Dubai Lynx withdraws Agency of the Year prize
The organisers of the 3rd Dubai Lynx Awards have withdrawn the Agency of the Year award from FP7 Doha and the trophy will subsequently now not be awarded this year.
Investigations after this year’s award show have revealed numerous examples of work from FP7 Doha that did not meet the Dubai Lynx entry criteria and subsequently these 18 submissions and the associated seven awards have been withdrawn. Those awards were: 1 Gold Print campaign, 1 Gold TV/Cinema campaign, 3 Silver Print campaigns, 1 Silver Outdoor campaign and 1 Bronze TV/Cinema campaign. In addition, ten pieces which were shortlisted in the Print and Outdoor sections were also disqualified. FP7 is part of the Interpublic Group.
UK trade website Brand Republic carried a story two days ago on a scam controversy featuring a Samsung ad that was not authorised by the client. Brand Republic quotes the client Sunny Hwang, the president of Samsung Electronics Levant, who stated: “At no time was Samsung Electronics aware of these advertisements and the company has not approved or commissioned FP7 to create any advertising campaigns.” See full story here.
“Even before the awards night we had withdrawn a number of pieces of work from the competition but subsequently our investigation has found other pieces that were presented to the jury that infringed our requirement that all work presented must represent the client who approved it. Our rules are very clear with regards to this, and we have no hesitation in withdrawing these awards,” said Philip Thomas, Dubai Lynx CEO. “The Dubai Lynx Awards exist to celebrate and raise the creative bar of genuine work of the region. Activities like this show a disregard not only for the Awards but more importantly for the juries who work so hard judging the event. Due to the scale of withdrawals we feel it inappropriate to honour FP7 Doha as Agency of the Year and so will be withdrawing the prize. I hope that this swift action makes clear our determination to build an award with true integrity for the region,” continued Thomas.
The Dubai International Advertising Festival and Lynx Awards, which took place earlier this month, are held in association with the IAA – UAE Chapter. Dr. Lance de Masi, Chapter President, commented: “In taking such swift action the Lynx organisers have demonstrated their understanding that in order to fulfil the purpose of incentivising and rewarding creative excellence in the region, Lynx must safeguard compliance with the stated conditions of eligibility. To do otherwise would be to undermine credibility.”
20 Comments
Does FP7 have an office in Singapore?
Didn’t these guys kick our arses in Cannes last year? 6 or 7 Gold Lions. hmmm
So which agency came second? Surely they should now be named Agency of the Year? That’s what happens in the Olympics when they disqualify the Gold Medal winner: the Silver Medallist is awarded the Gold.
This is just the beginning. Watch as the scam is smoked out all over the place. There’s nowhere to hide.
doesn’t that depend on your definition of scam 7.08?
Oh for fuck’s sake, if you took scam out of award shows the awards shows would go broke. Do you really want to be in there judging Starhub retail ads?
A scam for a client they dont have.
The middle east is exactly a decade behind Asia.
The sad story is told very well here: http://bloganubis.com/2009/03/21/enough-is-enough/
12.58…. FP7 is mccann erickson in the middle east.
Scam pro bono ads are not the doing of a few creative individuals, it is a culture that is initiated, encouraged and celebrated right from the top management. So its never going to go away. Lets learn to live with it.
The bigger challenge for agency heads is how to strike the right balance between doing great work on real briefs and imaginary ones. Right now throughout asia, the latter is gaining prominence while the former no one cares about. In this economic mess, that is a very dangerous thing.
No half measures with these FT7 boys, hey?
Scam is a comical word that masks the truth.
This is fraud.
Like TBWA Singapore (of Sphere Action Figure times) on steroids!
This is a comment on Campaign’s Middle East website from a few days ago. It helped stir up the Lynx people into action. You’re right 9.48 there are no fuckin half measures out there.
Last night outside Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Knock! Knock!
-Who’s there?
Samsung.
– Samsung who?
That’s it. You’re busted! This is the Dubai Lynx squad. Put your flag in the air and stare at the writing on the wall. The party’s over, guys. You can fool the judges, you can fool the organizers, but you can’t fool the people of adland.
And so it begins. The untouchable, unstoppable, unbeatable FP7 Doha are being investigated for indulging themselves in fake glory. I don’t know how this will end, but I’m sure it won’t be pretty. Because even if the Dubai Lynx organizers find them guilty of maligning the reputation of a honourable Korean company like Samsung, just to win some silly advertising awards, they could STILL be Agency of the Year. And that’s what really matters.
They’re so far ahead, we can only see them as specs on the horizon, it seems. How proud they must feel, when they display that trophy in their reception right now. The sense of pride of having accomplished something so honourable must be truly satisfying. Cheers FP7. You rock! You really showed us all how it’s done. We camel-herders were lost until you came along. But we must admit, we can’t compete with you. What you have done, is something far beyond the imagination of our sunburnt minds. Please, let us not stop you as you thunder ahead to One Show and Cannes, bringing more unprecedented glory for the whole region.
Sir Steve is now leading the Lynx Inquisition and with bated breath, we wait to know the fate of the following 17 metals in question.
TVC
3 Golds – Samsung printer
Print
3 Golds – Samsung washing machine
2 Silvers – Samsung camera
3 Silvers – Samsung printers
3 Silvers – Higeen mouthwash
Outdoor
3 Silvers Higeen mouthwash
This isn’t the best week for FP7 and things just got worse. Their client, Samsung, is in deep trouble in Lebanon. It seems the 2 ads for Samsung camera, Jesus and Teacher, are now raising hell. Check out the story that made breaking news on OTV.
http://forum.tayyar.org/f8/almustaqbal-newspaper-showing-ad-humilating-christian-symbols-38738/
But what most intrigued me is this:
http://www.tayyar.org/Tayyar/News/PoliticalNews/en-US/128825233596219657.htm
“The Catholic media center denounced two advertisements published in the al-Mustakbal newspaper on Monday, saying they were offensive to Christian beliefs.”
The puzzling thing is, these 2 ads were released in the same paper on MONDAY, a whole week after the Dubai Lynx festival started. Why? Was it something Steve said? Or are they trying to secure their Cannes entries?
I’ve done my bit of scum-searching. So now I invite my fellow adlanders to share their views on this subject. Don’t just sit there and watch. Let the world know what you think. Surely you have a spine that still works.
What has really surprised me is that the normally outspoken Arabs are keeping quiet on this matter.
Shu yaani, habibi? What are you afraid of?
John Doh
PS: “Where is the fat lady, and will she sing at all?”
I believe that’s your song playing.
Oh, and another update – the Lynx are in danger of turning into the biggest advertising scandal of all time with work from other agencies being investigated.
http://campaignme.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/lynx-launches-investigation-into-work-by-other-agencies/
Sadly they’ve ruined it for the rest of us. A lot of agencies do spec/proactive work for their OWN clients and enter it ALONG WITH real their real paid work iinto the award shows but at least it is for their own clients. It’s somewhat palatable then. However if the agency’s entire body of award work is scam, that is very sad and wrong and it isn’t fair for the rest of the creatives of the world who do proactive work for their own clients. This sort of shit makes clients very dubious of agencies and then they refuse to run a proactive piece for awards at all. The truth is a lot of clients also want to be famous with awards but given the amount of press this catastrophe has received, even the adventurous clients will start to play it safe. And that is the beginning of the end for creativity.
These FT7 boys need to spend a week up here to craft their scam skills. Amateurs.
I understand Tham Khai Meng is the President of the Jury at Dubai Lynx Awards. So sad that this should happen on his watch.
FP7 website is amazing, looks alike a quasi government petroleum related industry website….zero inspiration or lofty thinking. But then theres all this dodgy work thats won at Cannes…who the hell are they trying to fool?
There’s a really scammy looking cannes gold winner for some video game on their site.
And guess what…. its created by a guy who used to work at Ogilvy Singapore 2 years ago.
Did anyone take a look at the date this news was out. APRIL 1. Could this be the longest spoof of all spoof.