MENA Search Awards 2019 Book of the Night by Don't Panic Events

RELIVE THE SEARCH PARTY MADINAT JUMEIRAH RESORT | 19 SEPTEMBER 2019 Welcome to the MENA Search Awards Book of the Night 2019. Inside you will find details of all our finalists plus a showcase of this year’s winning work. Since its launch, the MENA Search Awards has celebrated the very best in SEO, PPC and content marketing across the Middle East and North Africa, and recognised and rewarded the individuals, companies and organisations that are transforming the Search industry. Entry quality was extremely high and our thanks go out to our judging panel who had the unenviable task of shortlisting and choosing this year’s winners. I’d also like to thank our sponsors and supporters for adding their weight and considerable influence on a competition that continues to reflect the talent, expertise and continuing growth of the industry. Our thanks go to our social wall sponsor, Chain Reaction, our media partner, Brazen PR, and our category sponsors: Adzooma, DeepCrawl, Optmyzr, PRCA MENA, and RBBi. We'd also like to thanks our host for the evening, Jon Myers, and our brand ambassador, Dixon Jones. If you were there on the night, you will have celebrated, mixed and mingled with the best in Search – not to mention danced the night away! So, our final thanks and huge congratulations goes to all the winners and everyone who made the shortlist. It’s a real achievement and I hope you enjoyed the evening. Nicky Wake Don’t Panic MD & Creator of Search Awards

THANKS TO OUR 2019 JUDGING PANEL Dawn Anderson | Bertey Jim Banks | Spades Media Dan Barker | eCommerce, Digital Marketing & Analytics Consultant

Mohammad Itani MCN Mediabrands

Mayer Reich | RankAbove Manny Rivas | Aimclear

Charlie Kalech J-Town Internet Services

Anthony Robinson | Pure Optimisation

Bryan Corbett The Walt Disney Company

Mark Knowles | Pixelsilk

Mansour Salameh | Facebook

Judith Lewis | DeCabbit Consulting

Gilad Sasson | nekuda

Laura Crimmons | Silverthorn

Edgar Liñayo | Bacardi

Yasser El Sarw | Nissan

Jason Meininger | StepStone UK

Neil Walker Digital Marketing & SEO Consultant

Leanne Foy | Markettiers

Jubran Moe | Gulf Related

Kevin Gibbons | Re:signal

Luis Navarrete Gomez | LEGO Group

Bastian Grimm | Peak Ace

Zbigniew Nowicki | Bluerank

Murat Yatağan Brainly Global Savings Group

Neil Hardy | Shearings Leisure Group

Akvile Pareigyte | VOLT LAB

Peter Young | Wavemaker

Chris Hurst | Thomson Reuters MENA

Tarek Reda | bfound.io

Lukasz Zelezny | SEO Consultant

Nick Wilsdon | Vodafone Colin Woon | CV-Library

BEST USE OF SEARCH RETAIL FINALISTS Artefact MENA & Virgin Mega Store Bruce Clay MENA & Sharaf DG Chain Reaction & Sporter ForwardPMX & Home Centre iProspect Merkle & Pets Delights Mindshare MENA & Yum! MENA RBBi & Mall of the Emirates The Magna & AJVA Partnership

The judges commented on and impressive implementa and the continued value Bruc

WINNER: Bruce Clay MENA & Sharaf DG

n the great effort, strategy ation within this submission ce Clay provide to their client.

SUMMARY This entry is important as most entries will focus around the use of paid search methods to win in the search space. We have focused on organic search to win in competitive spaces for Sharaf DG. We are acquiring new customers via organic means that allows paid efforts to be tailored far better. Winning this award is important as it shows the impact that a great SEO strategy and resulting execution can have on a partnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s results. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to throw huge money behind paid search in order to achieve huge results, and this campaign proved that. It also shows that in a time when everyone is asking for more money for search, we are accomplishing big things within much smaller retainer fees!

BEST USE OF SEARCH FINANCE FINALISTS Carat Saudi Arabia & Al Rajhi iProspect Reprise Digital & RAKBANK

Reprise took on educating broad something that transformed the fu SEO campaign which dealt w

WINNER: Reprise Digital & RAKBANK

der stakeholders and have done ull business. This was an excellent with a lot of different areas.

SUMMARY How to elevate SEO from a support expertise to a main business driver that can increase results by 54% and generate additional Paid Media cost avoidance of $ 820.000 over 12 months, all in an extremely competitive category such as finance? Reprise MENA focus on the power of Digital Transformation for our clients and a core pillar to bring this to reality, is not limiting it to the impact of Paid only, exploring Search in all the vast opportunity it represents. To be awarded at the MENA Search Awards, being one of the most relevant initiatives in MENA, is the realization of the vision and values that guide our operating principles and push the Industry to a higher focus on business relevance to brands.

BEST USE OF SEARCH TRAVEL / LEISURE FINALISTS Artefact MENA & DTCM Artefact MENA & The Roxy Cinemas Chain Reaction & Umrah Me Initiative MENA iProspect & Accor Hotels Merkle MENA & Tajawal Nexa & H-Mark Hotels OMD & Jumeirah

Multi-national campaigns are n in this submission were incredib impressive results achieved - a s

WINNER: Artefact MENA & The Roxy Cinemas

not easy and the results shown bly positive. Clear objectives and stand out winner in this category!

SUMMARY Roxy Cinemas entered Cinema Entertainment two years ago. The marketplace is dominated by three major players - Novo, Reel and Vox. The competition all have locations in Malls that have large existing footfall while Roxy location's are not. The competition also has strong promotional tie ups with banks and telco's. At the outset we already have a disadvantage on place and promotion, 2 of the 4 Ps! We took up this challenge by deployed a strategy around two main focus areas: â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Making the movies the star of our campaigns and not focus on price led promotion; â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Switching our targeting to hyperlocal reach rather than the whole city reaching consumers that lived near our locations. What this strategy did in that month was to drive the highest lifetime revenue achieved up until then through online sales. We sold 14k tickets through our activities, earning a revenue of over one million and this was against a monthly average of 661K based on previous performance. In other words, 57% increase in monthly revenue with a smaller budget!

BEST USE OF SEARCH THIRD SECTOR FINALISTS Chain Reaction SEO Sherpa & Informa Middle East

This submission excelled in this cate into this campaign in a short amoun and were able to achieve str

WINNER: SEO Sherpa & Informa Middle East

egory. SEO Sherpa put a lot of work nt of time, all on a reasonable budget rong results for their client.

SUMMARY SEO Sherpa is the organic SEO service that helps fast-growth companies and world-leading brands win more customers by getting them found first in Google search. While we have a small office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, our entire team is free to work remotely from wherever they choose. Our team consists of 44 full-time search engine specialists spread across 4 continents and 8 countries. We are a dedicated search only agency, that lives and breathes SEO. It is hugely rewarding to see our work (and the contribution we make to the SEO community) recognised by the MENA Search Awards judges.

BEST USE OF SEARCH HEALTH FINALISTS Artefact MENA & Daman Insurance BOOPIN & CosmeSurge Clinics Chain Reaction Merkle MENA & Montreal International Clinic Mindshare MENA & Oman Insurance Company & BUPA Global Nexa & Invisalign WONE DMCC & Okadoc

This was a mindful and solid c was well executed with a great winner in th

WINNER: Nexa & Invisalign

campaign and the submission amount of detail. A very worthy is category!

SUMMARY Nexa prides itself in standing out from the crowd, and since being established in 2005, has been at the forefront of the latest marketing techniques and trends. As a fully independent digital agency, we continuously challenge traditional ‘marketing norms’ by offering digital marketing and technology to our clients that helps them to achieve improved business results and performance. Our core success comes down to a willingness to have transparent ‘return on investment’ conversations with every client based on a clear, customised strategic approach for every business we work with. We don’t just look at marketing in isolation as we strongly believe that performance is impacted by customer service and the overall sales experience. Our strategies often include the optimisation and digitalisation of these services in order to provide greater results for our clients. This approach requires a high level of trust from our clients and winning awards such as these will help demonstrate that our belief in this approach works, enabling us to build trust based on proven results.

BEST USE OF SEARCH FMCG FINALISTS Chain Reaction & KFC Mindshare MENA & Yum! MENA

The judges commented that this submission which displayed goo quantified objectives

WINNER: Chain Reaction & KFC

s was a well written and creative od support and context, defining s and budget details.

SUMMARY The Middle East’s fast food sector is both chaotic and competitive, with many big players vying for supremacy. In Jan-2018, Americana KFC approached Chain Reaction with the objective of strengthening its market-position and expanding its reach across its nine core markets. As KFC had a very limited SEO strategy, Chain Reaction used its expertise to highlight missed opportunities and to implement a robust search optimisation plan that would maximise the client’s revenue and market share. To achieve this, Chain Reaction had to overcome several challenges. For example, design and UX were restricted by KFC’s rigid global branding guidelines, as well as the requirement to match and translate best practice guidelines for eCommerce websites among Americana KFC IT teams. Despite the scale of the task, Chain Reaction’s data-driven approach has succeeded in surpassing all agreed targets and ranking highest on search result pages for KFC keywords in all markets seven core markets! As a result, Americana KCF has seen organic sales revenue increase by 104%.

BEST USE OF SEARCH REAL ESTATE & PROPERTY FINALISTS Artefact MENA & Damac Bruce Clay MENA & The First Group iProspect & Dar Al Arkan Jellyfish & EMAAR Magna Global & Dubai Properties

The judges felt this was Magna Global displayed cl audience, strategy and ach

WINNER: Magna Global & Dubai Properties

s a very worthy winner. lear objectives, a targeted hieved impressive results.

SUMMARY Our entry is testament to the fact “nothing is impossible”. Last year, we proved that through innovation and effective use of technology, we can gain significant advantage in an incredibly competitive market. We did this by automating a large search account using “custom conditional automation scripts” to deliver “high quality” leads. At Magna – good is not good enough. We were privileged to win the MENA Search Award last year and this year too, we have an amazing case study. Not only did we get better at optimizing our media to channels using “telesales feedback” on lead quality; we have partnered with Bluekai – Oracle’s Data Management Platform solution and SA360 – Google’s data driven attribution offering to effectively use a once dormant set of “offline” CRM data to further improved business results. This required a solid audience-based strategy and expertise to use the technology offering effectively.

BEST LOW BUDGET CAMPAIGN FINALISTS BOOPIN & iCare Clinic Chain Reaction & Boncafe Cghain Reaction & Ramadan Cancer Fundraising Campaign ForwardPMX & Home Centre Mindshare MENA & Yum! MENA Nexa & Savoy Hotel Apartments Reprise Digital & RAKBANK SEO Sherpa & Kozma and Kozma

The judges commented that this w results. It was clear that Chain React which the judges were very impre

WINNER: Chain Reaction & Boncafe

was a strong entry with excellent tion overcome numerous challenges essed by. A very deserving winner!

SUMMARY The coffee marketplace is a very crowded space! It is very hard to get yourself heard. Boncafé was established in Singapore in 1962 and founded Boncafé Middle East in 2003 evolving into becoming a leading manufacturer and supplier of fresh roast and ground gourmet coffee. From frappes to espresso, we all love coffee, one cannot help but notice the recent wave of growth in the opening of coffee house businesses in the region in every street and every corner, we are all officially possessed! Throughout this campaign Chain Reaction have helped Boncafe differentiate themselves and target people and/or entrepreneurs who are looking for professional coffee solutions, baristas trainings, with an increase of 100% in organic traffic, Boncafe’s business has been positively impacted because of Chain Reaction’s work which resulted in competing the international brands such as Nespresso in a very short duration of 6 months.

BEST LOCAL CAMPAIGN FINALISTS Artefact MENA & The Roxy Cinemas BOOPIN & GEMS Education BOOPIN & Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Makhtoum Global Initiatives Chain Reaction & Boncafe Chain Reaction & LG Saudi Campaign ForwardPMX & Home Centre Magna Global Merkle & Golden Age Institute SEO Sherpa & Kozma and Kozma

The judges commented on the gre in this submission. Magna Global i perfectly, making them the c

WINNER: Magna Global

eat effort and strategy displayed implemented their campaign plan clear winner in this category.

SUMMARY This entry showcases Magnaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to deliver business results across multiple industry verticles. Magna secured the Abu Dhabi University account in Q4 2018 with a business objective to deliver enrollments across their Abu Dhabi campus but more importantly their campus in Dubai and new campus in Al â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Ain Each campus provides different courses from bachelors degrees to Masters which meant it was incredibly important to ensure the courses promoted were tailored for the campus. This meant, our search strategy had to be localised for each of the three campuses to deliver ROI by maximizing relevancy towards new prospects. Meeting our clients business needs is our top priority. We were previliged to win the MENA Search Awards through Dubai Properties last year and we are now credited as the fastest growing growing agency in the region. We are constantly striving to broaden our recognition to new verticals and winning with Abu Dhabi University will deliver on our ambition on constantly delivering excellence.

BEST USE OF PR IN A SEARCH CAMPAIGN FINALISTS SEMrush SEO Sherpa & Toni Malt Academy

The judges felt this was an excitin written and really came to life wit impressed with the great work on th

WINNER: SEMrush

ng submission which was very well th the implementation. They were he matching of results to objectives.

SUMMARY SEMrush has a global mission to make good marketers great and free them from routine tasks. With its mission in mind, SEMrush enhanced its "Keyword Magic Tool" database in early 2019 covering MENA markets including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. A PR campaign was deployed combining a current affairs topic with a press release to highlight our tool’s search data capability. For UAE/Saudi Arabia the focus was on the analysis of keywords and Twitter sentiment on women being officially permitted to drive cars in KSA for the first time. As for Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia markets our PR campaign revolved around keywords to identify the most searched FMCG products online and identify which search items were the fastest growing. Winning means drawing the region’s attention to the importance of designing PR campaigns that are as relevant to the market as to the brand. With “Keyword Magic tool” emerging markets are empowered when it comes to online insights, accuracy and freshness of search data.

BEST MOBILE CAMPAIGN FINALISTS Chain Reaction & Lamsa Jellyfish & The Modist

SMART objectives, clear th and brave, bold decisions w entry clearly meeting an

WINNER: Chain Reaction & Lamsa

hinking outside of the box which paid off. An excellent nd exceeding targets set!

SUMMARY “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Albert Einstein Despite being a huge account, the Lamsa Arabic Edutainment app (targeting ArabicSpeaking children) account has become a bit of a hot potato – for five years different agencies have tried to increase subscriptions and tackle the desired revenue targets of Lamsa, yet all have failed. In this campaign, Chain Reaction took a fresh approach, tried something completely different and achieved positive results, albeit having almost fallen into the same trap and comfort zone Lamsa was used to with the previous agencies, no band -aid solution was bound to work this time round. The path that Chain Reaction has chosen for themselves and their client has yielded 980% ROAS, a little under $1 million in app revenue over the course of this campaign.

BEST ARABIC PPC CAMPAIGN FINALISTS Carat Saudi Arabia & Al Rajhi Initiative & MOBILY

The judges commented this was a thought-out campaign and some

WINNER: Initiative & Mobily

an excellent entry with a really well fantastic results. A clear winner!

SUMMARY With a change in team (both client and agency) and a maturity in the targets for Mobily. This award would be a fantastic achievement, not only as a recognition that performance is improving year on year, but also that despite the turbulence we all have experienced, both parties have worked together well in order to drive true collaboration. This is something we all feel very excited about and have even larger plans throughout the remainder of the year and beyond to position Mobily not only as the leader Telco in the region, but also first-in-class when it comes to digital.

BEST PPC CAMPAIGN FINALISTS Artefact MENA & Damac Chain Reaction & Jamalon ForwardPMX & Home Centre Initiative & Mobily Initiative iProspect Jellyfish & EMAAR Jellyfish & The Modist Mindshare MENA & Oman Insurance Company & BUPA Global Mindshare & Yum! MENA

A fantastic entry that clearly outline targets and a defined, targeted au and creativity were cutting edge

WINNER: iProspect

ed objectives, ambitious quantified udience strategy. Implementation e on a large scale for the region.

SUMMARY YOOX is an Italian fashion eTailer that serves more than 100 countries globally. Previously voted one of Time Magazines â&#x20AC;&#x153;50 Coolest Websitesâ&#x20AC;? for the Lifestyle & Culture category, YOOX are Global experts in the packaging, promotion and profit of high fashion brands and labels online. However, the Middle East remained an elusive business region and a tough nut to crack from the Milan based headquarters. All business indicators pointed towards success, but a lack of internal resources and linguistic capabilities found driving ROI a real difficulty. It was concluded that localisation was critical to tapping in to the true market value of the Middle East. In order to maximise this rich hunting ground YOOX put a crack team together and set-up office in downtown Dubai. Not only that, YOOX also linked up with iProspect as their trusted paid search partner to bag the e-commerce results they desired through the activation of some tasty and technically advanced tactics. Mobilising an inventory list of approximately 1 million products from over 5,000 designers is no mean feat. Combine this with aggressive growth targets and we have a proper challenge!

BEST ARABIC SEO CAMPAIGN FINALISTS THE JUDGES DID NOT RELEASE A SHORTLIST FOR THIS CATEGORY

This was a great campaign whic detailed objectives and matchin

WINNER: Chain Reaction & Samsung Levant

h was executed perfectly, listing ng them to the results achieved.

SUMMARY When global giants like Samsung make impossible demands, you do everything you can to make the impossible possible. Samsung wanted to target >3,000 competitive keywords and, out of 3,102 keywords targeted, Chain Reaction ranked the brand on fewer than 50%. To address this, Chain Reaction’s team attended Samsung’s internal Annual Planning Meeting, where all Samsung’s agencies gather as passive attendees. Rather than staying silent, Chain Reaction’s team took the floor and asked everyone to think of the best SEO solutions they had ever seen. This bold tactic was sufficient to give Chain Reaction the green light to implement its approach, which involved a major migration strategy (4,000 URL redirects); more than 7000 unique titles, descriptions and H1 implemented on competitive keywords; a XML sitemap, and the creation of a website with Arabicspecific content. Chain Reaction goes where most agencies fear to tread; and this is why it is outperforming KPIs and why Samsung’s revenues have increased across the Levant.

BEST SEO CAMPAIGN FINALISTS Bruce Clay MENA & Sharaf DG Bruce Clay MENA & The First Group Chain Reaction & KFC Chain Reaction & The Luxury Closet iProspect & Chevrolet OMD & Nivea RBBi & Mall of the Emirates Reprise Digital & RAKBANK SEO Sherpa & Informa Middle East

Really great, solid work from S renovated an entire site whic and they achieved ver

WINNER: SEO Sherpa & Informa Middle East

SEO Sherpa. They completely ch is a huge amount of work ry impressive results.

BEST USE OF CONTENT MARKETING IN ARABIC FINALISTS THE JUDGES DID NOT RELEASE A SHORTLIST FOR THIS CATEGORY

The judges commented th and well thought-out camp objectives and displa

WINNER: iProspect & Accor Hotels

hat this was an excellent paign which listed detailed ayed impressive ROI.

SUMMARY With Accor Hotels going through a typically tricky rebrand attempt with a new logo, loyalty scheme and face lift of the brand, iProspect were tasked globally with executing a campaign called “bring your top 10” which gave people the chance to enter a competition where they can bring 10 friends to a destination of their choice. Here in the Middle East our task was to use this competition as a vehicle to propel Accor Hotels in both traffic numbers and awareness, teeing the brand up nicely ahead of their scheduled rebrand. Through a successful integration of blogger outreach, content marketing, influencer collaboration and a data driven Facebook quiz we managed to generate a huge buzz in the Middle East about ‘Accor’. This enabled us to boost traffic, backlinks and social signals and made sure a vast number of applicants put themselves into the pot for the grand prize.

BEST USE OF CONTENT MARKETING FINALISTS iProspect & Accor Hotels iProspect & Atlantis The Palm SEO Sherpa & Toni Malt Academy

The judges commented that this with a strong focus on content. SE aspects and achieve

WINNER: SEO Sherpa & Toni Malt Academy

s was a very creative submission EO Sherpa overcome challenging ed amazing results.

BEST INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN FINALISTS BOOPIN & Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum BOOPIN & Nissan BOOPIN & GEMS Education Crowd & Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAK TDA) iProspect Mindshare MENA & Yum! MENA Nexa & Arbor School Wisoft Solutions with Haus & Haus DubaI

This was a great subm an outstanding level of det were very impressed wi

WINNER: Nexa & Arbor School

mission which displayed tail throughout. The judges ith the results achieved.

MOST INNOVATIVE CAMPAIGN FINALISTS Artefact MENA & Ooredoo BOOPIN & Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Makhtoum Global Initiatives Chain Reaction & Jamalon iProspect RBBI & Mall of the Emirates

The judges had not seen this done They found the connection of the o very exciting and felt this was

WINNER: Artefact & Ooredoo

e before and were very impressed. online campaign to physical actions a clear winner in the category.

SUMMARY In this case study we detailed how Ooredoo became the 1st Telco Operator in the Middle East and North Africa and only one of three globally to launch a brand new Product for Android phone users called Mobile Data Plan (MDP) and how this undertaking solved a fundamental media measurement and attribution problem. MDP enables consumers to bypass the traditional mobile data top-up purchase pathway and via their Android settings with the help of Google assistant to top up their data plan. We covered in detail how this was made possible and in turn how it tied into the campaigns we run. The outcome of this was that consumers can now check their data/balance or recharge directly from the Android settings without having to visit the actual store leading to lower churn and higher re-activation rates.

BEST SOFTWARE INNOVATION FINALISTS Adalysis Adzooma crawlOPTIMIZER.com DeepCrawl ForwardPMX OnCrawl

The judges loved the innovation in of technology and automation to h efficiently and deliver better per

WINNER: DeepCrawl

nvolved here, with interesting use help account managers work more rformance. A stand-out winner!

SUMMARY DeepCrawl is the worlds most comprehensive, cloud based crawler making websites visible one crawl at a time! We help search marketers identify the problem areas on their website which are impacting customer journeys and conversion rates. Think of DeepCrawl as a tool that provides you with a blueprint of your website including the site structure, internal and external linking, various aspects about your content and more. We can show you exactly how Google and the other search engines see your site and how these aspects are impacting your organic search rankings. DeepCrawl serves 54% of the Fortune 500 and all 6 major group agencies representing over 1500 clients in over 60 countries around the world. So whether youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking to crawl a few thousands URLs or a few million, DeepCrawl has the capabilities of being configured to suit clients of any size. We are thrilled to be part of such an innovative community comprised of brilliant and likeminded individuals constantly pushing the boundaries of whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible on the web.

BEST PPC MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE SUITE FINALISTS Adalysis Adzooma Kenshoo Search

Impressive multi-channel integ A full features suite which goes bey

WINNER: Kenshoo Search

gration, usability and technical. yond Google. A very worthy winner!

SUMMARY Consumers today are searching for products in more ways than ever before, well beyond the keyword to include visuals and voice – and across multiple channels and devices. New innovations that incorporate AI to drive efficiency at scale and that borrow learnings and formats from social help marketers reach audiences throughout the path to purchase – all the way up to that final click. Kenshoo is at the forefront of these changes in the industry, making it easy for brands and agencies to stay on top of the latest ad formats and experiment with new and emerging media. It is the only technology to equip marketers with a self-serve application to execute digital advertising campaigns across all of the world’s leading Search publishers – including, Google, Microsoft, Pinterest, Amazon, Yahoo, Yandex, Yahoo Japan and Baidu and Apple Search Ads. Kenshoo continues to make significant enhancements to the already renowned Kenshoo Search solution and we are thrilled to have our continued investment in driving innovation across the Search Industry recognized in these awards.

BEST SEO SOFTWARE SUITE FINALISTS crawlOPTIMIZER.com OnCrawl SEMrush

OnCrawlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s third party integ and the judges loved that technical SEO suite. A v

WINNER: OnCrawl

gration is very impressive t this is a fully integrated very deserving winner!

SUMMARY OnCrawl is a technical SEO platform for enterprise SEO audits and daily monitoring. The solution helps eCommerce websites, SEO agencies, and online publishers to improve their organic traffic, rankings, and revenues by opening Googleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s black box. Driven by a strong tech spirit, OnCrawl gives search marketers easy access to the data they need by providing actionable dashboards and reports to support the entire search engine optimization process. OnCrawl DataÂł is the only solution to expand the crawl analysis with seamless connections to additional datasets. It helps analyze the SEO strategy based on data on backlinks, SEO traffic, rankings, and custom datasets from a CRM. Winning an award is a thrilling prospect that recognizes the hard work and expertise of our amazing employees and partners who continue to work hard to push the limits of innovation. It will also shine a spotlight on the potential for website owners to gain even deeper insights into website performance and enable them to make better business decisions.

BEST SEARCH SOFTWARE TOOL FINALISTS DeepCrawl ForwardPMX OnCrawl

The judges loved this innova retailers and commented tha a gap in the industry

WINNER: ForwardPMX

ative tool to check pricing on at ForwardPMX have covered y. Outstanding work!

SUMMARY ForwardPMX is a global brand performance agency designed to help brands find the changes that deliver meaningful growth to their businesses. With more than 20 offices worldwide, and 700 of the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most distinguished talent, ForwardPMX brings a unified global vision, with local depth and expertise across a comprehensive set of data, technology and performance solutions that reach people all over the world. By pairing people with dataled process and powerful technology capabilities, ForwardPMX is uniquely positioned to deliver scale and accelerate problem solving. ForwardPMX is a proud member of The Stagwell Group.

BEST INTEGRATED AGENCY FINALISTS Artefact MENA Chain Reaction ForwardPMX Jellyfish Nexa

An Impressive entry with and challenges highlighted The judges were very impres

WINNER: Artefact MENA

h SMART objectives listed d with solutions explained. ssed with this worthy winner!

SUMMARY Artefact is a hybrid digital agency and consultancy celebrating the long overdue marriage of marketers and engineers. Our ambition is to accelerate growth for brands through creation, marketing & media activation, consulting and technology all underpinned by a deep understanding of data. It is our belief that there has been a â&#x20AC;&#x153;tacticificationâ&#x20AC;? of marketing over the last 10 years and this has come at the expense of strategy. Our consultative approach starting with diagnosis followed by strategy before activation/tactics begins blends the best of consultancy and digital media activation and we feel represents the agency model of the future.

BEST SMALL PPC AGENCY FINALISTS BoostRoas Merkle MENA

BoosRoas continue to prosper, th their AI and the technology shows in the region that is rarely found

WINNER: BoostRoas

hey display good innovation with s that they have a unique offering outside of the network agencies.

SUMMARY BoostRoas is comprised of a talented group of digital marketing professionals who are passionate about boosting return on ad spending, and increasing conversions with optimized PPC ad campaigns, targeted marketing techniques, and SEO projects. In March 2017, co-founders Şahin Seçil and Dilek Akgül sowed the seeds of BoostRoas at a co-working space in Istanbul. Orkun joined the team a month later, bringing a wealth of expertise to PPC operations. However, the team’s rapid growth didn’t stop there. Shortly after, new members were added to improve SEM, Data and Analytics, SEO and Client Success departments. Now we have 15 teammates and four different departments.

BEST LARGE PPC AGENCY FINALISTS ForwardPMX Jellyfish

A great entry that addresses the cha specifically. The judges commented training and engaging/contributing

WINNER: Jellyfish

allenges within the MENA operation d on the great work on certification, to the digital industry in the region.

SUMMARY Jellyfish is your digital partner. We support and drive digital transformation by providing the right strategy, technology and training. Jellyfish have certainly arrived in the MENA region with force. Some of the things we’re proud to have achieved as a large PPC agency in the last 12 months include: • Building a sizable senior team; • Winning big name clients; • Acquiring an award winning agency in Latitude; • Demonstrating award winning results; • Driving innovation through new tools, beta and technologies. We’ve enjoyed watching the MENA digital community and environment grow further this year, and we’re looking forward to being a part of its exciting future. An award like this recognises the passion that we feel for the region as a whole.

BEST SMALL SEO AGENCY FINALISTS (COMBINED SHORTLIST FOR BEST SEO AGENCY) Bruce Clay MENA Chain Reaction RBBi SEO Sherpa

RBBi are a small agency w They continue to push to ed large clients remain with the

WINNER: RBBi

with big and unique ideas. ducate the market and their em and continue to grow YoY.

SUMMARY Since inception, we always imagined RBBi to be a very different kind of an agency. An agency that truly puts end-users needs first. An agency that truly looks at the bigger picture in every project undertaken â&#x20AC;&#x201C; always asking, how does the entire digital experience benefit the end user? Are we helping them reach their end goal in the most optimal and painless manner? We strive to partner with our clients to really understand their challenges and objectives. In turn when we partner with them meaning our team really feel like our partnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success is also ours. We feel all our work over the past seven years approaching our partners holistically has led to winning this award. The win validates our vision, investment and drive as an agency.

BEST LARGE SEO AGENCY FINALISTS (COMBINED SHORTLIST FOR BEST SEO AGENCY) Bruce Clay MENA Chain Reaction RBBi SEO Sherpa

Chain Reaction are an inspiring agen staff and customer retention. Their m agency, it's to improve the craft of dig

WINNER: Chain Reaction

ncy doing excellent work with strong mission is not to be the top grossing gital marketing - which they achieve!

SUMMARY Chain Reaction, is the region’s 1st Google Adwords partner in the Middle East region back in 2010 and the first Provider of SEO services in the region. We are also one of the very few local agencies who was started by people from the Middle East region and not expats from Europe or Asia. Our data-driven approach to everything we do has helped us in tapping new levels of cooperation between us and our clients and helped in maintaining many clients for years. During the last year, SEO services became the biggest revenue driver at Chain Reaction. At the same time, our clients coming from SEO has grown to 42 clients from 25 last year. This all led us to grow our SEO team to 27 resources from only 14 last year, which is a huge increase in a span of 1 year. Winning this award means a lot to our team, our clients and the industry since we have helped in shaping the industry since the beginning of 2010. In a nutshell, we’re proud of what we’ve achieved and excited for the future, and we want to share out excitement with everyone in our industry.

YOUNG SEARCH PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR FINALISTS THE JUDGES DID NOT RELEASE A SHORTLIST FOR THIS CATEGORY

Roman demonstrates excellent has great potential in the industry. and the judges are excited to se

WINNER: Roman Adamita

t professional development and . Roman is clearly very passionate ee what his future has in store.

SUMMARY I am the SEO manager at BoostRoas - a bunch of talented people passionate about boosting ROAS, increasing conversions with optimized PPC advert campaigns, targeted marketing techniques, and SEO strategies. I love writing, sharing my ideas, and inspiring people that is why my blog Picardes takes a prominent part in my life. I have been creating SEO-based digital marketing content for over six years now. I consider it my way of sharing my life stories and professional experiences with local and global brands of how colorful this world looks like through my eyes. Creating content, hosting SEO webinars and creatively contributing to BoostRoas blog is not only my job but also my passion. At the same time I am contributing to Natro one of the biggest Hosting Magazines in Turkey and participating in several SEO projects. My dream, since the age of 16, is to give speeches and share my personal experiences and SEO evolution in Turkey and around globe. I will do whatever it takes for my dream to come true!

MENA SEARCH PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR

James brings great value to the sear to share his knowledge and help gro several successful businesses and i

WINNER: James Reynolds

rch community and is always willing ow the industry. He has established is fully deserving of this recognition!

SUMMARY James Reynolds is the Founder and Head Sherpa of SEO Sherpa, part of the company Veravo. James started his career as the first full-time employee of a small start-up photography business. Over the next 10 years he spearheaded the growth of that business from a five-figure, three person outfit into a multimillion dollar earning company, with over 50 staff. James is close to matching that feat with Veravo in a little over five years. James has spoken at conferences in Australia, the United Kingdom, Bahrain and the UAE to name a few and has appeared alongside notable speakers such as Michael Gerber, Larry Winget, Chris Brogan and Scott Stratten in the successful Guinness World Record attempt for the longest-ever online seminar. In 2014 James was named Chairman of The Search Exchange, the Middle Eastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first and only search engine marketing conference, and in 2017 he was selected on the judging panel of the inaugural MENA Search Awards.