‘It is the one thing that keeps us going’
Four of this year’s jury presidents and jurors explain why so few grand prix winners were chosen and what work stood out
Four of this year’s jury presidents and jurors explain why so few grand prix winners were chosen and what work stood out.
The Dubai Lynx saw just a handful of prestigious grands prix awarded this year, with only four out of a possible 15 handed out, making it more elusive than ever as the industry celebrates the best it has to offer.
Below, four jury presidents and judges explain why the winners were chosen, and cast a critical eye over the categories that they presided over.
Print Craft
Graham Fink, chief creative officer for China at Ogilvy Shanghai, was president of both the integrated and the film, print, outdoor, radio and print craft juries
“Just the mention of the word grand prix makes my heart beat a little quicker. They are very special things. Winning a gold is hard enough, but to go up a whole level again, requires more than just a great idea. It must be brilliantly crafted and have some kind of emotional effect on the jury too. That’s why most people who work in this business have never won one. And rightly so. It’s the thing that keeps us going. The unreachable star.
“So I felt it was right that the juries at the Dubai Lynx only handed a few of these precious things out on the awards night. It keeps the Lynx as high currency. I sat on two juries and we only awarded one grand prix. For illustration. I remember that category was one of the strongest we had judged and there was a good feeling in the room. We had looked at many entries over the few days in film, print, outdoor and craft and the general standard was not especially high. That said, when we put the best work together the shortlists were pretty strong and we were encouraged it was going to be a good show on the night. Coming back to the illustration category, there were some nice pieces, but it was the campaign for Al Sabeh Cement that the jury kept returning to and the more we looked at it the more it revealed itself. Enlarging it on our screen we became engrossed with all the stories in each bubble and it was different to all the other work. A worthy grand prix indeed.
“I remember the film category being fairly weak and after the first hour of viewing I was getting a bit depressed, but then some nice spots appeared and things started to improve. I saw a nice campaign for Henkel Jebel Ali, which had a great line at the end. ‘Don’t enter the room before you enter the room’. It was one of my favourites and we all laughed out loud at the du campaign, especially ‘Too depressing’. They both went gold. We awarded another to the Vodafone Egypt spot with Magdy Abdelghany. Luckily that guy is a natural comedian, which made it a very popular ad and I’m sure it got talked about when it appeared.
“The other golds on my juries were for Virgin Radio (a lovely crafted print campaign) and C.S. HammamLif’s ‘Mobilising the 12th man’, which is a piece of work I’m very envious of. I really wish I had done it. And surely that’s what awards shows are all about. Making you angry and inspiring you at the same time. Making you want to be the first one in your agency the next day to start thinking up next year’s grand prix.” Winner: Al Sabeh Cement Client: Cimenterie Nationale Agency: Impact BBDO Dubai
Media
Philippa Brown, CEO of Omnicom Media Group UK, was president of the media jury
“The media grand prix was won by the ‘Mobilising the 12th Man’ campaign from Tunisia and was a unanimous decision by the media jury. What we as a jury were looking for were great insights, compelling ideas and fantastic results. The 12th man campaign delivered on all three of these criteria. Using the insight of no public gatherings allowed in Tunisia, and the fact that the football team said that 50 per cent of their motivation came from the crowd, the agency and client developed an idea that allowed the crowd to be ‘virtually there’ via the brilliant use of mobile and TV working together. Instead of just 8,000 people attending, the campaign allowed them to connect with 93,000. Amazing result and the team also went on to win the game!
“Overall I thought the media entries were of a fairly high standard – 249 entries in total an increase year-onyear. There was one area though that needed greater attention and that is proving the business success of the campaigns entered. This is extremely important and a number of campaigns were marked down because this information was not available.” Winner: Mobilising the 12th Man Client: C. S. Hammam-Lif Agency: Memac Ogilvy Label
Promo & Activation
Jordan Atlas, executive creative director at Ignited in the US, was a juror on both the branded content & entertainment, and direct, promo & activation, interactive and mobile jury
“What stood out most about Henkel’s ‘Preserving Pride’ idea was its simplicity and purity of purpose. Promotions and activations aren’t traditionally the most glamorous work an agency gets to do, so when it’s done with such intelligence and focus as Henkel was, it deserves the highest level of praise. It’s an idea born straight out of the functionality of the product while still successfully capturing the true emotion of its audience. It’s also just a really fun and lighthearted execution in a product vertical not necessarily known for that.
“There was a lot of extraordinary work in the promotions and activations category. In my opinion, the ones that truly stood out were Coca-Cola’s ‘The Social Media Guard’, Offre Joie’s ‘Volunteers Do Not Seek Recognition’, C.S. Hammam-Lif’s ‘Mobilising the 12th Man’, and, of course, UN Women’s ‘The Autocomplete Truth’.
“The main reason no other grands prix were chosen in direct or interactive was less about the work and more about technicalities and rules.
“Unfortunately, pro-bono work is ineligible for the highest prize. If that weren’t the case, I’m certain that ‘The Autocomplete Truth’ would’ve taken home the top prize.
“Overall, I was very impressed with the high quality of work that was entered into the show. It was both insightful and expertly executed. Perhaps, what stood out the most for me was just how simple yet smart most of the work was. None of it felt contrived or derivative. It was just focused on real problems and elegant solutions.
“If there was one area that I believe could use improvement it would be the way in which the ideas are presented. The case study video is a great vehicle for outlining the problem, solution and results but it takes a tremendous amount of clarity and discipline to successfully pull it off. There were more than a few ideas that almost got passed over because the case wasn’t clearly being communicated within the video. It would be a shame to see great work become overlooked because of something as simple as an ineffective presentation story.
“All of that said, it was my honour to be part of the branded content & entertainment as well as direct, promo & activation, interactive and mobile juries. The Dubai Lynx is an amazing festival run by some of the smartest minds in our industry. I look forward to seeing the quality of the work evolve even more in the coming years.” Winner: Preserving Pride Client: Henkel Agency: DDB Dubai
Mobile
Andy DiLallo, chief creative officer at Leo Burnett Sydney, was president of the direct, promo & activation, interactive and mobile jury and a member of the integrated jury
“The mobile category as a whole was quite thin, with only around 15 entries. I believe in the end we cut this to three finalists. There was quite a bit of discussion around what was awarded, but in the end the grand prix was unanimous.
‘Mobilising the 12th Man’ by Memac Ogilvy Label in Tunisia was a piece of work that used the medium to achieve something meaningful to fans as well as the players. Through an innovative use of technology they where able to make the impossible possible, connecting fans with their team even in the face of government bans on public assemblies. This fundamental connection is at the heart of the brand’s purpose. By finding a way to insure this connection wouldn’t be broken they have not only maintained the loyalty of their core base but have created talkability with a much wider audience. Lastly, they have found a way to use the second screen (mobile) to improve the viewing experience of the primary screen (TV) without stealing attention away.”