ADC Switzerland wants to represent Switzerland at Cannes Lions
In an open letter, ADC Switzerland responds to Weischer.Media’s «surprising and last-minute» announcement that the Young Lions will be limited to the Media category. The association has offered to take over representation in the future.
As of next year, Switzerland will no longer be represented at the Young Lions competitions in Cannes. On Tuesday, WerbeWeischer Switzerland announced that the search for the best young talent in the film, print and digital categories will no longer be pursued for the time being and that the focus will now only be on the media category (Werbewoche.ch reported).
The fact that the other youth categories have been dropped is of course a talking point. ADC Switzerland has now also commented on the issue in an open letter.
According to ADC Switzerland, the announcement came as a "surprise and at short notice" - especially in view of the qualifying competition that ends at the end of August - and the decision to reduce the Young Lions competitions to just the Media Young Lions is "incomprehensible".
ADC Switzerland also writes about fears that are coming true that Switzerland "is only being treated as an appendage of Germany". As a representative of the entire festival, one cannot seriously refer to its core business and simply leave out all other disciplines. Not only the many young creatives, but also the entire Swiss communication and advertising industry would suffer from these measures, as further training and talent development are central to the investment security of clients.
From the numerous discussions that ADC Switzerland has held with various associations, partners, agencies and clients over the past few days, there seems to be "great solidarity" to continue the Young Lions Competition in all existing categories. ADC Switzerland has offered to "immediately take over the representation" of Switzerland at Cannes Lions, as Weischer.Media "is apparently unable to bear the investment in the Young Lions competitions". Every effort is to be made to hold the "qualifying competition (ADC Young Creatives Award) for the Young Lions Competition in all categories in January 2020 after all."
The letter was signed by the Board of ADC Switzerland and its members, the Federation of Public Relations Agencies in Switzerland BPRA, the KS/CS Communication Switzerland Presidium and the Swissfilm Association.
