Russian Victory at Cannes Lions Festival

Russian Victory at Cannes Lions Festival

MOSCOW, June 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --



MegaFon's innovative project wins Russia's first Grand Prix



MegaFon's Olympic pavilion won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions festival, a major
event for professionals in the advertising and creative industries. This is the first time
in 61 years that a nominee from Russia has won the main prize.



(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140623/693716 )




MegaFon OJSC is a leading Russian telecommunication service provider, operating in all
segments of the telecommunications markets in Russia. The MegaFaces project, designed
specifically for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, has been one of the year's
marketing sensations. The interactive high-tech design is the first of its kind anywhere
in the world and breaks new ground in modern architecture and digital technologies. The
pavilion's facade contains 11,000 actuators with LED lights that extend to create
three-dimensional portraits that are the size of a three-storey building: 8x6x2 metres.
Over 140,000 fans' faces from all over the world were shown on the MegaFaces facade during
the Olympic Games in Sochi.



The MegaFaces project was a remarkable success at the Olympics and was nominated in
the Design, Cyber and Innovation categories in Cannes. In the latter category, the project
was a deserving winner, gaining the jury's vote. The awards ceremony took place in the
Palais des Festivals in Cannes. The sought-after award went to the project team: MegaFon;
Asif Khan, creative director and the idea's creator; Axis, the project agency; and iart,
the creators of the interactive facade and scanning technology.



Mikhail Dubin, Executive Director at MegaFon, said: "This is a fantastic victory!
Innovation and development are in MegaFon's DNA and MegaFaces is clear evidence of this.
This project was very important for us, as was everything associated with the Olympic
Games in Sochi. We are proud to have made a significant contribution to its success and
are delighted that our Olympic MegaFaces project continues to fascinate people around the
world. It is a huge honour for us to be part of Russia's first victory in the history of
the Grand Prix. I would like to thank and congratulate all those who participated in this
wonderful project and whose ideas and hard work made MegaFaces a reality."



The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is held from 15 to 21 of June in
Cannes, France. It is the most authoritative event in the advertising industry. 37,427
applications from 97 countries were submitted this year alone.



In 2009, MegaFon became the General Partner of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and the
XI Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi. The Company built a strong communications
infrastructure network on Olympic sites and provided athletes and guests with quality
communications services, including high-speed 4G Internet. The MegaFaces pavilion became
one of the most visited sites in the Olympic Park. In June 2014, the project won the
Silver Mercury annual award in seven categories; the award is given to the best and most
audacious projects in the marketing services and advertising industries. MegaFaces' award
haul is a record in the history of the award.



The project team:



AXIS Agency (Moscow) - the project agency.



Asif Khan (London) - creative director and the idea's creator.



iart Company (Basel) - creator of the interactive facade and scanning technologies.



Deluxe Interactive (Moscow) - developer of the registration application, developer for
the mobile and server parts of the project.



Scott Eaton (London) - technical director and anatomy consultant from Pixar Animation
Studios; creator of the CPP application to improve facial recognition.



AdWatch (Moscow) - project creator and host.






Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140623/693716


Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140623/693716
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
MegaFon

CONTACT: Peter Lidov, Director, Public Relations, +7(495)504-50-20, e-mail: pr@megafon.ru


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