The 4As in Sri Lanka has partnered with The Epica Awards to launch a special edition of the awards specifically for the country. It will take place in Colombo on August 16th and 17 th and will include a conference and an awards ceremony.
Mark Tungate, the editorial director of the Epica Awards ( who moderates the international jury) explained: “When Sri Lanka 4As President Sugibun Sathiamoorthy approached us about creating an Epica-branded event there, it quickly became obvious that he wanted to do something very much in the spirit of our international competition, i.e. bias-free and objective. We were impressed by his enthusiasm for the project, so we were delighted to help him and the 4As bring it to life.”
Sugibun Sathiamoorthy (President of the 4 As in Shri Lanka and co-founder, Managing Director/Head brands of the local creative agency Magic Mango) explained: “The last time we had a creative award show locally was 10 years ago. Since then, although Sri Lankan agencies have entered and won at international award shows, we really feel the absence of a local platform that gives advertising professionals an opportunity to showcase their work to a jury of international standards. This is essential to cultivate the competitive spirit that drives creativity.
More than ad industry a whole creative push nowadays in Shri Lanka
On the state of the creative industry in his country he added: “I would look at Sri Lankan creativity as something bigger than just advertising. In the past five-to-ten years, we have seen an explosion of Sri Lankan creativity in creative industries like music, music videos, gaming, writing, art, design, filmmaking, reality TV, online content and tech start-ups. Advertising finds itself no longer leading the creative charge, but rather having to keep up with these other industries, which I believe is a good thing because it doesn’t allow us to be complacent. I feel our own advertising creativity has not grown at this exponential pace, and therefore needs a bit of a push.”…”My personal ambition is to give the industry something that will motivate us to create better work for our clients and consumers. As the 4As President, I hope this will grow into a regional creative show since this is the first Epica Awards edition in South Asia.”
Creative prizes not judged by ad people make sense
“Advertising is not created for advertising people right? Therefore I think it’s important that we invite outside opinion and critique from other quarters to give us a fresh perspective, which is also unbiased. Otherwise we will always be patting each other on the back. The Epica Awards is the ideal platform because it is judged by journalists, but those who are recognized and respected by the advertising industry,” Sathiamoorthy underscored in an interview for Epica Awards published on their site.
Image over the headline.- Sugibun Sathiamoorthy (President of the 4 As in Shri Lanka and co-founder, Managing Director/Head brands of the local creative agency Magic Mango). © Magic Mango.
