Students from the Raúl Pernias Viñas and Faculty and Marc Usón Brugal represent Spain in the Young Lions Print of Cannes

The alumni the Faculty of Communication Sciences, Raúl Pernias Viñas and Marc Usón Brugal have been the winners of the Young Lions Print Spain competition and will represent Spain at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the most prestigious festival of creativity and advertising communication in the world, which will be held this June in Cannes (France).

The two creative young people, who are currently working at Ogilvy Spain, won the national phase of the contest with an outdoor advertising proposal developed in just 48 hours from a real briefing. The Young Lions competition puts the emerging talent of the advertising sector to the test and is aimed at professionals under 30 years old, who must respond with a creative idea to a challenge posed by an organization or brand.

In this edition, the briefing asked to develop a campaign capable of getting the external advertising supports of JCDecaux, in the city of Barcelona, to serve to make visible the social impact of the city and change the perception of the public. The winning proposal of Pernias i Usón opted for an outdoor advertising campaign with the concept “Cutting Edge” with which to allude to Barcelona as a pioneering city in social and historical milestones.

The Young Lions Print category in Spain is promoted by JCDecaux and coordinated by SCOPEN. The participating teams compete at the national level and the winning project obtains the right to represent the country in the Young Lions international final, integrated within the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. This event brings together professionals, agencies and creative companies from all over the world annually and is considered one of the benchmark events in the global advertising industry.

This international recognition consolidates the emerging trajectory of the two students of the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the UAB and reinforces the presence of talent trained in the university in the field of international advertising creativity.

After knowing their victory at the Young Lions Print Spain, Raúl Pernias  Viñas and Marc Usón Brugal explain how they lived the creative process of the campaign, what it means to represent Spain in Cannes and how they see the future of advertising creativity.Final del formulariInici del formulariFinal del formulari

1. How did you face the challenge of creating a campaign in just 48 hours from a real briefing?

Facing such a challenge is a matter of two things: planning and being very awake. It was not an easy briefing, but we started exchanging ideas from the early morning, with proposals that came and went, notes and a lot of research. It was not until Saturday night that we found the winning idea. From that moment on, it was time to execute it and create the graphic pieces; it was time to find the most concise and shocking way possible. We had the idea, we had to make it work. This occupied us part of Saturday night and all Sunday, time that we also had to take advantage of to create the document that you explain and defend the idea. All that was left was to deliver everything and prepare us for the presentation in angles before the jury.

In fact, of these two points, being awake was even more important, since during those hours we only thought about it. We had to be very attentive to any stimulus, word, form, insight or image that could serve us. We believe that it is the way to make the most of time, trust each other and leave us space to think.

 

2. What was the main idea or insight behind the winning campaign and what did you want to convey with it?

The campaign is called Cutting Edge.  It is a graphic proposal that takes advantage of external advertising to explain the pioneering character in the social field that Barcelona has. And we do it by playing with the design of the architecture of the Eixample and its carved corners, a characteristic feature of the city known as the famous chamfer. In this way, we link in the same concept the character of the city with the city itself: cutting edge is an expression that refers both to the avant-garde and to the literal action of "cutting the corners".

 

3. What does it mean for you to represent Spain at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity?

For us, it is a pride to be able to participate in an event of this magnitude and, at the same time, a huge responsibility. As we learned in the degree, Cannes Lions is one of the most important and recognized advertising festivals in the world. Therefore, having this opportunity just one year after completing studies is a great gateway to the professional world and recognition by the sector. Now it is time to show that in Spain and Barcelona there is high-level advertising and that the new generations are stepping on hard.

 

4. Do you think that outside advertising will continue to play a key role in the future of advertising creativity? What opportunities does this format offer new creatives today?

Outdoor advertising is a fantastic medium, the height of creativity by having to reduce an idea and a concept to the minimum expression. As creatives, facing such a briefing is a challenge that demands great power of synthesis. This synthesis can go unnoticed or it can be a slap in the face, of those that impact you and make you say “Wow, that is simple, but that is powerful!”. When you get this, you're doing good outdoor advertising.

And, without a doubt, after a few years of decline, street advertising is reviving and offers brands a way to express themselves in a creative, innovative and forceful way. It is a format that allows us, as creatives, to see the real value of our ideas and show brands that advertising is not only about metrics and numbers. Advertising is about impacting and connecting.