My top 7 learnings from Dubai Lynx

Dubai Lynx is undoubtedly one of the most coveted, insightful and well thought through marketing events in the region. It has always been on my must-attend list from the time I was working in P&G brand management few years ago to now when I run my own business. I host, emcee, moderate and speak at various events in the region but when I was asked to host Dubai Lynx this year, I was undeniably ecstatic. I was the emcee for Inspiration stage on Day 1 and Discovery stage on Day 2. This year there were five key tracks, exploring the themes of Creative Effectiveness, The Business of Creativity, Craft & Design, Innovation & Technology and The Experience Economy. As always, the quality of content and speakers were top notch, there was simply so much to learn, absorb, reflect and digest with 3 stages running in parallel. Besides hosting my own stages, from the limited time I got to listen in to other sessions, below are my top 7 learnings from this stunning festival of creativity.

1. Steve Harvey, the famous American comedian and TV host was such a highlight of the event. He nailed his talk which was everything uplifting, inspiring, insightful and hilarious all at once. He shared his personal journey and struggles on how he rose to fame literally from the ground up. He passionately spoke about grit and grind as the absolute essentials one needs to grow and succeed. Unlike other professions and skills, comedy is not something that can be taught. You’re either funny or you’re not. You’re born with this gift and it is up to you what you make of it. He shared some practical advices and tips for budding artists on how to market their work. He urged everyone to find their unique gift, nurture it, practice it and ensure they become the best at it.
2. Thomas Mueller and Tarek Sultani from Fjord shared data, insights and recommendations into business, design and technology from their Fjord Trends Report 2019. My overall takeaway was ‘less is more’. Amidst all the clutter and noise, win with the quality of your ideas, content and design rather than spamming for the sake of being visible. Another interesting finding that caught my eye was that 70% of consumers want brands that they consume to have a positive impact on society. This is completely in line with all the findings on millennials who want both brands and organizations to be purpose driven and actively associated with social impact and causes.
3. Bas Korsten, Global Creative Lead, JWT Amsterdam led an interesting session on neuroscience enhanced creativity. He shared 7 pointers on how to train your brain to be more creative. Starting with how to find the right balance between convergent and divergent thinking, the role that nature plays in firing our neurons to be more creative, breathing and mindfulness, eating apples and carrots for deep focus and most importantly engaging with people that have views different to ours enhances our brain to think creatively.
4. There were tears at Lynx – heartfelt tears induced by some gut wrenching, heartwarming creative work from Ogilvy India’s veteran Piyush Panday – the most influential man in Indian advertising for eight consecutive years by The Economic Times. He showed us through various examples of consumer goods as well as social impact cases how you cannot measure creative effectiveness. How brands like Fevicol have become a household name in India over the years, how igniting joy and warmth through advertising has led to major growth for an Insurance company and how these tears, smiles and hugs that move our hearts can simply not be measured.
5. Amazon’s former Executive Creative Director Michael Boychuck showcased how learning from failure and owning it can lead to award winning work. While it wasn’t easy for him to convince everyone on how Alexa will come out and own her flaws publicly, once he was given the creative license, including the possibility of featuring Jeff Bezos himself in the campaign, it led to a tech gadget turning human with the power of wit and humor. Alexa loses her voice campaign was the No.1 most viewed ad of 2018 and the most discussed ad of the Super Bowl.
6. Brand Breakfast from Euronews offered an insight on both days into creative effectiveness and connected brand experiences, offline and online from major brands across various industries such as Unilever, DHL, Nissan, Microsoft, Careem and Beirsdorf. Naheel Abdelall from Beiersdorf spoke about how the values of the organization need to be in sync with the values of the employees – they should live it, breathe it and only then do they trickle down to their customers. When the organization and its people are value centric in the way they work i.e. everything inherently designed and defined by their core values, it naturally reflects into the brand ideas, product, design and customer experiences as well.
7. There were multiple panels and talks dedicated to Saudi this year. The only one I could attend was an interesting session from Sma’at CEO, Moustafa Ismail. He shared with us the four gateways to reach Saudi consumers – what works and what doesn’t work from a linguistic, cultural, youth and influencer perspective. He talked about the importance of getting the Arabic right, in the correct Saudi dialect and not misinterpreted or lost in translation. Despite how rapidly Saudi is evolving and for the better, keeping the cultural aspect in mind and designing with relevance is key.

What I loved most about Lynx this year was how seamless the whole experience was. Be it indoor or outdoor, the vibe was consistent – chilled out, learning mode on, super cool and FUN. Creativity was oozing from every nook and corner with branded displays, workshops, networking meetups, student/young Lynx competitions, fun games, evening drinks, live music and dance, it was truly a festival of creativity and innovation. Bravo to the organizing team for such a well-coordinated effort, their dedication and attention to detail made all the difference. Dubai Lynx does really set the bar for creative excellence.

About the Author:

Samia helps millennials to know who they are, and achieve what they are capable of. She is the founder of Unwind the Grind – millennial career development platform that crafts experiences through community events, career/business coaching and employee engagement consulting. She’s an ICF certified strengths based career coach, NLP Practitioner, writer and speaker, based in Dubai. Having over 9 years of experience at Procter & Gamble in brand management and coaching; Samia knows what it takes for Gen Y to excel and succeed in their careers.