After a decade of sponsoring the local leg of the Young Lions competition, Cinema advertising sales company Cinemark has had to withdraw sponsorship of
the South African Cannes Young Lions competition, due to challenges in funding the
prize – a trip to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity which takes place in France from 11 to 25 June this year.
“Over the years it has become challenging for Cinemark to fund the prize. In the
other 80 regions that run the Young Lions competition, the ad agencies or the winners themselves are expected to foot the bill for their trip to Cannes, while each year in South Africa, Cinemark has taken on this expense,’ explained Yvonne Diogo,
marketing manager and account executive of media sales at Cinemark.
Over the last 10 years Cinemark has sponsored the two local winners of the creative competition with festival delegate passes, return flights and accommodation. Diogo added that the depreciation of the rand had contributed to this difficult decision. “It would simply be unreasonable to continue to execute the competition in its current format, without follow-through on the prize that the competitors have become expectant of,’ she commented.
