introduction of a new Awards architecture to better reflect and support the fast-moving creative industries. These Lions include Creative eCommerce Lions, Brand Experience & Activation Lions, Social & influencer Lions, Sustainable Development Goals Lions and the Industry Craft Lions. An overall reduction in the number of categories within individual Lions refined the focus, while new categories were introduced to reflect how creative companies are operating.
“Cannes Lions is now in its 65th year and in that time the industry, and the organisations operating within it, has changed dramatically. These new specialised Lions require a broader range of skills and experience which will ultimately help expand our perspective of creative excellence,” said Terry Savage, Chairman, Cannes Lions. “The Lions are constantly evolving, just as the industry is, and our jury members are fundamental to ensuring that we keep creativity at the core of what we do.”
The 2018 Cannes Lions Awards will be presented at ceremonies taking place each evening throughout the Festival from the 18-22 June.
The 2018 members of Brand Experience & Activation Lion jury are:
Rob Reilly, Global Creative Chairman, McCann Worldgroup, Global – Jury President
Guillermo Tragant, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Furia, Argentina
Geert Verdonck , Creative Director, TBWA\Belgium, Belgium
Fernando Guntovitch, Founder/CEO, The Group, Brazil
Nuala Byles, EVP, Executive Creative Director, Geometry, Canada
Martin Vinacur, President and Executive Creative Director, AldeA Santiago, Chile
Vivian Yong, Executive Creative Director, Wieden+Kennedy, China
Radouane Hadj Moussa, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Prague, Czech Republic
Juan Manuel Koenig, Chief Creative Officer, Koenig Communications, Ecuador
Souen Le Van, Creative Director, Buzzman, France
Giorgi Avaliani, Creative Director, Leavingstone, Georgia
Sandra Loibl, Executive Creative Director, Serviceplan, Germany
Josh Mullens, Global EP & Head of Projects, Will O’Rourke Experiential, Global
Beatrice Remy, Managing Director, LORE, Hong Kong
Levente Kovacs, Chief Creative Officer, White Rabbit Budapest, Hungary
Brijesh Jacob, Chief Creative Technologist, DDBMudra Group, India
Shani Gershi, VP Creative, Freelance, Israel
Francesco Bozza, Chief Creative Officer, FCB, Italy
Satoshi Otsuka, Communication Architect/Digital Creative, ADK, Japan
Marialejandra Urbina, Director of Planning and Strategy, MullenLowe Group, LATAM
Yasmina Baz, Regional Creative Director, Leo Burnett, Lebanon
Alexis Ospina, Chief Creative Officer, Y&R, Mexico
Emily Beautrais, Creative Director, Clemenger BBDO, New Zealand
Lanre Adisa, Managing Director & Chief Creative Officer, Noah’s Ark, Nigeria
Ester Hjellum, Senior Art Director and Partner, Try, Norway
Juan Pablo Peschiera, Creative Director, Publicis, Peru
Agnieszka Klimczak, Creative Director, J. Walter Thompson, Poland
Pedro Pires, Founder Partner, Solid Dogma, Portugal
Johanna Santiago, Creative Director, J. Walter Thompson, Puerto Rico
Irina Pencea, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Jazz, Romania
Daniele Pancetti, Executive Creative Director, FCB Moscow, Russia
Primus Nair, Executive Creative Director, BBDO Singapore, Singapore
Matt Ross, Executive Creative Director, King James, South Africa
Victoria Sunmie Lhie, Director of Experience Strategy, Cheil Worldwide, South Korea
Gil Blancafort, CEO and Founder, Yslandia, Spain
Linnea Lofjord, Head of Brand Design, NordDDB, Sweden
Dennis Lueck, Chief Creative Officer, Jung von Matt/Limmat, Switzerland
Satit Jantawiwat, Chief Creative Officer, Cheil, Thailand
Darre Van Dijk, Chief Creative Officer, TBWA\Neboko, The Netherlands
Lize Karaboga, Managing Partner, Ultra, Turkey
Juliana Paracencio, Regional Creative Director, Memac Ogilvy & Mather Dubai, UAE
Vicki Maguire, Joint Chief Creative Officer, Grey Global, UK
Shirin Majid, Executive Creative Director, Cake, UK
Tiffany Rolfe, Chief Creative Officer and Partner, Co:collective, USA
Menno Kluin, Chief Creative Officer, 360i, USA
