SA Creatives' Powerful Ad Wins Cinemark Cannes Young Lions Competition

Two Cape creatives will be flying off to represent South Africa at the Cannes Lions international Festival of Creativity this year, after their video commercial about violence in schools won the Cannes Young Lions competition.

Copywriter Carina Coetzee and art director Amri Botha, of the 99c advertising and communication agency, channelled their creative insights into a compelling ad for UNICEF, calling for an end to the epidemic of violence in South African schools.

According to UNICEF, half of the world’s teens experience peer violence around school, and about 1 in 3 students aged 13-15 have been involved in physical fights. To help address this, the 2019 Cinemark Cannes Young Lions competition asked entrants to create an ad that tackles the issue and inspired an effort to make schools a safer place for students.

The competition was open to creatives under 30 across the country, who were given 48 hours to film, edit and produce a one-minute commercial for UNICEF South Africa, using the hashtags #I’veGotYourBack and #ENDviolence.

Coetzee and Botha’s treatment is a poignant depiction of a young boy preparing for school and musing whether his day would be a good day. “Will they teach me a lesson I’ll never forget?” he wonders. “You’ll know by my marks.”

Coetzee and Botha will fly to France to attend the 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity from 17-21 June, where they will again race against the clock to fulfil a new brief. This time, they will compete against the best young talent from around the world in the Film Category of the Cannes Young Lions competition.

“We are extremely excited and honoured,” said Botha. “We really enjoyed the challenge, since it’s a cause we really believe in – for a brand that does such amazing work. We’d like to thank Cinemark for this huge opportunity and we hope to make South Africa proud in Cannes.”

UNICEF South Africa Chief of Communication and Partnerships Sandra Bisin said that the competition, a partnership with Cinemark was an excellent way to help address the problem of violence in schools.

“Through this joint campaign, we are encouraging young people in South Africa to raise their voices and to tell us how they are working together and what solutions they are using to #ENDviolence in and around schools once and for all,” said Bisin.