The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced that Piyush Pandey (pictured above), the executive chairperson and creative director of Ogilvy South Asia, and director of advertising films Prasoon Pandey will be given the Lion of St Mark award in June 2018.

“The Lion of St Mark recognises those who have made a significant and outstanding contribution to creativity in our industry,” Jose Papa, the Managing Director of Cannes Lions, said, according to Adobo Magazine. “Piyush and Prasoon have undoubtedly made the world pay attention to creativity in India. While they are famous, and rightly so, in their homeland, I’m thrilled that we have this opportunity to celebrate their contributions to our industry on the Cannes Lions stage.”

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Papa added that it was “particularly special” to honour the achievements of the two brothers. The Pandeys will be the first Asians to win the award.

Piyush Pandey, who won two Gold Cannes Lions for his work on an anti-smoking campaign in 2002, said this was a huge honour. “It is the richness and diversity of this nation that gave my brother and me the opportunity to learn and create good work,” he said, adding that he was grateful to the people of India. “Thank you Cannes Lions for giving every creative professional in my country a reason to believe that if Prasoon and Piyush can do it, so can they.” Piyush Pandey was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian government in 2016.

Prasoon Pandey who directed Ericsson Cellphone’s One Black Coffee in 1996 – the first Indian campaign that won a Lion – said the award was humbling. “The Lion of St Mark is an absolutely incredible and stunning honour for two 10-15-year-old kids from Jaipur who were just having a blast playing ‘Emperors and Thugs’, ‘Dragons and Demons’, dreaming stories and playing them out with some far more imaginative and talented friends,” he told Adobo Magazine.

The director added: “We were so engrossed in that play that we forgot that we were well into our 50s and 60s! This is such a huge and humbling honour for us; I just hope it doesn’t make the kids inside us conscious.”