Dubai Lynx announce the jury presidents for the inaugural awards

Notes and media contacts

About the Jury Presidents
TV/Cinema, Print, Outdoor and Radio Jury President:
Jonathan Harries
Worldwide Chief Creative Officer
Draft FCB Group
USA

In his new role as Worldwide Chief Creative Officer for Draft FCB Group, Jonathan will be responsible for delivering best-in-class creative solutions to clients around the globe. He is now co-leading the Integration Committee which is developing an overarching, detailed plan for the successful merger of the Draft FCB Group.

Born in South Africa, Jonathan began his career in advertising as a copywriter at Foote Cone & Belding in Johannesburg. 11 years later, he was Deputy Chairman and Executive Creative Director of Grey-Phillips, the largest advertising agency in South Africa. In 1986, Jonathan immigrated to the USA with his family, where he spent two years at Grey Advertising in New York before moving to Leo Burnett in Chicago. In 1990, Hal Riney offered Jonathan the opportunity to try to revive its $12 million Chicago office, which then grew under his guidance to $185 million. Joining FCB Chicago in 1997, he led the 160-person department as Executive Creative Director. In 2004, Jonathan became the first creative executive to be named CEO of Foote Cone & Belding since its founder, Fairfax Cone. That's in addition to being Chairman of the Chicago office and Worldwide Creative Director of the network's offices around the world. Jonathan spends about one-third of the year travelling as he extends his responsibilities globally.

Interactive and Direct Jury:
Fred Koblinger
CEO
PKP Proximity & BBDO Holding Austria
Austria

Fred Koblinger finished his studies at the University of Economics in 1979. He then worked in Paris for the Austrian National Tourist Office in charge of marketing and sales promotion.

From 1982-1986 he was Managing Director of Interhome Austria, where he experienced the power of direct marketing.

After starting up Ogilvy&Mather Direct, he founded Palla, Koblinger & Partner in 1991, still today Austria's number one relationship marketing agency with a strong focus on creativity (since 1992 consecutively no.1. at the National DM Awards, 15 times Best of Europe, more than 10 Echo Awards, 4 Cannes Direct Lions).

After selling PKP to BBDO in 2000, Fred Koblinger was Co-Founder of the Proximity network (the agency name changed to PKP Proximity). As a Proximity worldwide board member he is responsible for creative standards of the group. In 2002 he also became CEO of BBDO Holding Austria.

His fight for integrated communication solutions - focusing on image and behaviour at the same time - was the success factor for PKP in Austria. 51 employees work at PKP for approximately 30 clients, mostly market leaders in Austria, including Mobilkom Austria, Toyota, Easybank, Austrian National Railways, Hewlett-Packard, Nestlé, Kurier, OMV and UNIQA.
Fred is undoubtedly a pioneer in direct marketing in Austria. In 2004, he was invited to the hall of fame of the Austrian Direct Marketing Association. He frequently speaks at worldwide marketing and advertising congresses and has been on the jury twice at Cannes Lions. In 2005 he was President of the Lions Direct jury and this year will also head the first Direct jury for the Eurobest Awards.

The 1st Dubai Lynx - The Middle East and North Africa Advertising Awards for Creative Excellence - will be held 19 March 2007 in Dubai, UAE.

Presented by Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in association with the United Arab Emirates Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA), The Dubai Lynx, will honour creative excellence in TV/Cinema, Print, Outdoor, Radio, Direct Marketing and Interactive advertising. High-profile international jurors will award the coveted Dubai Lynx trophy to establish the definitive standard for creative excellence in the Middle Eastern and North African regions. After the inaugural award in 2007, the Dubai Lynx will be run in association with a new event "The Dubai International Advertising Festival" which will commence in 2008. This event will bring to the region a series of high profile seminars and other initiatives aimed at giving creative inspiration, learning and networking opportunities to people working in the region.

For further information, please contact:
Amanda Benfell, PR & Press Manager
Dubai Lynx - Middle East and North Africa Advertising Awards
33-39 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R 0DA, United Kingdom
Tel: +44-20-7239 3499; Fax: +44-20-7239 3444