Winners Announced For 48 Hour Youtube Cannes Young Lions Ad Contest

ANDREW DOBBIE (UK) AND RACHEL WOLAK (USA) WILL COMPETE IN THE 2010 CANNES YOUNG LIONS FILM COMPETITION AS TEAM ‘YOUTUBE’

Make an ad. Spread the word. Go to Cannes. www.youtube.com/canneslions

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YouTube and Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival have today announced that Andrew Dobbie (25) who works at JWT Manchester, United Kingdom, and Rachel Wolak (28) who works at Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Colorado, USA, have won the viral ad competition to promote WaterAid and will become ‘Team YouTube’, the 40th team to compete in this year’s Young Lions Film Competition in Cannes.

WaterAid, which works to bring safe water and sanitation to some of the world’s poorest communities, was revealed as the 2010 competition’s charity partner and unveiled a brief on 15 May for young creatives across the world to create a short ad of up to one minute and upload it onto YouTube to promote their ‘Don’t Let it Drop’ campaign. The ads aimed to get viewers to sign WaterAid’s petition demanding that world leaders do not let water and sanitation drop from the international agenda when they meet to review the progress of the Millennium Development Goals in September.

Creatives were given 48 hours to submit their ad and then had a further two weeks to make their YouTube ad go viral by any means necessary and obtain as many votes as possible.

The competition received 530 entries and over 75,600 votes in two weeks. A panel of worldwide creative leaders assessed the quality of the ads over the last week and selected Andrew Dobbie and Rachel Wolak as the winners based on the overall creative execution of the brief and the videos' public votes. They will now unite as ‘Team YouTube’ and will receive an all expenses paid trip to Cannes to attend the International Advertising Festival and join 39 other teams from around the world to compete in the prestigious Young Lions Film competition which offers a fantastic exposure for young creatives looking to carve a role in the advertising or film industry.

• Andrew Dobbie’s winning entry: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxqr8AJbdsM
• Rachel Wolak’s winning entry: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBwhrWHiUK0

Anna Bateson, Director of YouTube marketing EMEA, said, “We are delighted that this competition has drawn a healthy level of interest for the second year running and look forward to seeing 'Team YouTube' compete with the best young talent at Cannes.”
Chris Baylis, Executive Creative Director of TribalDDB Amsterdam and one of the contest judges, said, “It’s inspiring and exciting to see how, in just 48 hours, well executed creative ideas can be concepted and produced. Congratulations to the two winners whose ads had a unique approach that not only tackled the brief but were interesting enough to share and talk about.”

Joe Downie, Website Manager of WaterAid commented, “We’ve been really impressed with the amazing concepts people came up with. Together, the hundreds of films have created a real awareness-raising buzz for WaterAid and our ‘Don’t Let it Drop’ campaign. Thanks to all those who took part and congratulations to the two winners.”

Notes to Editors
1. To speak to Andrew Dobbie or Rachel Wolak please contact Ben Novick at YouTube on +44 207 881 4692 or at bnovick@google.com or Amanda Benfell at Cannes Lions on +44 207 728 4040 or at amandab@canneslions.com.

2. Launched in 2006, The Young Lions Film Competition is an integral part of the week-long Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival which sees teams of two from 39 countries aged 28 or under, who have just 48 hours to shoot and edit a one minute commercial on behalf of the client - a charity or not-for-profit organisation. The experience is intense but winning can be rewarding both personally and professionally.

3. About WaterAid: WaterAid is an international charity working in 26 countries around the world to bring clean water, safe sanitation and hygiene education to some of the world’s poorest communities. Their ‘Don’t Let it Drop’ campaign calls on world leaders not to forget their Millennium Development Goal commitments to water and sanitation when they meet in September to review progress. Find out more at www.wateraid.org/drop.

4. The YouTube Contest Judges were:
Chris Baylis, Executive Creative Director - TribalDDB Amsterdam
Edmund Choe, Executive Creative Director, Greater China - Saatchi & Saatchi
Colleen DeCourcy, Chief Digital Officer - TBWA Worldwide
Brian Elliott, Founder and Chief Executive - Amsterdam Worldwide
José Mollá, Co-founder, Co-chief Creative Officer - La Comunidad

5. The timelines for the competition were:
Friday 14 May (midnight GMT): brief unveiled by global charity
Sunday 16 May (midnight GMT): close submissions/open votes
Sunday 16 May (midnight GMT) to Sunday 23 May (midnight 23 May): Spread the word and vote phase
Sunday 23 May: Vote phase finished
Monday 24 - Thursday 27 May: Judging
Tuesday 1 June: Winners announced
Sunday 20 – Saturday 26 June: attend the 57th International Advertising Festival and compete in the Young Lions Film Competition