Mara Lăcătuș and Monica Chirilă (Digital) empowered by Invizbilii.ro, Teodora Bonea and Andrei Popa (Design) and Eduard Dica - Roger Hatchuel Academy will represent Romanian talent at Cannes Lions 2024, after winning the local competitions.

The Digital & Design Teams won the local Young Lions 2024 competition out of 25 teams - the biggest number of participants in #TheAlternativeSchool’s past 19 years, after their solutions to the 3 Module’s briefs have been evaluated by an internal jury. 

At the beginning of the next week, they will work on a 24 brief, alongside creatives from around the world and they will attend the seminars, workshops, parties and galas for the entire festival.

Young Lions Digital - meet the winners

Mara -  Social Media Manager at OBSENTUM & DELIRIUM and Monica, Communication Consultant at ROGALSKI DAMASCHIN PR, alias Co Depart team will compete in the Young Lions Digital competition, category empowered by Invizibilii.ro, a platform aiming to catalyze evolution, materialize potential and change lives for those in vulnerable life situations.

The duo connected during their undergraduate studies in Advertising where they frequently collaborated on various projects. Their teamwork was notably successful, earning them a second place in PR Arena, a regional public relations competition. During this time, they participated in the Erasmus program, studying Luxury Marketing at Sciences Po Paris, one of France's most prestigious universities. Moreover, they deepened their studies abroad through internships that allowed them to explore the luxury sector from diverse perspective: Monica became familiar with the savoir-faire of the luxury leather goods house Delvaux as a Retail Coordinator for stores within Paris, while Mara contributed to the creation of the Prada Beauty brand at L`Oreal Paris as a Product & Project Manager Assistant.

‘We entered the competition for the opportunity to propose solutions we love so much that we dream of seeing them implemented, rather than for the prize. We are grateful that this endeavor has given us the chance to represent Romania at Cannes Young Lions, a unique experience for any communication specialist’, said Mara and Monica.

Young Lions Digital - sponsor's talk

‘In The Invisibles program (invizibilii.ro) we shed light on the vulnerable social categories, often overlooked in the communities, and provide them with resources for social and professional integration. Consistent with our goals and values, we were glad to help the Romanian young talents becoming visible on the world’ stage and have the chance to fulfil their creative potential in an international context. We were happy to team up with #TheAlternativeSchool and benefit from young talents’ creativity, accesing over 25 out-of-the-box solutions in terms of impact for beneficiaries and reaching out for the right audiences, in our quest to grow The Invisibles program’, said Ciprian Sandu, from Invizibilii.ro.

Mara Lacatus & Monica Chirila - Young Lions Digital Competitors empowered by Invizibilii.ro, Ciprian Sandu - Invizibilii.ro

Young Lions Design - meet the winners

Teodora - Copywriter at CirclesColab and Andrei, Art Director at Golin, aka The Exes team will compete in  Young Lions Design. Teodora and Andrei are a pair of self-taught creatives who simply click. Working together in their previous agency (hence the name "The Exes"), they realized they resonate with the same type of insights, while being different enough to critique each other when one of them falls blindly in love with an idea. Teodora & Andrei successfully attended #TheAlternativeSchool in 2023 and they are familiar with international performance. In 2022, out of 87 international teams, they won Silver at the Young Eurobest Festival of Creativity. 

‘Even though we're no longer a team at the same agency, we've always continued to work together. We didn't call ourselves The Exes for nothing. In 2022, we won Silver at the Eurobest 48-hour competition, and now we can't wait to give our best together in the 24-hour challenge at Cannes’, said Teodora & Andrei.

Roger Hatchuel Academy - meet the winner

Representing the 19th generation of youngsters selected by #TheAlternativeSchool laboratories, Eduard Dică is the winner of the competition dedicated to talent under 25 and will represent Romania at The Roger Hatchuel Academy at Cannes Lions this year.

Eduard, a master's student in Digital Communication and Innovation at the Faculty of Communication and Public Relations within SNSPA, works as a Copywriter at v8 Interactive.

‘Advertising needs Gen Z to create content for our generation. I'm willing to do it the right way. I think that our generation has something to say in the industry and Roger Hatchuel Academy will help me to prove it sooner than I expected,’ says Eduard.

Ranking 2024: 80+ enrolled, 25 Teams Competing

In the Future Proof Creativity Module, focusing on relevant trends in design, social media, Artificial Intelligence, and gamevertising that took place in March and April, guided by more than 30 elite speakers active in the creative hubs of the planet, there were over 80 applicants – creatives from network or independent agencies – McCann, Tribal Worldwide, Ogilvy, GMP&U, The Script, formr Agency, v8 Interactive, Seven Media – freelancers and master’s degree students from communication and design faculties from influential university centers in Romania, as well as seniors over 30, les interested in the competitions, but willing to update and upgrade their knowledge with the latest in the field.

50 participants applied for the competition. 25 teams solved  INVIZIBILII.RO, Pomar Dos Sabores & a partner-foundation briefs. The 2024 shortlist ranking is: CoDepart, The Exes, Team SOUP, IGUANAS, The Script, OpenDoorStudio, Fluff Inc, Scandal, Impact, Tribal, Rebel Wave, Chicas26, The Migrants. 

All the teams and their solutions can be explored on thealternativeschool.com website. 

The winners' stories will come to life through exclusive interviews to be published in the upcoming weeks on the news platform at thealternativeschool.com

A Word from the Founder

Every single year since 2005 we do our best to offer a world class type of content and platforms to enable Romanian talent to refine potential, transforming it into a splendid reality, be it in their everyday work or in the most sought after international competitions. I am delighted by the number of talent still interested to perform, by the diversity of the international performers involved in the learning process, by the quality of the winners work and by the valuable alliances we were able to forge this year - kudos Invizibilii.ro, Phoenix Media & The One Cotroceni. #NeverBetter. Here is for the next 20 years -)”, said Teodora Migdalovici, #TheAlternativeSchool’s founder.  

The first event to celebrate the local winners and the latest creative content worldwide is July 31, during The Future of Creativity, focusing on contemporary trends on CSR, Visual creativity, AI vs EQ, Technology and Creative Data. 

The professional photoshoot announcing the School’ performers wears Manole Sava’s artistic signature, representing Green Mind Studio.

History

Launched in 2005, with a focus on elite creativity, #TheAlternativeSchool is an educational platform that has been organizing consistent international programs and competitions for over 19 years. Through its founder, the school is constantly fueling efforts to lobby for the local industry in global contexts. Among the thousands of creatives and executives trained within #TheAlternativeSchool laboratories, a significant number have gained international recognition on major festival stages, evolving to become the current leaders of the local creative industry