Dubai Lynx 2016: Susan Credle

Joe Lancaster talks to Film/Print/Outdoor/Radio/Print & Outdoor Craft/Integrated president; Susan Credle.

What attracted you to the role of jury president for Dubai Lynx?

The festival’s commitment to creativity is obvious from the overall quality of the work coming out of MENA. That, plus the fact that no Grand Prix was awarded in Film, Print, Outdoor, Radio or Integrated last year means standards are high. I’m interested in every region that takes creativity seriously. When they asked me to participate, there was only one possible answer – nem fielaan [‘Yes’ in Arabic].

Why do you think regional festivals are important?

Regional festivals allow more people to participate in the celebration of creativity. In doing so, they raise the standard of the global conversation we need to have about what constitutes great work. Winning regionally also raises the confidence of young talent and encourages them to take more risks. Nothing’s more important for building an environment that will producegreat work.

What’s your approach to presiding over a jury of your peers?

When I lead a jury the first thing I bring into the room is respect for the other jurors. As president, I try to make sure the dialogue is fair and balanced. More often than not, I restate opinions rather than express my own. I also make it clear that it is more important to put a great show together than to let politics govern one’s voting. For the sake of our industry, we must realise judging is an honour. And we must respect why we are here. This is not about helping our agencies and networks to win. The winners must inspire us all to use creativity to solve problems for our clients and the world.

Do you think splitting work by media type is the best way of categorising for award shows rather than, for example, judging all car ads against each other regardless of the media type used?

I think film is film no matter where it shows up. I do think the amount of time one is given to express oneself creates an unfair judging situation. Thirty-second, or four-minute or 15-minute films will all require completely different skill sets and they should be judged accordingly. And where films show up is about a media buy, not necessarily the creative product.

Now, if you are asking should we judge ideas in totality for a category like cars, regardless of the way those ideas are expressed – technology, experiential, new product, design, film, PR, print, social – that’s an interesting thought and perhaps the purest way to express the concept of media agnostic. I’d like to see how to put a jury together for that.

What will you be looking for in the work?

Every time I have served on an international jury, I have been amazed at how often we all gravitate towards the same work regardless of our geographical individuality. We love work that is human, emotional, solves a problem, progresses our thinking or is simply beautiful. Great work deserves to be in our world. It transcends the word ‘advertising’. It becomes content that stands.

No Grands Prix were awarded in your categories last year. Is it healthy for juries to withhold top honours? What will it take to win one in 2016?

The pressure on juries to award a Grand Prix definitely exists. We want the shows to be euphoric, a celebration. Clearly, “no Grand Prix was given in this category” is a bummer. But if we simply fill in the blank with the best of what was entered this year, we dumb down the show. It is important to keep the bar high or the show will lose credibility.

Can people from overseas judge regional awards with the same insight as locals who might better understand the different cultures of the markets?

Great work speaks of human truths. And cultural sensibilities are really frames and prisms on those truths. Our job is to extract the cultural context from the case study, without letting it influence our view of the creativity or importance of the work.

Does coming from overseas make a judge more impartial?

I’m reading a book by Dan Ariely, The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone – Especially Ourselves, which includes a look at conflicts of interest, and I do think having less of an awareness of the regional competition among agencies, of the regional biases of agencies and talent helps me be slightly more impartial.