As Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity launches its communications campaign for 2016 titled “Thank You Creativity” (www.thankyoucreativity.com), the official Festival representative in Nigeria, CHINI Productions has also rolled out plans for the pre Cannes local events in Nigeria. Activities lined up in Nigeria include the Roger Hatchuel Academy, the Young Lions Competitions, the Miami Ad School Scholarship Competitions, Lions Edit and Lions Night & Awards. These activities are scheduled to take place from April 5 to April 9, 2016. Entries for Roger Hatchuel Academy, Young Lions Competition and Miami Ad School Scholarship competitions are already open at www.canneslions-ng.com.
The Roger Hatchuel Academy is the oldest academy in Cannes Lions and is named after the first Festival chairman. It is a high profile intensive training for students in the university who intend to work in advertising on graduation. In Nigeria, CHINI Productions has partnered with APCON for about 9 years to promote this programme. In 2016 again, this programme will see talented students gather from campuses around Nigeria to learn from leading professionals in Lagos and visit organisations in the industry during their 3-day intensive residential programme. Companies that have already decided to host the students include Noah’s Ark Communications and STB McCann. The Roger Hatchuel Academy Awards this year will include Best Teacher and Best School awards. The best academy student as usual will be sponsored to attend the international academy in Cannes and the first runner-up will be sponsored to attend a sister regional festival, the Dubai Lynx.
The Young Lions Competitions will hold in Film, Design, Print, Cyber and Media categories. These are competitions among young professionals of 30 years and below working in agencies in Nigeria. The winners from each category will represent Nigeria in their respective categories at the international competitions during the Cannes Lions Festival in June.
This year, CHINI is partnering with Miami Ad School again to offer talented Nigerian creatives scholarships to study at Miami Ad Schools around the world for the certificate, first degree and master’s degree programmes respectively. This is the sixth consecutive year of the scholarship programme and earlier beneficiaries are already contributing to the industry both locally and internationally.
A new introduction to the local offering of the pre Cannes programmes is the Lions Edit. This is a platform offered to agencies, digital companies, production outfits and brands to connect their practice to the creativity essence of Cannes Lions to make top notch presentations that will educate, inspire, enrich and grow the industry. Several companies have already indicated interest to be part of this. Special roles are expected to be played by communications experts in Health and Technology as well as Nollywood and Music in line with the new specialized festival extensions in Cannes – Lions Health, Lions Innovation and Lions Entertainment. The event is scheduled to begin at 9:00am on 9 April, 2016 at MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos.
Mr. Nnamdi Ndu, Managing Director of CHINI Productions and Cannes Lions representative, said: “For many in the industry, this is as close as they can get to Cannes Lions. This is our own creative carnival! There is no reason in the world why any major brand or agency in Nigeria should not be at the forefront of this. More than ever before, we need creative solutions to get out of the present challenges we find ourselves in as a nation. And, here’s an open invitation for all hands to come on deck. If we don’t build our industry, no one else will.”
All the pre Cannes Lions national activities for Nigeria will come to a head at the Lions Night & Awards in the evening of 9 April 2016 at the MUSON Centre Onikan, Lagos. This event will feature a colourful graduation ceremony of the Roger Hatchuel Academy, the Roger Hatchuel Academy Awards, the Young Lions Awards, the Miami Ad School Scholarship Awards and other exciting activities.
