Graham Fink to lead Dubai Lynx Film, print, outdoor, radio, print craft and Integrated juries
The Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity have announced the first presidents that will step up to lead juries during the region’s most anticipated awards for the creative communications industry. The list includes Graham Fink, Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy & Mather China.
Fink will head the Film, Print, Outdoor, Radio and Print Craft jury as well as the Integrated jury. He has created some of advertising’s most iconic images and campaigns including the British Airways’ ‘Face’ commercial, Silk Cut/Benson & Hedges, Land Rover, Dixons, Ariston and on and on… His work has won him numerous accolades including Cannes Lions and D&AD Pencils. He has also won four BAFTA’S. Dressing up as an old man to get himself his first job, he went on to work at London’s top agencies before setting up his own production company, thefinktank. Fink is as a strong believer in the nurturing of talent and founded theartschool in 2001 to teach young people coming into the business of creativity, film and design. Now at Ogilvy in China he oversees 17 offices and after just one year in charge picked up Ogilvy Asia’s first ever Cannes Lions Grand Prix in 2012, for Coca-Cola’s ‘#Cokehands’.
Commenting on his appointment, Fink said: “It’s a great honour to be chosen as president and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I got a taste of the advertising from the Middle East whilst judging Adfest this year and there was some very good work; which proves that where there’s a lot of sand there is creativity in abundance.”
Philippa Brown, CEO of Omnicom Media Group UK, has been appointed as the Media jury president. Prior to joining OMG UK, Brown held positions at BBH and DMB&B before joining IPC Media where she held various posts including Managing Director and Group Marketing Director, where she led a team of 90 marketers. She was also a Board Director. Since joining OMG UK in 2007 the company has grown by over 50% in six years, employing 1400 people and has billings of £1.3bn as well as servicing over 275 clients.
Phillippe Meunier, Creative Chief and co-founder at Sid Lee, will lead the Branded Content & Entertainment jury. 20 years ago, he started Sid Lee with the vision of creating a firm that went beyond the traditional and often limiting advertising agency model by developing a multidisciplinary approach they came to define as Commercial Creativity™. The agency has since gone on to be named one of the top three advertising agencies in the world by Advertising Age in 2010. Meunier overseas all the creative output for major international clients including Absolut, adidas, Cirque du Soleil and Red Bull. His diverse role includes recruiting fresh talent from schools around the world which in turn inspired him to set up The Bootcamp, a multidisciplinary, creative experience where recruits spend 10 days immersed in all things creative.
The PR jury will be presided over by Gabriela Lungu, Chief Creative Officer UK & EMEA, Weber Shandwick. Lunga has received over 150 awards and nominations during her career. At Weber Shandwick she is the firm’s first regional Chief Creative Officer, responsible for the creative output for UK and EMEA and an active advocate for building a culture of creativity in PR and award worthy work for clients. Previously she held positions at Ogilvy, where she was Managing Director of Ogilvy Public Relations Romania before founding her own multi-awarded agency The Practice in 2006.
Commenting on the presidents, Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals says, “This is a strong start to the line-up of 2014 jury presidents and we’re delighted that Graham, Philippa, Gabriela and Philippe will be joining us to help set the creative benchmark across the region. In recent years we’ve seen an increase in the number of trophies being taken by the region at global awards, proving that creativity in the region is now growing and competing on a worldwide stage. We’re excited to see which entries will shine this time.”
Entries for the awards open on 1 December 2013. Further details of how to enter along with categories and rules can be found online atwww.dubailynx.com. The Festival runs from 9-11 March 2014, with the Awards drawing it to a close on 12 March 2014.