Lara Assouad, Executive Creative Director, LandorI was recently invited to judge the Digital Category of the 2025 UAE Cannes Young Lions competition, organised by Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan, the official representatives of Cannes Lions in the UAE, and powered by Getty Images.
The challenge was to develop an innovative digital campaign that addresses a specific brief with the focus on using digital platforms and tools to create engaging campaigns with measurable results. Contestants were judged for creativity, originality, insights, presentation skills, and how well the campaigns hit their goals. The kind of challenges our industry faces every day.
Beyond the judging criteria, the experience gave me a glimpse into how young creatives are tackling business challenges, and what that suggests for the future of our industry. Ultimately, it’s all about solving problems, not just coming up with ‘cool’ ideas.
To begin with, I was relieved to see that the shortlisted entries were mostly the ones I thought had potential, and that as jury members, we were generally aligned in our thinking. Everyone’s focus was on rewarding work that best answered the brief, showed proper insight, and solved the problem effectively. It was not just about the delivery but more importantly, about how the teams approached the challenge, demonstrated their understanding of the problem and presented and defended their solutions when they were asked questions.
What struck me as we reviewed the work and discussed it amongst us as jury members, was the difference in mindset and approach to solving a communication problem between advertising and branding.
Advertising is like a 100m sprint, while branding is more like a full marathon. Branding solves for the long-term, building lasting value and recognition. Advertising addresses more timely challenges, aiming to create immediate impact. As demonstrated in that jury, both are essential aspects of communication, and when they work together effectively, you get great brand stories with amazing staying power.
A recent demonstration of the powerful synergy created when branding and advertising work hand in hand is the Kellogg’s “See You in the Morning” campaign, where a range of agencies collaborated to re-establish the brand’s “OG” status.
Jenn Carkner, Vice President Kellogg’s Cereal Europe, noted, the campaign involved masterbrand design work led by Landor, a Cornelius weathervane in the UK’s most easterly point by Taylor Herring, commerce by LeSHOP, and Leo Burnett UK unleashing the brand mascot Cornelius. Carkner praised the seamless collaboration between the agency partners and the Kellogg’s team, proving that true brand magic happens when creative minds unite.
It’s about bringing different perspectives and skill sets to the table to create something that has more impact than either could achieve alone.
Advice for Young Lions: solve problems and serve a purpose
Whether in advertising or branding or at a Cannes Young Lions competition, I think we should always keep our problem-solving hats on. The best work is rooted in strong insights, great strategic thinking and addresses the challenge at hand by providing relevant and differentiating design solutions for our clients.
It should never be about crafting the ‘form’ if it is not following the ‘function’.
Otherwise, we run the risk of creating beautiful visuals that do not serve their purpose, and that ultimately undermines our industry’s credibility.
As designers and communicators, we need to work together, using creativity to tackle some of the world’s most complex problems.
Inherently, we’re all problem solvers, and seeing that shared mindset within the jury and contestants, made me feel optimistic about where things are going creatively in the UAE.
