Dubai: The UAE Government Media Office won 16 awards at the Dubai Lynx International Creative Awards 2022, after being nominated in 32 categories.
The awards and nominations are a recognition of the creativity and innovation demonstrated during six major media campaigns that the Office developed to promote some of the landmark projects and initiatives launched in the past 12 months.
These included the 100 Million Meals campaign, the largest of-its-kind initiative to support communities in need across 47 countries; the Emirates Mars Mission project ‘Hope Probe’, which successfully orbited Mars; and the World’s Coolest Winter campaign, which sought to showcase the exceptional tourism attractions in the UAE.
The awards recognise the best creative works in the Middle East and North Africa region in the field of media and communications. At the celebration, held at Dubai Opera on March 16, the UAE Government Media Office secured two Grand Prix, four Gold, six Silver and four Bronze out a total of 32 individual nominations across all the categories.
The award’s jury committees, which consisted of international experts and specialists in the creative industries, chose the winners after a comprehensive evaluation process that judged numerous criteria such as insight and idea; strategy and targeting; execution; and impact and results.
Awards
The 100 Million Meals campaign won three of the major Dubai Lynx International Creative Awards 2022, with one Gold, one Silver, and one Bronze.
The World’s Coolest Winter campaign, in its second consecutive edition, won six of the Dubai Lynx awards, which included one Grand Prix, two Gold, one Silver, and two Bronze.
Meanwhile, the Emirates Mars Mission project – Hope Probe campaign won seven awards, with one Grand Prix, one Gold, four Silver, and one Bronze.
Creative content
Alia Al Hammadi, Vice Chair of the UAE Government Media Office, said: “The UAE Government Media Office is keen to promote national and international initiatives and projects launched from the country with comprehensive media campaigns that present facts, figures and live testimonies with attractive and interactive content. To do so, it is important to employ various creative tools in partnership with major creative institutions and talents, ensuring we deliver content that pique people’s interests and establish a social movement.”
Khaled Al Shehhi, Executive Director of New Media and Visual Production at the UAE Government Media Office and member of the Grand Jury for the Middle East and Africa for the New York Advertising and Marketing Festivals “AME” Awards, said: “We were keen to support inspiring initiatives, such as the Warm Winter campaign that accompanied The World’s Coolest Winter and tried to spread the warmth of giving to those suffering from extreme cold, refugees and displaced persons.”
He added: “We also introduced all the opportunities available in the UAE to creative, talented pioneers in the It’s Possible campaign. In the #ArabsToMars campaign, which ran alongside the Mars Mission, we touched on the Arab public’s ambition to once again make a significant contribution to human civilization. In our Donation Plate campaign, we invited social media users to contribute by providing food support for the less fortunate.”
Nominations
The 32 nominations for the major Dubai Lynx International Creative Awards 2022 included three media campaigns run by the UAE Government Media Office for the 100 Million Meals campaign, the World’s Coolest Winter campaign and the Emirates Mars Mission project – Hope Probe.
The campaign accompanying the 100 Million Meals initiative, the largest of its kind to feed the needy in 47 countries, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, received seven nominations for the shortlist of the Donate with your Plate campaign for social media platforms. The campaign creatively and innovatively encouraged users to support to the less fortunate by photographing dishes and, via a QR code, donate a specific amount to provide meals to the needy.
The seven nominations included one for non-profit organisations, another for responsibility, a third for meaningful communication, two related to societal behaviour and cultural outlook, and two related to the use of smart media.
World’s Coolest Winter
The World’s Coolest Winter campaign alone collected 11 nominations. The It’s Possible campaign, which used short creative videos on language, the creative arts, innovation, art, international cuisine and sport, explored the opportunities available in the UAE for creators, talents and pioneers. It obtained five nominations for the categories of feature films and documentaries under than 30 minutes; audience involvement; film, series and radio talents; fiction and documentary series; as well as social goals and responsibility.
Meanwhile, the Warm Winter initiative, part of the World’s Coolest Winter campaign, won four nominations for the four-day live broadcast in cooperation with influencer AboFlah that collected millions of dirhams to provide heating needs in refugee and displacement camps. The nominations included fundraising, live broadcasting, social media platforms, and non-profit organizations.
The short documentary film “A Winter Through My Eyes”, which monitored the host centres of the World’s Coolest Winter campaign, and followed a blind girl from Lebanon and her friends around the UAE for six days to enjoy the country’s mild winter, won two nominations, the first for choosing the heroes, and the second for employing digital or social content.
Emirates Mars Mission Project – Hope Probe
The media campaign launched by the UAE Government Media Office in conjunction with the Emirates Mars Mission project – Hope Probe received a record 14 nominations, 13 of which were for the creative and innovative Double Moon initiative. This presented a simulation of Mars’s moons, via two 100-metre cranes and a 40-meter screen, in the UAE sky and sought to inspire audiences to ask questions about the planet’s environment.
The nominations for included three in the category of non-profit organizations, three in the large-scale use of media, two in the use of events category, and another in the categories of rapid marketing intervention, special design, immersive interactive experiences, technology and media abroad.
Meanwhile, the hashtag #ArabsToMars initiative, launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at an early stage of the first Arab Martian mission, won a nomination for comprehensive campaign. Its exceptional circulation recorded more than 2.7 billion engagements, while the same #ArabsToMars hashtag in English has been used by more than 512 million people around the world.
