Category is… Design. Congrats to our two superstar designers Dylan Panetta and Ryan Kavanagh who have been shortlisted in the Cannes Young Lions competition this year.
Wishing them luck in their presentation to the jury tomorrow. #CannesYoungLions2019
The Work— Part 2, Competition Day
Inevitably, fresh-faced we were not, and at 5am we were up and at it again, ready to tackle the main day of the competition, the minuscule sleep adding some clarity to our thoughts from the previous night.
After raiding the local Starbucks at opening time of all of its coffee and croissants we made our way to the basement of The Palais. There we were shown to our booth and we moved into ‘production mode’.
Surprisingly, the day itself ran relatively smoothly (if we do say so ourselves!). We had devised a schedule and broken down the key targets we needed to hit to meet our 8 o’clock deadline, which proved very beneficial. Through the day we managed to stick to this, using it as a helpful guide if we felt we were spending too much time on any one element of the project.
At one point during the afternoon when the effects of the previous sleep-deprived night were setting in, a representative from Getty Images arrived at our booth with a camera person to ask us a few questions about how the project was developing and how we were feeling, ‘tired’ was our answer. But a few miniature pastries from the lunch table did the trick for a sugar-kick and we managed to push through to the finish line, with time spare to proof read and ensure our printed piece was correct.
Our final design system revolved around the concept of ‘A Unified Force For Good’, speaking to the idea of the collective mobilisation of the diverse people who come together in many ways to form the global population of women, who inspire and strive to create positive, real change for women and girls.
Taking inspiration from and evolving the assets currently in place in the UN Women logo, our new system for ‘Daughter’ sub-brands utilised a flexible system of graphic shapes and typography, created from these existing assets, but transforming them to allow for the development of new forms, and varied meanings.
We did it! We were finished! We handed over the fruits of our labour, a single A3 document, and it was now out of our hands, ready to be presented to an impressive panel of judges from internationally renowned design agencies like Brand Union, Future Brand and Planeta to name but a few.
Time for an Aperol Spritz.
Another Aperol Spritz. Pizza. Sleep.
The Win
As an eternal pessimist (realist, OK?), I (Emma) had no inkling that we would be in with a chance of winning the much coveted Gold Young Lion. Kyle was more confident, hoping that we may place somewhere, possibly a bronze. As we sat in front of the panel of judges, IAPI representatives by our side, we suddenly got a wave of nausea over us as they announced the winners and we felt something we hadn’t admitted to ourselves all the way through the process…we really wanted this. Bronze was announced, not us. Silver, not us again, no chance. An then, to our utter disbelief the word ‘Ireland’ was called out as the winner of the Gold. The feeling that accompanied this disbelief was one of incredible euphoria, and immense pride that we had achieved this win while representing Ireland.
We thanked the judges, shook hands, hugged our teammates and the IAPI team, shed some tears, and most importantly…called our moms (and the RichardsDee Team)! The feeling was incredible.
We were photographed, interviewed and congratulated and then left to our own devices to get ourselves organised for the awards ceremony that evening where we would be awarded, alongside our peers and the judging panel, with two gold medals, on a stage worthy of The Oscars, in a theatre filled with over 1,500 people. No pressure, right? The awards show was fantastic, showcasing the inspiring work of the other Lion winners in the Design category.
Afterglow
As the first Irish Gold winner of Cannes Young Lions in its 23 year lifespan, we were very very proud. Young Lions has been a wonderful opportunity for us to hone our skills and push ourselves to the boundaries of what we’re capable of. It’s also been an unbelievable experience, being immersed in the festival environment and being surrounded by the world’s best creative talent, and with our other teammates form Team Ireland, in the beautiful location of Cannes. We urge anyone considering entering to just go for it.
We want to thank our wider team at RichardsDee without whom, none of this would have been possible, the external mentors we had along the way- Steve Payne and James Beveridge, and the team at IAPI who were an organisational powerhouse, supporting us all in Cannes, no mean feat!
Preparation For Cannes— The Run Up
After winning the Irish leg of Cannes Young Lions in the Design category in March 2017 with our brand identity for not-for-profit representative organsisation The Wheel, we began preparations for the international competition in June, where we would go head-to-head with 22 Design teams, ranging from a variety of countries worldwide.
The team at RichardsDee had strongly encouraged us to enter the Irish sub-section of the competition and had mentored and supported us through the process. They were now delighted for us to be representing our country, and our agency, as part of Team Ireland in Cannes. Over the coming months we went into intense ‘design training’, testing our time management skills and honing our process with a series of internally devised 24-hour briefs for brands in the not for profit sector, with mentoring and review sessions from external, internationally renowned industry figures. This process was immensely beneficial for us in the lead up to the competition and we would urge anyone thinking of entering to ensure that their studio/agency is on-board and on-hand to support. This prepared us (as much as was possible!) for the whirlwind that was to be Cannes Young Lions.
Arrival in Cannes— Taking it all in
Once we were settled in to our hotel, we instantly immersed ourselves in the festivities at The Palais. An impressive schedule of talks from industry superstars, celebrities, and homegrown talent (g’wan Rothco and AIB!), stretched out in front of us and we began to plan our daily dose of inspiration. Bravery was at the core of the festival theme this year, as were topics of creativity for change, gender equality and our responsibility as advertisers and designers to represent a diverse viewpoint and challenge stereotypes.
Along the seafront were various elaborate brand hubs from all the usual players in the tech world (Youtube, Facebook, Spotify etc…). The brand hubs were where we relaxed in the sun after the talks and got to know our fellow team mates from Team Ireland, and let’s not forget happy hour (4 hours). We can confirm that tech companies make a mean rosé slushie. Another ‘social’ point of note includes the infamous Gutter Bar, where it seemed every single delegate from Cannes Lions would congregate at the end of the day (€17 G&T’s, avoid!).
Briefing—Dream Client
Before we knew it, the day of the briefing was upon us. Excitedly, we opened our blue folders to reveal the client, UN Women. Needless to say, we were delighted, we couldn’t have dreamed of a more fantastic organisation to work with. As a team with a long-held interest in women’s issues and as active participants in the Irish, and global feminist movement, we had a wealth of insights and learnings to draw from that would prove beneficial to us throughout the project process.
Background on UN Women from their briefing document:
“UN Women is the global champion for women and girls. Created in 2011 by UN Member States and backed by the global women’s movement, UN Women acts on the fundamental premise that all women and girls have the right to live free of discrimination, violence and poverty, and that gender equality is central to achieving development.”
Since its inception, UN Women has developed multiple campaigns and sub-brands attached to the mothership brand. Lacking a visual identity system to unify these and create a link between the sub-brands and the over arching UN Women brand, the association was being lost and their brand was becoming increasingly fragmented and confusing for their respective audiences. Our challenge was to solve this problem and create a flexible system for future UN Women sub-brands and campaigns that would create a strong, recognisable link to the mothership brand, and also be sufficiently fluid so as to retain interest and relevance across a range of different (and currently unknown) topics, initiatives, and subject matter.
With only 24 hours to execute this challenging, complex task, we set out to work.
The Work— Minimal Sleep, Post-its, and Face Masks
Over a quick refuel, we discussed our initial thoughts and began to dissect the brief. With food out of the way we headed for home to work in the (much adored) cool breeze of the air conditioning with a stack of post-its, markers, and a manic energy that only comes with a tighter than average deadline and a client and judging panel we desperately wanted to impress.
Over the course of the evening and into the small hours of the morning we brainstormed, researched, formulated our core concepts and devised our plan for execution for the following day, where we would have access to a computer and our own booth space (complete with Irish flag) from 8:30am to 8:00pm.
We utilised what we could, in a ‘cosy’ hotel room with (tastefully…) stippled walls, we found that the bathroom door was our only option for pinning up our thoughts and project structure. Here we broke down the brief and analysed the assets at our disposal in the existing UN Women brand identity. We outlined the core themes we needed to address, the appropriate tone of voice, the insights we had relating to the topic of women’s issues, and we chose a focused approach of tackling one key audience group out of the five provided (an insight that had arisen from our previous practice brief sessions at RichardsDee) of the future of the feminist movement, young future femisist leaders.
From this point we sketched, rationalised, conferred, and ultimately devised the route in which we would go down the following day (with a few back up ideas in the pot, were we to run into difficulty with our core idea).
Somewhere in between ‘post-it-a-geddon’ we took a (very important) break for R&R and skincare with some facemasks obtained from the local Monoprix. When working on two hours sleep how else is one to appear glamorous, together, and fresh-faced in Cannes? (Our Cosmo think-piece will be out next week…)
To be continued…
We are very excited to announce that our designers, Emma and Kyle, have won the top prize, representing Ireland in the Design category at the Cannes Young Lions Festival.
Their brief was to create a visual branding system which would “evolve and build on the UN Women Campaign” with the ability to grow and develop over time on a national and international level.
Following the 24-hour brief set by the United Nations, they took home the Gold Award, fending off competition from over 22 other countries. This is the first time a Gold Award has been won by an Irish team at the internationally renowned creative event.
IAPI announced today the winning teams who will represent Team Ireland at the annual international Cannes Lions Festival in June. We are delighted to confirm that our rising stars Emma Wilson and Kyle Schow have been selected to represent the country in the design category.
Emma and Kyle were briefed to rebrand The Wheel, a really exciting representative body connecting community and voluntary organisations and charities across Ireland. We are incredibly proud of their fantastic achievement, even more so knowing that over 200 creatives vied for a place on the team by entering the IAPI Young Irish Lions competition held throughout February & March.
This summer will see the largest number of Irish Young Lions since the festival’s inception 60 years ago and we wish our super stars the very best on their exciting journey.
“The standard of entries for the national heats was incredible. This is our 4th year taking a team from Ireland over to Cannes, it is a real opportunity to learn about the best marketing communications worldwide, future trends, to perform on a world stage and propel their career to the next level. ”
– Tania Banotti, CEO of IAPI.
For more information, contact: Simon Richards, Creative Director, RichardsDee.
