It’s that time again: the Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity has returned for its biggest year yet, and unlike a certain Oscar winner, nobody is going to be battling any bears in return for a trophy.
Yet with a record-breaking 2,542 entries this year, there’s no denying the competition is going to be fierce. It seems a bleak economic outlook has made agencies and brands even more anxious to add another flash of gold to their name rather than cut back on their entry fee budget. And this year’s new addition of a ‘creative effectiveness category’, to reward a previous winner with the best return on investment, suddenly couldn’t be more applicable than ever.
The United Arab Emirates alone accounts for nearly half the entries, while Egypt and Lebanon continue to put their best work forward. Saudi Arabia this year increased its foothold on the competition sphere with a surge in entries, while there are six submissions from Iraq. This year has also seen a rise in the number of entries from African and North African nations, including Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia, reflecting a healthy expansion of the Lynx’s international scope and adding an extra creative edge to the works on show.
With the stakes higher than ever, what work is going to truly stand out from the rest? According to Susan Credle, global chief creative officer at FCB and one of 56 jury members, the secret is in the respect. “I will be encouraging the jury to look for work no one can dismiss,” she says. “Work so arresting, entertaining, emotional or informative that we all will remember it. I will be asking the team to pay attention to craft. In a world where we increasingly treat what we do as disposable, the attention to craft is taking a back seat. We need to remind the world that craft matters. As an industry we have a responsibility to create work that not only respects the audience, but actually makes them appreciate advertising.”
She adds: “In the past five years, we have seen an abundance of purposeful ideas. Ideas that help the world, help people. Although people are still moved and motivated to buy brands who do good things in the world, it feels like juries are growing a bit weary of this kind of work. The best juries choose work that feels fresh, which leads me to believe that advertising that doesn’t try to save the world but brilliantly tries to sell a product will be rewarded. I believe technology for technology’s sake will not sway juries as much as in past years, but technology in service of a brand will do very well. I also think we will see a lot of comedy being awarded this year.”
Laura Gregory, chief executive and founder of GreatGuns and president of the film craft jury, added: “Craft is one of the toughest categories on the awards circuit. You are always mindful of the core idea, but the unique element of execution is what we are here to award. The most awarded ideas will win at every award show in the world, but don’t always make gold for craft. Sometimes, a good idea, which may have one exceptional element, is recognised but the same piece may not get an award under another jury. The best part of judging craft is unearthing a team, or an individual whose outstanding contribution to the overall project lights a passion in the jury.”
Innovation and technology remain everyone’s favourite buzzwords, with an entire stage dedicated to the topic, while a regional stage will focus on creativity from around the region.
In the awards, Leo Burnett will be attempting to repeat its double whammy of last year, when it won both agency and network of the year, while Starcom MediaVest Group Dubai will be looking to bag media agency of the year for the second successive year.