Pixel Ads wins Platinum at USA's Hermes Awards
A fledgling boutique creative agency Pixel Ads, started in Kandy just six months ago, has won a Platinum Award for Advertising and Marketing at the annual USbased Hermes Awards.
According to the agency's founder Sanjaya Rathnayake, who previously studied brand development in Japan, only two companies from India and Pixel Ads from Sri Lanka won awards across this region.
Also, he revealed that he got the idea to enter this awards show from local agency Triad, which won a similar award in 2009. Adding to this, he noted that he wanted to show that local clients, and especially corporates, that they could get world class service and design at affordable prices.
Elaborating further on his agency's Hermes Awards winning entry, Mr. Rathnayake noted that it encompassed a far ranging re-design of logos and packaging for Kandy-based Casual Clothing, wherein all aspects, from the corporate logo, to the individual apparel brand tags, were updated in terms of colours, fonts, etc. to facilitate a more youthful look. He also mentioned that this refreshed branding for Casual Clothing's various product portfolios, which already comprised one of the country's top selling ladies massmarket denim brands, "Hot Look", had additionally resulted in not only increased sales but al- so, eventually, a higher price point per sale.
Expressing his desire to take on the local offices of multinational agencies, which he said were charging their clients as much Rs. 100,000 for developing a logo; he signalled that one of his main reasons for setting up shop in Kandy, instead of Colombo, was due to the country's socalled second city featuring a number of digital and offset printers without almost no reputed advertising agencies. It also emerged that Pixel Ads were currently providing a full range of creative, brand servicing, production and multimedia services for around 30 local clients, including top Sri Lankan brand Nature's Secrets.
At the same time, Mr. Rathnayake added that his future plans included adding more corporate level clients to his roster, while also lending a hand to local entrepreneurs who could not afford the high fees charged by the local offices of multinational agencies. Furthermore, he also revealed plans to soon go international, opening an office in Dubai. This, he indicated, was an ideal city for international expansion because it was still developing while also holding a lot of opportunity, especially with Expo 2020 Dubai upcoming, which was so far serviced almost completely by multinational advertising agencies, so there was a niche for his cost-conscious offerings.
(JH)