Rising stars of the communication industry captivated the jury with their project “The Art Can Contain It” and earned the prestigious award at the Young Lions Croatia competition. This year, the competition once again aimed to highlight young Croatian talent while also introducing the audience to the new artistic program and exhibition-performance space of the Zagreb-based association KONTEJNER.
Young Lions Croatia is a competition where the new generation of the national communication industry competes for the title of the best young creatives. By winning the prestigious Grand Prix, the young lions gain an exceptional opportunity to compete with top peers from around the world as Croatia’s representatives at the global Cannes Young Lions competition, experiencing the world-renowned Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. This year’s 24-hour competition challenge was won by Ana Csik and Mate Šola (McCann Zagreb) with their project The Art Can Contain It.
In the premises of the Zagreb Innovation Center (ZICER), more than 100 competitors in pairs developed solutions in six categories: Design, Digital, PR, Marketers, Media, and Print. The list of winning teams is as follows:
- PR Category:
- Winners: Ana Csik and Mate Šola (McCann Zagreb) – also Grand Prix winners
- Second Place: Nika Novak and Lara Paša (CTA komunikacije)
- Third Place (tie): Matea Ivančić and Izabela Klobučar (MinusMinus Agency) & Jana Cvetko and Klara Rajnović (Komunikacijski laboratorij)
- Digital Category:
- First Place: Ivana Lovrić and Tomislav Kučina (Degordian)
- Second Place: Paula Grabar and Dajana Cvjetković (Fabula)
- Third Place: Renata Blek and Laura Vukelić (I TO NIJE SVE!)
- Design Category:
- First Place: Luka Mitar and Matija Marić (Envy)
- Second Place: Ana Jug and Petra Kardaš (ForgeBIT)
- Third Place: Sara Pejaković and Erol Čindrak (Ured za ideje)
- Media Category:
- First Place: Hana Malobabić and Dario Ambruš (Imago Ogilvy)
- Second Place: Anamarija Igrec and Petra Sabljić (dentsu Croatia)
- Marketers Category:
- No winners, but finalists: Karla Ivezić and Matea Glad (A1 Hrvatska)
- Print Category:
- No winners or finalists
The award ceremony for the winners will take place at DK festival on 16 May at 9 PM. All interested attendees will have the opportunity to see the finalist and winner presentations on the same day.
Perhaps the most challenging competition yet. HURA surprised us all with their choice of client, and the Velesajam was packed with talented young lions with sharpened claws, making this year particularly exciting and our victory even sweeter. Thank you to the expert jury for recognizing our idea as the winning one, to HURA for yet another excellent organization, and to Jadrana from KONTEJNER for being part of this story and presenting her organization in the best light, said the winners, Ana Csik and Mate Šola.
A key feature of the competition is its non-profit nature — every year, the client whose brief competitors work on is a non-profit organization or civil society association, which receives the winning creative solution. This year, competitors developed solutions for KONTEJNER – Bureau of Contemporary Art Practice, whose goal was to introduce the audience to the new artistic program in their new space.
Being part of the Young Lions Croatia jury was an incredibly valuable experience. For KONTEJNER, a non-profit association that has been producing contemporary art projects for over 20 years, it was fascinating to see how young creative talents from the marketing industry approached the challenge of developing a solution for our organization. We recognize that their task was demanding, as it required a shift in perspective — thinking beyond commercial projects and focusing creativity on a non-profit initiative. Interdisciplinarity is an integral part of our contemporary artistic practice, and collaboration with the creative industry opens up new exciting approaches. We look forward to continuing our work with the winning team and developing a project that will attract new audiences to our new space in the VJESNIK complex in Zagreb, said Jadrana Ćurković (KONTEJNER), marketing and communications consultant, and client representative.
The selection of this year’s best works was made by a distinguished jury, including the jury President Sean Poropat (Studio Sonda), the client representative Jadrana Ćurković (KONTEJNER), Lucija Dorotić (404 agency), Nebojša Grbačić (CVOKE), Anamarija Horaček (MMB Media Agentur), Alen Kekić (I TO NIJE SVE!), Marina Knežević (Kraš), Marijana Novak (Pro media group), Zvonimir Pelko (JGL), Ivica Skočić (McCann Zagreb), and Petar Tanta (CTA komunikacije).
The competition was supported by Shutterstock, which provided resources for the competitors. After this unforgettable adventure among Croatian teams, and with the upcoming experience at the Cannes Young Lions global competition, the young lions will soon have the chance to test their skills on a global stage.