Another Dubai Lynx Festival is now done and dusted, after the Lynx Awards finished off the event with a new venue, some familiar faces, and the memorably disruptive noises of the region’s advertising industry folk cheering their winning work.
The 2010 Lynx Awards made no official mention of last year’s scandal. But, though it did not enter this year, the offending agency’s ghost seemed alive and well in Cairo Elephant (“This is not an ad agency,” says its Web site.)
Elephant, a boutique agency based in Cairo, picked up two Grand Prix: one in print for their “Out of this World” campaign for Lika Gum, and the second in the integrated category for their “89 Fans from 89” for Coca-Cola (a well-know FP7 client). The agency – apparently made up of two people, Ali Ali, (former FP7 Cairo creative director), and writer Maged Nassar – also picked up two Golds in the outdoor and television categories. The little agency’s wins came as a bit of a surprise, though the wave of creative work coming from North Africa certainly didn’t.
With Leo Burnett Cairo winning the TV/Cinema and the Craft Grands Prix for the third year in a row thanks to its partnership with Melody (this time for their Melody Entertainment “Arabic Films – The Mother of all Foreign Films” campaign), Egypt fared well at this year’s Lynx. Memac Ogilvy Label Tunisia won the Grand Prix in the interactive category for SFTP’s “Boga Cidre.” Till Hohmann, executive creative director GCC at Memac Ogilvy, had predicted Tunisia’s win in these very pages (see “Eyes on the prize,” page 46, Communicate, Mar. 2010). In total, North Africa bagged five of the eight Grands Prix awarded, laying down the gauntlet to Lebanon, which dominated last year’s Lynx.
As for the host city, Dubai cleaned up the Media Agency of the Year and Agency of the Year awards, with Starcom MediaVest Group Dubai – who also won the media Grand Prix for Chevrolet’s “Confessions of a Corporate Spy” – and Memac Ogilvy & Mather winning respectively. Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai made a surprise comeback at this year’s awards, with their dust-based campaign “Abandoned Cars” for the Dubai Metro winning the Outdoor Grand Prix. Another dust-based campaign made the cut for the Direct & Sales Promotion Grand Prix: Memac Ogilvy’s “Dustvertising” for BP/Castrol.
A GOOD SPREAD. Memac Ogilvy & Mather Dubai may have only won one Grand Prix throughout this year’s Lynx Awards, but the agency won a slew of gold, silver, and bronze awards across categories, making it a clear Agency of the Year winner. Hohmann had previously told Communicate that most of the agency’s entries were spread across categories, a strategy that is testament to the agency’s commitment to 360 solutions, and likely what pushed Memac Ogilvy & Mather Dubai to the top agency spot.
TBWA/Raad Dubai, who did not win a Grand Prix but did pick up gold awards in the Print and Outdoor categories, came in second after Ogilvy for the Agency of the Year award. TBWA/Raad Dubai was also one of only two agencies awarded a silver Lynx for their radio campaign for Nissan, joining Leo Burnett Beirut – who won for their “Ehkineh Interruptions” campaign for Alfa – in a category that saw no Grands Prix or golds.
The TBWA/Raad Dubai team was out in full force at the awards, mainly to honor their chairman and CEO, Ramzi Raad, who was awarded the Advertising Person of the Year Lynx. Raad took to the stage to accept his award, and while his team cheered him on with flags and what looked like a pink feather boa, he immediately paid tribute to Antoine Choueiri. “I stand here with a bittersweet feeling,” said Raad. Joseph Ghossoub, chairman of MENACOM, and Pierre Choueiri, also paid tribute to Antoine Choueiri and his life’s work at the start of the ceremony.
While entries were down 34 percent on last year, festival organizers claim that the number of delegates doubled on last year thanks to the decreased attendance fees. There were mutterings around the industry about the jury being entirely made up of international members, a fact that provoked concerns over its capacity to fully understand local and regional advertising. But with judges acknowledging the dire state of radio advertising, noting the cultural relevance of Saatchi & Saatchi’s Dubai Metro campaign, and Amir Kassaei, chief creative officer of the DDB Group in Germany (and Lynx jury president), saying that the Melody Entertainment Arabic movies campaign by Leo Burnett Cairo was “one of the best pieces I’ve ever seen in my life,” it seems the jury silenced the industry’s doubters.
THE FILM
The 2010 Dubai International Advertising Festival opened on March 14 with a screening of Art & Copy, a documentary which details the work of some creative legends, including George Lois of DDB and Esquire, Mary Wells, founder of Wells Rich Greene, Dan Wieden of Wieden+Kennedy, Lee Clow of TBWA/Worldwide, and Hal Riney of Publicis & Hal Riney.
The film was presented by The National, and was introduced by the paper’s founding editor, Martin Newland, who spoke of bridging the gap between the creatives and those who provide advertising space to a room full of advertising folk who just wanted to watch the documentary and be inspired. And inspired they were, as Communicate saw starry eyes and dumbfounded smiles after the screening.
THE ACADEMY
Leo Burnett, in collaboration with the Dubai Lynx, held its second Dubai Lynx Academy throughout the festival, inviting 20 students from the region to attend a three-day educational program focusing on the communications industry.
The students’ program included seminars, screenings, exhibitions, workshops, and master classes with industry experts including Mark Tutssel, Leo Burnett’s global chief creative officer. He spoke to the students about HumanKind, Leo Burnett’s philosophy, which involves putting people and human behavior at the forefront of a brand’s strategy.
The students were also split into four groups, and given a brief to work on throughout their stay, and presented their campaigns to Raja Trad, CEO of Leo Burnett Group Mediterranean, and Kamal Dimachkie, managing director of Leo Burnett Dubai, Kuwait and the Lower Gulf. Three of the twenty students were offered internships at Leo Burnett at the end of the three-day program.
THE FESTIVAL
The fourth edition of the Dubai International Festival certainly provided delegates with an impressive line-up of speakers. And for those in the industry, all the show and tells must have been energizing and inspiring, hopefully making every regional advertiser want to create the kind of advertising magic they saw on screen.
But, while the speakers were top-notch experts from Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, a regional touch was noticeably absent, not to mention a female one. Communicate felt that, while the package was very pretty, there wasn’t much substance to it.
Most of the seminars revolved around the need to go digital and engage consumers and activate brands. But two debates did steer away from the digital craze. The first, hosted by the IAA, was moderated by Mazen Hayek, group director of marketing, PR & commercial at MBC, and included Malek Ghorayeb, executive regional creative director at Leo Burnett, Nirmal Diwadkar, regional creative director (MENA) at TBWA/Raad, Ahmed El-Azizi, vice-president of marketing at Pepsico MEA, and Ashish Banerjee, vice-president of brand and communications at du, discussing the question “blame it on the client, the agency, or the consumer?”
While Hayek promised the debate would steer away from conventional industry politeness, it didn’t quite deliver. It was tense at its best, though ultimately it was inconclusive.
The Lynx debate saw three creatives and a managing director on the stage. Peter Vegas, creative director at Impact BBDO Abu Dhabi, Ramsey Naja, chief creative officer for JWT MENA, Till Hohmann, executive creative director GCC at Memac Ogilvy & Mather, and Hubert Boulos, regional managing director at MAC DDB Doha, discussed the question of creative hubs: how they happen, should they happen, or should the industry kill the idea. Some audience members left the debate feeling awkward after Vegas very obviously championed the capital city, and mocked regional advertising standards. Communicate, on the other hand was simply amused.