Catching Cats

Entering great work is a given when trying to win a Lynx, a Lion or any other award in adland, but how do you give your campaign the best chance at reaching the top? Austyn Allison investigates.

- Austyn Allison

If you have not yet entered the Dubai Lynx, read this now. The final, extended deadline for en-tries is 7 February, which is only two days away. And the region’s agencies are in overdrive to get their entries in on time. But how do you make sure the great work you have produced over the last year is in with the best chance of winning?

Mike Cole, senior awards account manager at Lions Festivals, the organisers of the Dubai Lynx (in partnership with Campaign’s parent company Motivate), Cannes Lions, Eurobest and more, says the mistake he sees most often among the thousands of entries that cross his desk each year is that often the cultural subtleties of regional campaigns are not explained well enough to an international jury.

But before you run to the edit suite to splice in a comprehensive social history of the Middle East… The second most common mistake is that case videos run too long. The Lynx has a limit of two minutes for a reason. Juries will be looking at lots of films and don’t want to wade through anything too long. Get to the point within 30 seconds, otherwise you will lose the jury’s attention.

For categories such as print and outdoor, a jury will tend to judge your ad on the merits of its execution before turning to the accompanying paperwork for an explanation.

There is no hard and fast rule about whether work based on deep cultural insight will trump a campaign that plays to a universal truth, or vice-versa, says Cole. And this applies not only to regional shows such as the Lynx but also to the Oscars of advertising, the Cannes Lions. Work is judged on its own terms, he says. The main difference between Lynx and Lions remains that in the latter you will be competing against the best in the world.