In a bid to find out how the judging went at this year’s Dubai Lynx, Campaign caught up with one of the judges on the traditional jury for a brief chat today.
Eric Schoeffler, chief creative officer at DDB Tribal in Germany, said the judging – which began on Saturday – had been long and tough and had included a number of lengthy discussions. “For me it was the first time judging regionally, so I didn’t really know what to expect,” said Schoeffler. “I knew Dubai was an international place, but I was surprised that a lot of the work was so very international.
“In total the work was okay, but when I saw the shortlist I thought ‘wow, this is quite a competitive shortlist’. That was interesting to see. Nevertheless, I wish there would have been more flavour from the region.
“In film you see that flavour, that’s why you feel the power of the medium. Film is still very powerful. In film they tried to get more of what they see in the street and interpret it into an idea. But in print it was like work from everywhere else. There were really good ideas, but you didn’t get the flavour.”
Was film the strongest category?
“Because of the authenticity, yes. I like to see ideas where I have to investigate. Just looking at some of the work I felt there was something there but I didn’t really get the essence of the campaign. But when we started to investigate we really saw the power of the idea and that it was built on a strong insight and turned into a creative idea. That I liked.”
As for the grands prix…
“It was easy in print. That was a quick one. But in film it was very, very difficult and it took a while. The arguments were valid arguments on every side, but it was a tough call. I always wonder if the grand prix is something you have to give because there is a category for it. Is there always a huge disappointment if you say ‘no, there is no grand prix’? From my point of view there are too many grands prix given away for extremely good work but not grand prix work. But I’m happy with the decision we took.”