 The
annual Ad Awards portray the best in ad- vertising. Last year's topmost
creations were made public recently at the awards presentation organised
by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing.
Ad Awards see creativity at its best. And the best of them all gets
the highest award - the Campaign of the Year.
Winning this coveted award this year was a multi-media campaign created
by Phoenix Advertising for the Sri Lanka Federation of the Visually Handicapped
and sponsored by Ceylinco Group. The Federation needed a building badly.
The Government had given them a block of land but they had no money
to build. They approached Ceylinco Chairman Lalith Kotelawala who responded
with a donation of Rs. 2 million and commissioned Phoenix to conceptualise
and produce a Public Service advertising campaign to raise funds. A sense
of obligation was to be instilled among the public towards the less fortunate
brethren.
Phoenix Advertising developed a campaign of great emotional appeal.
It portrayed poignantly, the plight of the blind when faced with crossing
the road, lighting a stove, earning a living. Four Press advertisements
were created. Two television spots vividly potrayed a blind girl's difficulties
in preparing a meal. A Direct Mail letter carrying message that "closing
one's eyes to the problem won't make it go away", was sent in a box
with a pair of dark glasses, symbolic of the blind. A poster and a brochure
were also produced.
The Avurudu mood
Sinhala Avurudde - Mangala gi sadde
Sinhala Avurudde - Unsili hema pedde
The song which Sunil Shantha sang way back in the
forties remains the most popular Avurudu song after 50 years. Jayantha
Weerasekera's composition brings out vividly the happenings during the
Sinhala Avurudda, the country's great cultural festival. He has
captured, in the simplest of words, the festive mood that prevails right
round the country during Avurudu.
Sinhalayange Jatika Ulelai Me - This is the national festival
of the Sinhalese.
Sinhala Susirith Rekena vedena dina me - The time good Sinhala
customs are protected and keep growing.
Sinhala sellam hema gama rata pethire - Sinhala games are a common
sight everywhere.
Sinhala rasawath kevili pevili gedore - Tasty Sinhala sweetmeats
are found in every home.
He lists out the tasty dishes - Kevum, Kokis, Aluwa, Atirasa, Mung
Kevili, Kiri Bath, Kiri Dosi.
What do the folks do?
Dressed in new clothes, carrying presents they visit the relatives.
They offer betel to the elders and beg of them to pardon them for any
wrongdoings during the year.
What does all this mean? Parents, children, relatives and friends. They
all get together and enjoy themselves showing a fine sense of comaraderie.
It's a symbol of unity.
Well done CTC!
It's nice to see CTC back on track so to say, lending
a hand to promote art and literature. Having helped many a dramatist, writer
and film-maker over the years, CTC had virtually kept away from these activities
in recent years except for an occasional sponsorship ('Nava Kalakaruvo',
for example), concentrating on sports promotions. The decision to sponsor
'Ours to Protect Sri Lanka's Biodiversity Heritage' is indeed praiseworthy.
Author Rohan Pethiyagoda admits that his book would not have been published,
or for that matter even written, if not for CTC. He relates how he approached
CTC to sponsor a book on butterflies. "After all, tobacco cultivation
uses lot of insecticide and butterflies are insects. You owe them,"
he had said. CTC did not agree. Tobacco growers in Sri Lanka use no insecticide
whatever: They use neem (Kohomba), he was told. CTC suggested writing
on a much wider subject than butterflies.
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