What Makes The Kinsale Sharks Special?

“The picturesque yachting harbour of Kinsale”, writes Lonely Planet, “is one of many colourful gems strung along the coastline of County Cork. Narrow, winding streets lined with galleries and gift shops, lively bars and superb restaurants, and a handsome natural harbour filled with yachts and guarded by a huge 17th-century fortress make it an engrossing place to spend a day or two.” Sounds delightful for a nice, relaxing weekend break. However, from Thursday 21st – Saturday 23rd September the quiet village swaps its focus from contemplative relaxation to creative stimulation, as the Kinsale Shark Awards make their annual visit.

In their 55th Year, the Sharks celebrate and acknowledge Irish and International creativity whilst encouraging new fresh approaches to advertising and creativity. A global brand (attracting entries from top agencies across all continents reaching as far as Dubai, New York, Sydney, Cape Town and Moscow), the festival’s international outlook in an intimate setting makes for an enriching experience.

This year’s fest sees AMV’s Creative Partner and Head of Art, Rosie Arnold headlining the speaking schedule, along with previous Havas ECD Andy Sandoz and NYC based wise-guy-turned-good-guy, Antonio Fernandez (A.K.A ‘King Tone’), a man who single-handedly transformed organised crime syndicate The Latin Kings into a political movement, fighting for social justice on behalf of a suppressed Latin American community.

At the heart of the festival are the Shark Awards themselves, with gongs honouring advertising, digital, design, shorts, pop promos and much more.

We have loved the awards over previous years, so caught up with Festival Director Aisling White to chat about what’s new, how people can get involved and what makes the Sharks so special.

It’s been around for 55 years, so what makes the Kinsale Sharks a different kind of festival?

Kinsale Sharks has always been about getting to the heart of creativity. Our festival attendees come because they love the vibe, the feeling that it is a special event in a magical place, a small creative festival with no hierarchy.

There is a lot of goodwill here, people are more open to making business relationships that last for years. Size has a lot to do with it, the town is very small.

It’s all held in a pretty intimate setting - with speakers, judges and attendees all mingling together.

Do you find that people respond well to the change from bigger events like Cannes and Eurobest? How would you describe it to the uninitiated?

Most definitely, it’s the main topic of feedback we get. Our attendees love the intimacy and as you say, the fact that speakers, judges and attendees all mingling together in a friendly setting. Less extravagant excess, more real and authentic.

Back in the day Kinsale was one of a few Golden Awards shows. I’d like to think that we’re on the same circuit as those other long established International awards shows like D&AD, The One Show, Clios.

It’s very confusing time and situation for the industry and the money has flown into Cannes, which has become a whirlwind of excess. Kinsale is smaller, much smaller and very intimate. John Hegarty once labelled Kinsale the “Glastonbury of festivals” and Tony Kaye said we are the “greenest garden of award shows”.

Who have you got on the jury / speaker list this year?

We’re working with Creative Social for the 2nd year running, who have curated a brilliant speaking programme. The lovely Rosie Arnold from AMV, Deloitte CCO Andy Sandoz and an ex-gang leader all the way from NYC: Antonio Fernandez are all headline speakers.

Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Robert Senior will be talking about Creative Bravery.

Our jury stars consist of Dan Lucey from BBDO in NYC, Director Jim Gilchrist, Prettybird co-founder Juliette Larthe, Director Karen Cunningham, VCCP’s ECD Matt Lever, giffgaff client Abi Pearl, The Mill’s Ben Stallard, Knucklehead’s Tim Katz, Sony Music’s Shadeh Smith to name but a few!

You’ve got some new awards this year - can you tell us a bit about those?

Firstly, we’ve added onto last year’s best new Director award by adding Best New DOP and Best New Editor. These awards really help to recognize those whose brilliant work often goes unacknowledged.

There’s also the Creative Bravery award, in association with Creative Social. It celebrates work which has the courage and tenacity to push boundaries regardless of the risks and potential consequences. For example, work that only the bravest clients will support and which will have represented a huge leap of faith.

Who do you get coming to the festival? Who would you like more of?

We’re an international advertising festival, so an excellent mix of industry creatives and Production folk from all over, such as Australia, NZ, Hungary, Sweden, Portugal, Brazil, Canada, Sri Lanka, Turkey and of course, we welcome everyone from everywhere!

Finally, how do people get involved?

It’s easy to buy a Festival pass on the website and we're always interested to hear proposals on how to get involved in the festival programme. It’s too late for this year, but definitely not too early for next!

Deadline for entries is midnight Wednesday 6th September – click here to enter.