Cannes Young Lions and YouTube... And The Winners are...

YouTube and The Cannes Young Lions competition has announced the winners that will compete on the world stage among the other under 28 years of age talent from around the world.

According to the YouTube Young Lions site, it was a difficult choice for the judges and a close-run finish. the sheer quality of the entries received, both in terms of creativity and execution, as well as the work and time that went into getting votes and views was nothing short of outstanding. The competition received 692 entries and over 100,000 votes in two weeks.

Adeline Chew (27) from Malaysia and Guy Dayan (27) from Israel have won the viral ad competition to promote Oxfam's climate change campaign and will now become 'Team YouTube', the 39th team competing in the 2009 Young Lions Film Competition.

Rory Sutherland, Vice-chairman, Ogilvy Group UK and one of the contest judges, said: "It is chastening to all of us to see that good ideas and excellent executions can be created in 48 hours."

Creatives were given 48 hours to submit their one-minute ad and then had a further two weeks to make their YouTube ad go viral by any means necessary.

A panel of worldwide creative leaders have been assessing the quality of the ads over the last week and have selected Adeline and Guy as the winners based upon their ads' creativity, number of views and video ratings. They will now unite as 'Team YouTube' and will receive an all expenses paid trip to Cannes to attend the International Advertising Festival and compete as the 38th team in the prestigious Young Lions Film competition.

Anna Bateson, head of marketing for YouTube in EMEA, said: "We are delighted with the creative community's response to this competition. Around 700 young creatives from across the world used YouTube as a way to create innovative and powerful ads for Oxfam's climate change campaign and then made it go viral. We are now sending a unique YouTube team to the Young Lions Film Competition where they will be competing with the finest young creative minds."

Nicky Wimble, Oxfam's Creative Communications Specialist, said: "We at Oxfam were amazed by the overwhelming participation of creatives from around the world. This once again shows that citizens in every country recognise the urgency and importance that leaders sign an ambitious, fair and safe climate deal at Copenhagen."

Both winning entries have creative qualities, except I have seen the Bob Dylan inspired "flashcard" solution and there were so many that used this execution that the concept of the message was never clear. Adeline's entry fell short for me in that way.

I am a much bigger fan of Guy's entry. I truly think the engagement factor you have when the video plays and asks you to click for change and you are then taken to the Oxfam UK site were you engage in the many stories that need our attention. (Please go to the link provided for the full effect of the click through)

Here are the winners:

Adeline's video entitled 'Listen, Don't Watch'



Guy's video (and A View From An AdGuy Winner) entitled 'The YouTube Climate Thermometer"