The very talented and multi award winner Prasoon Joshi, Executive Chairman & Regional Executive Creative Director APAC McCann Erickson, will head the Film, Print, Outdoor and Radio Jury. Under his leadership McCann Erickson India has transformed into a veritable creative powerhouse and has been acknowledged as one of the most respected and admired agencies in India. Prasoon has won more than 400 national and international advertising awards and has chaired the Outdoor Cannes Lions jury in 2008 and served on the Titanium and Integrated jury at Cannes in 2009. Prasoon has been named a ‘Young Global Leader’ by the World Economic Forum, joining leading public figures and intellectuals under the age of 40 who have been selected to collectively shape the world’s future. He was recently appointed Chairman of McCann Worldgroup Creative Leadership Council.

“I am honored to be part of Dubai International Advertising Festival. The creative tradition from this part of our world has always fascinated me especially when I came to know that in ancient times there were instances of disputes settled through use of poetry, whilst laying arms aside. I am keen to see and gain a finer understanding of the distinctive cultural codes that are bound to reflect in the work. Regional shows like Dubai Lynx are extremely important as they bring to light and celebrate work whose unique texture sometimes remains unrecognised internationally. Encouragement and appreciation is an important part of a creative fraternity’s need and the Dubai International Advertising Festival has provided a stellar platform for this. The team of Dubai Lynx is responsible for bringing in international standards of excellence to this festival in all aspects and I look forward to a creatively stimulating and enriching experience,” said Prasoon.

The Direct, Sales Promotion & Activation and Interactive Jury will be chaired by the Chief Creative Officer of Jung von Matt, Armin Jochum. He is responsible for driving creative excellence across all Jung von Matt agencies culminating in them being honoured with Independent Agency of the Year at Cannes Lions 2010.

Working on prestigious accounts over the last 20 years, such as Porsche, MTV and Mercedes-Benz, his work has been honoured at Cannes Lions, Clio, One show, D&AD and ADC to name but a few. Armin has also chaired the 2008 Cannes Lions Promo and Activation jury and is member of the German Art Directors Club and D&AD. With his track record of hundreds of awards he is one of Europe’s most awarded Creatives.

Commenting on his role, Armin said, “It is a powerful region with gifted, upcoming creative talents. I am really proud to be able to share fresh and ambitious masterpieces of today’s communication with the jury.”

Mike Cooper, Worldwide Chief Executive Officer of PHD, in charge of over 70 offices and over 2,500 staff around the globe, will lead the Media jury. PHD is one of the world’s fastest growing and most awarded media agencies known for pioneering work in the areas of content and planning. PHD works with prestigious international clients such as Elizabeth Arden, Kraft/Cadbury, HBO, Hewlett Packard, Canon and Porsche. In early 2010, PHD was awarded the Unilever business in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as the digital account in India. PHD was voted Media Magazine’s Agency of the Year in Asia at the end of 2009, the UK office was awarded runner-up Media Agency of the Year by both Campaign and Marketing and in the USA PHD won Adweek’s Media Plan of the Year. Mike is co-author of PHD’s thought-leader book: 2014, PHD On The Future Of The Media Agency.

Mike commented, “I am extremely excited to be the jury President at the Dubai Lynx in 2011. The Middle East and North Africa are at a pivotal stage of development as a major advertising and creative force so the timing is perfect”

“It’s an honour to have such highly regarded authorities as Prasoon, Armin and Mike guiding the judging procedure to ensure that all the work is evaluated fairly. We look forward to welcoming them and working with them at the Dubai International Advertising Festival where their role as jury presidents will ultimately help the creative development of the industry in the region,” said Terry Savage, Chairman of Cannes Lions who with Motivate Publishing are joint organisers of the event.

The inaugural jury chair for the new Design competition will be announced shortly.

All entries being judged can be viewed during the festival to be held at the Madinat Jumeirah, in Dubai 27 to 29 March; the Dubai Lynx Awards, where the winners will be revealed, will be held on 30 March.

For further information about the 2011 Dubai International Festival, please go to www.dubailynx.com.

Kids and families can now tune in to MBC 3, the premier kids’ and family edutainment channel in the Middle East, and watch ‘Nickelodeon on 3′, a dedicated branded block showcasing the very best live-action and animated content from Nickelodeon’s extensive portfolio. The branded block will air every weekday afternoon and will include smash hit series SpongeBob SquarePants, Fanboy and Chum Chum and My Life as a Teenage Robot at launch, localised in Arabic. An additional branded block dedicated to Nickelodeon’s award-winning preschool programmes will also launch on MBC 3 in January 2011.

‘Nickelodeon on 3′ will be supported online through a dedicated Nickelodeon microsite, which will provide fans with a raft of full length episodes, character games and more. As part of the agreement, MTVNI has also granted MBC Group the exclusive rights to develop consumer product programmes around hit Nickelodeon properties, Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants and Go, Diego, Go! in the Middle East. Key categories include home furnishing, stationery, apparel, toys, publishing, personal care and fashion accessories and product is expected to roll out from early 2011.

Bhavneet Singh, Managing Director and Executive Vice President, Emerging Markets, MTVNI commented, “Nickelodeon is one of the most widely distributed brands in the world that puts kids and families first and we’re proud to further establish the brand in the Middle East in partnership with MBC. The Middle East is a dynamic, thriving market with vast growth opportunities and this multi-platform deal will allow us to really advance our wider, ongoing strategy to build an integrated offering, both on and off-air, which we hope will establish Nickelodeon as the premier destination for kids across the region.”

Tim Riordan, Group Director of TV, MBC Group added, “We are delighted to announce this strategic deal with MTV Networks International that brings to life universal characters to our regional viewers and audiences. This deal is the start of a very fruitful and integrated mutual agreement to ensure that the best of family content and viewing is brought to our loyal followers, being the leader in education and entertainment that connects with and stimulates the imagination of Arab kids.”

Photography
One of the things I really admire about the N8 is the 12 megapixel camera that can shoot in HD, in my humble opinion it’s the perfect alternative for cameras, at least the non professional ones.

The N8 camera comes with Carl Zeiss lens along with Xenon Flash to improve the quality, in addition, it uses a 28mm wide-angle lens. I love my 10-megapixel Canon, but after using the N8 I started to have a second thought, I mean it’s really amazing to have all these capabilities in my pocket rather than carrying a heavy camera everywhere I go, the N8 gave me more reasons, and enabled me, to take awesome shots on the go.

The fun starts after you hear the shutter, with the photo editor you can edit and improve your photos directly on the phone without the need for any computer software, you can tune the colors, brighteners, contrast and some other attributes, as well as adding some cool effects like color styling, filters and speech bubbles.

This photo below is for amazing desert dunes in Dubai, the left half of it has been modified with the photo editor, I added the Antique effect, it’s a really cool feature with the phone to play with, just like Nokia says, it’s not technology, it’s what you do with it.

Multi-tasking
One of the aspects that adds to the usability of the N8 is the ability to run multiple tasks a the sames time, you can be listening to music while editing your photos and playing around with your social media. You can easily jump from one app to the other, choosing the first option on the options menu enables you to browse through the opened applications and to close whatever you are done with.

Music
One of the cool features in the N8 is the built-in FM transmitter, you can synchronize your mobile phone with the radio in your car to listen to the music directly form the mobile, no need to for any cable or any extra device to enjoy your music, you can check the video review attached to this post to see how it works.

Apps
Let’s say that it’s the weekend and you are heading to the beach, you have your music, your photos and videos, and a great camera in your pocket to capture the fun moments you’ll experience there, what else you might need? Probably it’s the connectivity.

The N8 comes with a range of apps that help you stay connected, you can stay in touch with your social network via an app that can be added to your homescreen, this app brings you a live feed from facebook and twitter with updates from your contacts, and of course enables you to access your accounts and update them, and speaking of updates, you can download the Foursquare app from the Ovi store, not a big fan of these location-based networks, but it’s another feature for everyone who likes to announce the name of the restaurant they are dining in at the moment.

Email is another aspect to stay connected, the N8 supports Microsoft exchange, which helps you to stay close to your business while on the move, you can also setup your personal email on the phone like Gmail, Ovi mail, Yahoo!, or Hotmail. It can be all accessible through a homescreen-widget as well.

The Ovi store hosts a long list of apps both free and paid, but which is the best and which you should use? An interesting widget that can be added to your homescreen shows the top apps on the store so that you can stay updated with what’s happening in the apps world. Now the apps are many, but of the ones I found really amazing is the video editor, where you can create videos and slideshows using photos and videos from your mobile.

Media has a big share in the apps world of the N8, the device comes with apps for YouTube, Al-Jazeera, CNN, BBC, National Geographic and Paramount, these apps feed you with news and updates through widgets on any of the three homescreens you can customize according to your needs.

Customization
With three different homescreens that can be fully customized, you will definitely feel that the N8 is built around you, you can change the background image of each screen and add the widgets you want, so you can have a personal front for your music and social network, another one for business, and a third one for news and cool stuff from around the web.

There are so many things that make the N8 such a great mobile phone, add to all the above is the navigation capabilities that the phone enjoys, you will enjoy driving around while listening to directions coming from your N8, even if you were just walking!

Random photos I took for some buildings in Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) using the N8, no editing was done.

Here are some more photos using the N8, sunset over Dubai Greek as spotted from Dubai Festival City, again no editing.

Until now smartphone users can check out distance and directions to the nearest Sausalitos bar & restaurant location and get relevant information as to Happy Hour times and specials offered with the “SAUSALITOS FINDER” channel within junaio, What`s new and more, the SAUSALITOS MAG now features an ad, which when viewed through the “SAUSALITOS MAG” channel on junaio will provide an animation and a coupon for a free Coke Zero at any Sausalitos. Through the integration of classic print ads with virtual digital content, Sausalitos aims to provide not only informational content but also emotionally enhanced experiences and special offers leading to increased customer frequency in their establishments.

The technology behind it
junaio is capable of recognizing images as seen through the camera. This works not only on print ads, but also on billboards, product packaging, flyers, coupons or any other predetermined image. Once recognized junaio will fetch via internet any available multimedia content and overlay it dynamically onto the camera view. Not only will junaio recognize an object on the image, but is then capable of virtually “gluing” for example a 3D model onto the object in the right proportion and scale. As you move the camera, so the 3D model will follow accordingly. Of course other types of digital augmentation may be triggered by the ad as well, such as an engaging game, an opportunity to integrate response elements like coupons or any other interactive exchange with the viewer. Mobile AR technology allows combining different media, making the borders between print and digital become permeable, just like it is already on the internet.

The Eurobest Advertiser of the Year award is presented to advertisers, born out of Europe, who have distinguished themselves for inspiring innovative marketing of their products and who embrace and encourage the creative work produced by their agencies.

Working with a number of different agencies, IKEA have encouraged creative, unconventional and interesting advertising to raise awareness of their brand and drive people to enter their stores. The IKEA marketing strategy is based around their business idea of offering a wide range of well designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible can afford them; and their advertising campaigns also take onboard unique marketing conditions and cultural sensibilities of each country, which varies significantly across markets.

After winning their first Eurobest accolade at the inaugural awards in 1988, over the years, IKEA advertising has won 31 Eurobest trophies across all categories. They have also won numerous global awards including the Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix for ‘Lamp’ in 2003.

“IKEA wholeheartedly supports the creative output of their agencies, the outcome of which has been some outstanding and varying pieces of communication, while always remaining true to its brand values. We are proud to present them with the Advertiser of the Year accolade at Eurobest this year, an honour well deserved,” said Philip Thomas, Festival CEO.

The award will be presented to Claudia Willvonseder, IKEA’s Global Marketing Manager, at the Eurobest Awards Ceremony on Wednesday evening, 8 December, at the Curio-Haus in Hamburg. Having been responsible for the overall marketing activities at IKEA Germany for five years as Country Marketing Manager, Claudia was appointed Global Marketing Manager in October this year, also taking the responsibility for international projects and topics.

Commenting on the award, Claudia Willvonseder said, “Being engaging and connecting with our customers is what we aim for with our marketing communication since we believe that a strong brand is shaped in the hearts and minds of the many people. If this principle shows also to be a winning formula for Eurobest, we feel encouraged for our humbleness towards our customers.”

IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, which specialises in stylish but inexpensive Scandinavian designed furniture, was founded in 1943 by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden. IKEA is named as an acronym comprising the initials of the founder’s name, the farm where he grew up (Elmtaryd), and his home parish (Agunnaryd, in Småland, South Sweden). Around 565 million people visited IKEA stores in the past fiscal year. Currently there are more than 127,000 employees working in 317 stores in 38 countries worldwide.

The Eurobest Advertiser of the Year Award, which was introduced last year, was presented to Guinness in 2009.

For full information on how to attend the Eurobest Festival, please visit www.eurobest.com

Now in its fourth year, the 2011 festival will take place over two and a half days from 27 to 29 March; the Dubai Lynx Awards, honouring the region’s best work in advertising and creative communications, will be held on 30 March. Both events will take place for the first time at the Arabian coast resort, the Madinat Jumeirah, in Dubai.

Starting on the afternoon of Sunday 27 March, the Dubai Lynx festival will begin with the opening of registration and a welcome session. The intense two-day programme of 18 seminars and 4 workshops will commence on Monday 28 March, during which attendees can benefit from an insightful and inspirational world-class learning agenda presented by a high-calibre of international and local experts addressing current and topical industry issues under this year’s theme ‘fuel for creative minds’. Information on the 2011 speakers and jury presidents will be announced soon.

The evening networking events will provide delegates with an informal and fun opportunity to meet peers and exchange ideas. The festival will culminate on Wednesday 30 March in the Madinat Jumeirah Arena with the now famous Lynx Awards, where the 2011 winners will be revealed during a celebratory dinner, the largest event of its kind in Dubai.

A new Design category will launch in 2011, to honour creative excellence and the innovative use of design as a lever to influence consumers and its use as an aid to the communication of brand and product messages. This new competition will complement the existing categories of Film, Outdoor, Print, Radio, Interactive, Direct, Promo & Activation, Media, Integrated and Craft.

“We are looking forward to putting on another Dubai Lynx festival. Building on our reputation of neutrality and meticulous judging procedures, which together with a new festival venue, the launch of the Design category and a world-class learning programme, 2011 should be an exciting year for the MENA region,” says Steve Lane, Dubai Lynx Festival Director.

For further information about the 2011 Dubai International Festival, please go to www.dubailynx.com.

Wamda, which means ‘spark’ in Arabic, has been created by regional private equity group Abraaj Capital and its subsidiary Riyada Enterprise Development (RED) and is the most comprehensive project of its kind in the region. It features a constantly evolving library of video, audio and written content covering the various stages of the entrepreneurial journey – from the initial spark of an idea to leadership and sustainability, as well as select news and social media feeds connecting a growing community of participants from the Menasa region.

Arif Naqvi, Founder and Group CEO of Abraaj Capital said: “An enabling environment is the most important factor in supporting entrepreneurship in developed economies. We need an entire ecosystem at work: good regulation, accessible finance, mentors, an engaged academic sector, incubators and so on. The web is a platform common to the region and one available to all. Regional Internet and broadband availability is growing exponentially. The Arab world is at the forefront of Internet penetration and social networking growth.”

“However, to date, there is no single pan-regional movement – online or offline – dedicated to regional entrepreneurship. Wamda.com is an essential component filling that void.”

Wamda’s interactive content put together by its Dubai-Amman team and more than 60 Knowledge Partners is specifically created with a view to addressing the needs of the region’s entrepreneurs, taking dialogue and discussions at the Celebration of Entrepreneurship to the online community, where the buzz and debates will continue.

Wamda currently has over 100,000 units of content, 1,000 registered users since “beta” launch on September 25 and over 100 specially-commissioned Wamda Videos, as well as over 1,300 pages of dedicated Country Information Center content from 14 regional markets.

Entrepreneurial heroes and heroines, who have had a tremendous impact on their communities and people through their determination to succeed and innovation focus, will be able to share their stories with the rest of the region, creating much-needed regional role models for aspiring entrepreneurs, who can put the spirit of enterprise into a familiar geographical and cultural context.

“Wamda is a multi-stakeholder dialogue with entrepreneurship at its core, and will address the challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs. It will spawn a richer culture of mentorship as promising entrepreneurs will benefit from the wisdom of business leaders and peers. It will be reciprocal, as the successful will be invigorated by the passion and innovation of the new. It’s going to be a priceless exchange,” said Samih Toukan, Director, Jabbar Internet Group, and one of the region’s ambassadors of entrepreneurship. Toukan is the founder and former CEO of Arab online portal Maktoob, in which Abraaj Capital was an investor.

While launching the portal, details of ‘Wamda 1.5′ were also announced, including additional features such as enhanced navigation, communication functionality and design innovations.

Wamda 1.5 will partner with Mowgli Foundation, a UK-based non-profit organization whose mission is to harness the power of mentoring worldwide, to offer a unique and powerful functionality called ‘MentorMatch’ that matches up the region’s entrepreneurial mentors with mentees.

Additional Wamda functionality includes a Webinar series aimed at providing much needed education on a whole range of topics to entrepreneurs. With over 60 knowledge partners, Wamda will be able to draw up on experts across the full range of relevant disciplines.

Finally, Wamda is also launching an angel investor platform through which budding entrepreneurs in need of seed capital will apply online. The platform will help sift through the ideas and allow a network of angel investors also hosted on Wamda to select opportunities to invest.

The Celebration of Entrepreneurship takes place from November 8-9, 2010, at the Madinat Jumeirah Conference Centre in Dubai, UAE.

Held over four Saturday sessions from November 27th, the course is taught by local American screenwriter Dr. David Tully, who comes with a wealth of experience working in Dubai, New York, Los Angeles, Germany and South Africa.

Tully’s original screenplay The Witching Hour recently completed filming in Prague and will be released internationally in 2011. He has also recently finished the screenplay for Djinn, the first international Arab thriller, funded by ImageNation Abu Dhabi. The project will start filming early next year.

The SAE course allows participants to develop their idea or concept into a commercially viable screenplay over the course of four weeks, and incorporates hands-on exercises, theory, and case studies of useful do’s and don’ts.

Predrag Toncev, Campus Manager SAE Dubai, said: “This course gives those with a passion for television or film the opportunity to learn the basics of screenwriting and to develop their own script ideas. Participants will discuss their work, construct scenes and outlines that will be critiqued by their peers and the course lecturer, and at the end of it all they will be well on their way to a completed screenplay.”

The course is comprised of four 3-Hour Classes which cover story structure, adaptations, story beats, writing dialogue, and scene outlines.
For more information or to register for the SAE screenwriting short course, please visit www.dubai.sae.edu .

The event will be headed by inspirational presentations taking place on its various sites. These will address broad themes, such as the importance of entrepreneurship to ensuring regional growth and stability, the need for government policy to support business start-ups and the growing importance of Muslim nations on the global stage.

Speakers include:
• Osman Sultan, CEO, Du, UAE
• Mike Cassidy, Director of Product Management, Google, USA
• Amr Dabbagh, Governor and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, Saudi Arabia
• Imran Khan, Founder, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, Pakistan
• Linda Rottenberg, CEO of Endeavor, USA
• John Kao, Chairman, Institute for Large Scale Innovation, USA
• H.E. Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, Chairman, Young Arab Leaders UAE Country Office, UAE
• H.E. Sheikh Khaled Bin Zayed S. Al Nehayan, Chairman, Bin Zayed Group, UAE
• Naif Al Mutawa, Founder and CEO, Teshkeel Media Group (THE 99), Kuwait
• Naguib Sawiris, CEO, Orascom Telecommunications, Egypt
• Samih Toukan, Director, Jabbar Internet Group, Jordan.

The Celebration will also feature 76 “Passion Corner” sessions where speakers will share inspiring stories in a more intimate and informal setting. Speakers come from a wide range of backgrounds – from the likes of Karim Djerboa, who will introduce the Cisco Entrepreneurship Institute; Mo Al Adham, the founder of TwitVid, the latest social media phenomenon, allowing Tweeters to upload videos; and 14-year-old Kuwaiti Abdulrahman Al Zanki, a developer of iPhone applications.

On a more granular level, there will be interactive “Ignition” workshops, designed to generate outcomes critical to the next stage of entrepreneurship in the MENASA; 1-800 mentorship sessions offering budding businesspeople 30 minutes of condensed advice with 50 accomplished CEOs heading some of the most successful businesses in the region, and Masterclasses offering training on many practical aspects of entrepreneurship.

There will also be “Sparks” sessions, a series of passionate presentations where some of the region’s freshest minds introduce their ideas to the community in a completely informal manner.

Attendees at the event will also have access to the “Spot-me” interactive mobile device that will customise and enhance their experience, as well as the chance to relax in chill-out areas and enjoy the work of 12 artists, and cultural entrepreneurs such as acclaimed musicians Talvin Singh and Guy Manoukian.

A number of announcements will also be made at the Celebration, including the formal launch of Riyada Enterprise Development (RED), a $500m investment platform exclusively dedicated to supporting SMEs across the region.

Wamda, a comprehensive interactive online portal dedicated to the region’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, will be unveiled at the event. The site will allow entrepreneurs, innovators, mentors and other stakeholders to come together to facilitate entrepreneurship in the MENASA.

Frederic Sicre, Executive Director, Abraaj Capital, said, “The Celebration has captured the imagination and attention of the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem throughout the MENASA region. The overwhelming response of entrepreneurs of all kinds has truly been astonishing. More importantly the depth of resources, creativity and energy that will assemble for this celebration can have a transformational impact on individual lives, communities and the entire region.”

The competition is open to all final year undergraduate university students studying in the UAE, regardless of nationality, university or faculty. Qualifying students have until 23rd December 2010 to submit their initial business ideas online at thebigstart.ae and enter the running to identify the UAE’s best and brightest student entrepreneurs.

“The Big Start offers a once in a lifetime opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to truly realise their dream. While funding is an important element of the prize, the additional expertise, consultancy and guidance that Al Tamimi Investments provides is priceless. Our core business is identifying and funding new initiatives which we believe in, so The Big Start is very much aligned with our strategy but also provides us with the opportunity to foster young entrepreneurial talent in the UAE,” said Rachael Wunsch, General Manager, ATI.

The three-stage competition begins with the evaluation by ATI of the initial submissions received. In January 2011 the most promising students will progress to the next stage of the competition – where they will attend a business plan workshop to guide and assist them in translating their concept into a formal business plan. Another round of judging in April 2011 will nominate the finalists who will complete their entrepreneurial journey in the presentation stage of the competition.

“We nurture and help the students through this process, meaning that by the time we select our winner, we have also guided a group of finalists through the intensive and real process of pitching their idea for a business,” added Wunsch.

Judged by a panel of senior management from ATI, the final winner will be decided in June 2011 by ATI’s Chairman, Essam Al Tamimi.

The competition is the only one of its kind in the UAE to actively guide, mentor and facilitate the development of each entrant’s business plan, and to fully fund the winner’s idea and support the creation of the new business with knowledge and expertise from senior ATI management. Ideas remain the intellectual property of the students, and those that are not final winners are free to pursue their business ideas independently, with the added benefit of the skills gained during the competition.

Winner of The Big Start 2009/2010, Yahya Stapic from the American University of Sharjah, is currently working with ATI to establish his business idea – a fashion incubator store which showcases young UAE designers and is scheduled to open in April 2011.

“Winning The Big Start has been the most amazing and rewarding experience of my life. I now go to work every day with people who are committed to helping me establish my dream company, are funding my idea and working in partnership with me to make it a success. I could not have asked for a better start to my career,” said Stapic.