Bangladeshi selected as judge at Cannes Lions Festival

The world’s largest and most recognized advertising festival takes place every year in Cannes, France. The festival is often dubbed the Oscars of the advertising world and sees entries from over 190 countries.

Yet, when people think of great advertising, minds often wander towards Europe or the Americas. However, this year, history has been made, as the Cannes Lions committee has selected for a Bangladeshi citizen as a jury member for the first time since the festival’s inception in 1954. The selected judge is Mohammad Akrum Hossain, a Dhaka based, Bangladeshi advertiser.

Akrum currently works at Grey Advertising Bangladesh as a Group Creative Director and is one of the few Bangladeshis to win multiple Cannes and Spikes awards on his work with local and multinational brands.

He has previously been selected as a judge by quite a few international festivals. The most prominent of which are AdFest in South Korea, Clio Festival in Japan, and Commwards in Bangladesh.

However, it is important to note that such an achievement for the Bangladeshi advertising industry is nothing to be taken lightly. After all, our local advertising industry is a great tool for local and foreign brands to stand out and flourish, where local artists, writers, directors, and strategists tirelessly work behind the scenes, to not only create effective creative communications, but also aid in fueling the nation’s economy.

Only this time, one of these directors, Mohammad Akrum Hossain will be sitting in the judging panel at the world’s most prestigious creative festival. The success of the Bangladeshi advertising industry, and the achievements of our local ad heroes is sure to be an inspiration for the budding creative personnel of the nation and will definitely portray Bangladesh as a growing creative powerhouse on the world’s stage.