It may be a region that’s often slammed for lack of creativity, but the Middle East stood up, perhaps a little gingerly, to claim its share of the limelight at last month’s Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. With 69 entries in this year’s shortlists – and five (five) winners – the region has lots of reasons to celebrate.
Fortune Promoseven Doha won two Golds and one Silver. FP7 Dubai won a Silver and JWT Dubai won a Bronze.
Dubaiand Doha were way ahead of the rest of the region. Although, while there was more than one Dubai-based agency troubling the Cannes juries, Fortune Promoseven – as it was at the Dubai Lynx – was Doha’s sole representative on the shortlists. Beirut made a couple of shortlists but ended up with no wins.
The campaign for EA Sports’ video game Medal of Honor emerged as FP7 Doha’s trump card; fetching it Gold Lions in both Outdoor and Press. The same campaign won the Print Grand Prix at the Dubai Lynx awards earlier this year. Fadi Yaish, creative director at FP7 Doha, says, “It’s a good win, not a great win. We expected to win more. We had 36 shortlists. But it’s good because it reflects well on the network and the whole region. We [the region] finally got shortlists in Direct, Promo and Media, too. That’s great.”
Yaish’s team also picked up a Silver Lion in Press for its “Policeman vs. kidnapper” ad for Bayer Advanced Plant Food.
FP7 Dubai pitched in with its campaign for Sony Microvault, depicting a squid, a rat and a frog that have swallowed a whale, elephant and hippo respectively. The campaign picked up a Silver in the Press category. Marc Lineveldt, executive creative director, says, “Reward at last. We have been working really hard at this. After the Lynx we thought the work was pretty world-class, so it’s great to see it do well at Cannes.”
JWT, Dubai won a Bronze Press Lion for its work for fashion brand Nicola Finetti.
Having had a couple of quiet years since Tonic Communications brought home the region’s first Gold Lion in 2005 (last year, there were no regional winners), 2008’s tally of five lions is pretty impressive. And the winners’ list is dominated by FP7. What did it do right?
“FP7 started taking awards seriously a few years ago,” says Lineveldt. “We got people in to do this. It’s great when a plan comes together. I came in, got some other people in. Fadi Yaish was part of the whole thing. We have broken the ice in a way. Everyone is going to be trying twice as hard next year.”
Including FP7, if Yaish is to be believed. ““We are not going to be [another] Tonic Communications,” he insists. “We are not going to sleep on this. We won this year and we will keep it this way.”
Both Yaish and Lineveldt credit Dubai Lynx for helping the region raise its game for Cannes. “In this region, we didn’t used to know what was happening. But now, with Dubai Lynx, that has changed,” says Yaish. “It is a young awards show and it’s pushing everyone to do better.”
“The way the Lynx works, the standards are high, but we are only judging ourselves against ourselves,” says Lineveldt. “But it’s a fair reflection [of the judging standards at Cannes]. Watch some of our offices next year.”
Lineveldt feels that there is still plenty of room for improvement, both for his agency and others in the region. Particularly away from the Press and Outdoor categories.
“We need to break into television, new media and digital at the awards,” he says.
Yaish agrees. “We have a lot of creative talent and potential. We can do better,” he says. “We are stuck in classic media like radio, print and outdoor and we are still telling people things [although we’re doing it well]. Around the world, people are creating conversations and engaging the consumer. They are not just telling them about brands, or telling them stories. They are more into social technology and new technology. We need to sit down, put our heads together and work on it.”
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