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 UPDATE: FP7 issues official statement - full text below.
Dubai Lynx has stripped Fortune Promoseven Doha of seven awards and its Agency of the Year title, following an investigation into its work for Samsung, Higeen and Nissan revealed the agency had not obtained client approval for this work.
The agency loses two Golds, four Silvers and one Bronze award. Notable by its absence is a ban on FP7 Doha from entering future events, which was under discussion at one point; sources close to the affair said FP7 Doha had agreed not to submit entries to the Cannes Lions this year.
“Even before the awards night, we had withdrawn a number of pieces of work from the competition but subsequently our investigation has found other pieces that were presented to the jury that infringed our requirement that all work presented must represent the client who approved it. Our rules are very clear with regards to this, and we have no hesitation in withdrawing these awards,” said Philip Thomas, CEO of Lynx organisers Cannes Lions, in a statement.
“The Dubai Lynx awards exist to celebrate and raise the creative bar of genuine work of the region. Activities like this show a disregard not only for the awards but more importantly for the juries who work so hard judging the event,” he added.
Although it seems FP7 Doha may have retained first place in the agency rankings, Lynx decided to withdraw the Agency of the Year award completely, following the scandal.
“Due to the scale of withdrawals we feel it inappropriate to honour FP7 Doha as Agency of the Year and so will be withdrawing the prize. I hope that this swift action makes clear our determination to build an award with true integrity for the region,” said Thomas.
Lance de Massi, president of the UAE chapter of the IAA, said: “In taking such swift action the Lynx organisers have demonstrated their understanding that in order to fulfil the purpose of incentivising and rewarding creative excellence in the region, Lynx must safeguard compliance with the stated conditions of eligibility. To do otherwise would be to undermine credibility.”
As Thomas makes clear, FP7 Doha’s work was under scrutiny prior to the awards night – your correspondent had a personal guided tour at the Dubai Advertising Festival through what was wrong with the agency’s submissions.
After the ceremony, rumours and accusations were flying around the advertising community via email, before being aggregated on Bloganubis. Following official complaints, Lynx started its investigation.
Unfortunately, at this point, two of the controversial ads for Samsung cameras appeared in the Lebanese press, sparking a political outcry
and damaging Samsung’s brand in the country. While a Samsung distributor in Saudi Arabia may be a client of FP7, Samsung itself had no links to the agency.
At this stage, neither FP7 nor Samsung have revealed what, if any, action they will each take over the matter.
It seems highly probable that Samsung will take legal action against FP7 over the Lebanon furore.
As for FP7, it is waiting until it knows Samsung’s decision before making official statements on what it will do internally in the wake of this mess.
Once this happens, stay tuned for our full in-depth analysis of what the hell happened, and where it all went wrong.
UPDATE 02/04/2009 1415: Fortune Promoseven has issued an official statement following the Lynx action.
"We are in support of the spirit in which this announcement from Lynx
was made. This is a message to every agency, every creative in the
region that there are rules to be obeyed, standards to be followed, and
that there are no short cuts to stardom in our industry," said the statement.
It also seems like FP7 is aiming to pin this mess purely on the actions of indivduals, rather than the agency network as a whole: "We are also definitely sure that this issue was personally motivated
and was outside the frame work of our internal rules, fundamental
principles, and agency beliefs."
The statement also makes a point of stating FP7's overall winning position at the Lynx: "Looking at the results overall, our organisation is by far still the
most awarded and recognised agency at Lynx and we are quite proud of
that. One cannot take away the credit from that tremendous
achievement."
There's still no word on what internal action the agency might be taking - this is likely to come after Samsung makes its move.
The Fortune Promoseven statement in full:
"The Fortune Promoseven organisation is aware of the decision to strip the Agency of the Year title from FP7 Doha at Lynx 2009. We are in support of the spirit in which this announcement from Lynx was made. This is a message to every agency, every creative in the region that there are rules to be obeyed, standards to be followed, and that there are no short cuts to stardom in our industry.
"While we acknowledge the action by Lynx, we are continuing our internal investigations and we are taking strong punitive action against anyone who was in contempt of our reputation and our standards. We are also definitely sure that this issue was personally motivated and was outside the frame work of our internal rules, fundamental principles, and agency beliefs.
"At this time, we should not forget that as an agency brand we have had a large number of world class entries from across our regional footprint that were recognised and awarded by an international jury at Lynx. Looking at the results overall, our organisation is by far still the most awarded and recognised agency at Lynx and we are quite proud of that. One cannot take away the credit from that tremendous achievement."
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