Leo Burnett Solutions Colombo win commercial of the year at the Sumathi Awards

Leo Burnett Solutions Sri Lanka has won the ‘Commercial of the Year’ award at the prestigious Sumathi Awards, the biggest festival of the country’s television industry held recently at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium.

The commercial is for the Ceylon Steel Corporation’s brand ‘LANWA’ – which tells the story of the importance of a building to last through a dialogue between a grandfather and his grandson. The commercial evokes strong emotions and is well crafted to touch the hearts and minds of every Sri Lankan. 

Ranil De Silva, Managing Director, Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. said, “This award reaffirms that we understand Sri Lankan people and their behaviour and that we are intimately familiar with the Sri Lankan ethos. This is yet another achievement which we at Leo Burnett are very proud about as it further endorses our creative leadership. I am happy that we have continuously created award-winning work, which not only helps our client’s brands to succeed in the market, but also reinforces the fact that we know the Sri Lankan consumer intimately. I’d like to very specially thank Mr. Nandana Lokuvitharane, Chairman – LANWA and his team for giving us the opportunity to create this great commercial.”

Subhash Pinnapola who was the writer of the commercial as well as its Director said: “A Gold Sumathi award is a great accolade for us to win. It reaffirms that we are an international agency but an agency which is Sri Lankan at its heart as we understand Sri Lanka, its culture, people and local brands.”

The team behind the spot is Chrishani Kotelawela, Murtaza A. Tajbhoy, Shanesh Ratnaweerage, Wasim Akram, Manoj Dharmawardhane, Lalith Karunatilaka, Mehnaz Ilhamdeen, Mohamed Ikram and Neesha Piyasena. The commercial was produced by 24 Frames, a leading local production company.

The Sumathi Awards, now in its 16th year, recognizes outstanding work done on Sri Lankan TV ranging from teledramas and news programmes to documentaries and advertising. The Sumathi Awards applauds work which is derived from local insights and is truly Sri Lankan in its expression and thoughts.

Photo Caption: Ranil De Silva, Managing Director, Leo Burnett Solutions accepts the award.