Copywriter Journalist

Advertising blog by Farrukh Naeem, journalist and copywriter in UAE (Abu Dhabi, near Dubai)

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Dubai Lynx Awards 2008 - Pictures of winners in Print, Direct and Media May 10, 2008

Dubai Lynx Awards have passed and I have blogged about the exciting bits, before and after the awards. But my blog’s readers want more. The Dubai Lynx website has so much coverage this time, with shortlisted ads up there too open for anyone to lookup, I felt putting up the winners here was unnecessary.

But then, everyone loves pictures - and I do have some nice ones readers of the blog would like, taken by me from right under the stage (the press seats and my agency tables were at a distance so I just sat on the carpet - with all the journalist buddies - in true paparazzi style. Closer to the action.) 

So here goes another post with some great Dubai Lynx memories in pictures…

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Dubai Lynx awards winners and pictures April 4, 2008

Winners of the 2nd Dubai Lynx Awards were announced on 2 April in Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre on 2 April 2008.

The Dubai Lynx Awards ceremony was part of the 1st Dubai International Advertising Festival attended by over 1500 guests from over 17 countries.

A total of 180 Dubai Lynx trophies including Gold, Bronze and Silver were awarded. The competition was stiff this year with 513 ads making it to the shortlist from the 2023 entries submitted.

45 Dubai Lynx winners were declared for the Print category, Outdoor had 40 trophies, Direct winners were 28. Media was a new category introduced this year and it saw 24 winners. TV/Cinema had 20 winners, Interactive winners had 15 and there were only 4 winners in Integrated as well as 4 in Radio, the last two categories starting out with a very low number of entries.

Out of the 17 countries that partcipated in Dubai Lynx, advertising and media agencies in the UAE took home 127 trophies, followed by Qatar with 18 wins - thanks to FP7 Doha dazzling the jury with their work, Lebanon winning 12 trophies and Egypt grabbing 7 Dubai Lynx awards, including 2 Grand Prix. FP7 DOHA, Qatar, won the Print Grand Prix for EA Games BD Group entry called ‘Back Home’.

Leo Burnett Beirut won the Outdoor Grand Prix for Procter & Gamble’s ‘Natural Colours Change’.

Leo Burnett Cairo’s Melody Channel TV campaign won them the TV/Cinema Grand Prix. They had taken home the first Dubai Lynx TV Grand Prix for the same brand last year.

Bates Pangulf Dubai won the Direct Dubai Lynx Grand Prix for Dubai First credit cards ‘We Know Who You Are’ and in the Media category, the Grand Prix Dubai Lynx Award was won by JWT Cairo for Vodafone Egypt’s ‘Truck Stickers’.

No Grand Prix was awarded in the Interactive, Radio and Integrated categories, a weakness that I have earlier talked about in posts on radio and online advertising, and lack of campaignable thinking at times.

JWT Dubai was declared Agency of the Year with FP7 Doha coming in second, and Fortune Promoseven Dubai in third position.

MediaOne’s Abdul Shafeeq and Swapna Varma from the UAE were declared the winners of the 1st Dubai Lynx Young Creatives competition.

Useful links:
1. View Dubai Lynx Awards winners pictures and download winners list in Outdoor

Dubai Lynx Awards winners’ pictures in Outdoor category

Dubai Lynx Awards announced 40 winners in the Outdoor category, which had a large number of entries this year, following just next to the Print category. Here are the pictures of the Gold and Grand Prix winners of Dubai Lynx Awards in Outdoor…

Dubai Lynx Awards 2008 Gold and Grand Prix winners pictures - Outdoor Category

FP7 Doha team with their first Dubai Lynx Gold of the evening, for their Outdoor ad for EA Games

Click on ‘More’ below to see more pictures…

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Steve Harrison shares tips on pitching big advertising ideas to hesitant clients at Dubai Lynx April 1, 2008

On Day 1 of Dubai Lynx Awards and the Dubai International Advertising Festival, I was most interested in listening to the surprise session by Steve Harrison (not on the first released festival schedule but in the recent Dubai Lynx email notifications and updated schedule).

Steve has been described by Campaign magazine as “the greatest direct marketing creative of this generation” and his agency Harrison Troughton Wunderman has won more Cannes Direct Lions than any other agency in the world. Having worked at Wunderman and being passionate about direct marketing, how could I resist listening to someone who’s been the Worldwide Creative Director of Wunderman!

Steve’s presentation was about why clients buy bad work, and what can be done to stop them. Being a senior creative person who has to often present agency work to tough clients, I found Steve’s tips valuable and his interaction, engaging.

According to Steve Harrison, advertising agencies have to understand their clients before they can persuade them to buy great work. “You’ve got to start seeing the world through their eyes.” And one of the first key points to sell great work to clients - don’t sell bad work, don’t even take it to the client if you aren’t happy with it!

Also, before asking client to jump, agencies need to assure them they’ll take the client and his brand to the other side, that they know what they are doing.

“The client will never remember that you were three days late, but will always remember you for a bad campaign that bombed.”
Steve Harrison
Ex-Creative Director Worldwide - Wunderman

He cautioned agencies against producing dishonest work - ads that look like they’ve just been recycled from cliched, old concepts.

Steve’s answers were quick and witty. On being asked how clients that are family businesses should be dealt with, he suggested organising the pitch in their home with a smile. Businessmen may not be savvy about marketing but they know how to make money he said, and therefore, ads that will make them more money are sure to get their attention.

I asked Steve what he would do if the client loves a campaign but wants to change its big idea. Steve suggested doing a split test (like a true DM guy would). As well as presenting a completely new ad. A participant added that showing competitive ads could help. Of course, during his presentation he had already talked about getting the client involved from the briefing stage onwards in which case such a situation is less likely to arise.

The session was interactive with participants adding experiences of their market (a little too elaborately at times), talking about a ‘wine-women-wasta’ strategy, and the women in the audience objecting to the constant references to client’s wives.

As I was leaving, Steve thanked me for attending and said he liked my question and the insights I had shared with him on one of my campaigns. He’s delivering another seminar tomorrow but I might be battling agency deadlines. And making client logos bigger.

UPDATE - 10 April 2008: Samer Marzouq of Jazarah.net, another ad blogger buddy who had come all the way from Jordan, has a Video interview with Steve Harrison at Dubai Lynx in which Steve emphasises that clients must be trained by senior agency management on how to get their money’s worth out of an agency. I highly recommend the video.

Dubai Lynx shortlists, advertising seminars and workshops keep delegates busy on Day 1

The first ever Dubai International Advertising Festival and the 2nd Dubai Lynx Awards started off well on Monday, 31 March 2008.

Two things most looked forward to on this day were the shortlist of Print, Outdoor, Media and Direct categories and the chance to listen to David Droga - the first seminar after the inauguration of the festival by the Crown Prince of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Chairman of TECOM.

The shortlist announced today had a total of 383 entries - 195 in Print, 109 in Outdoor, 50 in Direct and 29 in Media. The overall standard looked pretty high this time.

The much awaited Droga5 seminar was packed with ad professionals eager to hear what one of the world’s hottest creative directors has to say about creating positive brand momentum. Seminars and workshops included those by Getty, Eardrum, IAA and EMAAR, Text Appeal and Jumeirah, Brandhome and Eurosport.

I met up with many friends in the ad business. Zeid Nasser of Adblog Arabia and MediaMe who’s come all the way from Jordan. Samer Marzouq of the Jazarah blog. Shehzad of Pirana Dubai, who has been on the jury of New York Festivals. Kerry Platts of Wunderman MENA, a wonderful CD to work with when it comes to Direct, who has been on the Cannes jury from UAE.

Amanda Benfell, the event’s PR and Press Manager, has been very helpful all along. The Press Centre is well equipped. The award-winning work showcased from Cannes and Eurobest makes one feel like a little, tiny dot in the creative universe.

If you’re at the Dubai Lynx, why not share your notes and experiences here? I’d be happy to post inputs from attendees on this blog for everyone’s benefit. And you’re most welcome to call me at 050 7151722 - maybe we could meet up for a coffee when I’m there. You could also show me your work if it’s made it!   

2nd Dubai Lynx Awards entries cross the 2000 mark in 2008 March 29, 2008

The 2nd Dubai Lynx Awards, part of the 1st Dubai International Advertising Festival to be held in Dubai, UAE, have received more than 2000 entries this year.

The awards for creative excellence in the Middle East have grown by around 20% by number of entries. 17 countries in the region are competing for the coveted Dubai Lynx trophies.

Entries for Dubai Lynx Awards 2008 - Break-up by category

As you can see, TV, Print and Radio categories have received almost as many entries as last year. The Outdoor category seems to have exploded this year jumping to almost twice the number of entries. Could this have to do with lots and lots of real estate ads? One hopes these are creative ones because size isn’t everything.

It’s heartening to see the new category ‘Media’ starting off strong with more than a hundred entries this year. Watching interesting media innovations would be interesting.

While Radio continues to reflect the little attention that is paid to it, and the general lack of creativity in the medium in the region, what is a little disappointing in the digital age is to see Interactive entries also trailing far behind press and TV.

The toughest competition is going to be in print as is obvious. Judging from last year’s entries and of course being a practising creative for half a decade here in the UAE, I had a feeling that Interactive and Radio would be easier to compete in, and that feeling was right after all.

The surprisingly low number of Integrated entries as opposed to single press, TV, outdoor entries may be the result of two factors. Some people feel that this region is less priented towards campaign thinking and more towards tactical one-off ads - resulting in some brilliant ads which cannot be strung together in a single campaign.

Also, at the time agencies were applying and submitting entries for Dubai Lynx, many people were finding it hard to understand the process of submitting ads as campaigns. What they were trying to figure out was whether 3-4 ads in a campaign have to be paid in full individually and submitted as ‘Integrated’ or is there another ‘Submit Campaign’ option. I think it was the former. Perhaps the ‘Submit Ads As Campaign’ process needs to be simplified next time.

What do you think is the reason for having more than 800 entries in Print alone and only 27 entries in Integrated? Are creative people in the region making brilliant ads but not brilliant campaigns? Are we too focused on short term creative flashes? Are our clients more concerned here about instant gratification?

Or did we just find it cheaper to submit many single ads than put lots of money on one campaign?

Your comments and insights and disagreements too are welcome in the ‘Comments’ section of this post…

Down memory lane: In the first Dubai Lynx Awards last year, this blog quite possibly had the world’s most extensive coverage with reports, views and pictures of winners. Have a look at these posts to get the feeling of what it’s like:

1. Dubai Lynx Winners (with pictures) Part 4 - Gold Winners in Print and TV/Cinema
2. Dubai Lynx Awards Winners Part 3 (with pictures) - Gold winners in Integrated and Interactive and Direct
3. Dubai Lynx Awards winners Part 2 (with pictures) - Gold Dubai Lynx for Outdoor advertising
4. Dubai Lynx Awards Winners Part 1 (with pictures and download links of Dubai Lynx winners): Global jury selects 111 top ads in the Middle East

Dubai Lynx Academy to sponsor 20 students for Dubai International Advertising Festival March 5, 2008

The Dubai International Advertising Festival is based around the theme ’Learn to Win‘. And in line with that central theme, professionals and students from the advertising industry will have a chance to not just be inspired by award winning ads from the region and around the world, but also by the seminars and workshops that will be conducted by the top ad gurus like David Droga and Piyush Pandey.

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Dubai Lynx announces Advertising Person of the Year Award in Dubai, UAE

The 2nd Dubai Lynx Awards Ceremony will honour the Advertising Person of the Year with a trophy at the first Dubai International Advertising Festival on 2 April 2008. This announcement was made at a press conference held by the organisers yesterday in Dubai Media City.

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Advertising agencies at the IAA World Congress March 27, 2006

Advertising agencies had their stalls at the IAA World Congress in Dubai, in the exhibition area strategically placed between the presentation hall and the dining area.

So, on all three days of the Congress, we had to pass by the agency stalls to get to the food and the coffee.

The Euro RSCG Promopub stall with its list of clients plastered on its wall. Literally. For stalls like these, I had to wait for the people to disappear to shoot the entire design.

The Fortune Promoseven stall - with a massage sofa. Hmmm… this I think was a good idea - but just one chair for 2000 delegates?
Much could have been done to make this massage idea stand out, and in turn, the stall. The copy on the wall caught my attention.

The Horizon FCB stall. Lots and lots of text. Like a 3-D version of a corporate leaflet. And something about "full_contact". Underscore seems to be the in thing, these days, what with Nissan's "shift_the future", etc.

And, I had to take a picture of this promo ad I have earlier seen in print. Being a copywriter, all the world's design cannot lure me away from good copy. This one is: credits to Shahir Ahmed of Team Y&R who I was told at the stall is the writer of this ad that was displayed at the Y&R stall.

The 40th IAA World Congress: The Opening March 25, 2006

The 40th IAA World Congress was inaugurated by His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai (picture: in the centre) at the Dubai International Convention Centre on 21 March 2006.

On his behalf, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Department of Civil Aviation and Chairman and CEO of the Emirates Group (picture: first from left), welcomed the speakers, delegates and other guests to the event. The inaugural address was given by our very own Joseph Ghossoub (picture: first from right), the new IAA Chairman and World President.

The picture above was taken by me. This is the closest I have ever come to our visionary leader, Sheikh Mohammad. Well, good picture I think - considering I was hesitant to get too close.

Coming back to business. In his speech Sheikh Ahmed said,”There could hardly be a better time or place to address the ‘Challenges of Change’ other than right here in Dubai.”

I found this to be a common feeling across all delegates I met and networked with at the Congress. People were amazed at what they saw across the cfity of the Congress - at the pace of change and development.

“We will not stop building ourselves a truly world-class communications capability to encompass advertising, marketing, branding, public relations and all other related disciplines,” Sheikh Ahmed said.

He praised the current talent pool in our city thus: “Here in Dubai we have access to some of the best and brightest minds in the region, and from around the world.”

“The time is right for us to tap into this creativity, and take up the challenge of growth to create a city that is truly unique in the world: not just a city made of glass, steel and concrete, but a city made of ideas, creativity and opportunity,” he noted.

This was the part of his speech I really liked, and look forward to seeing - not just cold concrete, steel structures but a city buzzing with the warmth of innovation and creativity.

Whatsay you?

40th IAA World Congress in Dubai: Missed it?

The 40th IAA World Congress held last week in Dubai was so packed with events, ii is not possible for me to put it all in one post. There is so much to share with my advertising and marketing readers on this blog. And the creative guys and girls. I hope to do it in a series of posts.

For every one delegate who attended there must have been be 99 others who might have wanted to but couldn’t, because of deadlines, client commitments, and the young ones - because of their position in the agency hierarchy and the steep entry fee.

I was surrounded by the big-wigs and missed the young torch-bearers of tomorrow at the Congress. They are the ones who will live to see the change and perhaps the ones to usher it in - but mostly what I saw was grey hair. I have feeling the young ones would have come on their own, these fresh talented ones, if they could afford the few thousand dollars.

Not to worry - here are people like me - bringing you what you might have missed. Sharing the learnings and knowledge with you.

It’s going to happen in many posts - not just one. But a series of posts. Starting now.

If you are lovin’ it, show me some TLC with your comments on this blog, and spread the word. Link to me and maybe I’ll be encouraged enough to post the pictures of the desert safari on Day 2, or rather, Night 2 of the Congress. It was naughtayyy, me lad. Very naughty, indeed.

The 40th International Advertising Association (IAA) World Congress in Dubai March 22, 2006

The Venue of the 40th IAA World Congress
Dubai International Convention Centre

I reached the venue just after 8 am. Things were quite. But the event host team, in their black uniforms were ready to receive guests - an hour beforehand. Right at the very beginning I saw the Gulf News counter and was tempted to take a copy of the day’s paper - but it looked like a lot of pages to carry. Later, I told myself.