As Dimachkie says, adland has reached a crossroads

I’ve always enjoyed the Dubai Lynx. For sure, it can kill you if you’re not careful, but that’s part of its charm surely. As I think I said last year, six hours’ sleep in 72 hours is not compatible with work, or anything for that matter, apart from drinking.

But like director Omar Hilal says on page 18, I’m of the opinion that this year’s festival was the best yet, both in terms of the actual festival and in terms of the eventual outcome of the awards. It was a close run thing, but, overall, the rightful winners won. I think so anyway. Added to this was Leo Burnett’s crowdstorming initiative, which provided a social focus for part of the festival and resulted in some beautiful, and, occassionally, amusing artwork.

There is, however, a thread running throughout this edition of the magazine that relates to a particular aspect of the awards. It begins with Memac Ogilvy’s Eddie Moutran on page 18, glides past DDB’s Hubert Boulos on page 19, and culminates with Leo Burnett’s Kamal Dimachkie on page 20. It relates to the continued applause of proactive work in print, print craft and outdoor that does far more for the agency than the client. As Moutran says: “If agencies continue to create ads purely to win awards the industry will have black days ahead.”

Boulos builds on the theme, which was perhaps more apparent than ever this year due to the huge number of awards entered by Impact BBDO and its desire to win both agency and network of the year by sheer weight of numbers. As Bechara Mouzannar, Leo Burnett’s chief creative officer, says on page 19, proactive work now has the potential to bias the results of the entire

If Memac Ogilvy hadn’t won agency and network of the year, it would’ve been disastrous for the industry

competition. As an industry, we must not let this happen. If Memac Ogilvy hadn’t won agency and network of the year, it would’ve been disastrous, not only for the Lynx, but for the industry at large.

It is Dimachkie, however, who outlines the issue best: “We also stand at a crossroads and we need to make a decision, both as an industry and as communication practitioners… Do we wish to fool the system and gain fake glory, or do we wish to solve the genuine marketing challenges that our clients face, and stand out with the integrity of clean wins?”

I wrote the following paragraph last April, not long after the Lynx of that year. It’s as relevant now as it ever was, so I’ll end with it again, just for efficiency’s sake.

My final note is for those who continue to create work simply for awards. Everyone knows who you are. You’re not fooling anyone. Not only are you harming your agency, you’re harming your clients, your career and, ultimately, the industry at large. And why? To what end? To cheat your way to the top? Where’s the honour in that?