Countdown to the 2010 Dubai Lynx begins

This year’s Dubai Lynx International Advertising Festival kicks off in 5 days time with the largest offering yet from the 3-day shebang.

Things get rolling on Sunday 14th at the Cannes Lions organised event with a screening for delegates of the acclaimed documentary Art & Copy, hosted by The National newspaper.

The documentary, which has been doing the film festival circuit in 2009,  takes a look behind the scenes at the social and cultural impact of the modern ad industry, revealing the work and influence of some of the most important advertising creatives of all time.

The 15th and 16th see the festival’s seminar programme swing into action, with presenters tackling a spectrum of issues affecting the regional and global industry.

Speakers include Chuck Porter, co-chairman, Crispin Porter + Bogusky; Mark Tutssel, CCO of Leo Burnett Worldwide; Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman and regional executive creative director, McCann Worldgroup India; David Nobay, creative chairman, Droga5 Australia and John Hunt, worldwide creative director, TBWA\ Worldwide.

Before culminating on the evening of Wednesday 17th with the Dubai Lynx awards presentation and dinner, the festival has also added two more evening social events to the delegates’ calendar.

The first is a media networking event on Monday hosted at festival venue, The Palladium, by Guardian News, while Tuesday sees the UAE’s Creative Club host their inaugural party at the Media One hotel in Dubai Media City.

Dubai Lynx reveals new rules for 2010

Dubai Lynx has released new tightened entry criteria for its show following the scam scandal that saw all FP7 Doha’s Lynx awards rescinded after this year’s competition.

The new rules state that in 2010 the full physical address of each client will be required on entry forms, and further still: “All completed entries will trigger an automated email to the client, asking them to confirm by return email that they are the brand owner, and that they give consent for the entry/campaign to be entered. If, after repeated attempts to contact the client, this cannot be ascertained, the entry will not be presented to the jury.”

Changes will also demand clarification on the media used for campaigns. “In future, there will be a requirement for the names of the publication/channel or media that was used, the country it was run in, and the number of insertions or airings.” This will have particular relevance for its Outdoor category, which in future splits submissions into Outdoor, Ambient and Poster.

More fundamentally, to prevent agencies from doubling-up entries to accrue points for Agency of the Year, the points system has been re-assessed. “Print entries that are also submitted into Poster (without revision of the creative) will only be eligible for the higher awarded marks in relation to Agency Of The Year. For instance, if a piece wins gold in Press and silver in Poster, the agency will carry only the 7 points for the Gold when Agency Of The Year is calculated, rather than 12 (7 for the Gold and 5 for Silver) as previously.”

Full details of these and other changes can be obtained from Dubai Lynx.