The 2023 Jury Presidents line-up includes ten global experts who will lead the juries to award outstanding creativity in branded communications across MENA
Dubai Lynx, MENA’s premier Festival and Awards for creative excellence in branded communications, has announced the ten industry experts who will lead the 2023 juries.
The Jury Presidents will judge work entered across 21 different categories, including the newly launched Creative Commerce Lynx.
About the Jury Presidents, Philip Thomas, Chairman LIONS and Dubai Lynx, said, “We’re delighted to announce a host of renowned international talent to the Jury President line-up for Dubai Lynx 2023, featuring some truly remarkable creative leaders. Our Jury Presidents will bring their talent and prowess to ensure the Dubai Lynx Awards set the creative standard for the MENA region, as well as setting the future agenda. We look forward to seeing the body of work that will emerge following their discussions next year.”
2023 Dubai Lynx Jury Presidents include:
Brand Experience & Activation, Creative Commerce, Direct and Outdoor
Vicki Maguire – Chief Creative Officer, Havas London, UK
Creative Effectiveness and Creative Strategy
Anna Vogt, Chief Strategy Officer, VMLY&R London, UK
Design and Industry Craft
Sbu Sitole, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer, The Odd Number, South Africa
Digital Craft, Mobile and Social & Influencer
Zoha Zoya, Group Creative Director, Head of Experience Design, R/GA, EMEA
Entertainment
Amani Duncan, CEO, BBH, USA
Film Craft
Rajay Singh, Film Director & Founder, Directors Think Tank, South East Asia
Film, Print & Publishing and Radio & Audio
Gustavo Lauria, Chief Creative Officer, We Believers, USA
Healthcare
Bernardo Romero, Maker, Klick Health, Canada
Media
Kate Ivory, Agency Partner, Head of Strategy, OMD EMEA, EMEA
PR
Tom Beckman, Global Chief Creative Officer, Weber Shandwick, Global
Entries into Dubai Lynx are being accepted until Thursday 2 February 2023. Click here for further information on the awards.
Motivate Val Morgan is the official representative of Dubai Lynx Festival in the UAE
From John Lewis to the return of Will Ferrell as Elf at Asda, here’s a list of the best Christmas ads in 2022 from around the world.
As the holiday season approaches, brands around the world are releasing their much-anticipated Christmas ads.
From heartwarming stories of family and togetherness, to hilarious and lighthearted takes on the holiday season, this year’s batch of Christmas ads includes everything from the return of Will Farrell. as ‘Buddy the Elf’ to cinematic ads directed by Taika Waititi, Michael Gracey and more.
Check out the fill list of 2022 Christmas ads that reflect a year full of change, hope and joyful optimism:
John Lewis – The Beginner
Another year, another heartwarming ad from John Lewis, the ad follows a middle-aged man as he attempts to learn how to skateboard. What’s all this in aid of: a mid-life crisis? No: when the doorbell rings, we learn that he has been prepping the arrival of Ellie, the young girl it looks like the couple will be fostering over Christmas (and who loves to skateboard).
Lidl – Lidl Bear
The supermarket chain – Lidl’s marketing campaign is a stuffed toy in a branded jumper, named “Lidl Bear”, an adorable teddy bear dressed in an accidentally shrunk-down Lidl knitted jumper. The bear becomes a roaring success after being spotted in a supermarket, eclipsing even Paddington’s star as he climbs the giddy heights of fame. But later, he realized what really matters and got back to his young owner, who’s been missing him.
Boots – #JoyForAll
Boots’ ’Joy For All’ campaign follows Holly, played by actor Lydia West, who finds a pair of magic glasses on the bus that let her see the hidden ’joy’ all around her. Lydia effortlessly carries the entire thing and leaves the kind of warm, fuzzy feeling that only the best Christmas ads can conjure.
Sainsbury’s – Once Upon a Pud
Sainsbury’s supermarket chain tells a fantasy story depicting an English countess’ Christmas dinner as chefs prepare their creations. Everything goes smoothly until the young chef who prepares the pudding is disappointed by the countess, since she confesses that she has never liked pudding. It is then that the cook leaves to create a new recipe for the popular Sainsbury’s dessert that the countess may like.
Asda – Have your Elf a Merry Christmas
Will Ferrell, Buddy the Elf is once again spreading cheer for all to hear. Using footage from the hit Warner Bros film, Asda recruited the lovable character as a festive colleague. Ferrell’s Elf proceeds to charm old ladies with his smile; put behind the microphone he starts singing. And of course, he manages to decorate the store to the nines once everybody’s gone home.
Argos: Avalanche
Argos is celebrating the chaos that sometimes ensues when family and friends get together at Christmas time. In their latest ad viewers see a couple nervously anticipating the arrival of their guests – a few visitors according to them, but as a huge crowd of neighbors began to make its way to the couple’s home.
Amazon – Joy is Made
There’s no festive flex quite like getting Taika Waititi to direct your Christmas marketing. Set to the obligatory indie song, this year’s offering tells the story of a dad whose daughter is obsessed with a snow globe. So, for Christmas, what better gift is there for this strange child than for dad to make her a life-size snow globe of her very own?
Heathrow – The Gift
When you’re living far away from your family, what would be your dream Christmas present? London’s Heathrow knows the answer, and the result is this tearjerker of a short film.
M&S – Gifts That Give
Inside each home something unusual is happening … every time an M&S gift is opened, there is an unexpected occurrence that disrupts family Christmases and draws them to the street outside to find it taken over by real-life community groups who will benefit from M&S donations – from bikers with hearts of gold to brass bands. The ad is Directed by the filmmaker Michael Gracey, (The Greatest Showman).
Age UK – Fred’s World
Taking viewers on a journey through the decades, Age UK’s new film follows the relationship of football fan Fred and his wife through the lens of the World Cup years, starting in 1966.
Have a Christmas ad you would like to run in cinema? Contact us for more information on advertising across our circuit in the GCC.
Dubai Municipality booked an off-screen cinema campaign to promote the eco-friendly Dubai Safari Park starting 10 November 2022.
The Branded popcorn tubs were distributed to moviegoers at VOX Cinemas – Mall of the Emirates, City Center Mirdif, City Center Al Zahia, and City Center Deira.
Dubai Safari Park also took over the digital screens at VOX Mall of the Emirates – the hero screen above the candy bar and the large screen at the entrance to the IMAX auditorium.
Contact us for more on how off screen cinema advertising could help move your brand closer to its target audience.
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FIFA booked an integrated cinema campaign through Universal Media (UM) Qatar to promote the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022™ at select locations of VOX, Reel, Muvi, AMC cinemas in UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The on-screen campaign included a 30 sec. commercial booked for a period of 4 weeks – 27 October 2022 to 23 November 2022, at select locations of:
UAE – VOX and Reel
KSA – VOX, AMC and Muvi
The commercial follows La’eeb (the official mascot of the FIFA World Cup 2022) as he auditions to fulfill his destiny as the tournament’s mascot. La’eeb encourages everyone to believe in themselves and spread the joy of football to everyone, through the catch phrase ‘Now is All’.
The off-screen component of the cinema campaign included the distribution of 50,000 FIFA branded popcorn tubs featuring La’eeb, to moviegoers at select VOX locations in UAE and KSA starting 10 November 2022.
Contact us for more information on branding options and integrated cinema advertising opportunities across the Middle East!
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AMC Garden 5 – Hail offers luxury auditoriums, best-in-class projection, sound and seating, and is the latest effort by AMC in an ongoing program to provide state-of-the-art cinemas across KSA.
AMC Cinemas has opened its eleventh location at Garden Mall in Hail, KSA. The 5-screen cinema with a total of 549 seats, which includes a PRIME at AMC screen, is another impressive step in the rapid evolution of the cinema experience in Saudi Arabia.
Following the launch of AMC Garden 5, the cinema exhibitor aims to reach a large number of movie lovers around Saudi Arabia, a goal which is in line with the government’s plan to diversify entertainment content as well as providing new experiences to a range of audiences in several cities and governorates across the Kingdom.
AMC presently operates 71 screens across 11 locations in 7 cities of Saudi Arabia.
Motivate Val Morgan congratulates AMC Cinemas on the opening of AMC Garden 5, and warmly welcomes this location to our cinema circuit in KSA.
Source: AMC Cinemas
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Francine Li of Riot Games will serve as Jury President for the inaugural Entertainment Lions for Gaming.
Cannes Lions has announced the launch of the Entertainment Lions for Gaming. The new Lion will be judged and awarded for the first time in June 2023, with Francine Li, Global Head of Marketing, Riot Games, serving as the inaugural Jury President.
Speaking about the new Lion, Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said, “We’ve seen the number of Lion winners that feature gaming rise by 74% in the last five years. Based on the velocity at which this space is evolving, and the increased relevance that Gaming now holds within the creative marketing community, this feels like a natural progression. We also can’t ignore that Gaming is bigger than Hollywood and the music industry combined. I’d like to thank all the many agencies, brands, gaming experts and passionate advocates from around the world who have helped shape this new Lion. Our belief is that this award will offer a new benchmark, and shine a spotlight on creative work that sits at the intersection of brands, creativity, gaming, customer experience and communities. I’d like to thank Francine for agreeing to lead the first Entertainment Lion for Gaming jury in 2023, we are grateful for her wealth of talent and expertise.”
The Entertainment Lions for Gaming will celebrate creative work that connects people to brands through gameplay. Submissions will need to demonstrate how brands successfully tapped into complex gaming communities and seamlessly added real value to the overall gaming experience while driving commercial success.
About her role, Jury President of the Entertainment Lions for Gaming, Francine Li, said, “I’m honoured and excited to serve as the inaugural Jury President of the Entertainment Lions for Gaming. This new Lion is being introduced at a time when the gaming industry is truly reaching new heights. I believe that gaming is the future of entertainment, bringing together passionate global communities in shared immersive and interactive experiences. The creative work in gaming is community driven, deeply rooted in insight and adds value to the player experience, a true definition of modern marketing. I look forward to celebrating groundbreaking work and awarding the first ever Entertainment Lions for Gaming with a jury of my esteemed peers.”
The Entertainment Lions for Gaming, originally a part of the Entertainment Lions, is being introduced as part of a long-term plan that started when Cannes Lions separated out the Entertainment Lions for Music in 2016 and then later the Entertainment Lions for Sport in 2019.
The jury, which will be announced early next year, will be multidisciplinary and comprise creatives, brands, gaming experts, publishers, platforms and producers.
Click here for more details on the Cannes Lions awards and the changes made to other Lions. Submissions into Cannes Lions 2023 will be accepted from 19 January 2023.
Source: LIONS press release
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L’Oréal booked an integrated cinema campaign with Motivate Val Morgan – through, Universal Media to promote their extended brand offering – Armani Code by Giorgio Armani.
Actor Regé-Jean Page embodies the modern, forward-looking rendition of masculinity that sits at the heart of the Armani Code philosophy.
The 15 sec. on-screen commercial was booked as a sponsorship spot at VOX Cinemas – Kingdom Centre Riyadh – KSA for a period of 4 weeks starting 10th November, coinciding with the release of Marvel’s blockbuster Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
The off-screen component included a sampling activity prior to the screening of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at VOX – Kingdom Centre Riyadh on the weekend of November 10th – 12th, 2022.
Perfume samples were placed on the seats, along with an Armani Code flyer, featuring Regé-Jean Page, and a QR Code for the audience to scan and order the perfume online.
Combining on-screen advertising with sampling at the cinema is an effective strategy when seeking to engage audiences with a new product.
Got a product launch ahead? Contact us to know more on how integrated campaigns can help move your brand closer to its target audience.
Motivate Val Morgan, in collaboration with VOX Cinemas, hosted a private screening of the Egyptian movie Tahit Tahdid Alsilah for our valued advertisers.
The screening took place on 3 November 2022 at 7:00 PM (local time) in the UAE – Mall of the Emirates, Oman – Muscat City Center, Bahrain – The Avenues, and Qatar – Doha Festival City.
With an attendance of over 220+ invitees across the four countries – a mix of agency and direct clients (and their friends/family members), the screening was a massive success!
We would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank VOX Cinemas for helping us organize and execute the four private screenings of Tahit Tahdid Alsilah, and to everyone who attended the event, thus contributing to its immense success.
VOX Cinemas will be the RSIFF’s exclusive cinema partner for the second consecutive year.
The Red Sea International Film Festival announces VOX Cinemas as the festival’s exclusive cinema partner for the second consecutive year. The strategic partnership underpins VOX Cinemas’ commitment to contribute to the prosperous future of the Kingdom and develop a sustainable film industry across the region.
VOX Cinemas will operate seven theaters at Red Sea Mall in Jeddah, which will screen a diverse slate of more than 120 films comprising international and local features during the ten-day festival. The state-of-the-art cinema boasts cutting-edge audio-visual technology, ensuring that festivalgoers will enjoy a truly immersive experience.
Mohammed Al Turki, CEO of the Red Sea International Film Festival added, “We are proud to partner with VOX Cinemas again this year in our efforts to bring the best the Saudi and Arab film industry has to offer to the big screen. The Red Sea International Film Festival provides an important platform for budding film creatives to showcase their potential and achievements in front of their peers, industry professionals, and the global audience. With VOX Cinemas as our Festival partner, we strive to inspire young Saudis and Arabs to pursue their passion in film to contribute to elevating the Kingdom’s cinematic offering to new heights, and we thank VOX Cinemas for furthering our vision through this collaboration”.
Commenting on the partnership, Ignace Lahoud, Chief Executive Officer, Majid Al Futtaim Leisure, Entertainment & Cinemas said, “Storytelling is rooted in Arabic culture, and VOX Cinemas is dedicated to cultivating a new wave of talent and empowering them to use the language of film to tell their stories. As the region’s largest exhibitor, we have a great opportunity to leverage our scale and showcase the depth and breadth of local creativity on the big screen. We have been a proud Festival partner of the Red Sea International Film Festival since its inception, and we look forward to joining forces once again, given our shared commitment to expand the reach of Arabic culture and heritage to global audiences.”
The partnership between The Red Sea International Film Festival and VOX Cinemas, a pioneering cinema exhibitor in the MENA region, brings together two cinematic trailblazers to take festival attendees on a show-stopping journey. The film-going experience has become an established part of Saudi Arabia’s entertainment offerings, as a result of the rapid expansion of VOX Cinemas across the Kingdom in recent years.
The Red Sea IFF celebrates excellence in film, a sentiment shared by VOX Cinemas in their commitment to realize the objectives of Vision 2030 by making cinema easily accessible to communities of film enthusiasts across the Kingdom. During the ten-day Festival starting 1st December 2022, VOX Cinemas will be the exclusive cinema exhibitor for the screenings of the festival at Red Sea Mall, bringing the best in cinema to film lovers.
For more information click here
For festival passes click here
Source: Red Sea International Film Festival press release
The fifth edition of the hugely successful META Cinema Forum was held between 25-29th October 2022 at the Atlantis the Palm Island, with renewed optimism following the opening of several large-format cinema screens a few months after the industry began operating at full capacity.
As many as 56 exhibition stands displayed the latest products, services, technology from a select group of industry suppliers, technology providers and industry stakeholders at the convention.
Over 500 delegates, visitors, buyers, sellers, and other industry stakeholders attended the event, which also addressed the shortage of feature films, documentary films, and other film genres in the region.
More than 44 industry officials and experts shared their perspectives on the current market situation, challenges, and solutions through speeches, presentations, training, and workshops etc.
Industry leaders and officials who attended the META Cinema Forum included Toby Tennant, Senior Vice-President for EMEA Theatrical Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures International; Tonis Kiis, Senior Vice President for International Distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures; Paul Higginson, Executive Vice-President, EMEA of Universal Pictures International; Toni El Massih, Managing Director – Cinemas, VOX Cinemas; Andrew Such, CEO of AMC Cinemas; John Schreiner, Senior Vice President for Theatrical Development in EMEA, at IMAX Corporation and Zaur Darabadeh, Chairman of the Board of CinemaPlus, among other global leaders.
The forum witnessed powerful presentations from Saudi Arabia, Asia and Africa regions, the future of the large-format cinema halls as well as the prospects of the streaming services, technology disruptions and other subjects. Experts also addressed the demand-supply mismatch in film contents and theatre facilities across the Middle East and Africa.
Apart from the Middle East and African countries, cinema industry stakeholders from Turkey, Asia and CIS countries also joined the META Cinema Forum, making it a truly global cinema industry convention.
Leila Masinaei, Managing Partner, Great Mind Events Management –organizer of the META Cinema Forum, said: “META Cinema Forum has successfully repositioned the region’s cinema industry in the global map, so much so that large-scale investment has widened the theatre facilities across the region. The industry is currently gearing up to increase the supply of good quality contents and regional blockbusters that will pull more viewers to the cinema halls.”
“META Cinema Forum has now become a global industry convention for which international cinema industry suppliers, technology providers and other industry stakeholders prepare and launch their latest innovations. As a result, we can see a number of global cinema industry suppliers have lined up new products and services for the industry,” she added.
The two-day mega cinema industry conference was followed by a three-day META Film Fest, which kicked off with the screening of three short films from the UAE: Deadline, Children of All and IDI, and screened over 70 shortlisted full feature films, documentaries, and short films from Iran, Jordan, Sweden, Korea, Egypt. The main attraction of the festival was the gala premiere of Emily by director Frances O’Conner.
The film festival also attracted several international and regional celebrities including Cris Mejia, Nayla Al Khwaja, Emirati film director, Maria Bello, and Casey Shannon, Shalila Samavati, Pegah Ahangarani and Neslihan Yeldan among many others.
Motivate Val Morgan was one of the media partners for the META Cinema Forum and a supporting partner for Meta Film Fest 2022.
Source: META Cinema Forum Press Release
