Admen Piyush and Prasoon Pandey to be honoured with Cannes' Lion of St Mark award
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity recently announced that Indian ad men and brother-duo Piyush Pandey and Prasoon Pandey will be awarded the coveted Lion of St Mark for their significant and outstanding contribution to creativity in the industry.
Piyush Pandey (left) and his brother Prasoon Pandey. Image via Facebook
According to the official website of Cannes Lions, the Managing Director of Cannes Lions, Jose Papa said, "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.”
ANI, in one of its reports, adds to this development and says the Pandey brothers will be the first Asians (hence, the first Indians) to be awarded with the Lion of St Mark.
Piyush Pandey, is the Executive Chairman and Creative Director of Ogilvy South Asia while his younger brother Prasoon Pandey is a highly respected ad-film maker 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.
Piyush Pandey paid a tribute to India, his colleagues and friends by saying, “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.”
Prasoon Pandey added, “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.”
