20 - loeries.com Report.pdf · analysing all the data facebook.com/bwreport report 17 in mena s marcom 2 3 black & white report bwreport.org 01 — why we exist 01 — why we exist

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REPORT ‘17FACEBOOK.COM/BWREPORTANALYSING ALL THE DATA IN MENA’S MARCOM

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BWREPORT.ORGBLACK & WHITE REPORT

01 — Why we exist01 — Why we exist

Section01— Why we

exist


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B&W is an independent organization that aspires to recognize, reward and nurture creative excellence within the MENA region.

Creativity is one of the fundamental driving forces that determines commercial success. We believe that the minds behind this creativity can only truly thrive in a paradigm that actively recognizes their efforts, while also encouraging them to seek out new heights of excellence.

To that end, B&W will spearhead a series of initiatives designed to not only acknowledge and reward individuals, but also actively educate and develop the region’s emerging talents.

The B&W Report. Why we exist.

Over the last decade, the MENA region has been outperforming itself year on year, setting new standards in the marketing and communication world. Be it on trophy shelves or in balance sheets, the numbers speak for themselves.

Yet, come the end of the year, there is no detailed benchmarking, no insight and no data relating to the region’s performance. Nothing that can provide perspective on the progress everyone has made. Nothing that provides information on what work works and what work doesn’t. No analysis of everyone’s achievements, which could then be leveraged to motivate talent to help the entire industry move forward.

Most importantly, there is no data that puts faces to the countless names that make great work happen.

Who made it count? Who slipped? Who took the plaudits and who, the spotlight?

Now it’s plain for all to see. In B&W.

What now?

The Black & White Report celebrates the people of the industry, both clients and agencies in equal measure. It benchmarks performance year on year to help measure the progress and growth of every individual, company and brand based on the only thing that matters – the work.

Not only is this benchmark the need of the hour, it is also imperative to hear the voices of the people who stood out among their peers, and understand how they made it to the top of the list. These are the individuals who have distinguished themselves. Who are inspiring, creative pioneers of their brands and who exemplify the bravery to create. Who lead and produce ideas that matter for their brands, agencies and companies.

Today, the B&W Report is the first chapter in a much bigger move-ment for the MENA region, enabling it to have a better understanding of its performance and creating a healthy environment of competition by providing perspective on where everyone stands.

At a very basic human level, everyone wants to be acknowledged for their marketing strategies and creative talent, which drive our businesses to success. And there’s no better acknowledgement of this than seeing one’s name in the spotlight. This is where the B&W Ranking Lists come in. There’s only one way to get in – by outperforming everyone else. And when you win, the entire industry wins too.

The B&W Report combines and collates the winners lists from the most important international and regional advertising awards shows.

In the coming years, more categories will be added to bring various industry segments into an even sharper focus and cast a well deserved spotlight on a variety of industry disciplines.

Most importantly, B&W will seek to foster emerging regional talents and celebrate an industry paradigm that is more inclusive and diverse than ever before.

Let the good times begin.


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RANKINGSRANKINGSRANKINGSRANKINGSRANKINGS

RANKINGSRANKINGS CREATIVE

AWARD

ANDWHYTHEY MATTER


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Make no mistake about it. The ultimate goal of a business is to grow sales. James Hurman sheds some light on the same in The Case for Creativity: Three Decades Evidence of the Link Between Imaginative Marketing and Commercial Success. He explains that creatively-awarded campaigns deliver 11 times the return on investment than non-creatively awarded campaigns. Not convinced? Here’s more. According to a new study from the IPA and Thinkbox, ‘Brands can buy awareness but not “buzz”, which is best achieved by investing in creativity’. The research found that campaigns that invested in excess share of voice (ESOV) performed particularly well, and even creatively awarded work with lower levels of ESOV had a greater effect on business than non-awarded work. Advertising campaign effectiveness was measured by the ability to positively affect factors such as sales, profit and loyalty.

Creative award rankings and why they matter.

Telling Words

Jonathan Mildenhall, one of the leading luminaries in the world of marketing, famously said “If Cannes has taught me one thing, it is that creativity drives effectiveness. You cannot have one without the other. That knowledge has been instrumental to my career. I have been going to Cannes for nearly 20 years and can’t help but notice that the client organizations recognized as Advertiser of the Year often enjoy periods of historic financial success during the same time.”

Then there’s the simple yet telling study by Peter Field, one of the leading statistical analysts exploring the connection between creativity, emotion and business effects.

Apples to Apples?

Peter had a set of over 700 campaigns from around the world, for which he had robust media data and business results. All 700 had won an effective-ness award and therefore had submit-ted all sorts of results data which he could analyze. He split them into two sets. In one set he put those campaigns that had won a creative award. In the other set, those that had won an effec-tiveness award but no creative award. He then set out to determine what, if any, was the difference between the two. The clever thing he did was to create a common metric of effectiveness across all those campaigns, so no matter what country or category the campaign, he could compare effectiveness - apples for apples. The metric was this: for every unit of additional media spend, how much additional market share did the campaign achieve (Extra Share of Voice, ESOV)?

He found that those campaigns that had won a creative award, the truly creative campaigns, were on average 10 times more effective than those campaigns that had not won a creative award. Now wasn’t that simple. But how does creativity actually increase business, you ask?

Researchers at the Universities of Indiana and Wisconsin-Milwaukee showed that creatively-awarded advertising triggers greater purchase intent, and that this was because it measurably increases open-mindedness and curiosity. Consumers let their defences down more for creative advertising, allowing themselves to be sold to more readily. Researchers at the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising di-scovered that creatively-awarded advertising was twice as likely to generate strong ‘fame’ (i.e. online and online conversation) and that campaigns generating strong ‘fame’ were the most effective of all. Researchers at the University of South Carolina found that creative advertising was significantly (2 to 9 times) more likely to be recalled unprompted, than advertising in general. The correlation between winning creative awards and winning in the marketplace is compelling. And it’s high time someone recognizes it. Welcome to the B&W REPORT.


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02 — Stories worth sharing

Section02— Stories

worthsharing

02 — Stories worth sharing

REPORT ‘17ANALYSING ALL THE DATA IN MENA’S MARCOM

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BWREPORT.ORGBLACK & WHITE REPORT FACEBOOK.COM/BWREPORT

“I’m in a really sweet spot. I just want to see how long I can rinse it,” says Neha Mishra with a laugh.

The co-founder of Caravan Creatives is sitting upstairs in Tom & Serg, grazing on a salad and counting her blessings. In the space of just three years she has gone from anxious go-it-alone to the executive director of a Dubai success story. Not bad for a women with a simple love of photography and production.

“I look back on it now and I think in hindsight that was either the best or the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” she says of quitting full-time employment. “I had no other source of income, I had two kids, and so many important things had happened to me that year or the year before. But I felt, ‘well, if you’re going to do it, do everything together. What are you waiting for? Do it while you’ve got the momentum and you’ve got that courage’.

“When I left I had so many irrational anxieties: that I’ll probably be living in a tiny shoebox with my two kids because that’s all I’ll be able to afford; that I’ll never be able to go on holiday. And yet I’ve never travelled like I have in the last three years and I’ve spent more time than ever with my kids.”

Caravan turns three in March and is as good an example of the possibilities of independence as you’re likely to encounter. Its clients have included Emirates and Burberry; it worked with Peter Lindbergh on a global campaign for Givenchy; and the company supports and funds work that it believes in. Yet it is Y&R Dubai’s Be Seen for The Cartel that has helped propel Caravan into the spotlight, with print production and photography as its lifeblood, alongside video production and art direction.

“In production you’re only as good as the team that you work with,” admits Mishra, who co-founded Caravan with the photographer Mike McKelvie and digital consultant Cassian Opara. “This is not a solo gig at all. In fact, I’m at that point where I could very well be made redundant from my own role. We knew we wanted to create an environment where everyone was respected and relationships were nurtured. And

Neha MishraCaravan Creatives Co-Founder

once we started concentrating on that, everything else automatically filtered out because that’s what we became known for.

“I used to think when I worked for somebody else that I’ve got to prove myself to my boss. Now I feel I have to prove myself to the team that work for us. You want to make sure that you’re doing justice to people’s time.”

Mishra is eloquent and honest, readily admitting that she is building a business to sell. Yet she works as much for love as she does for anything else.

“The rule is you’re doing it for money or you’re doing it for love,” she says. “And if we’re not doing it for either, we’re not doing it.

“We were killing it the first year. It was when the dust settled and suddenly you have so much money to play with that things became real. What do you do with that money? How crazy do you go with it?

“You learn from a financial point of view, you learn from a client relationship point of view. You learn what kind of person this is turning you into as well. Whether you’re growing or whether you’re just turning into a manic, crazed individual. You find out what you’re made of.”

What did she learn?

“Look, I’m not saying I didn’t struggle,” she replies. “I struggled a lot. Here nobody’s really honest about how hard it can be. There’s no union or a place where you can go and meet peers and talk about cashflow issues and things like that. So you do internalise a lot. Because there’s a lot of pride associated with starting your own thing.

“But I’ve learnt that Caravan is such a great platform for me to do the things that I want to do. That’s spending time with my kids, being in the market and being known for doing cool stuff. It teaches you that you can do so much.”

Her strategy for the years ahead?

“Not to be broke,” she replies with a laugh. “To feed my kids. We work in one of the most uncertain industries. No one can guarantee me where my next job’s coming from. There are no retainers. Your last job could be your last job. I remember when we first started – the first job that we did – I said to Mike ‘what if this is the last job that we ever do?’ That was three years ago.

“I’ve had two rules. One was, so long as I have a little bit more than I did the day I started Caravan, fine. Second, if you lose all of it - you start again. Because that’s what I did. I started with absolutely nothing. There were no clients, there was no money, so you can do it again. It’s such a simple thing. And if you can tell yourself that then any fear you may have disappears.”

What are you waiting for? Do it while you’ve got the momentum and you’ve got that courage.”

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02 — Stories worth sharingNeha Mishra


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“I still get anxious when I remember getting panicked calls after posting the ad,” says Luma Aloul, an account director at Memac Ogilvy Advize in Jordan. “It’s a constant reminder of the risk we took, and that feels rewarding.”

That risk was trolling Donald Trump in a social media campaign for Royal Jordanian just prior to his election as president of the United States. A campaign that garnered worldwide attention almost immediately, thanks to a few simple words: “Just in case he wins… Travel to the US while you’re still allowed to!”

“It was actually a very stressful day until the ad went live,” remembers Aloul. “We were challenged by some people at Royal Jordanian who were against the post. We got comments like ‘it’s too political’, ‘why are we taking sides?’, ‘we could be jeopardising our country’s relationship with possibly the next US president’.

“Even after we published the post and the reach was rocketing we were asked to take it down, because Royal Jordanian’s top management got criticism from people in the public domain. They believed that as a national carrier that was very traditional in their communication, this was a tall order. However, as a creative agency, we believe in breaking norms. And because we truly believed in the post’s success we kept insisting to keep it. The rest was history.”

The initial idea had come from Hadi Alaeddin, an art director, a day-and-a-half before the US election results.

“Online conversation about the US elections had reached fever pitch and it seemed like a perfect time to deliver a message that on any other day might have gone unnoticed,” says Alaeddin. “We felt good about the opportunity it gave us to have our voice be heard worldwide.”

Hadi AlaeddinMemac OgilvyArt Director

Luma AloulMemac OgilvyAccount Director

With a 50 per cent increase in Royal Jordanian bookings to the US and organic reach of 450 million, the ad soon proved the value of risk-taking, despite the stress it caused the team.

“Apart from the numbers, it felt like it opened the door to doing work that on the surface was cynical or trollish but, more than that, was a serious commentary on serious issues,” says Alaeddin. “More importantly, it was great for the brand. Also, it encouraged other clients to take bigger risks.”

Since that initial post the team behind the ads have turned trolling Trump into an art form, continuing to make fun of the president throughout 2017 as he banned everything from people to laptops.

Still, the ability to react to global events in real time is a double-edged sword for advertisers and social media managers and is not for the fainthearted, as Aloul and Alaeddin admit.

“We believe that the key word is agility,” says Aloul. “The more agile you are as a team, the more capable you are of navigating those waters. For now, I just go with my gut feeling. You just have to take risks to make it. Advertising must be interruptive. t Just as long as you stay true to yourself/the brand and what it stands for.”

“If you have that mentality that brands are people,” adds Alaeddin, “your only guideline would be ‘is this something Royal Jordanian would or should say?’ And you just run with it.”

I still get anxious when I remember getting panicked calls after posting the ad.”

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02 — Stories worth sharingLuma & Hadi


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The more daring and out there it is, the more memorable it will be.”

02 — Stories worth sharingLuma & Hadi — Trump


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How do you foster a culture of creativity that permeates every aspect of an agency?

At Ogilvy, we believe in ‘Pervasive Creativity’. Anybody in our agency, in any role, is/can be/should be creative – not just in terms of the ideas we generate for our clients, but in how we deliver them. Everyone has a right and responsibility to creatively contribute to how we can be our most efficient and effective, how we can improve our organisation, and how we can make our agency the best possible place to work.

In my view, pervasive creativity can only happen if we have a culture that supports it. A culture of trust and dialogue, of positive human energy, but also of individual accountability. Everybody is responsible. Ideas or problems shouldn’t just be brought to or driven by the top, but tackled amongst each other. Last but not least, we need to celebrate and pursue diversity, creatively and culturally. An agency that is the home of people with different backgrounds, nationalities, ages, tenures, genders, and views more naturally welcomes ideas. After just four months in the region, its diversity is undoubtedly what I love the most.

These are transformative times. What will an agency have to do to flourish in 2018?

Over the last few months I have been interviewing many candidates in and outside our region in search of our new managing director for Memac Ogilvy in the UAE. All of them were accomplished operational leaders and new business hunters. But only a few were as inspired, pre-occupied and passionate about pursuing change as I am. Many claimed it’s a hot agency topic, but very few had a real point-of-view of what the agency of today and tomorrow needs to look like. Nearly my entire career at Ogilvy has been about change management, but I never felt the need for change as much as I feel it today.

Patou NuytemansMemac OgilvyCEO MENA / Chief Digital Officer EMEA

For Ogilvy to flourish it can’t just go from project to project, and pitch to pitch. It can’t ignore nor be paralysed by the seismic changes in media, consumer behaviour, technology and business drivers we are facing. Instead, it must tackle them through what we offer our clients, and the ways in which we work. It won’t come as any surprise that as EMEA Chief Digital Officer, I believe that includes ensuring digital and innovation become part of our DNA in every way possible.

What keeps you awake at night?

The one thing that will keep me awake is people issues. After all, we’re in the business of talent, of people. I do not know many leaders who rate empathy as one of their most important values, but it’s one of mine. Seeing people grow – and sometimes contributing to that growth – has probably been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career. But when it doesn’t happen, or when there’s conflict and personal issues... I admit, I find it hard to stop worrying and not only because it gets in the way of great work.

What is the single most significant change you have recently made to your agency?

Four years ago, I introduced a new capability in social paid media performance, and placed it at the heart of our creative agency. It’s been the fastest growing offer in the Ogilvy network. It’s now also been launched at Memac Ogilvy. It’s about embracing social media as the first medium in the history of advertising that (through its paid model) combines the power of broadcast storytelling with the precision of direct marketing. So, believing that social media is truly the new mass advertising and CRM, we are assuring our strategies and creative make the most of the new opportunities social media offers to drive both brand and business results

More recently, as soon as I arrived in the region, we started implementing Ogilvy’s new worldwide ‘Next Chapter’ strategy which is ultimately about dismantling our silos and different capabilities, and integrating them under one single P&L and brand to make sure all our clients benefit from our specialist skills, no matter the door they walk in or the brief they give us.

What are the value of awards to an agency?

Awards are about sharing and inspiring each other. As such, it’s an opportunity for our talent to learn, and for the agency to improve its work. But it can never be a distraction from the real mission of an agency, and that is to ensure our clients’ business success.

What needs to change in the regional advertising industry for it to progress?

Being so new to this part of the world, I still have a lot to learn, but one thing that has struck me is how the pitch process here is so much more challenging than in the rest of the world. While testing an agency talent to win a long-term relationship is acceptable and actually something we relish, having to pitch for short-term projects or contracts is detrimental to the agency industry’s health. This constant investment undermines our delivery for clients, our ability to be the most creative we can be, and the motivation of our talent. There are too many pitches, involving too many agencies, asking for the entire solution, and they are often procurement-led. While financials are critical criteria, they should be balanced against the quality of our work and our people. So I believe if clients would be more selective about pitching, the entire industry – both brands and agencies – will benefit.

.

I never felt the need for change as much as I feel it today”

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02 — Stories worth sharingPatou Nuytemans


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“Are there ideas out there that have been killed before I’ve seen them because somebody doesn’t want to take that risk?” asks Mohammed Ismaeel, Visa’s Senior Vice President of Marketing for Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

We are sitting in his office in Media City drinking coffee and discussing client courage.

“We’re constantly saying we have to develop and learn, but how do we do that if we never ever challenge ourselves? How does that ever change the way we do things? I constantly tell my team, if I don’t feel uncomfortable when I see something, then that comfort means it’s been done before. I’ve seen it before. And that makes it difficult for me to make myself stand out.”

We have met to discuss Uncommon Truths, Visa’s award-winning campaign by Impact BBDO, which revealed the dirty truths behind the gifts people give each other. It was a unique, almost random, campaign for Visa to release.

“It had nothing to do with the way we would traditionally go to market,” admits Ismaeel. “Would I have done that had I been managing the US and let that go wide in the US? No, I wouldn’t. At the end of the day I still have to think about the longer term brand perspective and our equity and all of our guidelines, because [Uncommon Truths] followed none of that. None whatsoever. And the intention wasn’t really to drive a business objective. It wasn’t to drive a brand objective. It was to drive a learning opportunity for us. To see, if we were to push in a different direction, what could we get back in return.”

What did Visa get back in return?

“What it didn’t do is drive business,” replies Ismaeel. “What it did do was grab the attention of the issuers – the banks that we work with – because they said ‘that’s a new Visa’. And they all wanted to participate in that because it was differentiated. It told me that there is a middle ground that we haven’t reached.

Mohammed IsmaeelVISA Senior Vice President of Marketing for Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“Also, my team seeing their boss going crazy for a little bit allowed them the room to think ‘actually, there are opportunities here. If he can do it then so can we’. I think the message from me to them was if you have an idea that you love, but everything in you tells you no, don’t let it die, bring it up and let’s discuss it. Too often they assume the answer will be no. Don’t assume. You might get me on a good day, you might get me on a crazy day, who knows? But there is always a possibility that there’s something there that we just hadn’t seen.”

No one needs reminding that these are testing times for the client/agency relationship. Gone are the days of marital bliss. We are frequently on the verge of acrimonious divorce. How this state of affairs can be redrawn is a question everyone is seeking an answer to, particularly agencies.

“Ultimately we need to be led by our agency partners in many, many ways,” says Ismaeel. “But what we’re finding is actually we’re pushing them to change faster than they’re pushing us to change. And that for me is a gap. And it’s a gap that I know agencies have recognised. I know it’s a gap that they’re working against.

“But we’re not there. And it has strained the relationships, it’s created friction. I’ve always come from a world where you have a choice. You can look at an agency as a service provider, or you can look at them as a partner who’s an extension of who you are. It only ever works when you have that partnership, and we don’t have that partnership to the level we used to. They are now looking at us as a client, we’re now looking at them as a service provider, and that’s probably not a place we should be.”

At its offices in Media City, Visa is running out of space. It already occupies three floors, benefitting no doubt, from the global move towards a cashless society.

For Ismaeel, this increasingly digital age requires data-led marketing tailored to each individual. Yet there remains a demand for Visa to think differently when it comes to its communication.

“Will we go as far as Uncommon Truths? Probably unlikely,” he says. “Will we need to get edgier and differentiated from the kind of communication we had in the past? God yes. Without doubt. And it’s what everybody actually enjoys doing. If you’re able to get up in the morning and say ‘I can’t wait to get to work and brief this in’, and the creative says ‘I can’t wait to get into the design room and start working on this’. That’s what we want to do. That’s what everybody wants to do.”

Are there ideas out there that have been killed before I’ve seen them because somebody doesn’t want to take that risk?”

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02 — Stories worth sharingMohammed Ismaeel


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PREPAID GIFTCARD: VOICEOVER

Faeces and vomit are the primary ingredients in perfumes.

It’s either that or musk, which is a nicer word for a deer’s bodily discharge.

Whale vomit.

Baby poo.

Beaver glandular secretion.

To celebrate special occasions, humans often give these scents to other humans.

Who then spray the fragrance of faeces scraped out of an animal’s bottom over their bodies.

Extraordinary.

As an alternative gifting exercise, may we recommend the Visa Prepaid Gift Card?

Better than giving bottled bodily fluids, wouldn’t you say?

We’re con-stantly saying we have to develop and learn but how do we do that if we never ever challenge ourselves?”

02 — Stories worth sharingMohammed Ismaeel — Prepaid Giftcard


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Rana Khoury is living proof that communication can positively impact society. Just look at her work.

She was part of the team behind Undress522, a campaign that sought to raise awareness of article 522, which states that a rapist can be exonerated if he marries his victim. It was also instrumental in Legally Bride, which raised awareness of child marriage in Lebanon.

A few weeks after Undress522 was launched, article 522 was abolished by an act of parliament.

“Our idea was simple,” says Khoury of Undress522. “If the law hides the crime with a wedding dress, we will undress the law.”

A creative director at Leo Burnett Beirut, Khoury is also a lecturer at the American University of Beirut and ran for election in 2016 as part of Beirut Madinati. She is essentially an activist. A woman who, as a citizen and a new mother, feels the need to better Beirut and help improve Lebanon’s society in general.

“I think many of us are activists in our own way,” she says. “Whether individually by the way we live, challenging injustice, seeking more freedom on a personal level, loving who we want, saying our opinion out loud, or by working actively and collectively towards change. And it’s the sum of all these individual and collective efforts that makes the world move in the right direction. Because we realise that the way things are stands in the way of what they could be.”

Particularly close to Khoury’s heart is Legally Bride, which was done for KAFA, an NGO that seeks to create a society free of social, economic and legal patriarchal structures that discriminate against women.

Rana KhouryLeo BurnettCreative Director

“We showed the world the reality in front of their eyes,” she says of the campaign, which involved a staged photoshoot of a middle-aged man and a young girl on Beirut’s Corniche. “The campaign travelled the world and was even replicated in Times Square in New York, so from a professional point of view I can’t but acknowledge and be proud of its success.

“And yes, women’s rights issues take up a big part of my life. I think that gender-based abuse is a global phenomena that has existed forever. And recently we have seen the waves of mobilisations worldwide, women and men standing up against harassment and for equality.”

Central to Khoury’s belief is the view that ideas can influence and change behaviour, and that the effect of a big idea can go a long way. “However, I don’t think we should let advertising carry all the load of making a difference,” she says. “A lot of elements should accompany a good campaign for the impact to be huge.”

“Communication is about people,” she adds. “Whether they need or want products, or they desire to be engaged in social causes. Most clients we work with at the agency have people at the centre of their concerns. And all communication campaigns developed by Leo Burnett Beirut are driven by our Human Kind philosophy, whether they are for products or for causes.

“I think that today’s consumer is extremely smart and informed, and whether you are campaigning for a business or an NGO, you still have to convince people.”

If the law hides the crime with a wedding dress, we will undress the law.”

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02 — Stories worth sharingRana Khoury


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“Honestly, being a football geek I was personally embarrassed about the fact I didn’t even know the whole team,” admits Maged Nassar. “So I felt that if these guys might bring us the cup, the least we could do is know them.”

The director/creative director is discussing Coca-Cola’s The Line-up Song, one of 2017’s best loved films and a cyber gold winner at Cannes for FP7/CAI. Rolled out just prior to the Africa Cup of Nations, it was a campaign that depicted a group of grown men in a rundown table tennis hall singing a rewritten children’s song. All because nobody knew or recognised the new Egyptian football team.

“It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how I was hit by the idea, it sort of happened organically,” admits Nassar. “But basically, you know when you wake up with a tune stuck in your head? That’s exactly what happened. We’ve all sang this song as kids and the whole point of the song was for us to learn the different kinds of animals, and I guess that was pretty much what I was trying to do too, except with the totally unknown Egyptian football team.

“I thought it was so stupid it was great. I was worried the client would think it’s just stupid, but they saw the greatness in it too. I thought I was the only child in the room, but surprisingly they liked it on the spot.”

Nassar is one of the region’s most awarded creatives and yet has customarily shied away from the limelight. The Line-up Song, however, has helped change that, although he still prefers to hide in the shadows.

Maged NassarGood PeopleDirector/Creative Director

“The Egyptian advertising market is rich with catchy, iconic jingles, so the song – from music to melody to lyrics – had to be well-crafted,” says Nassar of the difficulties in bringing the idea to life. “So it’s safe to say this was definitely the most tedious and hardest part of this campaign. And a few times along the way we lost hope and were going to completely ditch the idea all together. But persistence pays off.

“The whole point of the song was for us to get everyone to memorise the song, that’s why this wasn’t an ad with a specific look and feel. We wanted to cast all walks of life – from the guys who are football geeks, to the lazy man who’s never been to the stadium, to a bunch of young guys.”

Interestingly, the campaign won nothing in film at the Dubai Lynx (it won a gold in film craft), yet was awarded at the two biggest advertising festivals in the world – Cannes and D&AD, where it picked up a graphite pencil.

“As a director, it wasn’t a tedious job, but the poor camera guy was the one who was working 14 hours a day carrying a 20 kilo camera,” says Nassar. “The shots were supposed to be mostly mounted, but the cameraman took the first few shots steady. They ended up looking great, so the champion shot the whole thing steady.”

I thought it was so stupid it was great.”“

02 — Stories worth sharingMaged Nassar


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THE LINE-UP SONG: LYRICS

This is our official teamYet Cooper has the final sayHe got Shennawy nawy na na nawyLike a wall to hide our goal behind

From Jeddah he’ll arrive and grace usAlert and quick to react Abd El shafy shafy sha sha shafyAnd the goal keeper is Shennawy na na nawy

Famous since he was youngTaller than any attackerWe got Hegazy gazy ga ga gazyAnd Abd El shafy sha sha shafyAnd the goal keeper is Shennawy na na nawy

Even if they attack us fiercely We got great header and a bullyRamy Rabeea beea be be beeaBeside him Hegazy gazy ga ga gazyAnd Abd El shafy sha sha shafy

And for those whoppers to dieOr to get paralyzed and die from fearAhmed Fathy fathy fat fat fathyAnd Ramy Rabeea beea be be beeaBeside him Hegazy gazy ga ga gazyBack and forth the 90 minutes

A star who never mistake a passTarek Hamed Hamed ha ha hamedAnd Fathy the defender Fathy fa fa fathyAnd Ramy Rabeea beea be be beea

His long hair swings from side to sideBoth a leftie and a rightie Bassem Morsi Morsi mo mo morsiAnd Trek Hamed Hamed ha ha hamedAnd Fathy the defender Fathy fa fa fathy

And here he comes to entertain allHe will shatter any defenceComing from Roma roma ro ro romaAnd bassem Morsi Morsi mo mo morsiBassem Morsi Morsi mo mo morsiTarek Hamed Hamed ha ha hamedAnd Fathy the defender Fathy fa fa fathyAnd Ramy Rabeea beea be be beeaBeside him Hegazy gazy ga ga gazyAnd Abd El shafy sha sha shafyAnd the goal keeper is Shennawy na na nawyYet Cooper has the final sayThis song is Coca Coca co co Coca’s

I thought I was the only child in the room, but suprisingly the client liked it on the spot.”

02 — Stories worth sharingMaged Nassar — The line-up song


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Daniah Al-Aoudah has a new job. A tough one. She’s trying to change the stereotypical image of Saudi Arabia.

A former copywriter at J. Walter Thompson Riyadh, she is now creative director at @saudiarabia, a social media initiative centred on Twitter and Instagram. Its tagline is ‘A nation of hope, driven by our dreams and inspired by our history’.

“For so many years as Saudis, specifically the younger generation, we’ve been doing so much and achieving a lot and yet it’s hard for us to come out and say ‘we’re doing this and we’re doing that’,” says Al-Aoudah. “You kind of wait for other people to talk about you.

“But with the country going through so much in 2017 – the youth, the government and the new vision – it’s time for us as Saudis to tell the world, or show the world, who we really are. In terms of the people, the culture, the heritage, our nature. You know, everything about Saudi.”

Born and bred in the Kingdom, Al-Aoudah is a rarity. She was once one of only a handful of female creatives ploughing an almost solitary field in advertising. Now she has taken on an even bigger challenge for her country.

“Just being a creative in Saudi is a challenge on its own,” she admits. “Not a lot of people really understand how someone from a country like Saudi Arabia can be creative, which to me is ridiculous. It’s preposterous for people to even question that nowadays, seeing as I’m present on social media and everything that’s been happening in the country.

“We are a creative people. I like to express my creativity in my own way without really worrying about what other people are expecting from a Saudi creative. I like to challenge people. I like to surprise them. I like to shock them. I love to shock – the shock that people get from the creative work that I put out.”

Daniah Al-AoudahJWT Copywriter

Al-Aoudah points to J. Walter Thompson Riyadh’s ‘The Biggest Art Gallery in the World’ for Al-Arabia as an example. It featured selected works sourced from 900 undiscovered artists, which were then displayed on thousands of sites across the country. It is a piece of work that she is proud of.

Now she wants to take that shock factor to a global level, with a mission to quash perceptions of the Kingdom as a restrictive and limiting creative environment. “This is why I took the job,” she says. “To tell a different side of the story.”

“There’s such a huge playground for creative women in Saudi Arabia because it’s still an untouched territory,” she adds. “We’re still playing, you know. It hasn’t really sunk in in many ways. There’s so much to give and everyone has an opportunity to be their own person. That’s why I say ‘don’t overthink it. If you have a creative bone in your body, just go with it and run with it’. Trust me, you will be surprised by the amount of space you can play with as a creative.”

It’s time for us as Saudis to tell the world, or show the world, who we really are.”

“

02 — Stories worth sharingDaniah Al-Aoudah


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You can say many things about Y&R Dubai’s Be Seen for The Cartel, but perhaps the most pertinent is that it is striking in its simplicity. A triumph of photography and art direction.

“Our brief from The Cartel was to dramatise, through a bold new design language, how the abaya combined with a select choice of accessories had the power to make the ultimate fashion statement,” explains Kalpesh Patankar, Y&R Dubai’s Regional Executive Creative Director. “Be Seen celebrated the abaya as a canvas upon which to express female individuality through choice accessorising. We wanted to create an arresting visual story.”

Creating such a story, however, was far from easy, as Patankar attests.

“When you create an event in a picture it’s always challenging,” he says. “You cannot use sound and motion when everything around you is constantly moving. Yet you need people to stop and be a part of the story you’re telling.

“The campaigns that look the simplest always require the most crafting. As the abaya was 90 per cent of the visual and the accessories were the 10 per cent that would be focal points, finding a balance between the two required rounds of crafting to arrive at a visual that would tell a story in a single frame.”

Against the canvas of a black abaya, blue-tinted sunglasses, a terracotta crocodile skin handbag, and fluorescent green high heels highlight the fact that the abaya has the ability to make those who wear it stand out. That, at least, was the thinking behind the campaign. A significant number of women living in the Gulf, after all, find room to express their individuality through what is an increasingly iconic garment.

Therefore the models were integral to the story, with each having to express themselves with minimalism and simplicity, bringing out an “inner strength and pride”, says Patankar. “The angles we shot were specifically from below to give each a sense of grandeur.”

Kalpesh PatankarY&RExecutive Creative Director

Shot by photographer Greg Adamski, Patankar insists all those involved in creating the campaign came together seamlessly to bring Be Seen to life. Amongst them Kapil Bhimekar and Caravan Creatives. “It was collaborative thinking between each to execute the idea,” he says.

“It requires belief and commitment,” adds Patankar, when asked about the agency’s culture of creativity. “The creative culture in Y&R is something we have been committed to for years now. It begins with having a strong sense of belief in our ideas, and importantly protecting those ideas. A good idea needs to be strengthened and nurtured – you need to believe in it and be committed to crafting it.

“And commitment doesn’t end once you see success, it’s a constant process of bettering yourself. Whether it’s creating the pelican campaign for Harvey Nichols, using Coca-Cola caps to make phone calls or bringing two religions together in One Book for Peace, the culture of creativity is the same.”

What does the campaign mean to Patankar personally?

“Pride and the celebration of culture,” he says simply.

You need people to stop and be a part of the story you’re telling.”

“

02 — Stories worth sharingKalpesh Patankar


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Commitment doesn’t end once you see success, it’s a constant process of bettering yourself.”

02 — Stories worth sharingKalpesh Patankar — Be seen


36 37


The role of planners is frequently misunderstood. What do you actually do?

Strategy is the best job in the field of creativity. And I’m allowed to be a bit biased, right? Unfortunately, the role of strategists is frequently misunderstood. We are not brief-writers nor do we only package presentations. And not enough from our kin are actively contributing to the actual creative product produced, nor elevating the value of strategy to clients and agency folks alike.

The way I enjoy working is quitting being theoretical and philosophical strategists and instead being obsessively involved throughout the process. Identifying the real problem (interrogating the obvious problem to find the problem beneath the problem), looking at all the research and data available, and then putting that aside, getting off our desks, and talking to real people and uncovering untapped and untold truths that just feel right. Building and defining a distinctive meaningful role for brands. Giving all the teams a strategic platform that will move people. Making sure, by working conceptually with the teams, that the idea comes to life across a data-driven journey and connections plan. And being involved in measuring it to ensure its effective.

The media landscape is evolving at breakneck speed. How do you keep on top of things and separate the wheat from the chaff?

Re-learning and re-educating one’s self is crucial. This entails an investment (both monetary and time) in keeping up with constantly evolving consumers. And you do this by constantly absorbing knowledge and data through varied information resources, studying social listening tools, reading research, and most excitingly, activating trendspotting and social-psychology experiments.

Tahaab RaisFP7/MENARegional Head of Strategy & MENA Truth Central Director

Strategy often plays second fiddle to the creative idea. Why? And should this thinking be overturned?

Correction. Poor strategy and lack of rigour leads to strategists playing second fiddle to the creative idea. Strategists should not be plumbers who retrofit strategic ideas and make presentations to pre-sell the creative work. How should this be overturned? Simply by coming out of our closet and doing what strategists should be doing. Identifying a big problem that excites. Uncovering a truth and a strategic approach that makes people go ‘aha, that’s interesting’. And being involved throughout the creative process (with creative and partner agencies), making sure the product is well-connected, relevant to people and importantly, effective.

Should planners lead agency processes?

An agency’s strategic methodology should become its operating process. It’s not enough having a beautifully crafted agency purpose for media articles or seminar talks. It’s about converting that purpose into an operating system where everyone works with it and contributes to it.

In such an environment, strategists must assume the role akin to the master conductor in an orchestra. On brands, strategists must aim to sync the people, the client and the agency’s own teams. For the agency, strategists must sync their own department, the different disciplines and partner agencies. The first leadership goal is for strategists to make sure everyone is in tune. The second is to make sure everyone (agency and clients) are trained on it and embrace it.

What are the secrets of a great planner?

It’s someone who cares about their family and relationships - and this empathy helps. Has the humility to acknowledge the truth that they are nothing without others. Is an inventor and creates new ways of working, experiments and has fun playing with ideas. Is the master conductor and enjoys being it. Thinks big and makes others see the ‘bigness’ too. Is generous with praise, with positive criticism, with attention and with knowledge. Doesn’t play politics and doesn’t have the time for it, instead spends that time on inventing. And finally, wants to change the world and believes that she or he can do it through ideas that matter and make a difference.

Do agencies have a planning problem?

Yes. While we do have some really smart strategists across agencies in MENA (and I know as well as respect many of them), we need many more of them. The trouble is that because there’s not enough understanding of what strategy entails, there’s not enough time scoped for strategists and hence, there aren’t enough quality strategists. Most clients I’ve met across MENA value strategy. But because most agencies don’t charge enough for strategy, strategy often becomes a cost centre versus a profit centre that it should be, given the value of strategists.

What would you like to see change within the agency structure?

Related to the earlier question, the most important thing to change is the financial structure in most agencies. There’s a critical need for strategy leaders to sit the business and the finance team down and take them through the strategic process and help them understand the time that is needed and the value brought in. This will help ensure time is scoped accurately and comprehensively enough and clients pay for the time they want and demand from strategy.

Correction. Poor strategy and lack of rigour leads to strategists playing second fiddle to the creative idea.”

“

02 — Stories worth sharingTahaab Rais


38 39


01 — Rankings01 — Rankings

Section03— Rankings


40 41


“Brands should be risk takers, always thinking outside the box and challenging the status quo,” asserts Mariam Raafat, Coca-Cola’s integrated marketing communications manager. “They should be able to identify their consumers’ future needs and create them today. They should create new trends instead of following existing ones.”

If nothing else, Coca-Cola has lived by this belief for the past few years. From The Line-up Song to FP7/CAI’s Euro 2008 grand prix winner, the soft drinks company has embodied a spirit of creative communication rarely seen in the region’s advertising industry.

At the heart of this communication has been humour and the art of risk-taking. Risk-taking that has led to campaigns like The Line-up Song, which won cyber gold at Cannes last June. A campaign that, let it not be forgotten, the director Maged Nassar believed was so stupid that it was great.

“Fear is the enemy of courage, and it is up to leaders to work hard to stop this fear from reaching their employees,” says Raafat, discussing the need to develop courage within an organisation. “There has to be an atmosphere of trust that is nurtured amongst employees to enable them to take risks while knowing that their managers will have their backs at all times – in failures before successes.

“Also, knowledge is an important pillar. People with a more solid pool of knowledge about a certain subject tend to be more confident about their decisions, enabling them to take risks more easily.”

Whichever way you look at it, Coca-Cola must be doing something right. It was named the Dubai Lynx Advertiser of the Year for 2017, landing the accolade on the back of 42 awards, three of which were grands prix.

Mariam RaafatCoca-ColaIntegrated Marketing Communication Manager

“Communication is no longer a brand-to-consumer stream, it’s a consumer-to-brand one,” adds Raafat, a graduate of the School of Mass Communication at the American University in Cairo. She describes a world where the consumer is in charge, both in terms of the type of content they wish to receive, and the touchpoints through which they can be reached.

“It’s very important to customise your message and make it resonate with people,” she says. “To make it relevant to your consumers’ needs and aspirations. But for brands to be able to do this they have to have a purpose they are clear about, the credibility to claim it, and the courage to take risks. Risks that can equally succeed or fail. It takes collaboration with the right talent to produce the best work there is and, most importantly, the consistency to keep a balance between creativity and the commitment to the initial purpose.”

Originally from a media background, Raafat has the luxury of having worked on both sides of the client/agency relationship. A relationship she believes needs nurturing if both parties are to create the twin goals of great brands and great work.

“Clients rely heavily on agencies to produce the greatest pieces of communication and will keep on doing so for as long as they both exist,” she says. “The value clients get from their agencies is unmissable and this value will continue to contribute to business success and brand development.”

Yet the list of agency complaints is sizable. From unrealistic expectations to poor briefs, disrespect, as well as unnecessary and cumbersome bureaucracy.

“Clients are overwhelmed by various challenges that they need to juggle all at the same time,” says Raafat by way of explanation. “Business results, constant evaluation of brand KPIs, brand essence that they need to protect and commit to, never-ending marketplace challenges (amongst many other things) and agencies get lost in the middle. They both have to realise that they operate in two different contexts, but that they need to find the commonality to collaborate behind one purpose. To identify and commit to each other’s strengths to ensure an active listening process that yields the best results for both.

“Agencies need to act as partners and as members of the marketing team in order to regain trust and confidence. They have to live their challenges and understand their working context in order to be able to provide clients with better solutions that answer their business needs.

“Clients on the other hand should let agencies in, provide them with the right knowledge of their businesses, let them know that their voice is heard and their work is valuable to the organisation. There also has to be a constant evaluation of the process from both sides for this relationship to evolve and grow into a successful partnership that yields the best results.”

Brands should be risk takers.”“

03 — Rankings featureMariam Raafat - Client of The Year


42 43


Peter Richweisz Cartel82 Points

Ifet MustaficMRV63 Points

Ahmed Fahmy Henkel 80 Points

Jihad Saade loto libanaise59 Points

Maya Ammar Kafa59 Points

Samah Aziz Medcare Hospital59 Points

Mohammed Ismaeel VISA 71 Points

Humaida Alkhalsan du57 Points

Barbara Hoi Sydlexia 69 Points

Maha Rateb UN Women55 Points

Rym Choukatli Orange53 Points

Top 10 —Clients

O2 O3

O4 O5 O6 O7 O7 O7

O8 O9 1O

Mariam RaafatCoca-Cola 100 Points

Client of The YearO1

03 — Rankings

16 — 35 PtsDounia BahaLenovo ME

11 — 51 PtsHisham KharmaLaw Endak Dam

20 — 27 PtsBeryl KyteGo Sport

15 — 38 PtsPatrica El ChammasNestle

17 — 34 PtsShyam SunderCentrepoint

12 — 47 PtsAhmed A. AlsahhafSTC

16 — 35 PtsLina AtallahMada Masr

19 — 28 PtsSherif KhalilHenkel

14 — 40 PtsServer AydinRoyal Jordanian

18 — 33 PtsAsmaa QuorrichYum!

13 — 42 PtsGhida AnaniAbaad

FP7_truth&dare_agency_of_the_year_35x29.pdf 1 2/11/18 7:24 PM


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“If you put together a list of who we’re competing against, it’s endless,” says Dani Richa, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BBDO Middle East, Africa and Pakistan. “From content companies to social agencies to consultants to media and activation companies, everybody is having a go. And clients are confused.

“Not only are they confused, they’re finding short term tactical opportunities for doing things cheaper because it’s very difficult for many clients to see the value of going to a big agency.”

These are trying times for the big networks, although you’d never guess by looking at Richa. He appears perpetually unperturbed. Fiercer competition, lower budgets, industry fragmentation, restructuring, the prevalence of tactical work at the expense of brand-building campaigns; all are part and parcel of a dynamic industry in transition.

“If you think about it, we used to do a campaign and that film or key visual would run for six months,” he says. “Today, you have to do 10 key visuals per day. And if you want to do it well, it takes almost as much time. At a time of dynamic creative media, sometimes you find yourself doing over a hundred versions of a piece of communication with different messaging.

“For a client, they could look at that and say it’s one piece of work. For the agency, it’s 100 pieces. It’s very, very tough. And it’s very tough to resource for that. It’s very tough to keep the quality level and the creativity level up, and the problem is we’ve never found ourself competing with so many different parties as we do now.”

Richa is enjoying a late morning coffee at Mundo in the Emirates Towers. In many ways he is the man of the moment. Both the Dubai Lynx and Arab Ad’s advertising person of the year, his agency is obviously doing something right, although it too has felt its own share of pain.

Dani RichaImpact BBDOChairman and CEO Middle East and Africa

“The way around these troubles is going back to where your strength is,” he says. “Really getting the strategy right and making sure that the data and insights are at the heart of every campaign. When you do that right, clients are prepared to pay for it. But not all clients understand it or are willing to pay for it.

“A lot of clients are looking very much short term and the problem is, if you ask an agency to be your brand guardian and to think long term, you need to have people that are dedicated to your business. People who are living your brand, breathing your brand, living the category, looking at the competition. And you don’t get that when you’re doing work on a project basis.

“I tell clients ‘ok, you want to go to a project basis, there’s no problem, but you’ll see a new face every time’. And every time they’ll have to learn your brand, learn to live the category. And that’s a huge missed opportunity. Many clients see that. They’re prepared to have a true partnership, a long-term partnership, where they understand the need for us as a business model to have a retainer.

“Look, the question is not retainer or project, the question is value. And if the client sees that they’re getting value – that the agency is instrumental to their business – then all these conversations become irrelevant.”

Richa is a rarity in the world of advertising. A creative who has moved into the world of management without breaking stride. A member of the BBDO Worldwide board and chairman of the board of Omnicom Media Group MENA, who feels as at home on a creative brief as he does in a sea of suits and profit margins. For him, both involve people.

He has said previously that he believes culture eats strategy for breakfast, arguing that if an agency has the right people it will produce great work, a great company and a great reputation. In such circumstances business will flourish.

“We must not compromise on our raison d’être,” he asserts. “Our focus on the work, the work, the work. Doing the best work in the world as we become more agile, and as we deliver work that’s in line with this faster media demand. Keeping that balance is absolutely crucial.”

He takes a sip of his coffee. He looks relaxed.

“Of course. It’s a nice sunny day in Dubai and we’re having a lovely breakfast,” he says smiling. “Look, business is good for us. We’re blessed with some great partners and I feel better about the region. I feel better about the business.

“At the end of the day it’s all about creativity. We’re in the business of ideas, and ideas that work are based on strong strategy. The most important thing is to make sure we stay attractive as a company, as an industry. And I feel we are.”

It’s a nice sunny day in Dubai and we’re having a lovely breakfast.”

“

03 — Rankings featureDani Richa - CEO of The Year


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Patou Nuytemans Memac Ogilvy267 Points

Raja TradLeo Burnett192 Points

Tarek Miknas FP7224 Points

Georges Barsoum Y&R179 Points

Sasan Saeidi JWT 217 Points

Nadim Khoury Grey21 Points

Hubert Boulos DDB83 Points

Reda Raad TBWA\RAAD 198 Points

Nassib Boueri Wunderman14 Points

Top 10 —CEO & Network

O2 O3

O4 O5 O6 O7

O9O8 1O

Dani RichaImpact BBDO415 Points

CEO and Network of The YearO1

03 — Rankings


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03 — Rankings featureFadi Yaish - Creative Leader of The Year

“Ideas are our product,” says Fadi Yaish, one of the most recognisable figures in Middle East advertising. “They are the core of our business. And like every company that sells a product, the only way to grow your business is to make sure your product is superior to everyone else’s. Everything else in our industry should serve that purpose.”

A frequently divisive figure, Yaish needs no real introduction. Committed, driven, obsessive, he has been responsible for some of the greatest work to come out of the region in recent years, regardless of reputation.

“Tesla, Apple, Boeing, IBM, Amazon and many other great brands aren’t successful because they want to make more profit,” he says. “They’re successful because product superiority and excellence are at the centre of everything they do. It is why they go to work. Making more money should never be the purpose. Purpose should lie in doing what you do to the best of your ability. But when there is confusion about what you do and why you’re doing it, things get complicated.

“Unfortunately, this is the norm in most agencies today. I never walk into a meeting wanting to make the client happy. I walk into a meeting to work with the client to find the best solution their problems. To help them meet their objectives. Every problem is unique – that means it needs an equally unique solution to overcome it. But most clients get uncomfortable when they see something new because they aren’t familiar with it and can’t imagine how it will work. I believe this is the very reason they should do it. If they are comfortable with the idea it is because they have already done or seen something similar. And if the solution is not unique to the problem, how can you hope to solve it?”

When we talk it is not long after the release of CentrePoint’s three-minute film The Boy Nobody Could See, an ad that had already gathered 6.9 million Facebook views at the time of going to press. Coming shortly on the heels of him placing second in The Drum Big Won rankings of worldwide ECD’s in February, it’s a fitting final act for Impact BBDO’s regional executive creative director.

Fadi YaishImpact BBDORegional Executive Creative Director

Yaish has made no secret of his belief in the power of awards. For him they are a precise indicator of an agency’s work, or an individual’s ability. But is regional awards success obscuring agencies’ failings? Are they providing a false sense of progress? Have they lost their value?

“Well, it depends what kind of award-winning work we are talking about,” he replies. “If the work was blindly done to win awards with no thought to a client’s business objectives or challenges then yes, an agency can win multiple trophies and hide behind the subsequent headlines. But lots of award-winning work actually solves problems and meet client objectives. In this case, the awards are a true reflection of the agency’s capabilities. Truth is, a good idea is a good idea. And people don’t hide behind good ideas – they hide behind bad ones.

“I feel we have been going round in circles for the past three years. A few years back only a handful of agencies were winning internationally, which meant they were doing something better than everyone else. But now we are all winning. Every single agency. To me, it doesn’t matter who is winning. To me, what matters is why.

“The question is, ‘What are you winning it for?’ Do people remember the work you won for, or the fact that you won something? We don’t have many campaigns that go viral. We have won less grands prix at international festivals than any other region. We are not innovative enough. We are not trendsetters. This is the truth. As a region we are at a good starting point, but there is still so much left to do and achieve. And that’s why I love it. It is fun and exciting when you have a chance to pave the way for others, as opposed to simply following in their footsteps.”

Has the medium become more important than the idea? Are awards more about egos than great advertising? What does ‘creativity’ actually mean? The questions are endless.

“This is the biggest problem our industry has in general,” replies Yaish, who has judged at both D&AD and Cannes in recent years. “It is a disaster. Yet everyone will tell you that ideas come first and that we have to think media neutral. Let me ask you this: why is the media plan set in stone one year in advance? Why does every brief insist on ‘360 ideas’ or ‘We are open to anything, let’s think media neutral’, but at the end of the day what goes out is whatever the client bought the media for. It is just a waste of time and a redundant process. The best solution could be absolutely anything, and that solution should not be dictated by preconceived media. Everything depends on the challenge and the objective.

Look, to me creativity is surprising people when it’s something they would never expect. It is when people say ‘I wish I have done that’. It is when your heart hurts when you see a great idea that should have been yours. True creative happiness is when people ask each other ‘what is the best idea you have seen this year’ and your idea is one of the top three theyt would mention.”

Tesla, Apple, Boeing, IBM, Amazon and many other great brands aren’t successful becausethey want to make more profit.”

“


50 51


Paul ShearerMemac Ogilvy237 Points

Chafic HaddadJWT182 Points

Bechara Mouzanner Publicis Communications199 Points

Kalpesh PatankarY&R179 Points

Walid Kanaan TBWA\RAAD 198 Points

Marco Bezerra JWT117 Points

Ramzi Moutran Memac Ogilvy129 Points

Fouad Abdel Malak TBWA\RAAD 187 Points

Ahmed Hafez Younis FP7/CAI107 Points

Top 10 —Creative Leaders

O2 O3

O4 O5 O6 O7

O9O8 1O

Fadi YaishImpact BBDO407 Points

Creative Leaderof The YearO1

11 — 101 PtsMalek GhorayebLeo Burnett

15 — 59 PtsAlok GadkarPartnership

12 — 91 PtsAndre NassarLeo Burnett

15 — 59 PtsRayyan AounJWT

14 — 83 PtsFiras MerdowsDDB

13 — 85 PtsWill RustMemac Ogilvy

03 — Rankings


53


03 — Rankings

FP7/CAI Cairo 107 Points

JWT Beirut 10 Points

Memac Ogilvy Dubai 197 Points

Wunderman Dubai 14 Points

Leo Burnett Dubai 91 Points

Publicis Dubai 07 Points

Partnership Dubai 59 Points

Impact BBDO Cairo 03 Points

Memac Ogilvy Amman 40 Points

FP7/BEY Beirut 03 Points

Beattie + Dane Kuwait 18 Points

JWT Dubai 104 Points

Memac Ogilvy Beirut 08 Points

TBWA\RAADDubai 192 Points

Blue Barracuda Dubai 13 Points

DDB Dubai 83 Points

Memac Ogilvy Manama 06 Points

FP7/DXB Dubai 58 Points

CheilDubai 03 Points

JWT Cairo 25 Points

JWT Amman 03 Points

JWT Morocco 18 Points

Top —Creative Agencies

O5

22

O2

19

O8

24

11

27

14

27

17

O6

23

O3

2O

O9

25

12

27

15

27

17

Leo Burnett Beirut 101 Points

Republique Beirut 07 Points

Y&R Dubai 186 Points

Kairo Cairo 11 Points

JWT Riyadh 60 Points

Impact BBDOBeirut 05 Points

FP7/TUN Tunisia 53 Points

FP7/BAH Manama 03 Points

Grey Dubai 21 Points

Memac Ogilvy Doha 16 Points

O7

24

O4

21

1O

26

13

27

16

18

O1 Impact BBDO Dubai Creative Agency of The Year 407 Points


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The role of planners is frequently misunderstood. What do you actually do?

We tell stories. Then design for people to experience them. Of course, a quick Google search will tell you that we conduct market audits, monitor trends, decipher culture, make sense of media, unveil human insights and devise strategies. But these are merely means to an end. Whether it’s for a business idea, building a brand or creating a campaign, the aim is to tell compelling stories in an entertaining package that sells.

The media landscape is evolving at breakneck speed. How do you keep on top of things and separate the wheat from the chaff?

Experimentation. All. The. Time. It guarantees that you stay on top of the game while allowing you to experience firsthand what’s here to stay and what’s obsolescent. I’ve done it even before I became a planner. I started with a personal blog in the era of the rise of microblogging, which later turned into a Facebook page, as Facebook came and conquered our lives. As Instagram gained prominence, I created a Futile Football Facts page that became popular. I played around with it for a while and learned what works and what doesn’t. Today, I do the same with the stories feature (I like to call it Storiestelling) which I tried on Snap before and failed. At the moment, I’m experimenting with my personal Instagram handle as a writing medium. It’s all about trial and error to understand the uniqueness of every medium versus the typology of the content to deliver the optimum value for people.

Strategy often plays second fiddle to the creative idea. Why? And should this thinking be overturned?

It shouldn’t. At least not as long as we’re in the business we’re in. Think of wine. You know the finest ones come from the best grapes, but unless you’re doing your fruit shopping you only care about the final taste

Ali CheikhaliTBWA\RAADSenior Strategic Planner

of the wine itself. The creative idea is what ultimately matters. Everything else, and especially strategy, ought to work in its service. Nonetheless, the appreciation and acknowledgement of the source of that fine wine is a reflection of sophistication and sign of knowledge in the taster.

Should planners lead agency processes?

Yes, and no. In general, there’s a need to diversify in the expertise of leading agency processes because it’s limiting if it’s one-dimensional. We know today for a fact that diversity breeds innovation, enhances creativity and rewards financially. Moving from a one-dimensional approach to a richer more comprehensive one should come from planning, creative and other functions. That said, planners have a lot to bring to the table; the ability to see the trees and the forest, a clear understanding of the problem and instilling reason and rationale in solutions are all detrimental to any business.

What are the secrets of a great planner?

Fiction for the left side of the brain and non-fiction for the right. Then balancing both. An open mind. Consuming culture voraciously. Travelling. Constantly questioning the status quo until borderline annoying. Running towards fire. Asking uncomfortable questions. Providing comforting answers. An appetite for change. Accepting that less is more. Listening. Embracing the fluidity of the role. Versatility. Continuously evolving. Writing, writing anything. Proactivity. Perseverance. Persuasion. Precision. Experimentation. Flow. Curiosity. Confidence. Clarity. Conciseness. Consistency. Empathy. Humour, self-deprecating is a plus.

Do agencies have a planning problem?

Absolutely. And one with a butterfly effect. The beginning of the problem goes back to the first question. The ambiguity around the role of planners is an obstacle for people to know if they would make great planners. This results in a shortage of talent. Equally on the other end, that same ambiguity makes it difficult for agencies to identify good planners, because assessments are not enough to truly cover

the breadth of the function. Finally, when agencies recruit great planners, they’re almost impossible to retain because it’s those same qualities that make them great that make them eventually leave. A vicious cycle that could only be broken through guaranteeing mentorship and a continuously steep learning curve.

What would you like to see change within the agency structure?

Less titles. Agency roles are being further fragmented every day creating silos of ‘specialisations’ when we should be moving in the opposite direction. Borders between agency departments should be blurred and talent should be well-rounded to cover a broad range of functions. This will allow agencies more flexibility in allocating resources, streamlining efficiencies and minimising costs. More importantly, it will create more dynamic and comprehensive creative solutions that would give consultancies a run for their money.

What is the future of strategy?

Endangered. But indispensable. The future is all about tangible solutions. To any problem. While cost-cutting and time pressure led us to getting more and more short-term projects with limited scopes, strategy’s north star lies in the client’s deep-lying business problems. The less involved we are in them, the more endangered we are. And the responsibility falls on us, planners, to make a better case for the value we add, and make sure that its business impact is measurable. The more we convert, the more indispensable we become.

Strategy’s north star lies in the client’s deep-lying business problems.”

“

03 — Rankings featureAli Cheikhali - Planner of The Year


56 57


Tahaab Rais FP7/117 Points

Hend RaafatDDB55 Points

Zeena Ismail Memac Ogilvy115 Points

Dana Alkutoubi JWT42 Points

Joe Abi MansourLeo Burnett42 Points

Tala Arakji Leo Burnett 59 Points

Saurabh Dahiya Impact BBDO34 Points

Ameer Zeitouni Leo Burnett 57 Points

Prabhakar Iyer JWT27 Points

Diana George JWT25 Points

Top 10 —Planners

O2 O3

O4 O5 O6 O7 O7

O8 O9 1O

Ali CheikhaliTBWA\RAAD162 Points

Planner of The YearO1

03 — Rankings

New BloodD&AD New Blood seeks to develop the skills that our industry needs by setting real-world briefs from global brands and offering intensive workshops and mentorships to help students and young creatives prepare for industry and realise their potential.

FestivalD&AD Festival is a three-day spectacular for creative minds everywhere, bringing together a community each April to meet, share, discover and shape the future.

AwardsD&AD Awards recognise beautiful ideas, brilliantly executed. Coveted the world over, a D&AD Pencil is the pinnacle of many creative careers, recognition of the power of craft and creativity and proof that you’re making the best creative work out there.

Membership Members join a vibrant global community that makes you more connected, more visible and more inspired.

Learning D&AD believes passionately that everyone's skills, understanding and potential can be enhanced by training. We offer world-class, immersive, hands-on workshops and bespoke training options led by Pencil-winning creatives with a focus on learning that actually sticks.

Learn more at www.dandad.org

For 56 years D&AD has stimulated, celebrated and enabled creative excellence in design and advertising, in the � rm belief that great work always creates better outcomes. As a not-for-pro� t, D&AD invests back into the creative community, helping new talent prosper and campaigning for a fairer, more diverse, more sustainable industry.

Great work always creates better outcomes

B+W Report - Page Ad.indd 2 16/02/2018 15:16


58 59


Why is it that great art directors do not always become great creative directors?

Most of the art directors I know are somewhat introverted. I think most of us grew up in the industry with a copywriter/art director team structure, where the copywriter did all the talking when pitching an idea, while the art director focused on perfect crafting and bringing the idea visually to life.

So art directors got accustomed to working alone in their space, in front of their screen for long periods of time, while copywriters became good at pitching ideas, leading projects, talking to clients and liaising with client servicing.

Being a creative director involves a lot of the latter. I don’t see an introverted, non-sociable creative turn into a good creative director. But of course, there are those special art directors that can do it all, and these become even greater creative directors.

Who kills good ideas, clients or agencies?

I would say a little bit of both. I know there’s a mentality about how great ideas, if they are great, can be sold to anyone if you do the proper sales pitch. But some clients just don’t want to listen to great ideas. For them it’s better to be safe and ok than take a risk for greater recognition or even better results. We criticise this every time we leave a meeting where our ‘amazing idea’ was knocked down. What we don’t realise is that clients always feel that we are together if we succeed, but if we fail they are the ones with their job on the line, not the agency.

Maybe if we share more of that risk, clients would be more open, maybe. Or maybe they are just stubborn as hell.

Manuel BordeTBWA\RAAD Creative Director

How do you transform inspiration into a memorable campaign? I think that creativity goes beyond working hours, and I’m not referring to staying late nights in the agency (no thanks!) but being a complete sponge wherever you go, absorbing everything that you see and just living your life. Inspiration can come from literally the stupidest insignificant thing. The best ideas we brought to the table always started with ‘yeah, last night I saw this thing…’ or ‘I read somewhere that…’

Which campaign were you most proud to be part of last year?

I am very proud of the work we did last year. I feel that our presentation at the Dubai Lynx was that of an underdog, where everyone had seen our campaigns but had not realised yet that we were actual contenders for the top three spots. From all the work we did, Nissan’s Camel Power has a special place in our hearts for what it meant – a project that took over two years, turning to science and engineering to solve a marketing problem.

Is effectiveness taken seriously enough? I for one always thought of the MENA Effies as one of the top two regional objectives in a creative year (alongside Dubai Lynx). We have paid a lot of attention to it and will continue to do so. I think that an ‘effectiveness’ recognition rounds up perfectly your work as an agency. Creativity should be effective. We are after all here to help businesses, not just to be creative for the sake of being creative.

How are the changes in the industry affecting the way you work? Well, we feel that those days of a big film shoot, a big photo shoot are slowly going away, becoming rarer and rarer. We are now being asked to solve faster, more cost-efficiently, and to be more personalised. I don’t believe the future of advertising is digital agencies, I believe the future is to stop saying ‘digital’. We are all digital already. It’s been our reality for a while now. There were no TV copywriters or magazine art directors before. So today, when we think about a campaign, we still think of films and visuals. We just call them content and posts.

What makes you get up and go to work every day? I like what I do. And I try to do it the best I can, so I can give my wife and my family the best I can as well. Ideas are no longer limited to the confines of the creative department.

Is the role of the creative director becoming redundant? In an agency (and I emphasise on the agency, I know no other industry) I hear all the time people saying that ideas can come from anyone and anywhere. Creativity is about collaboration, and they are right. Ideas can come from anyone – accounts, planning etc. Now, can they constantly do this every day of every month of every year? Creatives are asked to come up with ideas in two hours, in 30 minutes, or even on the spot. The role of the creative in advertising will always be required, and there will always be someone in this ‘collaboration’ process to take the best of everyone and decide on the idea.

Maybe if we share more of that risk clients would be more open, maybe.”

“

03 — Rankings featureManuel Borde - Creative Director of The Year


60 61


11 — 75 PtsRafael AugustoLeo Burnett

14 — 40 PtsMohammad KamalMemac Ogilvy

12 — 59 PtsLeslie PaulPartnership

15 — 38 PtsOliver RobinsonFP7/DXB

13 — 42 PtsRana NajjarLeo Burnett

Jamie Kennaway Impact BBDO134 Points

Rana Khoury Leo Burnett101 Points

Steve De Lange Impact BBDO 134 Points

Joelle Zagheib TBWA\RAAD85 Points

Ryan Atkinson Impact BBDO132 Points

Zahir Mirza DDB83 Points

Maged Nassar Good People 116 Points

Daniel Correa Impact BBDO81 Points

Logan Allanson Memac Ogilvy 104 Points

Juliana ParacencioMemac Ogilvy78 Points

Top 10 —Creative Directors

O2 O2 O3

O4 O5 O6 O7

O8 O9 1O

Manuel Borde TBWA\RAAD 187 Points

Creative Director of the yearO1

When we work together across our creative collective, great ideas happen.That’s why we’re recognised as the most awarded agencyfor integrated work in the region, with 4 Grand Prix, 17 Gold.

03 — Rankings


62 63


Do account directors deserve credit for creative work?

Would you credit a winning football team without paying due to the players, the coach, and the goalie? Great creative work stems from a sweet mix of teamwork that is built on a planner’s strategy and insight, a creative’s big idea, and an account director’s ability to manage the entire executional process to bring it to life. So in short, definitely.

What does it take to be a great account director?

A great account director must have the ability to wear different hats at once with the many disciplines at hand. As the main carrier of the client’s brand through and through, they need to be able to bring value by developing the right strategic capabilities, becoming a good judge of creative work, and maintaining business continuity and growth.

What are the priorities of your role?

Continuously finding new streams for business development, nurturing the team under them, and ensuring a healthy working relationship by managing expectations on both ends of the spectrum.

Clients are increasingly interacting directly with specialists. Is the role of the account director soon to become obsolete?

You are only obsolete if you fail to add value. I think as an account director your role is constantly evolving. At that level, you would have honed a relatively decent amount of strategic and creative capabilities that make the role ever more important; especially given you are the person that holds the strongest client relationship. This leaves you with the opportunity to always try and find new ways for the business to grow. That in itself, is creative work.

Mike NawfalMemac OgilvyAccount Director

The relationship between agency and client is more strained than ever. How can account directors help alleviate the pressure?

Ensuring that creative work is always built on the twin peaks of creativity and effectiveness. I think if you were able to showcase to the client that the work coming out of your agency will have an effect on business results, you would have managed to open a door that is becoming increasingly hesitant.

How is account management evolving and developing?

As the main client-facing department and with the business strains at hand, account management increasingly has to develop their ability to consult the client. Meaning, the role moves beyond the project management to really one that understands the brand as well as the client, in order to continuously provide strategic input, a hybrid strategy and management role.

What are the main challenges you face?

Firstly, limited budgets means an added layer of challenge to come out with work that is both creatively appealing and results driven. Secondly, catering to the client’s business strains but also delivering on the agency’s objectives and targets. Thirdly, give creatives the opportunity to work on challenging briefs without too much limitation that might hinder their creative outlet.

How would you like to see the discipline develop in the coming years?

Less of a silo-type model and more of a collective type of engagement. Great ideas are all around and the only way to tap into that potential is if we become more collaborative.

You are only obsolete if you fail to add value.”“

03 — Rankings featureMike Nawfal - Account Director of The Year


64 65


Ahmed Fayez FP7/CAI100 Points

Ola Ibrahim TBWA\RAAD85 Points

Top 10 —Account Directors

O2 O3Mike NawfalMemac Ogilvy125 Points

Account Director of The YearO1

03 — Rankings

Jasmina NikolicY&R63 Points

Nada Abi Saleh Leo Burnett59 Points

Pulkit VasishtPartnership59 Points

May Chaker Leo Burnett 42 Points

Haytham Dayeh Leo Burnett57 Points

Fadia Aldandachi Memac Ogilvy 73 Points

Nidhal Zoghlami FP7/TUN53 Points

Jad Haddad JWT47 Points

1O

O4 O5 O6 O6 O7

O8 19

12 — 35 PtsFrances McCabeImpact BBDO

11 — 40 PtsNadia NahhasJWT

13 — 34 PtsBharti JoukaniImpact BBDO

14 — 33 PtsSpiro MalakFP7/DXB

15 — 31 PtsChristopher KiernanImpact BBDO

11 — 40 PtsLuma AloulMemac Ogilvy

B&W_Report-FullPage_Ad-final.indd 1 2/15/18 6:04 PM


66 67


Bechara Mouzannar likes to talk. He’s famous for it. Speaking concisely is not his forte. And today he’s on top form.

“There are days when I feel I work in the financial industry,” he says. “Which is nonsense. I’m working in a creative industry, or at least nobody notified me yet that I wasn’t anymore. The financials should be an intelligent result of an intelligent strategy, but too often we become an industry of competition instead of an industry of communication. Competition for business, for awards, for people.

“We are fighting in an arena. An arena where, as the world changes around us, we do not realise it is changing so much every single day. It’s not only about coping with the world, it’s about pre-empting and trying to invent something new for brands so at least they are forerunners in their approach to people and are not just banking on the things that we already know.”

Chief Creative Officer at Publicis Communications MEA, Mouzannar is one of the industry’s most recognisable faces. A graduate of the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, he is passionate and frequently outspoken.

In many ways it is easier to break down his beliefs into smaller, more manageable soundbites: “We are going back to the model of the single agency”; “No one is cracking the new business model”; “People cannot be taken for a ride by a brand anymore”; “The industry is not innovative enough”; “We don’t have enough amazing future-facing campaigns”.

Central to Mouzannar’s concern is the desire to create a better, more contemporary product. Those ‘future-facing’ campaigns where millennials (“I’m not sure that the communication we are doing is really geared towards these people”) are at the heart of what the industry produces. Less tradition, more social, but in an inspiring way.

Bechara MouzannarPublicis CommunicationsCCO

“I’m not sure that we are really as an industry understanding the importance of switching to a different mode of communication,” he says. “The campaigns at the top, those that win awards, are definitely great efforts, but are they an exception or are they the norm? No, they are an exception. And this is the problem. When the exception is not an exception any more, then we can begin to congratulate ourselves.”

For Mouzannar, the industry is in survival mode, and primarily for two reasons. It is obsessed with clients rather than brands, and is ignoring millennials at its own peril. The latter is broken down into two distinct concerns. Firstly, that the communication being created in the region is not geared towards the increasingly important millennial demographic. And secondly, that the corporate nature of the advertising industry and its focus on profit is alienating young talent.

“The people who can change this industry and make it more relevant to the world are from the millennial generation,” says Mouzannar. “And the millennials are not in power today. The people in power are those from the past who are trying to preserve their power and stay in control, giving us the same approach to the industry that has always been given.

“The best that could happen today – for brands and for agencies – would be to start something more experimental created by this young generation, not by the older generation. To be able to do more coherent, more relevant, and more contemporary work in line with brands that want to have a public. And the public is the new generation, and the new generation doesn’t have much say in agencies.”

One of the biggest problems facing the advertising industry is its inability to attract and retain young talent. Those 20somethings and early 30somethings who believe agencies have become workhouses devoid of humanity, peddling systems heavily rooted in fear.

“When we [are] obsessed by our ideas – innovative ideas – and relevant ways to talk to millennials. When we [are] obsessed by a real policy of sustaining and nurturing talent. Then we will be on the right path. Because right now we are cutting costs when it comes to educating this young generation. Imagine this young generation of millennials entering this industry, working day and night at a very low salary to understand why this industry was so famous, and then when they understand after two or three years they leave. They go somewhere else. And I’m not only talking about traditional agencies, I’m talking about integrated agencies, digital agencies too.

“The corporate world does not appeal to the new generation of millennials anymore. If the corporate world doesn’t nurture them and doesn’t understand them, in a few years there will be no millennials working in the industry. And this is where the bigger danger comes from. This should be a wake up call for the industry. To be able to sustain its own survival it needs the talent that can make this industry relevant. Because it’s an industry of ideas. We cannot live without ideas.”

Is Mouzannar disillusioned?

“No, because I never surrender. I don’t think the news is so bad. There is still time. And where this generation of millennials is heading can be a fantastic adventure.”

There are days when I feel I work in the financial industry.”

“

03 — Rankings featureBechara Mouzannar


68 69


Shahir Zag Y&R91 Points

Kalpesh Patankar Y&R120 Points

John SmeddleLeo Burnett57 Points

Ashwin PednekarPartnership59 Points

Christina SalibiLeo Burnett59 Points

Alok Mohan Impact BBDO86 Points

Shadi Kermasho Leo Burnett57 Points

Rafael Valencia Memac Ogilvy56 Points

Projakta MoreLeo Burnett56 Points

Andreas SchwitterDDB55 Points

Victor HafflingDDB 83 Points

Kapil Bhimekar Y&R 99 Points

Slim Essaidi FP7/TUN53 Points

Wassim Olabi Leo Burnett48 Points

Sambhav KhandelwalY&R 62 Points

Vineet ParrikarY&R 62 Points

Lama Bawadi Leo Burnett51 Points

Bana Salah Impact BBDO44 Points

Sarah Berro Impact BBDO39 Points

Hadi Alaeddin Memac Ogilvy40 Points

Oswaldo Sa TBWA\RAAD40 Points

Top 10 —Copywriters

Top 10 —Art Directors

O2 O2O3

O4

O3

O5 O4O6 O5O5O6 O6O7 O7

O8 O8

Guilherme GrossiTBWA\RAAD156 Points

Gabriel GamaTBWA\RAAD156 Points

Copywriter of The Year Art Director of The YearO1 O1

11 — 36 PtsWaleed BachnakLeo Burnett

11 — 36 PtsKalpesh PatankarY&R

11 — 36 PtsMaram AshourMemac Ogilvy

13 — 30 PtsDaniah Al AoudahJWT

15 — 23 PtsLuiz GuimaraesImpact BBDO

12 — 35 PtsMaian AlkenJWT

12 — 35 PtsMohannad AwamehLeo Burnett

14 — 27 PtsElisa BindaY&R

15 — 26 PtsKapil MayekarDDB

13 — 30 PtsDany NjeimTBWA\RAAD

14 — 27 PtsNaz YuntMemac Ogilvy

03 — Rankings03 — Rankings

O9 O91O 1O 1O


70 71


“Can a creative agency do dynamic creative optimisation?” asks Nadim Samara, chief executive of OMD UAE. We are at the beginning of a long conversation on media and creativity.

Not that OMD classifies itself as a media agency anymore. It is a business performance company. One that prides itself on providing incremental value to its clients.

“The impact of merging message and medium (dynamic message exchanges) with addressable audiences has been massive,” continues Samara. “And I think that’s something that no one can play in. Facebook can’t play in it because they can’t buy on Google and other places: DMS can’t play on it because they can’t play on Facebook and Google; creative agencies have no clue what’s going on. And this is where we are at the nexus. We’re a performance company that performs not only in terms of the actual infrastructure when it comes down to the technology and the medium, but also in terms of the message.”

Dressed in a buttoned-up khaki jacket, Samara talks with eloquence and drive, although you can tell that getting to the point of pride at OMD’s progress has affected him on a human level, despite an aura of calm.

“I think people don’t value the words ‘tough decisions’ as much as we, and I do personally,” he says. “It took me some time to be comfortable to take such decisions, but the past three or four years we’ve had to sit down and discuss things. We’ve had to sit down and tackle things. And we’ve had to sit down and commit to doing what we said we’d do.”

Those decisions have come with their fair share of pain. Pain in terms of restructuring, finding the right skill-sets, and letting people go. “To move forward you need to shed some skin,” admits Samara.

NadIm SamaraOMDChief Executive Officer

“The biggest transformative item we’ve done in the past three years has been to look at the structure, the people and the outcome that OMD will generate,” he says. “And I think that combination – at the 35,000ft view – sounds awesome. It’s a nice sentence. It’s easy to write on a board. It’s terribly hard to implement and to be headstrong and to keep looking at your North Star despite weathering storms.

“I’ll tell you what I learnt in the second quarter of last year, where the stress levels are probably the highest. I was taking many risks in terms of structure and team and talent, but I was also not seeing the economy help me in terms of the momentum. I learnt that I put the highest level of stress on myself. I think we all do that and that’s one of the biggest mistakes that we do as individuals.”

Those stress levels have since been eased thanks to senior management appointments, but the pressure is always on. Pressure that is not helped by client hesitation.

“If I worry about the economy then I’m going to be schizophrenic and end up in some sort of hospital. If I worry about my team deploying, I shouldn’t because we’ve staffed accordingly, we’ve hired accordingly, we’ve promoted accordingly, we’ve placed the right people and I trust my leadership team. What I worry about is hesitational decisions that, if they are put in an aggregated format, create this perfect storm that the company has to navigate.

“When you’re trying to go over rough waters, you need to make sure your crew, your boat, and everybody in between is working very tightly. And the clients are as much on the crew side of the company as we are on theirs.”

It’s easy to be bamboozled by media. Acronyms fly at you from every angle, which doesn’t help lessen the perception that media is inherently unsexy. A perception that helps and favours creative agencies.

“I hear you,” says Samara. “But there are two types of sexy. There’s the on-the-surface sexy, which is the TVC, which is the creative. And there’s the geeky sexy. Two databases in two different media agencies will have a different manifestation, and we’ve shown that we use data in different ways, in a much more authentic way, and a much more advanced and integrated way that you will get results out of it. And we believe that’s sexy.

“Because if you use data just to validate certain things that you know about and just chuck the information out the door and then go with a TVC just for the sake of it, then you’re not being genuine to both the consumer and the brand. But if you use and leverage the information to a point where you find those key nuggets that inform not only your media placement but also your message typology and your message DNA, then I find that extremely sexy.

“Because at the end of the day, not only do you create something that has a result as an end in mind, but also you can visibly see business impact. It’s the type of sexy you see and I genuinely think that moving forward clients are going to find a good looking TVC a bit of a turn off because they don’t know what to do with it. But if they see a phenomenally drawn, integrated, well informed and well measured campaign, both on media and creative, then I think they will find that sexy.”

To move forward you need to shed some skin.”“

03 — Rankings featureNadeem Samara


72 73


The Line-up song FP7/CAI81 Points

Legally BrideLeo Burnett Beirut59 Points

One drop bottle TBWA\RAAD80 Points

Footnote for the Breast Partnership59 Points

Finding HerDDB Dubai55 Points

Making Sense of Sydlexia Impact BBDO Dubai 69 Points

Skip Friday 13th Impact BBDO Dubai54 Points

One Book for PeaceY&R Dubai 63 Points

Hammam Fighter FP7/TUN53 Points

Kol Nokta Btefrek Impact BBDO Dubai51 Points

Top 10 —Campaigns

O2 O3

O4 O5 O6 O6 O7

O8 O9 1O

Be SeenY&R Dubai82 Points

Campaign of The YearO1

11 — 42 Pts#Undress522Leo Burnett Beirut

14 — 37 PtsUncommon TruthsImpact BBDO Dubai

12 — 40 PtsTrumpMemac Ogilvy Amman

15 — 36 PtsPotatoes on MarsMemac Ogilvy Dubai

13 — 38 PtsTummy FishMemac Ogilvy Dubai

03 — Rankings


74 75


How would you describe what you do?

A little bit of everything. Yes, I’m a project manager, but it’s also my responsibility to find partners and solutions that will best bring the creatives’ ideas to life.

My mission is to deeply care about each and every job, and to make sure the right talent is selected without compromising the creative idea or the brand identity. Once the supplier is chosen, I oversee the multiple steps of execution, like making sure that we achieve the best outcome in the smoothest and most cost-effective way possible. At least that’s the headline of what I do.

In practice, from the minute I step into the office, all facets of my brain are firing in parallel. It’s my job to pre-empt problems as much as it is to solve them, ideally before they explode. And throughout the day, I’m using every tool in my belt, so to speak: constantly tapping into my organisational skills, even financial, using emotional intelligence, utilising my artistic, cultural and technical education as well as my years of experience.

Are producers undervalued?

I don’t think so, but I would say that ever so often I work with people who don’t understand the many stages and tasks that a producer fulfils. They oversimplify the process by assuming I just need to forward a brief to a supplier and my job is done. If only that were true. Ah, how simple and straightforward every project would be. But assumptions like these are quite uncommon at my agency, as we have a solid production department, and we’ve proved that producers are project managers.

Is everything about cost?

For sure cost is one of the main factors in every job equation nowadays, but no, it’s not the only one. Thankfully, creatives and clients still crave quality. Yes, it has become more challenging to marry quality with proposed budgets, but I’d rather accept this challenge than settle for mediocrity. No matter how

Rouba AsmarTBWA\RAADHead of Production

often clients request fast, cheap content, they’ll always be impressed by the well-crafted campaigns of other brands.

How hard is it to take a creative idea and turn it into a workable campaign?

The biggest challenge to overcome in any campaign is when expectations are higher than the budget and/or timeline. But it also depends on your perspective. Personally, this particular challenge remains the most exciting part of my job. I absolutely love the bidding process of projects – that period where the roots of execution are being put in place.

What is your biggest headache?

It’s usually the dreaded combination of not having enough time or budget to properly execute a project. It’s the recipe for poor execution. No matter how much time I’ve spent in the industry, it always breaks my heart not to have the tools to meet the necessary standards. You can always produce a quality campaign if you’re short on time but you have budget, or if your budget is minimal but you have time. But if you don’t have either, it’s a recipe for disaster.

A lot of briefs nowadays come with the header ‘fast and cheap’ as timelines too are shrinking at the speed of light. Thankfully, technology has evolved and allowed us to accelerate several stages of the production process. But still there are phases, like craft, that depend on time. Some things should never be compromised.

How about the client relationship?

I always make sure to build trust with clients, especially by listening to their concerns and looking for solutions that fit their brand identity and budgets.

Which campaign brought you the greatest pain but also the greatest joy?

For sure that would be the launch of Louvre Abu Dhabi. I’ve participated in launching several great

brands in the region, but this one is the most special and dear to me. We launched a fully-integrated campaign while working with multiple suppliers from different parts of the world. Everyone on the account, including the clients, were on standby at any given hour and day of the week.

The weight of launching the first museum of its caliber in the region is already a heavy responsibility to carry, but launching the first universal museum in the Arab world is a guarantee that you’re in store for a stressful and overwhelming campaign process.

What are the biggest challenges you’ll face this year?

Keeping pace with market changes. Formats are more flexible than ever and evolving overnight, as are content strategies. We know this trend already, but we don’t know the rate of change, which is the crucial point. And yes, as now, brands will continue to demand that we do more with less. Whatever’s ahead, it won’t be dull.

Some things should never be compromised. Whatever’s ahead, it won’t be dull.”

“

03 — Rankings featureRouba Asmar - Producer of The Year


76 77


Luke Morris Memac Ogilvy116 Points

Shereen Mostafa Leo Burnett80 Points

Rajaa Chami Impact BBDO 108 Points

Maher Kaidbey JWT60 Points

Anju Purushot Impact BBDO59 Points

Heba Radwan FP7/CAI 107 Points

Vitthal Deshmukh Partnership59 Points

Kushi Rawat Y&R 82 Points

Aly Seifelnasr JWT40 Points

Glory Fayed DDB28 Points

Top 10 —Producers

O2 O3

O4 O5 O6 O7

O8 O8 O9 1O

Rouba Asmar TBWA\RAAD 193 Points

Producer of the yearO1FIGHT TO MAKE IT THE BEST.FIGHT YOUR NERVES AND,R E L E A S E T H E F I L M .

P H O N E R I N G S .GET EXCITED.

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT.D U R I N G T H E P R E P ,DURING THE SHOOT,D U R I N G T H E E D I T ,

FOR THE MUSIC,F O R T I M E ,FOR THE FILES.

GET L IKES,GET SHARES,

WIN AWARDS,HAVE A DRINK,GET SOME SLEEP,

WA K E U P .PHONE RINGS.

WE WOULDN’T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY.

CELEBRATING 11 YEARS.

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

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03 — Rankings


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Production companies rarely get the credit they deserve. How do you feel about that?

We’ve learned to live with it. Seeing our work come to life at the highest level is the greatest fuel for our drive. Credit is great for morale and business, but for us all projects are identical, whether it’s a big budget or a small one. Both tasks are treated with equal passion in order to reach our clients’ level of expectation. To answer the question, yes, production companies rarely get credit. But our greatest credit comes from being viewed as the benchmark for what a production house should be.

What makes a great production house?

Co-operation: Having an expert individual in each corner is great, but having team members that complete each other on all fronts is what a winning team sounds like. Efficiency: A key ingredient in a great production house. Having a balance between speed and effort is always a good mix for handling tasks with maximum efficiency and quality. Smoothness: Being a service provider, your clients’ happiness with the end product is essential, however, having a smooth process is the ultimate goal.

For an outsider, the costs of production often seem ludicrously high. How do you justify such costs?

People are not usually aware of what’s behind the ads they see on TV. These TVCs require months of preparation, big crews, a lot of technical equipment, not to mention the shooting locations, art direction and post-production. In addition to that, if you compare it to the whole campaign costs, especially the media airing costs, actually you’re going to find this is where you spend the least. We’re a small piece that completes the whole process yet it’s considered a very effective part.

Smaller outfits that film, edit and direct on equipment

Begad OmranBigfoot ProductionFounder

that is becoming cheaper and cheaper are eating into your business. How are you combatting this?

We’re trying to follow this formula. However, most films require huge budgets and most of the time you won’t find any other way but to spend. Otherwise the creative does not come out the way you want it to. As for what we can control from our side, that has nothing to do with the picture and can help when competing with other production houses. For example, we try our best to break the known formula for shooting any TVC without compromising the ad’s quality. We are trying to find smart production solutions where we can be cost-efficient without affecting the outcome.

There is continual downward pressure on budgets, and brands are producing less content with half the budget. What is your outlook for production in the coming 12 months?

Yes, there is a lot of change but the industry will keep on going. The Middle East is lucky to have the Ramadan season and has a lot of media, which makes it a lot easier for you to keep going, whether at low or high cost. Also, we’re not just working on TVCs. Now we are producing and creating mini-documentaries, music videos and online content.

There is a perception that by simply calling a production ‘content’ the costs are halved. Why? And how do you counter this thinking?

Huge misconception. Everything is content. Big budget, small budget, it’s all content. When we’re working on a piece of content, this doesn’t mean that you compromise your values. Actually the contrary. In order to sustain high viewership online you need to make sure that the content you’re producing is at the highest level, in order to compete with the millions of videos out there.

Is there still a place for the big budget commercial?

There is always a place for big budget commercials, especially in Ramadan or if it’s related to a huge event that is drawing the world’s attention, such as the Fifa World Cup or the Olympics.

The production industry is in flux. What is your strategy for survival?

To produce your own content and make your own brand, like we are currently doing. Slowly but surely, Bigfoot Films is paving its way onto the online scene with several in-house projects lined up in 2018.

When we’re working on a piece of content, this doesn’t mean that you compromise your values.”

“

03 — Rankings featureBegad Omran - Film Production House of The Year


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03 — Rankings

Good People 95 Points

Dejavu 48 Points

Capital D 83 Points

Clandestino Films 42 Points

Magic Beans 42 Points

Stoked 15 Points

RGB 59 Points

Swereve22 Points

Focus Films15 Points

Made in Saudi 20 Points

Top 10 —Film Production Houses

O2

O1

O3 Magnet 67 PointsO4

O5 O6 O7

O7

1O

O8

1O

O9

Bigfoot Films 100 Points

Film ProductionHouse of The Year

M E N A ’ S 2 0 1 7 M O S T A W A R D E D P R O D U C T I O N H O U S E


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Ali Ali39 Points

Nader BakerEssa SheikhRoss Hardiman13 Points

Nalle Sjoblad35 Points

Ahmed Hussein7 Points

Jad Eid6 Points

Jad Aoud 23 Points

Marc Hadife5 Points

Tom Green 22 Points

Mohammed El Zayat3 Points

Mohamed Fathy3 Points

Top 10 —Film Directors

O2 O3

O4 O5 O6 O7

O8 O9 1O 1O

Maged N assar148 Points

Film Director of The YearO1

03 — Rankings

Most people know the Loeries and the high standards we have represented for 40 years. What many don’t know is that

we are a proudly not-for-profit organisation dedicated to rewarding creativity. This includes a Young Creatives Award

with a US$5,000 prize and a Student category – open to anyone across Africa and the Middle East.

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03 — Rankings

IC4Design 55 Points

Goldstein 35 Points

Eardrum 144 Points

tall + short 18 Points

VLQZ Photo 6 Points

Illusion 26 Points

Great Guns26 Points

BKP23 Points

Top 05 —Print and Audio Studios

O2

O1 O1

O2

O3 O3

O4

O5

O4

O5

Caravan Creatives 82 Points

Mango Jam 148 Points

Print Studioof The Year

Audio & RadioStudio of The Year


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Documents

20 - loeries.com Report.pdf · analysing all the data facebook.com/bwreport report 17 in mena s marcom 2 3 black & white report bwreport.org 01 — why we exist 01 — why we exist