12 March 2014 – The winner of the 2014 7-Day Brief, powered by YouTube, has today been announced at a dedicated press conference which has taken place during the Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity.

Answering to a brief set by the international organisation UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) participants had just seven days to make a 30-60 second film commercial, in English or Arabic and upload the film to YouTube for public viewing. The aim of the commercial is to raise awareness for UNHCR and to encourage those living in the GCC and MENA countries to make a monthly donation of $US100 to help Syrian refugee families receive the life-saving support they desperately need.

Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals; Tarek Abdalla, Head of Marketing for Google in MENA; The UNHCR Regional Representative to the GCC Countries, Mr Imran Riza; and jury president Bechara Mouzannar; were all present to announce that the winner of this year’s 7-Day Brief was Mohammad Jabri, resident in Saudi Arabia, for his entry ‘(I envy you!)’,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vz5NiBRJOA.

Mohammad Jabri said that he is, “honoured and privileged to be bestowed with this award. Being a Syrian, this competition meant a lot for me as it gave me the opportunity to contribute in helping my beloved Syrian refugee families. The thought of how these refugees have been waiting for over 50Mn seconds or 2 years for this misery to end led me to think in this direction. And at the same time I challenged myself to relate their sorry state of affairs through an idea that drives the audiences to act. Hopefully, this ad will not just be a message viewers who would want to skip, rather something that results in creating a real-life ‘skip-button’ for the affectees.”

Due to the high standard of entries, the jury also decided to award two further submissions as highly commended. Sri A, resident in the UAE, was awarded second place for his entry, ‘Ever After’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i04Ipv4jN-A,
and Naval Paradkar, resident in the UAE, was given third place for his entry, ‘SkipNow’:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1l_bqy5FN0.

Speaking about the competition, jury president, Bechara Mouzannar, Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett MENA, says, “Some of the best pieces were done by, probably young, ad people that are not necessarily labelled as ‘creative’ but happy to become professionals at day, amateurs at night, for 7 consecutive nights and for a good cause. The crafting, storytelling and thinking behind the three top pieces should be acknowledged, particularly in the winning piece of work where the execution is simple well-crafted and perfectly rooted in social conversation.”

As part of the winner’s prize, Mohammad Jabri was given the chance to recut his winning commercial with professional production facilities provided by The Collective. The recut ad is now available to view at http://www.youtube.com/user/officialdubailynx.

Tarek Abdalla, Head of Marketing for Google in the MENA region said, “This contest sought out a creative individual who would be able to shine light on this important cause using the power of video. The winning submission by Mohammad Jabri demonstrated that videos transcend language and cultural barriers by presenting a cause that can plead and touch all viewers. With a platform like YouTube, the world will now be able to see their work and raise awareness for this important cause.”

Further details on the 7-Day Brief, including the brief and information on the jury, can be found athttp://www.dubailynx.com/talent_training/youtube/. The Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity opened its doors to delegates on Sunday and has provided three days of inspiration for MENA’s creative communications industry. Mohammad Jabri will be presented with his award on stage at tonight’s much anticipated Awards Ceremony and Dinner which will reveal the all of the 2014 winners.