Dubai Lynx 2015: Jeddah duo crack YouTube 7-Day Brief for UN Women

Young woman’s make up tutorial vlog on ‘How to cover facial bruises’ impresses jury.

Shafiq Alam and Mohamad Sarhi from Jeddah have won the third edition of the 7-Day Brief Competition powered by YouTube at the Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity.

Their winning video in response to the brief from UN Women was a vlog by a young woman – a makeup tutorial on how to cover facial bruises inflicted by domestic violence. It flows on the lines of popular beauty vlogs. The 60-second film ends urging viewers to donate, to support setting up hotlines across the region for women who are victims of violence.

In MENA, UN Women aims to improve and expand mechanisms to protect women, including shelters, psychosocial services and legal support. Hotlines will tie these services together in each country, with women able to call 24×7.

Mohammad Naciri, regional director, UN Women, said, “The silence surrounding violence against women in the region needs to be broken, violence against women and girls is the single most harmful practice in achieving equality. The winning entry is incredibly powerful, it’s a conversation starter and shows us that violence for many women is a lived reality.”

Tarek Abdalla, head of marketing, Google MENA, said, “Through the 7-Day Brief, we hope to encourage people to use technology to spread positive and powerful messages to millions of people around the world. YouTube has long been used as a platform not just to entertain but to inspire large audiences. We’ve seen amazing talent emerge through this competition and we hope that young and passionate creators continue to produce more compelling content on YouTube and to share it with others.”

Watch time is growing by 50 per cent every year on YouTube, which now has over a billion viewers a month, informed an official statement.

Emma Farmer, festival director, Dubai Lynx, said, “We’re delighted to have partnered with YouTube to once again deliver the 7-Day Brief. It’s an incredibly effective competition that raises the profile of both the winners and the client. The UN Women’s mission is an important one and the winning video has resonated with this resulting in a powerful campaign. I’d like to congratulate the team on their worthy win.”

The brief was announced on 14 January and videos has to be submitted in seven days. Entries were judged by a panel led by Ramsey Naja, CCO, MEA, J. Walter Thompson.

The two winners will be given the option to flying to the Cannes Lions international Festival of Creativity 2015 this June.