The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will honour Indian ad men and brother-duo Piyush and Prasoon Pandey by presenting them with the coveted Lion of St Mark for their significant and outstanding contribution to creativity in the industry.
According to the Managing Director of Cannes Lions, Jose Papa, “Piyush and Prasoon have undoubtedly made the world pay attention to creativity in India. While they are famous and rightly so in their homeland, I’m thrilled that we have this opportunity to celebrate their contributions to our industry on the Cannes Lions stage.”
While Piyush Pandey is the Executive Chairman and Creative Director of Ogilvy South Asia, his younger brother Prasoon is a highly respected ad-filmmaker whose name has repeatedly featured in global rankings of top film directors.
The Cannes Lions’ official website also quotes the Pandey brothers’ reactions after the announcement was made.
Paying a tribute to Indiahis colleagues and friends, an elated Piyush Pandey said, “This is a huge, huge honour. I am humbled and immensely grateful to the people of India. It is the richness and diversity of this nation that gave my brother and me the opportunity to learn and to create good work. I am also indebted to my clients, my colleagues and Ogilvy who gave me the support and the freedom to fly. Thank you Cannes Lions for giving every creative professional in my country a reason to believe that if Prasoon and Piyush can do it, so can they.”
“The Lion of St Mark is an absolutely incredible and stunning honour for two 10-15 year-old kids from Jaipur who were just having a blast playing Emperors and Thugs, Dragons and Demons, dreaming stories and playing them out with some far more imaginative and talented friends. We were so engrossed in that play that we forgot that we were well into our 50s and 60s! This is such a huge and humbling honour for us; I just hope it doesn’t make the kids inside us conscious,” Prasoon Pandey added,
