If They Cannes, You Cannes: Past Young Lions Winners Ft. Ben Grant

In case you didn’t know, entries for the 2019 Snapchat Young Lions Competition close this afternoon, so if you haven’t entered yet … well, it’s probably a little too late.

However, if you’re in the process of finalising your submission or have already entered, reading up on our ‘If They Cannes, You Cannes’ series will offer you some excellent final pointers, as well as some extremely insightful tips should you make it to the next round of the competition. You can read all the articles in the series here.

Now in its eleventh year, the Young Lions competition searches for the best young talent in the media, marketing, and creative industries to represent Australia at the 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

All entries will be assessed by a team of over 60 high profile industry judges, with successful entrants taking part in a second round 24-hour brief.

Today, we’re chatting with the rather hilarious Ben Grant. He’s given us the inside scoop to help this year’s entrants put their best creative foot forward.

When did you win/what category?

“If you’re not first, you’re last.” – Will Ferrel, Talladega Nights

Well, we came second.

But unlike Will, we didn’t lose our career, best friend or redneck wife because of a French Sacha Baron Cohen. See, coming second at Young Lions is just as good as winning. Because the “runner up” prize is a free trip to Singapore to compete in Young Spikes – where we went on to win gold in Digital.

What advice would you give this year’s entrants about entering? Anything you’d wish you’d known when preparing your response? Any tips for the live pitch?

Tip #1 Break the technology and be provocative. Do something you can’t with the medium, because often the client is the tech platform you need to use; Snapchat this year for instance.

Tip #2 Once you have a killer idea, use the brief to hold the judges hostage. Keep referring back to the brief and show how you’ve answered it perfectly and then some.

Tip #3 The 24hr brief is equivalent to three working days… without sleep. So don’t freak out. Just be decisive about your ideas early on, then build them out when you’re sleep deprived. Lockdown a schedule, you don’t want to be coming up with ideas at 4am.

How important is Cannes Young Lions for the industry?

Often the briefs with the greatest creative opportunities are the briefs with short turnarounds and no time for the client to say no to an idea – they haven’t got weeks to doubt their gut.

So being able to come up with big ideas quickly and on brief is a skill that CD’s want for when those fastballs come in.

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