Dubai Lynx: Santosh Padhi’s report
A few weeks ago Santosh Padhi, Chief Creative Officer/Co-Founder, Taproot India, spent five days in Dubai as Asia’s representative on the Dubai Lynx judging panel. Here is Padhi’s report on the judging and winners…
This year, at the Dubai Lynx, there was a little more pressure on the juries compared to other award shows; especially after last year’s “incident”. Organisers, Terry Savage and Philips Thomas, both addressed us and gave us a brief description about last year. And in the end, left it to us whichever way we wanted to go about it.
We were a team of seven, jury chairman included. And responsible for the outcome of TV, radio, print, TV craft and print craft. Post that I migrated to another team which was the integrated jury. Where again, we were a team of seven comprising jurors from the media, direct and digital categories as well.
I think it was a very unique decision to get jury members outside from the region to judge the entire award show (pictured left). Unique meaning a bit of yes and a bit of no. The positive stems from the fact that it left no scope for any bias or grudge towards any piece of work. Which seems to be the trend at local and regional awards shows these days. The only negative part being negligence towards local cultural connects that can only be appreciated by an insider.
Come to think of it. You’d know them only if you are familiar with the region. Not someone who has never experienced life there. So overall we tried to remind ourselves and remained conscious about it. However, if someone feels a few pieces did suffer on the front, being part of the jury, my humble apologies. I mean, we did try our best to ensure we visit and revisit every piece that had the slightest cultural whiff about it. And thankfully, courtesy of the committee, we had by our side a sharp local interpreter who did her job pretty well. In fact, we even selected a few winners that bore local/cultural behavior. To mention a few, the Outdoor Grand Prix for the Metro Service, the TV Grand Prix, a few Golds in TV for Coke and a bagful of other metals as well.
I believe, and so goes the trend these days, the local cultural bonding is of sublime importance. Gone are the days when a mere universal idea was celebrated. It’s equally crucial that your insight is rooted with your consumers and in their lives. It seems to be working for India, China, Japan and many other regions as well. Because of late, judges in most award shows are taking effort to get in the local consumer’s shoes. Brands like The Times of India and Fevicol continue to make sure their communication is strongly woven with the cultural fabric. Needless to add, it is paying off big time on the streets as well as at the shows.
Coming back, we weren’t looking for mere cultural connects. For, the most important thing still remains the magical four letter word – ‘IDEA’.
It will remain a thumb rule in advertising forever. We searched for ideas that clicked with people as well as for the brand. And no, that doesn’t mean next year we’re expecting ideas that force in a cultural context. Thank you very much.
Looking back, I’ve been closely following this region’s work for the past two years. Let me tell you, they’ve been outstanding in print! And I’m proud of the fact that there are quite a few Indian art guys who have a role to play in this. But it wasn’t the same this year. I was looking forward to see some cutting edge art direction (something I saw in the last two years). But barring two-three pieces, nothing that reminded me of my age (The print Grand Prix campaign is shown above and the Outdoor Grand Prix is shown below).
I managed to speak to a couple of guys from the region and would like to highlight that they have to raise the bar on the most cost-effective medium – Radio. One must constantly attempt to explore this medium. In fact, the problem persists with most of us. Funny how we master to ignore certain things in life. And radio unarguably takes the advertising cake.
Coming to the visual medium, I chanced upon some great insightful local connects in the TV category. And they matched world class standards in production. I’d like to give a special mention to the grandest winner here (Two Grand Prix) – a series of 5 films ‘Melody Films’ (view the campaign here).
I mean, hats-off to the team. To be honest, it almost made me regret my decision to turn down a few offers from the region once upon a time. I really never thought one could manage to pull off such quality in a growing region like Middle East. I’m glad to be proven wrong, for this is one example where the culture reflects and shines in every sense and essence. Be it the insight, the idea, the execution or the small touches around the campaign. I’m dead sure the locals must have savoured it a lot more than us.
The 5-day judging doesn’t look that tiring now that I look back. I thoroughly enjoyed a good mix of work with a few old Indian friends that I met. An evening with them charged me up a great deal to go whole hog the next morning.
I’d also like to mention Mr. Amir Kassaei – our jury chairman across categories. It sometimes happens that a chairman being a chairman shows off a little. And puts across certain things so strongly, it tends to influence follow jury members. But Amir was different. We were his trusted eyes and he never made us conscious of his powers; a refreshing and remarkable rarity.
Over the years, I’ve seen his work speak more than him. And I strongly advocate that kind of approach. Especially in today’s scenario; you know how it is. Talkers are galore, doers are gone.