FINAL DUBAI LYNX JURY PRESIDENTS ANNOUNCED

ERIK VERVROEGEN, IAN HAWORTH & TOM BECKMAN FINAL DUBAI LYNX JURY PRESIDENTS ANNOUNCED

@dubailynx  #dubailynx     2 January 2013 – The Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity, which incorporates the Dubai Lynx Awards, has announced the final three presidents who will lead juries during the 2013 Festival. Erik Vervroegen, International Creative Director, Publicis Worldwide, will be stepping up to preside over two juries; the Film, Print, Outdoor and Radio Jury and Integrated Jury. Beginning his career in his native Belgium, Erik moved to TBWA Hunt Lascaris in South Africa before heading to Bozell New York and then TBWA Paris. It was here, as Executive Creative Director and President, that Erik led the agency to win the Cannes Lions Agency of the Year accolade for four years in a row. Returning to the USA Erik joined San Francisco based Goodby, Silverstein and Partners before taking his most recent role at Publicis Worldwide, which sees him working across Europe, Asia and Latin America. He has worked with a host of iconic brands including Nissan, Playstation 2, McDonald's, The New York Times, Excedrin, BMW, Wonderbra, Land Rover and Ray-Ban. Commenting on his appointment, Erik Vervroegen says, “It's a great honour to be part of the Dubai Lynx festival. The past editions have proved that this award show is one of the most respected award shows on the planet.” Ian Haworth, Global Chief Creative Officer and UK Chairman of RAPP, will lead the Direct and Promo & Activation Jury. Ian was made Art Director within two years of starting his career and after becoming creative director at DMB&B, he left to be founding partner of PPHN. Since then Ian has worked at Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, WWAV RAPP and Tequila\Worldwide before returning to RAPP in 2002, where he is currently responsible for setting the overall creative strategy and vision for the global network, ensuring that standards are consistently high across all markets. Ian works closely with clients including Virgin Media, Time Warner Cable and Toyota to name a few. He has won over 85 awards, spoken on creativity all over the world and sat on the juries of all major awards. About his role Ian Haworth says, “It’s a real privilege to work with so many talented people around the world and from such different cultures, I’m a very lucky guy.” Heading up the PR Jury will be Tom Beckman, Partner & Executive Creative Director at Prime. Under Tom’s creative leadership, Prime has become one of the most awarded PR agencies in the world. Prime has topped the Cannes Lions ranking of the PR category in both 2010 and 2012, in 2011 it was announced Global Consumer Agency by The HOLMES Report and for eight consecutive years it has been the most awarded agency at the Swedish PR Awards, Spinn. He has won several awards for his work for clients including adidas, Electrolux, McDonald’s, Tella and AUDI. He is a frequent speaker, has served as a jury member at multiple award shows and teaches marketing at top schools in Stockholm. On his position as president Tom says, “Marketing communication is changing from being about creating awareness that generates value to creating value that generates awareness. Ten years ago the new paradigm was integration, five years ago it was social media and the next five years will most certainly be about sustainability. And it’s not about CSR but rather about identifying and manifesting the ties between the client and the surrounding society in which it operates.” The jury presidents, together with their juries, will meet in March next year to judge thousands of entries from across the Middle East and North Africa region during the annual Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity. Commenting on the appointments Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals says, “Every year Dubai Lynx provides an essential showcase of the region’s achievements; setting creative benchmarks, inspiring innovations and instilling new ideas and forward-thinking in its attendees. We’re delighted that we can welcome three of the best people in the industry, all admired globally, to help us continue to achieve this.” Entries into the 7th Dubai Lynx awards are now being accepted, anyone wishing to enter should visit the website for further information on costs, rules and how to submit entries,www.dubailynx.com