Fadi Yaish, regional executive creative of Impact BBDO Dubai, is the jury president for Outdoor and Press at Adfest. He has no quibbles with Outdoor. In fact, he is delighted with what he saw. But Press distresses him. He sees an opportunity to make print advertising a low cost, hugely effective way to reach audiences. And it’s not where you think.

“I was very happy with the work I’ve seen this year in Outdoor. I was happy because in last year’s there were a lot of posters and other traditional work. And for me outdoor should be outdoor. It shouldn’t be a print ad that’s released as a poster. I saw a lot of real outdoor ideas – real ideas. There was the amazing merger between pure classic ideas with technology and digital, activation and direct devices, even product design. It was very, very diverse.

“Of course, there was a lot of CSR. And when I’m judging work that’s done to help people in any category, I judge it very carefully. Because if it’s just done for awards –this is a line, I think, our industry should never cross. NGOs are desperate for any work. They wouldn’t say no to anything that’s going to do well for them. But to take advantage of that just for the award? To do something that doesn’t go all the way just to be able to enter an award show? That’s not right. Going the whole way is the minimum respect we should show ourselves and humanity. So we looked through the CSR very carefully. And we chose the best work that we believe can make all the difference for real.

“But print. At one point, even after we awarded the medals, I went back just in case we overlooked anything. I wanted to make sure we hadn’t missed something. Because there wasn’t much great work. Somehow creatives, and especially young creatives, lost interest in this medium.

“Why?

“Although in some markets throughout the world, print and outdoor are still the biggest media in advertising, there isn’t enough interest from creatives to raise the bar in print. To push for print. Young creatives don’t see any fame any more in print in award shows. Even if you win a Grand Prix in Print, they think it doesn’t say you’re a great creative. They believe you’re good enough if you win in Promo & Activation with a big case study, one billion views, one billion impressions and 1 billion media having talked about your campaign. They think this kind of work travels more. Is more important.

“And yes, this is one level. The other level, which I think all awards shows need to think about, is that press judging has stayed static – compared with other categories. Once billboards were the only form of outdoor advertising. Now outdoor is all sorts of things, and even where the core idea lies. But print is still magazines and newspapers. Really, why? Who reads magazines and newspapers? They’re suffering and closing down and some can only survive by government support. It’s a disaster. So why does this category still cover magazines and newspapers only? And why don’t creatives see where it could go?

“Of course, there are exceptions, The Salvation Army campaign took a piece of viral content – the blue and gold dress – and turned it into a striking print ad against domestic violence. A striking print ad that ran only on social. The whole world saw it there.

Ogilvy Dubai created a print ad for UN Women to fight sexism and discrimination against women. The agency Googled the word, woman, and showed that every second listing was disparaging or flouted women’s rights. It was a print ad, but it, too, spread virally on social.

A print ad in a newspaper will be seen across a city, a part of a city  or maybe a country. But if you have a press ad idea on social, then it can travel the world. Plus, both of the campaigns above went viral without a media plan. So with a little bit of media push for these supposedly press ads, they can travel even more widely. And more cheaply. And sometimes, if they’re really good, they don’t even need the media push. Unfortunately too, we’re only looking at Instagram to spread pictures, and this is only part of cyber. We never made the association between press and the digital world and tried to develop it. Every category in awards shows has developed to align work with how the industry is changing –  except press. Almost every entry that I’ve seen in this judging, except for one or two, is old but still eligible. There’s not a lot of effort going into press.

There’s not the effort to do more and that’s a shame for advertising – and for me, because I love print.