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NEW YORK Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director, Ogilvy, India South Asia, has been named jury president of the second Dubai Lynx Awards, the organization said. Pandey will preside over every category: TV/Cinema, Print, Outdoor and Radio.
“When we initially announced the launch of Dubai Lynx, we said we would bring the best jurors and presidents available in the world today,” said Philip Thomas, CEO of the Cannes Lions, which organizes the Dubai Lynx Awards, in a statement. “They don’t come any bigger than Piyush Pandey—a former Cannes jury president and a legend not just in India but around the world.”
Pandey has worked on Fevikwik, an adhesive whose “Fish” spot was named commercial of the century by the Ad Club Mumbai. In it, a fisherman watches in astonishment as a fellow angler catches loads of fish by applying Fevikwik to a stick and dipping it into the water. He also worked on Cadbury’s “Real taste of life” campaign, which was named campaign of the century by the same organization. The ad celebrated spontaneity and used images such as a woman dancing on cricket field after her team won.
Pandey said he would push the juries to recognize local ideas that have wider appeal. “My suggestion to the jury is to ask how appropriate is the idea for the region it was made for and [can it] go global, if at all? What I will suggest to them is that you are giving a young award. Get the flavor of your beliefs and don’t give a damn about the rest of the world,” he said in an interview. “I will have to have a word with the judges and try to create scenarios to say that at the end of the day advertising is not meant for advertising people, it is meant for the people it is aimed at.”
He added, “I’m a bit of a populist, in terms of delighting people. I should not win a Gold at Cannes and then come back and have to explain the idea to 100 people who, after they hear the explanation, go ‘ahh.'”
The awards, which are part of the Dubai International Advertising Festival, will be given out during the week of March 31 to April 2. Last year, Leo Burnett, Cairo, won the TV/Cinema Grand Prix for “Private Lesson,” an ad for Melody TV depicting a superhero who battles boredom.
