Announcing the competition, Terry Savage, Chairman, Lions Festivals said, "Online video advertising is an essential area within the industry and this competition combines creative talent with a fantastic interactive platform for a great cause. The features that YouTube provide allow brands to be really innovative in how they connect with their audience and to be able to use this creatively to make a difference and raise awareness is a tremendous opportunity for all involved."
The cause will remain unknown until the brief is released online on 14 January 2015 entrants will have until midday (UAE) on 21 January to submit their film. Contestants from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and this year Lebanon are all eligible to submit films. Teams of up to two contestants can enter commercials that address the brief in either English or Arabic with English subtitles and upload them to the publicly accessible YouTube channel to promote the cause further.
The entries will be assessed by a panel of individuals from the advertising industry in the region, headed by Ramsey Naja, Chief Creative Officer, JWT MEA. The jury will also evaluate the entries responsiveness, interactivity and suitability for YouTube.
The winning team will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity where they will be awarded with the trip of a lifetime to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June 2015.
Commenting on the competition, Tarek Abdalla, Head of Marketing, Middle East & North Africa at Google, says, "The 7-Day Brief competition offers a great chance for anyone with a camera and strong idea to experiment with new ideas and create compelling content to entertain, inspire and inform valuable audiences that YouTube reaches around the world. Now in its third year, the 7-Day Brief has become a highly anticipated part of the Dubai Lynx season and we are excited to see what amazing ideas we will get this year."
For more information, go to www.dubailynx.com.
