Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Friday, 28 August 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
BBDO Lanka celebrated its fourth anniversary by cheering for Kumar Sangakkara at his farewell test and rewarding every four he hit in the match with a contribution to his charitable initiative ‘Bikes for Life’. 
Explained BBDO Lanka MD Santosh Menon, “We completed four years of our operation in Sri Lanka and continued with our mission to be a ‘Force for Good’ by coinciding our celebration with the celebration of Kumar Sangakkara’s illustrious career. He has been a true ambassador of cricket and a huge inspiration for sportsmen and women worldwide and we wanted to thank him by contributing to his ‘Bikes for Life’ initiative.”
“We first started a conversation in social media under #CheerFor4 seeking messages of congratulations for Sangakkara. We gave away five passes, free, to the BBDO corporate box at the P. Sara Oval to five lucky fans who wrote in. During the match, we had special invitees – our clients and friends – and the staff of BBDO Lanka who were invited to come to cheer for Sangakkara. And finally we made a contribution to Kumar Sangakkara’s ‘Bikes for Life’,” he continued.
Lakshan Fernando, one of the five lucky winners of a corporate pass, said: “It is a sad day for Sri Lanka and cricket worldwide as we bid farewell to one of the greatest sons of cricket. Sanga, thank you for all those wonderful memories. Your legacy will remain in our hearts forever,” adding, “And thank you BBDO Lanka for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this historic test cricket match.”
Kumar Sangakkara, expressing his thanks said, “I’d like to thank BBDO Lanka for the #CheerFor4 campaign cheering my farewell test and for the thoughtful contribution to ‘Bikes for Life’. I wish BBDO Lanka many more years of continued success in all that they do.”
Marketing Director of Fonterra Brands Lanka Roshan De Silva, who was also on hand to cheer for Sangakkara, commented, “BBDO Lanka is one of our long-term and valued business partners. They have contributed to the effective communication of our much loved dairy nutrition brands in Sri Lanka and are known for their strong consumer insights. As they celebrate their fourth anniversary, we are delighted to have them on as one of our strategic partners.”
Kumar Sangakkara initiated the Bikes for Life campaign, managed by the Foundation of Goodness, to help transform the lives of rural villagers in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, which had been ravaged by three decades of war. It has so far provided over 3,000 bicycles to carefully selected villagers, especially children, to whom the bicycles provide the only means of getting to school and thus help them obtain an education and uplift their lives. It is currently raising funds to provide a further 2,000 bicycles to villagers in the areas of Kilinochchi, Mankulam and Mullaitivu.
The BBDO team at the corporate box
BBDO Lanka is the Sri Lankan affiliate of the global BBDO network and South Asia’s first carbon neutral certified ad agency. Soon after only its first year of operations it was awarded Campaign Asia-Pacific magazine’s ‘Rest of South Asia Creative Agency of the Year 2012’ – Silver and this year took home the ‘Agency of the Year’ award at its Effie Awards Sri Lanka debut.
BBDO’s mantra is “The Work. The Work. The Work.” Every day, BBDO people in 289 offices in 81 countries work day by day, job by job and client by client to create and deliver the world’s most compelling commercial content. For nine years in a row, BBDO has been named the most creative agency network in the world in The Gunn Report, and for six years in a row, BBDO was also ranked the most awarded agency network across all marketing communications in The Directory Big Won.
In addition, BBDO has been named Network of the Year at Cannes five times and was also named the world’s most Effective Agency Network twice in the Effie Effectiveness Index. BBDO has been chosen Agency of the Year multiple times by each of the leading industry trade publications.
BBDO is part of Omnicom Group Inc., a leading global marketing and corporate communications company.
