Dubai Lynx and YouTube launch 7-Day Brief 2014

Cristina Blanaru Creativity, Festivals & Awards

Dubai Lynx teamed up again with YouTube and launches  7-Day brief 2014, a competition to showcase creative skills by producing a commercial for a non-for-profit organisation.

On January 9th 2014, a brief will be released on YouTube set by a well-known charity, whose identity will remain secret until then. Participants will have just seven days, until January 16th, to make a 30-60 second ad, in English or Arabic, aimed at raising awareness for the charity and upload the film on YouTube for the public to view and share, further building recognition for the non-for-profit organisation.

One winning commercial will be selected by a panel of top industry creatives from the MENA region led by Bechara Mouzannar, Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett MENA. The judging panel have added new criteria this year, which assess the first five seconds of the commercial, taking into account YouTube’s TrueView ad format which gives viewers the option to skip ads after viewing the first five seconds. The winner will receive a complimentary registration to attend the 2014 Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity and Dubai Lynx Awards, a round-trip airfare to travel to Dubai, hotel accommodation for four nights in Dubai, expenses, as well as the unique opportunity to recut their winning film during the festival with The Collective, the content creation company of the future that uses crowd sourcing and technology to collectively bring television, web, mobile or any content to life. The Collective will also offer the winning filmmakers an internship to further support and build the Middle East film community.

The MENA region has vibrant talent to create amazing content and YouTube provides a unique platform for people to share their creativity, connect and inspire others

Tarek Abdalla,

Head of Marketing Google MENA 

We are delighted to partner again with YouTube for this truly exciting competition. By putting creative powers to the test whilst raising awareness for a charity, there is the potential to springboard the winner’s career prospects and provide them with the experience of a lifetime

Emma Lancaster Farmer,

Dubai Lynx Festival Director

More countries are eligible to participate in 2014, including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan,  Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.