Communicate Levant December/January Issue by MediaquestCorp.

Levant Edition • The marketing and advertising resource • Dec 2012/Jan 2013 • Issue N°31 • communicatelevant.com.lb

Two is a charm: Homegrown Interesting Times on winning the Gemas Efﬁe award again Page 32

Call for calm: VivaKi MENA’s chairman Alex Saber says TV and digital work together Page 34

Just freeze: The story of how UM and Lancôme brought the city to a Page 38 beautiful halt

AWARDS Baffling wins Communicate Levant was in the front row at the Gemas Efﬁe Mena Awards so it could report back on who won what, who said what, and who got the most unexpected results, for this was a (Page 28) night full of surprises.

SPECIAL REPORT Top notch ads

The task of ﬁnding which campaigns were the most awarded of 2012 certainly proved a headache, but we are proud to ﬁnally announce which, among the 160-odd ads that got recognition at the region’s various award shows, made our ranking. (Page 22)

OPINION Bitter pills

We asked the industry about the worst lie they’ve been told. It turned out that industry people can be creative in more than just their job, between disillusioned statements, stolen work and inﬂated egos. By the way, it looks like Santa Claus is here to stay. (Page 14)

CAMPAIGN Masked wonders

(Page 40)

AGENCY MAP 2012 INSIDE Cover image: Corbis

MediaquestCorp MediaquestCorp Egypt................... E£ 10 Jordan ................... JD 4 Kuwait ................ KD 1.2

00-CLV 31-Cover final.indd 1

Lebanon ........L£ 5 000 Morocco ............DH 22 Oman ............... OR 1.5

Qatar ................... QR 15 Saudi Arabia ........ SR 15 Switzerland .......... SFR 8

Syria .................. S£ 100 Tunisia ................ TD 2.5 U.A.E ...................DH 15

12/17/12 1:51 PM

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR | DEC 2012/JAN 2013

Pandora’s box M

agazines are like children in more ways than one. That’s no new notion of mine, but the similarities amaze me whenever they prove true: the sleepless nights, the more or less friendly classmates, the constant scrutiny, the end-ofyear reviews… At one point or another you have to wonder, in a perfect state of aggravation, what on earth you’ve done in a past life to end up with them. Thankfully, the feeling passes, but still. . . Take my eldest daughter. She’s 12. She’s great. I love her. But she gets on my nerves like no one else could. For example, she’s terrified of spiders, but when she heard about the strangely named, local camel spider, she had to – absolutely had to – go and check it out online. There, of course, she stumbled upon horrible images of this mutant-like, crablooking, enormous bug. And then she had a bad dream. As any mother knows, children’s nightmares translate into a whole new series of nightmares for parents. Why, oh why, did she have to look? Maybe because she’s just like me; I would have done exactly the same thing at her age. Then, take my youngest daughter. She’s nine, at the top of her game study-wise, a bright, serious student

who couldn’t wait to get her end-of-quarter school review. When the results came out and showed that she was not top of the class, she almost blew a fuse. She had brilliant grades, but was utterly disappointed because she had anticipated a different result. Does this ring a bell? I anticipate another wave of bitter disappointment once this issue of Communicate Levant is out, with its Most Awarded Campaign, Creative Agency and Media Agency of the Year rankings. And I’m not even mentioning our Power List, which will be out just a few weeks later. Right now, I’m there, in that perfect state of aggravation, where I have to wonder what on earth I’ve done in a past life, because we all know what’s coming next: everybody is expecting them, everybody will check them out, everybody will do the counting over and over again and, at some point, there will be disappointment, there will be resentment and accusations will start flying – more often than not in complete disregard for a very simple scientific truth: there can be only one, as a famous Highlander said. Of course, we’d love to have only winners, give everybody the best grades and

play Pollyanna, but it doesn’t work that way, at least not in our world. Similarly, the 50 most powerful players in the communication industry can not fit in the top three, just do the math. I’m teasing, but there’s still some truth in all of this. I tell my eldest daughter that, sometimes, if you’re not able to stomach the reality, it’s best not to look; I also tell her that facing what you dread is as good a place to start fighting as any. I tell my youngest daughter that, yes, someone has to win and, yes, sometimes that person isn’t you; but I also tell her that not winning doesn’t always mean you’re losing, and can be as good a place to start improving yourself as any. In both cases, you just have to understand why you do what you do. It’s always the same old tune, isn’t it? Don’t worry, though, we’re perfectly aware of the fact that it works for us too, and that we’ll have to remember it when you nail us to the wall with detailed accounts of how we got it all wrong. Magazines are like children in more ways than one, indeed.

Nathalie Bontems, editor editor@communicate.vg

Communicate Levant I 3

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | CONTENTS

Contents

COVER: Agencies of 2012

FEATURES

NEWS 6 8 10

The award goes to: we looked, we compiled, we crunched the numbers, we added up, we multiplied, we checked and rechecked, and now we give you Communicate Levant’s Creative Agency and Media Agency of the Year. To your calculators, folks... Metal shower: we looked, we compiled, we crunched the numbers, we added up, we multiplied, we checked... Wait, haven’t we done this before? Yes, but here you find out which campaign is the most awarded of 2012. Place your bets, folks... Creativity. Beirut Creative Cluster gains European recognition Report. Lebanon’s Telecom ministry unveils annual progress report Advertising. Grey Beirut joins Act for the Disappeared to call for public action

THE COMMUNIQUESTION 14

We ask the industry: What is the worst lie you’ve been told

Awards. Efficiency recognized: the Gemas Effie Mena awards was held this month, with a few surprises in store for the participating agencies. Communicate Levant was there when the Grand Prix was announced – and everybody looked stunned, including the winners

DEPARTMENTS 32

34 38 40 41 42

Q&A. Something brewing: Interesting Times’ Jimmy Francis on how his agency managed to grab the Gemas Effie Mena’s Grand Prix for two years in a row Opinion. Keep the peace: VivaKi MENA’s chairman Alex Saber on why believing that TV and digital cannot work hand in hand is counter-productive Media Work. Freeze: UM and Lancôme get Lebanese consumers’ attention by surprise Work. Selection from the regional and international creative scenes Blogosphere. What the Web is saying The Dish. Chain emails, insurers on fire and new Mad Men

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 GROUP MANAGING EDITOR Nathalie Bontems JOURNALISTS Vanessa Khalil, Priyanka Pradhan CHIEF SUB EDITOR Elizabeth McGlynn ART DIRECTOR Sheela Jeevan ART CONTRIBUTORS Jean-Christophe Nys, Wissam Talhouk RESPONSIBLE DIRECTOR Denise Mechantaf ADVERTISING Medialeader

SAL, Kaline Center, 9th floor, Fouad Chehab Boulevard, Sin el Fil, Beirut, Lebanon, Tel/Fax: + 961 1 492 801, sales@mediaquestcorp.com WEBSITE www.communicatelevant.com.lb

Reproduction in whole or part of any matter appearing in Communicate is prohibited by law without the prior written approval of the publishers. Opinions expressed in Communicate do not necessarily represent the views of the publishers and editorial staff of the magazine. The publishers do not hold out any guarantee as to its accuracy, neither do they indemnify any loss arising through use of the information. All dollar prices ($) are US dollars, unless otherwise specified. Printed by: Raidy Printing Group

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Published by: Medialeader FZ/MediaquestCorp

Europe S.C.C.Arabies, 18, rue de Varize, 75016 Paris, France, Tel: + 33 01 47 664600, Fax: + 33 01 43 807362, GCC P. O. Box 72184, Dubai Media City, Zee Tower, Office 206, Dubai Tel: +971 4 391 0760, Lebanon Medialeader SAL, Lebanon, Tel/Fax: + 961 1 492 801/2 FOUNDER Yasser Hawari CO-CEO Alexandre Hawari CO-CEO Julien Hawari CFO Abdul Rahman Siddiqui MANAGING DIRECTOR Ayman Haydar GENERAL MANAGER – DOTMENA Rosy Kachouh HEAD OF INTERACTIVE MEDIA Mohamed Bitar CREATIVE DIRECTOR Aziz Kamel HEAD OF CIRCULATION Harish Raghavan, h.raghavan@mediaquestcorp.com KSA GM Walid Ramadan, walid@mediaquestcorp.com, Tel: +966 1 4194061 LEBANON GM Peggy El-Zyr, peggy@mediaquestcorp.com, Tel: +961 1 492 801 NORTH AFRICA GM Adil Abdel Wahab, adel@medialeader.biz, Tel: +213 661 562660 FRANCE SALES DIRECTOR Manuel Dias, dias@arabies.com, Tel: +33 1 4766 46 00

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | LEBANON NEWS

Beirut creative cluster gets recognition Beirut. Officially established in August, the Beirut Creative Cluster (BCC) – an agglomeration of companies across different disciplines of the Lebanese creative industry, brought together by collaborative projects and led by incubator Berytech and supported by the European Union – has announced it was awarded the European Bronze Label for Cluster Management Excellence by the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA) in October. The ESCA benchmarked more than 250 clusters around the world, mainly in Europe, and sent over experts to audit their work. “Clusters usually work on a triple helix model, supported by the government, research & development centers, and universities. [ESCA] looked at our case and saw that we had none of those, and were surprised that we  I AGENCIES

TBWA\RAAD officially lands in Lebanon Beirut. After a year-long market battle to set up offices in the country, Dubai-based creative agency TBWA\RAAD has publicly launched its operations in Lebanon in early November – the company was officially established back in May – following TBWA’s split with Rizk Advertising last December. Few details have so far been made available on its Lebanon operations, which also includes PR arm Ketchum Raad, but TBWA\RAAD Lebanon’s Facebook page has been active ever since the agency opened its doors; it released a video in early November that announced “TBWA\RAAD Beirut is brewing now” (strangely featuring an Almaza bottle in the intro) and introduced the office’s creative team.

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started doing activities before securing members,” says SalimTannous, BCC manager. Previous BCC initiatives and activities include the “Young Creative Entrepreneur Awards” with the British Council, and the “Entrepreneurs Forum” at Lebanon’s Global Entrepreneurship Week with investment agency IDAL. FP7 wins Café Najjar digital account Beirut. FP7 Beirut has won the Café Najjar social media contract, following the release of the “Wein fi lebnenenh, fi Najjar” TVC. “We want to stay very close to our customers throughout the world. We also recognize how social media has become a key channel to listen to our customers and to have a conversation with them.” says Karl Najjar, GM at Ste. Michel Najjar, adding that he was “very impressed with FP7’s fresh and creative approach; the latest TV campaign concepts demonstrated a deep knowledge of the Lebanese heritage and the brand.” On a separate note, Wissam Matar has joined FP7 Beirut as creative director. Matar started his career with Intermarkets in 2001 and worked his way up to creative director for Leo Burnett Beirut by 2011.  I ADVERTISING

Impact BBDO releases new work Beirut. Continuing tackling Lebanon’s social and cultural problems, Impact BBDO and LBCi released a new series of three “Cheyef Halak” TVCs over the past months, this time shedding the light on racism and sectarianism

“We will be inviting, with the help of the British Council, world class experts to hold conferences on cross-media production abroad to help the members understand how financing for such projects works overseas. We are also working with Fondation Liban-Cinema to bring a French scriptwriter for a master class on his craft,” says Tannous, in addition to a work placement program in the near future that would secure internship opportunities for university students at the BCC-member companies. The cluster brings together 25 members, comprising design firms, social marketing companies, production houses, and sound studios, and will be bidding on common international projects against other European clusters, “because the Lebanese market is too small,” explains Tannous.

through a sarcastic portrayal of typical characters and situations in the country. Building on the success of the campaign since it was first launched, Cheyef Halak’s official YouTube channel boasted more than 62,000 online views of the new TVCs. Impact BBDO also created a range of fictitious “Golden Point” 3D characters to promote BLOM Bank’s “Golden Points” program – which allows the bank’s cardholders to redeem gifts. The characters engage in a face-off

with “The Dot”, representing similar loyalty programs in other banks. The campaign featured a micro-site, and comes in light of BLOM Bank being awarded the “Best Bank in Lebanon for 2012” by The Banker magazine. Lowe Pimo gets busy Beirut. Lowe Pimo’s Beirut office has released two new campaigns in November: the first, a TVC for Sayfco’s Panorama real estate project, showing, as its name suggests, a rotating view of Panorama from early morning until evening and produced by special effects studio ClichéVFK; the second promotes Clearblue’s pregnancy and ovulation tests at once, featuring a series of ads,

in-pharmacy activations and online flyers that showed the dress code change for a woman as she transitions from “planning” a pregnancy to “expecting”. The creative team behind the Clearblue campaign included associate creative director Madona Zeidan, and art directors Samar Deek and Pamela Hraoui. JWT’s ‘My plan’ for Touch stirs controversy Beirut. After Lebanese telco operator Alfa came out with the “Midline” nationwide campaign that included billboards, a series of TVCs and radio spots in October, competitor Touch followed suite with a mass campaign by JWT Beirut in November, introducing “My Plan”, which allows postpaid line users to customize their own bundle of local talking minutes and text messages. The

campaign’s TVC moved from one room to another in a dollhouse-like space, each in which were people from all walks of Lebanese life, to the backdrop of a song by Hamed Sinno – the lead singer of Indie Lebanese band Mashrou3 Leila. The TVC was as quickly praised by the Lebanese blogosphere as it was judged “inspired” by other ads, including a previous TVC by [Touch parent company] Zain, and another by Carrier Egypt in 2009. Yet it Continued on page 8

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DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | LEBANON NEWS

Telco ministry unveils annual progress report

Continued from page 6 successfully generated close to 8,000 YouTube views a week and a half, into its release online. Egyptian Ali Ali was the creative director, and Né à Beyrouth the production house behind “My Plan”. Leo Burnett releases work for Chateau Ksara Beirut. Playing on its heritage in Lebanon, wine maker Chateau Ksara collaborated with Leo Burnett Beirut to release three TVCs. The first, a 30-second ad, featured a Jesuit

traffic, and power cuts. The games, appropriately given names such as “Bad Year” (a pun on tires brand Good Year), “Takkit” (Lebanese slang referring to power cuts), and “3aja2it” (Lebanese slang for traffic), allow users to virtually navigate through bad traffic and Lebanese road rage, stop troublemakers from blocking roads with burning tires, and run as many devices as possible while avoiding generator power cuts. The games gained popularity with both Lebanese Internet users and media, getting 8,700 likes on their Facebook page.  I MARKETING Volvo Lebanon collaborates with MEA Beirut. Volvo cars’, trucks’ and buses’ agent in Lebanon, Gabriel Abou Adal (GAA), has announced a joint initiative with Middle East Airlines (MEA)

Beirut. Lebanese telco minister Nicolas Sehnaoui shared his ministry’s Annual Progress Report 2011 to 2012, which compiles information on different telecom areas, including Internet, fixed-line and mobile networks, as well as on public and private sector investments into these areas, and future projects the ministry plans to undertake in 2013. The report shows that DSL packages were reduced by 80 percent, while night usage was made free of charge and unlimited as of May 2012. Meanwhile, plans to provide public gardens in Lebanon with free Internet are under way, with now Sanayeh, Sioufi and Manchiyeh gardens equipped with Wi-Fi connection. On the mobile front, the ministry states that 85.4 percent of the Lebanese population now has a mobile phone in use, in line with the reduction of mobile service prices by an average of 40 percent for all telecom operators, and by 72 percent for telecom Alfa’s “U-Chat” youth bundle, while the number of subscribers to mobile Internet increased by 158 percent

8 I Communicate Levant

between June 2011 and May 2012, in tandem with the introduction of 3G connection. Sehnaoui’s report admits, however, that the rate of failed calls in Lebanon is alarming – a problem that the ministry aims to fix through the progressive installation of 1,200 antennas by the end of 2013, amongst other plans – and that the price per talking minute is among the highest in the world due to the “monopolistic structure of the market.” Emphasizing the economic contribution of the telecom industry in Lebanon and ranking it as the second income-generator for the State Treasury, the report stresses the need to pursue heavy investments into the sector through public financing. The report also addresses administrative malfunctions, including the shortage in ministry employees caused by complicated processes in the law books, and the ongoing conflicts between the ministry of telecommunications and its operating arm Ogero. The full report can be found on the ministry’s website.

monk writing down in the books the discovery of the Ksara caves in the 1800s, while the two that followed, a minute-and-a-half each, told different versions of the discovery of “Hanna’s Story” and “The Hunter Story”.The TVCs were produced by Clandestino Films.  I DIGITAL Mercury pokes fun at Lebanese issues through gaming Beirut. M&C Saatchi’s multimedia content management, acquisition and development arm Mercury, has developed “Lebanon Games”, a series of Facebook games inspired by the daily lives of the Lebanese, which naturally include burning tire road blockades,

addressing MEA Cedar Miles card holders. “We are now preparing for the next 50 years and this collaboration with MEA is the first among future projects that GAA will be undertaking this year. In 2013, GAA will be inaugurating Volvo’s new center, a new facility that will optimize Volvo’s global Next Face program that is steadily being implemented in all Volvo showrooms around the globe,” said Marwan Naffi, GAA’s general manager, in a statement. Vox cinemas to branch out to Lebanon Beirut. Regional cinema operator Vox Cinemas, managed by Majid Al Futtaim Ventures, plans to double its screen count in the region in 2013, with two new locations in the UAE (where VOX Cinemas already operates), two in Oman, and one in Lebanon, at the Beirut City Center.

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | LEBANON NEWS

Grey Beirut acts for the Disappeared Beirut. In efforts to raise awareness on its mission, NGO Act for the Disappeared (dedicated to tracing and finding out the fate of Lebanese citizens who have gone missing or disappeared since the civil war), has collaborated with communications firm Grey Beirut for a nationwide campaign, titled “Enough Waiting” and calling on all Lebanese for action, and on the Lebanese government for response. Through a combination of TVCs, billboard ads and radio spots, as well as an online campaign using its own website and a Facebook page that has won close to 16,000 supporters since the beginning of November, “Act for The Disappeared” highlights the governmental shortcomings against the disappearance of 17,000 Lebanese citizens since 1975. Four TVCs set various scenarios that portrayed and imagined the pain and angst of the missing citizens’ families and loved ones: a doting wife waiting for her husband to come home; an aging mother in denial of her son’s disappearance; a father waiting for a phone call informing him of his son’s I CSR Libanpost issues Santa postcards for charity Beirut. In partnership with nonprofit organization against child abuse Himaya, Lebanese courier service Libanpost launched its “Write letters to Santa” Christmas initiative, introducing Lebanon’s first Santa postcard, the stamp for which was made available in mid-November. Libanpost’s profits from the postcard sales will go as proceeds into Himaya’s mission. “The continuity of our work depends on the generous donations of companies like LibanPost that go out of their way to help. The fact that some proceeds will be coming from children wishing to help out other children make it all the much sweeter,” said Himaya representative Viviane Debbas. Samsung sponsors Beirut Marathon Beirut. In efforts to increase the scope of its corporate social responsibility activities, Samsung Electronics Levant and Cherfane Tawil & Co. (CTC), sponsored and took part of the yearly Beirut Marathon, during which they set up a tent that served passing marathon runners food and beverages, while its own team took

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whereabouts; and a son cleaning his missing father’s car every day in hopes of his return. A fifth TVC, setting a more symbolic scene of a magician making his assistant disappear, asks whether so many people can cease to exist by magic. Rik Corjin and Ghassan Khairallah were the creative directors, Marc Chalhoub and Alain Sawma

the TV directors, Salim Hobeika and Monique Bejjani the art directors, and VIP Films the production house behind “Enough Waiting”. The campaign not only called on citizens to participate in a peaceful gathering, that happened on November 17, but also to sign a petition on the NGO’s website calling for governmental action.

event, handing out more than 5,000 purple balloons to faculty members, volunteers and passers-by in Downtown Beirut. Purple is recognized as the international color for the Prematurity Awareness cause. The balloons were released simultaneously at 3pm, in a call to raise awareness around the health hazards and problems associated with premature birth. More than 10,000 babies in Lebanon are born too soon every year, and 7,000 do not get the proper help needed to survive.

ABC’s ‘Small bear, big hearts’ calls on customers Beirut. As part of its “Small bear, big hearts” CSR initiative, first started in 2010 and supporting a children’s cause each Christmas through proceeds from teddy bear sales, Lebanon-based retailer and department store ABC has invited

fans and customers to vote for one out of four causes this year through its Facebook page, and in-store via multi-touch screens and iPads. The campaign generated a total of 15,411 votes, the majority of which went to Dar Al Amal, an NGO whose mission is to prevent and rehabilitate against child abuse. Promod launches breast cancer awareness campaign Beirut. Joining the fight against breast cancer in Lebanon, clothing store Promod-Lebanon collaborated with online women magazine Hayatouki in October (the global breast cancer awareness month) to launch a nationwide campaign, distributing pink ribbons at

part of the race. “We were excited to sponsor the Beirut Marathon 2012 which has proven over the years to be one of the most-anticipated annual events and one of the largest fundraisers for charitable organizations in Lebanon,” said Eddy Cherfane, CEO of Cherfane Tawil & Co, in a statement. Neonate Fund turns Beirut’s sky purple Beirut. On the World Prematurity Day, on November 17, the Neonate Fund – a charitable initiative that serves the Neonatal Intensive Care unit at the AUB Medical Center – held the “Beirut’s sky turns purple” one-day

Promod stores that were window-wrapped with “Together Against Breast Cancer” slogans. Promod customers were invited to take pictures of themselves in front of the themed windows and send over their photos to Hayatouki’s Facebook page, being offered a chance to win a $150 voucher through an online poll on their photos.

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | OPINION

The Communiquestion

Don’t believe your ears We ask the industry: what is the worst lie you’ve been told? KARIM ELIAS Regional planning director, Team Y&R [That] my strategy sucks. JOSE ACAR Communication manager, People The worst lie that I’ve been told is actually a prank from a colleague who informed me that one of our neighbors in the same building – a reputed company – is looking for an advertising agency to run one of their prestigious campaigns. She also pretended that she had fixed a meeting with the company’s marketing manager, a certain ‘Noha’ and convinced me to attend it. You can only imagine the look on their faces when I arrived suited up, with my laptop, asking for a fictitious ‘Noha’ with whom I [was having] an imaginary meeting. PANKAJ PAGARANI Associate director, Starcom MediaVest Group An ex-team member would take sick leave every week and always on the first day after the weekend, i.e. Sunday. Assuming she possibly had a serious drinking problem (a logical assumption in our industry) or some other issue, I approached her friends at work to find ways to help her. Turned out to be quite the opposite –

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being staunchly religious, she led an underground group that she would go to address every Sunday afternoon. FADIA ABOU JAWDEH Senior account manager, Brand Connection “What am I going to be when I grow up?” The question is a lie. You actually don’t need to answer the question at all; at least not with one definite answer. What you need to do is reformulate the question. Instead of asking “What is my one true calling in life?”, ask “What are the many things I would like to experience during my life?” By changing the question from one career choice or life purpose to many long-term goals, you get to relax and suddenly the pressure involved in making a lifelong commitment is gone. Furthermore, you can add and subtract things as you wish. I usually revise my list of goals/things to do several times a year. Once you adopt this kind of thinking, you literally never have to ask yourself ‘The Question’ again and that is incredibly liberating. JONNY ASHTON Account manager, Grey Group MENA “It won’t hurt a bit”, just before starting a charity legwaxing event. My legs never recovered, 15 years on.

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | OPINION

CYNTHIA FARHAN Media manager, WonderEight The only lie I can think of for the time being is [about] the difference in the way of life between Beirut and Paris...We are convinced we have the nicest country on this planet, while we don’t have the basic necessities (electricity, water, transportation, etcetera) that the other countries have... I think we are living in a big lie created and manipulated by our famous politicians. But the good thing about this lie is that it has turned the Lebanese people into survivors: only Lebanese people living in NYC would not worry about [hurricane] Sandy’s effect, because they are used to living on through power cuts and blackouts. JAMES TRACY-INGLIS Managing director, Saatchi & Saatchi X MENA We once had a client that went to market with our instore point of sales materials, without telling us. They did so because they didn’t want to pay either our or the production company’s fees. Except the concepts that we had produced to overcome purchase barriers required some technical elements, which were not implemented. As a result, not only did the materials look terrible when they were implemented in-store; they didn’t drive sales, we lost a great supplier and our relationship with the client was doomed because we couldn’t trust them as we previously had.

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CHARBEL RAHMEH Managing director, Revolution Film The worst lie I recall being told was when I was filming one of our TV commercials. A gentleman arrived, introduced himself to me, said he owned the place [where we were filming] and that he and his staff were at our service at all times. He was very helpful, giving orders to staff left, right [and centre]. We talked business, and he insisted on setting up a meeting later on to introduce me to his partner – apparently a minister – so we could discuss the possibility of producing a TV commercial for the place (his place). Suddenly, the real owner showed up and asked him to get the car ready; naturally, it was incredibly embarrassing for him when we found out that he was actually the owner’s personal driver. He was nowhere to be seen after that incident. JAD SAAB Planning manager, OMD The worst lies you can tell and be told are those where you’re both the liar and the end receiver. MOHAMAD ITANI Regional digital director, Initiative I’ve asked my colleague this question and his quick answer was ‘I don’t lie’. So here you go, this is the worst lie I have been ever told.

OPINION | DEC 2012/JAN 2013

ASSAAD GHANEM Account manager, Cre8mania Every day we are bombarded with many lies. Each and every one of us should filter them, and assimilate them, so we can act knowing that [they are lies]; the worst lie that I face in different walks of life is “Trust me”. NATHALIE KACHOUH Account manager, Entourage Democracy. Enough said. ISAAC FAHED Marketing manager, Selim Ramia & Co. I take “The Worst Lie” as a fiasco one, a lie that was busted big time. If that’s the case, then here’s my tale. I was sleeping over at a friend’s house up in the mountains a couple of years ago – at the time we were working nights on a project. One day, at around 4.30am, we heard some noise on the balcony. We sneaked in its direction, only to find a thief trying to jump onto the balcony. We immediately got a hunting rifle – not loaded – opened the door very abruptly and told him to freeze: “Stop right there! We’ll shoot if you move!” He was trembling and said: “Don’t shoot, please; I am not what you think I am!” Us: “What are you doing then?” Him (mumbling and shivering): “I was just getting the bird I shot. I guess it fell on the balcony here.”

Us: “What bird?! We didn’t hear any gunshot!” Him (still trembling): “Actually I shot it yesterday but couldn’t retrieve it then and there… I figured I would get it back today on another hunting spree.” Us: “Where’s your rifle then?! Why are you dressed all in black? Where are your cartridges?” Him (stammering big time): “I left it with my friends back in the woods” (smiling) Us: “Take us there… right now” Him: “Of course! Please do join me!” (As we were approaching the hunting zone, we couldn’t spot anyone.) Him: “Oh no, I told them to wait for me. They wouldn’t! They left to another hunting location! Can you believe it?” We certainly could not. NICOLA GREGSON Managing director, Ketchum-Raad Middle East The biggest lie ever told is that PR is only about launches, parties, a jet-set life and glamour. TANIA EL HELOU Media director, MEC Beirut I guess the worst lie was the Santa Claus story! We used to live in a magical world, write a letter to Santa and wait for our gifts, until my older sister decided to steal Christmas from my little world and asked me to direct my letters to dad... Yes, I believed in Santa. n

Communicate Levant I 17

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | COVER STORY

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COVER STORY | DEC 2012/JAN 2013

Agencies of the year Which creative agency and which media agency grabbed the most awards in 2012? by Nathalie Bontems

t’s the end of another year, so let’s see once more how the region’s agencies fared on the awards front. Contrary to last year, and because the number of media agencies making our ranking is higher in 2012 compared to the previous years (only OMD Dubai was included among the Top 10 agencies of 2011), we decided to split our Top 10 agencies of the year into two. The first listing, a Top 10, features creative agencies; the second list, a Top 5, ranks media agencies.

THE CREATIVE AGENCY OF THE YEAR. As you’ve probably rushed already to check the tables out, you already know that Communicate Levant’s Creative Agency of 2012 is Leo Burnett Beirut. With 112 points, and nine campaigns awarded throughout the year, the Lebanese agency took the lead early on by being named Creative Agency of the Year at the MENA Cristal awards in February; the agency then contributed heavily to the network’s win of the Network of the Year title in both Lebanon and later at the Dubai Lynx awards. Two campaigns – “No Rights No Women” for the No Rights No

Women Lebanese NGO, and “Fake it all” for another Lebanese NGO, The Brand Protection Group, – are part of our top five most awarded campaigns of 2012, the “No Rights…” stunt alone having grabbed one Gold, two Silver and two Bronze at Cannes; not to mention the “Break the Silence” work for another NGO, Himaya, which fared very well at the Lynx and received a Gold at the Gemas Effie Mena awards, while the other campaigns were well received at one ad festival or the other… Leo Burnett Beirut was poised for a glorious end to the year.

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DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | COVER STORY

MOST AWARDED CREATIVE AGENCIES AGENCY

SCORE

RANK

Leo Burnett Beirut

112

Y&R Dubai

Memac Ogilvy Label Tunisia

Memac Ogilvy Dubai

Impact BBDO Beirut

Leo Burnett Dubai

TBWA\Raad Dubai

FP7 Dubai

Leo Burnett Cairo

JWT Beirut

AGENCY

SCORE

RANK

SMG Dubai

Mindshare Dubai

Media Direction OMD Cairo

UM Dubai

OMD Dubai

Mindshare Bahrain

Initiative Dubai

MOST AWARDED MEDIA AGENCIES

Next comes Y&R Dubai, a regular of Communicate Levant’s listing (the agency topped our 2011’s ranking in a tie with FP7 Bahrain). The agency’s creative work on “The Headline News Cup Sleeve” for Gulf News’ publisher Al Nisr, was key to its success, bringing home eight awards, including a Cannes Silver Lion; but the number of Y&R campaigns awarded in 2012 – 14, the highest number for any agency – shouldn’t be overlooked. The six operations done for Land Rover and the four developed for Harvey Nichols brought their fair share of metal to the agency. In third position, but nearly half the points down from the winner, Memac Ogilvy Label Tunisia can enjoy well-deserved recognition for a job well done. No doubt the 58 points earned by “Return of Dictator Ben Ali” are behind this third place, but it wouldn’t be fair not to acknowledge the good performance of the other three Tunisian campaigns awarded this year, particularly the “Multiple Girlfriends App” developed for Axe that spurred fiery discussions online because of its allegedly sexist approach. Memac Ogilvy Dubai played the numbers game as well, with 12 campaigns awarded this year. While its “Sprite Cricket Star” work performed well at the Dubai Lynx and at the Gemas Effie Mena awards, the various campaigns managed to offer the agency a nice, evenly spread series of awards in 2012, for a total of 43. Leo Burnett Dubai, with 36 points, could be seen as being overshadowed by its Lebanese sibling; still, it can boast an impressive total of nine campaigns awarded in 2012. The two operations for P&G

20 I Communicate Levant

(the “Tide Smart Bag”, “That Kind of White”) led the count with eight and six points respectively, the rest being scattered among the less successful campaigns. On the other hand, Impact BBDO took the exact opposite approach, with only four campaigns awarded, but heavily so. The Beirut agency’s work for local TV station LBCi, “Cheyef Halak”, earned 32 points of the total 40 Impact BBDO made this year, starring at the MENA Cristal awards and Lynx awards. So did Leo Burnett Cairo; it made the ranking this year only thanks to its “Cono is different” for Egypt Foods and its 18 points (over a total of 19). The same could be said of TBWA\Raad, whose VIP Fridge Magnet “Push the Hunger” stunt for Red Tomato Pizza delivery, was celebrated with one Gold, one Silver and two Bronze at Cannes, and earned 19 points of the agency’s yearly total of 33. However, the UAE agency played on both fronts, with one campaign faring very well, and several others grabbing awards here and there. With ten campaigns awarded throughout the year, TBWA\Raad has had a busy and gratifying year. FP7 Dubai and JWT Beirut can boast seven and six awarded campaigns, respectively, in 2012; The FP7 Dubai office picked up the fruitful collaboration with Batelco that had earned its Bahrain sister company a Grand Prix last year, with the “Batelco Directory”, while its work for Coca-Cola on “Today I will” and “Coke Studio” fared pretty well too. As for JWT Beirut, whether it is the product (Heineken) or the

occasion (Christmas) that inspired the team is still unclear, but in any case, the “What’s Xmas without Red and Green” made a respectable third of the total 18 points won by the agency this year, the balance being divided between several smaller operations. THE MEDIA AGENCY OF THE YEAR. In this newly introduced ranking, we start off with a bang, Starcom Mediavest Group, the media sister company of the creative winner, leading the charge with 20 points and seven campaigns awarded. SMG Dubai’s and Leo Burnett Dubai’s combined work on the Cadillac “Perfect Storm” – prior to GM’s move to another media agency – was the main drive behind the VivaKi’s company’s victory, while other, less awarded operations for P&G, Kraft, Adidas, Emirates and Emirates NBD all contributed, nonetheless, to this win. Mindshare Dubai also made a remarkable entry in this ranking with 15 points for six campaigns awarded, namely the Nike “Sticker Wall” that earned it five points, two operations for LG and a handful of other successful stunts pretty evenly spread. Mindshare’s remarkable performance at the latest Gemas Effie Mena awards, where the media network bagged metal the most, even more than creative competitor, contributed heavily to its success. However, the surprise may come from the presence in this listing of Media Direction OMD Cairo; its three campaigns – “Selewa” for Vodaphone that won a Gold at the Lynx awards, “World Food Program” for Chipsy Egypt and “El Balad Baladna” for Henkel – helping to keep Egypt on the map this year. We then have a tie between OMD Dubai and UM Dubai; the former has three campaigns awarded (“Doctor Endorsements”, “Arab Idol” for PepsiCo and “Tough Men Choose Nivea Sensitive”); while the latter could rely mostly on its work on “Coke Studio”, in partnership with sister company FP7, which earned it five points. We close with another tie between Initiative Dubai and Mindshare Bahrain; both have two campaigns to show off. We looked back at the four most talked-about award shows for Middle East agencies – the Dubai Lynx, the MENA Cristals, the Cannes Lions and the Gemas Effie Mena awards – and counted the number of awards won by each campaign according to the methodology detailed on page 29. We then added up each agency’s various campaigns’ points. Where two agencies, media and creative, were listed in the entrant field, each picked up points in the most awarded agencies calculation, although the award was only counted once for the most awarded campaigns. Lastly, we took into account all the awards won across the year, and not only the ones featured in our table of the most awarded campaigns on n pages 26 and 27.

OCTOBER DEC 2012/JAN 2012 2013 | COVER | COVER STORYSTORY

2012’s metal magnets Communicate Levant unveils the most awarded campaigns of the year

very year, Communicate Levant looks at the campaigns that fared best at the four award shows that matter the most in the region – the Dubai Lynx, the MENA Cristal awards, the Cannes Lions and the Gemas Effie MENA awards; while it’s true that, increasingly, regional adverts are garnering recognition at other advertising and creativity festivals (and we’ll look into these as well in the near future), for the time being our awards tally gives us a pretty good idea of what’s happening in the regional advertising scene. Some trends that were merely outlined the previous years are brilliantly confirmed in 2012, particularly the potential rise of new creative centers in the Middle East, away from the usual Dubai and Beirut. Of course, both the Lebanese and UAE cities continue to assert themselves as major creative hubs, with the former being home to nine and the latter to no less than 20 campaigns out of the 40 that we selected in our Top 15 tables (see pages 26 and 27). IS TUNISIA THE NEXT EGYPT? However, for the first time, the whole ranking was topped by a campaign born in Tunisia; the coronation of the

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“Return of Dictator Ben Ali”, developed for the Engagement Citoyen Tunisian NGO, won’t come as a surprise, in light of the continuous support it received around the world. Still, what could be viewed as a purely contextual win – a simple side-effect of the Arab Spring and a symptom of the public’s sensitivity to the region’s newly found hunger for freedom – could in fact confirm the emergence of Tunis, as a new creative pole if next year’s listing continues down that road. Indeed, the path seems like it’s leading towards that: in 2010, three Tunisian campaigns were part of our top-scoring list, mostly in its last quarter though; in 2011, only two Tunisian creations had made the list, but with one (the “June 16th 2014” stunt by Memac Ogilvy Label Tunisia) reaching the highly coveted third position in the ranking; this year, three Tunisian campaigns, all by the Memac office incidentally, are part of the ranking, with one actually dominating it with a total of 58 points. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves; after all, Egypt’s and Bahrain’s strong presences the last two years – with Leo Burnett Cairo’s Melody Aflam “Arabic films, the mother of all foreign films” hilarious series winning our Grand Prix

COVER STORY | DEC 2012/JAN 2013

in 2010, and the no-less-funny “Never Say No to Panda” campaign grabbing our Gold award in 2011 – turned out not to be indicative of anything besides the campaigns’ own success; our 2012 ranking only features one campaign from Cairo (“Cono is different” by Leo Burnett Cairo for Egypt Foods), and none from Bahrain… Whether the Tunisian performance will give us a sense of déjà vu in the coming years by not keeping up its creative growth, remains to be seen; and whether Egypt’s performance is in fact impaired by social and political local developments that could be repeated in other countries in the region, is a question worth asking, but best to be left for another story… AD COUNTS. The number of points awarded is, in itself, very telling of another trend: the winning campaigns are achieving more in general and, significantly, more at Cannes – which earns campaigns more points for each win than other award shows as per our methodology detailed on page 30. Indeed, the growing string of wins of Middle Eastern campaigns at Cannes explains the higher point counts: last year’s winner, “Accessories required,” by Y&R Dubai for Harvey Nichols, had received a total of 35 points, against 58 for “Return of Dictator Ben Ali” this year, mostly thanks to the three Gold Lions and 12 Gold Lynx the Tunisian campaign won in 2012 at Cannes and in Dubai respectively. Similarly, the first runner-up, “No Rights No Women” by Leo Burnett Beirut, gathered a total of 47 points, more than last year’s winner, and it has its five Cannes’ wins to thank for it.

RETURN OF DICTATOR BEN ALI Engagement Citoyen Memac Ogilvy Label Tunisia Nicolas Courant Creative director Memac Ogilvy Label Tunisia What was the best part about working on this campaign? Contributing to behavior change for the better: by changing the way the problem was perceived – how to push people not involved to go and vote – we made something that the majority couldn’t access, all of a sudden comprehensive to all, ownable and engaging. Indeed, people felt they did not need to go and vote because they could not understand the [relevance] and the objective of a constitutional assembly, too new for them, too complex. When we told them, “All right, you might not know what you want for the future, but you certainly do know you don’t want a dictatorship anymore”, then everybody felt involved. As a result, instead of having 55 percent of [the population] voting, as was expected, we had a 88 percent participation [rate] in the October 2011 elections.

Awards sweeping campaigns – if we didn’t know better, we’d almost think that they are designed with awards in mind – also translated into larger gaps between campaigns’ awards tally this year; in other words, there are no ties this year, contrary to the previous years that saw Communicate Levant give two Gold, as much as four Silver and three Bronze in 2010; and two Gold and two Silver last year. 2012 is the year for clear winners. Lastly, it may be a sign of the times that the first four campaigns leading our Most Awarded Campaign of the Year 2012 are all either CSR or causes led: between the struggle against dictatorship and the call for citizen mobilization for “Return of Dictator Ben Ali”; the fight for Lebanese women’s rights to equality for “No Rights No Women”; the finger-pointing at irresponsible civic behaviors for “Cheyef Halak”; and the denunciation of counterfeit products for “Fake it All”… it seems that awards judges are as appreciative of messages aiming to raise public awareness on important social and political issues than said public itself. But however good these stunts were in terms of creativity and popular appreciation, it is also pretty significant that the four of them altogether would manage to grab only two of the awards that really look at commercial efficiency – the Gemas Effie MENA awards – with only one Silver for “No Rights…” and one Bronze for “Return of Dictator…” Of course, sales and commercial efficiency are not the reasons why these campaigns were designed in the first place, but this year only gave another demonstration that appealing to people’s feelings is a sure way to grasp attention, including that of a jury.

And the worst part? Struggling with a tight budget to materialize the client brief; the Engagement Citoyen NGO, our client, actually had a very small budget to [materialize] the ambitious campaign they were asking for. So we had to find an idea which had to be not only effective, but also not expensive, in order to match the client’s budget. The result is that the whole idea ended up [being] at an affordable cost, around $25,000, which is a performance [in itself]. I’d like to dedicate this award to… I dedicate this award to the Tunisian people who confirmed [they are] looking ahead and not [backward] to dictatorship. While struggling with an economical and social crisis, getting out of decades of a corrupted regime, and choosing to go for a constitutional assembly to re-write the constitution and start rebuilding a new society wasn’t an easy choice for Tunisians. Achieving real democracy is a tough process, and they chose to go for new institutions, with all the risk of instability [this meant]. It is courageous and [revealing] of their hope for change.

Communicate Levant I 23

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | COVER STORY

NO RIGHTS NO WOMEN No Rights No Women Leo Burnett Beirut Nada Abi Saleh Deputy managing director Leo Burnett Beirut What was the best part about working on this campaign? It wasn’t work. It was a cause we believed in and still do, as long as gender discrimination remains. The brand and creative team at the agency really felt engaged with the cause and worked on it with highly inspiring commitment and dedication. One of the best parts was seeing our mustaches tour the world and help make a difference in Lebanese gender-related laws. The movement got $1.2 million of free media coverage. We were featured in more than 20 lregional magazines and newspaper, more than 57 international blogs and websites and the top 3 local and Arab channels. Our Facebook page was viewed more than 16,700 times in just one week. CHEYEF HALAK LBCi Impact BBDO Beirut Walid Kanaan Regional executive creative director Impact BBDO What was the best part about working on this campaign? The best part about the LBCi “Cheyef Halak “campaign is the overwhelming feedback it got from the Lebanese community who adopted the cause, as if it was theirs, from the very start; the responsiveness was concretized through a very large amount of uploaded data. Moreover, the campaign was fully endorsed by the Ministry of Interior through H.E. Ziad Baroud and his successor, H.E. Marwan Charbel. LBCi’s “Cheyef FAKE IT ALL Brand Protection Group Leo Burnett Beirut Nada Abi Saleh Deputy managing director Leo Burnett Beirut What was the best part about working on this campaign? One of the best parts was certainly having the BPG team as a client. They were truly open to the idea of democratizing the problem of counterfeit and not treating it with marketing and business terminologies that alienate regular people. Working with such a daring and open client was also what allowed the campaign to be so captivating and creative. The team at BPG was never afraid of the craziness of our ideas and was very encouraging this kind of disruptive communication. Another fantastic aspect of this campaign was the support we received from the media.

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But, ultimately, the best part of it was to see that there were true and tangible results that our campaign was going to make a difference in people’s lives. On August 4, 2011, i.e. seven months after the start of the “No Rights No women” movement, the Honor Crimes Law was abolished. This was considered a turning point in Lebanese legislative history. The Domestic Violence law is now in the final study stage by the parliament. And the worst part? That there is still a long way to go in the fight against descrimination. I’d like to dedicate this award to… ...All women with no rights. To the men and women of Lebanon who believe in change, progress and gender equality. To every person who wants to shake the status quo. To Rana, Lea, Natasha, Roula, Dana, Ghina, Diala, Christina and Hala who helped give women the hope and strength to believe that one day, they will be considered fully fledged citizens. Halak” became Lebanon’s campaign just like we hoped it would be. And the worst part? Although we had anticipated disappointment due to the nature of the data being posted on the various “Cheyef Halak” mediums, the wall of shame revealed a much wider social impairment that went way beyond our expectations. Some of the photos exhibiting misbehaviors showed, beyond doubt, how a great deal of Lebanese risk their lives everyday due to a dramatic lack of civic awareness. I’d like to dedicate this award to… The LBCi “Cheyef Halak” campaign is dedicated to the Lebanese citizens who still have faith in Lebanon and who still abide to the laws by conviction, instigating and anxiously awaiting change.

Whether it was [TV show presenter] Marcel Ghanem who accepted to play with his own image, the radio stations or the newspapers that changed their logos for one day, it was great to see the enthusiasm and the collaboration of the entire media community for such an important cause. And the worst part? Counterfeit was a cause that was very rarely communicated in the past and it was challenging to start from scratch: open the conversation, raise awareness and call for action, all at once. I’d like to dedicate this award to… ...The BPG team that enabled a great level of creativity; to the media in Lebanon that was able to see the importance of the cause and provided all the support needed; and to the Leo Burnett team that was able to bring the conversation at a level that is relevant to the consumer.

GRAND CRISTAL (4)

CRISTAL (2)

LYNX BRONZE (1)

LYNX SILVER (2)

LYNX GOLD (3)

LYNX GP (4)

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | COVER STORY

CAMPAIGN AND CLIENT

AGENCY

Return of dictator Ben Ali – Engagement Citoyen

Memac Ogilvy Label Tunisia

No Rights No Women – No Rights No Women

Leo Burnett Beirut

Cheyef Halak – LBCi

Impact BBDO Beirut

Fake It All – Brand Protection Group

Leo Burnett Beirut

The Headline News Cup Sleeve – Al Nisr Publishing

Y&R Dubai

VIP Fridge Magnet – Red Tomato

TBWA\Raad Dubai

Break the Silence – Himaya

Leo Burnett Beirut

Cono is Different – Egypt Foods

Leo Burnett Cairo

Sprite Cricket Stars – Coca-Cola Middle East

Memac Ogilvy Dubai & Ogilvy Action

Batelco Directory – Batelco

FP7 Dubai

Mountain, Orangutan, River – Land Rover

Y&R Dubai

The Perfect Storm Cadillac – GM

SMG Dubai & Leo Burnett Dubai

Rare – Land Rover

Y&R Dubai

The Last Summer on Earth – Gravity Brewing

Interesting Times

The Tide Smart Bag – P&G

Leo Burnett Dubai

Read the Country's Fortune – Café Super Brasil

Leo Burnett Beirut

Today I Will – Coca-Cola

FP7 Dubai

Kuwait Rising – Red Bull

Lowe MENA Dubai

Fast Lane – MTC Touch

M&C Saatchi Beirut

Reporters Without Borders – Censorship Awareness

Memac Ogilvy Dubai

That Kind of White – P&G

Leo Burnett Dubai

The Coughing Poster – NAQA Anti Smoking Charitable Association

FP7/RUH Riyadh

What's Xmas Without Red and Green – Heineken

JWT Beirut

Wild Cards – NGC Abu Dhabi

Leo Burnett Dubai

Coke Studio – The Coca-Cola Export Corp

FP7 Dubai & UM

The Sticker Wall – Nike Middle East

Mindshare Dubai & JWT Dubai

Edible Desert Survival guide – Land Rover

Y&R Dubai

Women and Work, Domestic Violence – Tunisian Women's Rights Association

Memac Ogilvy Label Tunisia

American Garden Popcorn – Global Export Co

Y&R Dubai

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque – Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage

Shawati Abu Dhabi

Red Cross – Red Cross Lebanon

Y&R Dubai

Keep Walking Lebanon – Diageo

Leo Burnett Beirut

Digital Love Durex – Reckitt Benckiser

Buzzman

The Multiple Girlfriends App Axe – Unilever

Memac Ogilvy Label Tunisia

The Smallest Ikea Store – Ikea

Memac Ogilvy Dubai

Ana Arabi – Qtel

Leo Burnett Qatar

Jacket, Dress, Handbag – Harvey Nichols

Y&R Dubai

Barbican Hatha Filmi – Aujan

Mindshare Dubai & Face to Face

Dove Nourishing Oil Care – Unilever

Memac Ogilvy Dubai

Payment Plans – Wataniya Telecom

Impact and Echo BBDO Kuwait

1 2

6 1

1 5

1 1

1 2

1 2 1

1 1 2

SCORE

RANK

1 2

1 1

2 1

EFFIE SILVER (2)

EFFIE GOLD (3)

EFFIE BRONZE (1)

EFFIE GP (4)

LION BRONZE (2)

LION SILVER (4)

LION GOLD (6)

LION GP (8)

CRISTAL (2)

GRAND CRISTAL (4)

COVER STORY | DEC 2012/JAN 2013

2 1

1 2

1 1

TOP-RANKED ADS – METHODOLOGY To find out which were the most awarded campaigns in 2012, we looked at four big award shows: the Dubai Lynx (UAE); the MENA Cristals (Lebanon); the Cannes Lions (France); and the Gemas Effies MENA Awards (UAE), organized by Communicate Levant’s publisher’s event branch, Mediaquest Events. We tallied up the awards each campaign won. For the Lynx and the Gemas Effies, we gave four points for a Grand Prix, three for a Gold, two for a Silver, and one for a Bronze. For the Lions, the Lynx’s international big brother, we doubled those scores. At the Cristals, we gave two points for a Cristal and four for a Grand Cristal. We gave points each time a campaign took one of these prizes. So, if several executions were cited in the winning of one Lynx, Cristal, Lion or Effie, we awarded points only once. (At the Lynx, there were occasions when single executions won Gold, and campaigns of related executions won the Gold Campaign category. In that case, we awarded three points for the Gold, and three for the Gold Campaign). If a campaign won in more than one category (Print and Outdoor, for example) we gave points for both awards. However, if executions received an individual Gold, Silver or Bronze (not ‘Gold Campaign’, etc) in different sub-categories of the Lynx categories, we took those into account. For example, if in the Media category, campaign X won one Gold for ‘Use of digital media’ and one Gold for ‘Use of broadcast,’ we counted them as two Golds. At the end, we tallied up each campaign’s points and put the ones with most points on top. You can see our list on the left (but note that some didn’t get enough points to appear in the list, scoring only 3s, 2s or 1s). As many of the campaigns scored the same overall, we worked out our rankings in a way similar to the awards shows. In total, we have awarded one Grand Prix, one Gold, one Silver and one Bronze. Congratulations to the winners!

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | MARKETING

An evening to remember

The Gemas Effie Mena awards unfolded last month with lots of suprises by Vanessa Khalil

hen Communicate Levant, bumped into Walid Kanaan at the Beirut International Airport only hours before he flew off to our sister publication’s Gulf Marketing Review’s Gemas Effie Mena Awards cocktail reception, Impact BBDO’s regional ECD was hoping the Beirut office would continue to ride high on the winning streak “Cheyef Halak” started last year. But tuxed-up Kanaan was in for quite a surprise, with recognition coming from unexpected places (as it often does): Impact BBDO Beirut bagged one Silver for “Vote for Jeita Grotto”, and another for “LBCi Drama Launch –Ward El Khal Stunt”, and yet another accolade for

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the “BLOM demining” campaign with OMD Lebanon, but none for “Cheyef Halak”. As for Kamil Kuran, managing director at Leo Burnett Beirut, he was rather coy when asked last month about his office’s entries to this competition, only assuring they covered all categories, perhaps as a response to tattle in the market that the Lebanese agency has become too dependent on CSR. In fact, Leo Burnett Beirut did bag three awards for campaigns that were indeed developed for two NGOs: a Silver for the Cannes-accredited “No Rights No Women”, and both a Jury Recommendation and a Gold for “Break the Silence”, for the Himaya

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | MARKETING

NGO. The agency also walked away with Silver and Bronze for its work on Lebanese telecom operator Alfa’s U-Chat campaign. But as the night unfolded, it became clear that Mindshare’s regional network was going to be the star of the show, winning nine awards, most of which went to mix-and-match collaborations between the agency’s Dubai office and other creative agencies. For example, Mindshare Dubai’s work with JWT Dubai for “Nike – The Sticker Wall” singlehandedly bagged three awards – two Silver and a Bronze. Starcom Mediavest Group’s wins were fewer in numbers, but rather significant too, as the agency took away one Silver for “Unleash Deadly – Adidas Predator

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Lethal Zones” and another for its joint work with FP7 on Emirates NBD’s “Pay Yourself First”, but also one of the very few Golds awarded, for Emirates Airlines’ “Hello Tomorrow”. SMG’s sister company, Leo Burnett Dubai, a usual suspect in the regional award shows, won two Bronze for its work on McDonald’s, and a Silver for the National Geographic Abu Dhabi “Wild Cards” campaign. Qtel’s “Arab and Proud” won a Bronze for Leo Burnett Qatar. Much to the delight of Edmond Moutran, chairman and CEO at Memac Ogilvy, who had repeatedly echoed over the past few months a serious investment into award shows and the leveraging of his network for an even reparti-

MARKETING | DEC 2012/JAN 2013

tion of awards among offices, the Gemas Effie Mena Awards’ results did not disappoint; the combined works of Memac Ogilvy and Ogilvy Action won four awards on their own: one Silver and one Bronze for Sprite Cricket Stars – which Moutran had hoped would be a winner in other award shows this past year – and two more Bronze for two operations for Unilever Gulf. To many participants’ surprise, Memac Ogilvy Label Tunisia walked away with only one Bronze for its “Return of Dictator Ben Ali” campaign. Understandably, Levant wins, particularly Egypt’s, were few and far between, although FP7 Cairo did score two awards – a Silver for McDonald’s “Loose Change Menu”,

and a Gold for “Molto Cheese – News Bigger than Any Other”. JWT Cairo grabbed one new Silver for “Maxibon Egypt Launch”, and Impact BBDO Cairo a Silver for Pepsico Egypt’s “Who Deserves the Pepsi?” The new international Gemas Effie entrants did not leave empty handed, either, Buzzman bagging a Bronze for its work with Havas Digital Middle East Lebanon on “Let’s Get it On(line)... and Talk About Sex”, and Team Detroit USA a Silver for its work for Ford ME. Automotive was, in fact, taken over by TBWA\Raad Dubai, which had one Silver for Arabian Automobiles Co.’s “HouseHunter Test-Drive” and one Bronze for Nissan’s “Desert Nemesis” in that same category.

However, the night was really capped by yet another Grand Prix for the second year in a row for boutique agency Interesting Times, for Gravity Brewing’s “The Last Summer on Earth” stunt, which also got the agency a Gold and, funnily, a most unexpected Bronze for “Best use of social media”, a category the agency hadn’t entered in the first place, but in which the jury decided to include this work, nonetheless, in view of its quality. Perhaps the Gemas Effies Mena awards didn’t give out the three Grand Prix for three entries by the same agency, as Ashraf Mansour, Interesting Times’ strategy director and partner, jokingly predicted, but it sure rewarded the agency’s and its clients’ courage, once again. n

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DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | DEPARTMENTS

Q&A

Effies encore

Interesting Times’ partners on winning the Gemas Effie’s Grand Prix… again

ow does winning the Grand Prix two years in a row feel? Jimmy Francis: It has just started to sink in. But for the first week or two, it just felt surreal. When we were on stage receiving the Grand Prix, all I could say was: “No way! No way!” I sounded like a teenage blonde girl. Moe El Ghossein: We didn’t expect it at all. We entered [the] Nokia [app patrol campaign], and funnily enough, we were betting on it, even at the Lynx. It brought us zero awards. We’re kind of giving up on that one. Ashraf Mansour: We actually made a bet on our expectations before the Gemas Effie, and the winner would get $500 from the company account. But none of us predicted a Grand Prix again. What, in your opinion, won your case? J.F: We were able to come through with a muchanticipated follow-up campaign to the launch, which did not disappoint in the least. We had set the bar pretty high, and managed to top ourselves.

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M.EG: From a marketeer’s point of view, our app, for example, turned the beer into currency, where we dared consumers to try something brave in exchange for beers. A.M: The Gemas Effie judge creative idea and strategy. “Last Summer on Earth” was a very creative idea; our challenge was to prove that last year’s campaign was not just making noise. The brand [Lebanese brew] evolved very quickly, even from guerilla marketing to mainstream media. Do you have an awards strategy? J.F: Competition is much tougher at award shows that reward only creativity. When we entered the ‘Courage is Contagious’ campaign – last year’s Gemas Effie Grand Prix winner – at the Dubai Lynx as Integrated Campaign, it got nothing. But separate the different campaign components and we ended up picking up a couple of awards in select categories such as social media and the like. The Lynx are looking for those big ideas that could change the world, in theory; that’s why you

see a lot of multinationals winning big on NGO work. Whereas the Gemas Effie are looking for those big ideas that resonate well in theory, and translate even better in numbers. M.EG: Last year, we didn’t enter the MENA Cristals, for example, purely because of budget restrictions. This year we are definitely entering the Cristals. A.M: The MENA Cristals is an ego-driven award show. We work with effectiveness; the Gemas Effies work for us because marketers are judging the works. At other award shows, it is more like creative directors patting each others’ backs. Are you reaching out to a more mass audience? A.M: There is a huge difference between reach and appeal. What we are doing is critical, because we need reach to appeal to distributors. Store owners will not sell Lebanese Brew if the public doesn’t know about it. We didn’t change our tone, identity and character. The choice of media channel was marketing-driven and strategic. We are growing the LB community, not the community outside of it. M.EG: It is a very simple product-driven campaign; try something brave, try our beer. That is if you are not familiar with Lebanese Brew. The LB community, on the other hand, knows about the app, shares and likes what we do online. [Our core customers] don’t care that we have a huge billboard on the streets. J.F: The 2012 “Last Summer on Earth” campaign stayed true to Lebanese Brew’s point of view of making courage contagious. In the second year to launch, the brand made a crucial step forward by choosing to communicate on mainstream media. The business results verified that the brand was now on the right path forward. And the behavioral and perceptual results proved that it did not lose its affinity to its core consumer. Some say your app wasn’t successful. What were the numbers? J.F: Very low. Anytime you do something new, it takes a leap of faith. Not everyone is going to grab their phone and add the augmented reality layer to campaign posters; this is a worldwide dilemma. We learned not to overcomplicate things; the app did too much. A.M: The app had many components; the one where people could place a string on their pictures, tagging people, sort of like Instagram, was very popular. What do you think of the Almaza “Let’s pretend it just started” campaign? J.F: Imitation is the highest form of flattery. Almaza Light as a product was created as a retaliation to Lebanese Brew. M.EG: Do you even need to ask this question? What they are doing is very obvious. n

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | OPINION

Coexistence or competition?

Alex Saber, chairman of VivaKi MENA, says traditional and digital media should be seen as complementing one another, rather than competing

n the wake of the digital revolution, most industry constituents were quick to predict the demise of traditional media – spanning both print and broadcasting. After all, digital distribution was steadily sweeping the globe – seemingly trouncing longstanding and “older” media sources. Until today, this perception persists, with large numbers of people assuming that our increasingly digitalized world has inevitably garnered substantial losses for traditional media markets. In reality, while this presumption certainly rings true for the print industry, other dominant media channels, such as television, were left completely unscathed by the rise of the digital era. In fact, a recent analysis covering 18 countries, led by VivaKi MENA’s research arm Business Compass, revealed that while people consumed an average of 2.6 hours of television in the pre-Internet age (in 2000), this number increased to four hours

34 I Communicate Levant

a day in 2010 – when the Internet had become signiﬁcantly more prevalent throughout society. The study also found that globally – and despite digital penetration – TV consumption had seen stellar year-on-year growth between 2000 and 2010. Granted, the 21st century audience is watching more on-demand programming online, but the fact remains that television content in itself is still highly popular – and our TV-addicted culture has deﬁnitely not gone astray. The truth is, TV and digital formats are not mutually exclusive – they are rather synergistic. While digital technologies have undoubtedly reshaped consumer behavior, trends and attitudes continue to demonstrate the realms of digital and TV more than collide. How so? In recent years, consumer patterns have radically shifted and users have begun to adopt a truly screen-agnostic approach, meaning they now relish premium,

simultaneous entertainment, where one medium doesn’t preclude the other – it complements it. With the abundance of media formats and communication technologies available in this day and age – we, as consumers, fully value a multi-screen, multi-faceted and multi-format experience. Each and every one of us constantly finds her or himself multi-tasking between smartphone devices, laptops and an array of other electronic gadgets while watching TV. And, interestingly, we have all found that in doing so, it doesn’t impede the TV viewing experience – it enhances it. The ever-evolving digital movement has actually heavily contributed to TV growth thanks to continuous highquality content, the widespread evolution of technology and the multitude of consumption channels at hand. In actuality, throughout the years, the line separating TV and digital media has become blurred. Nowadays, TV is digital; both platforms share distinct features that merge well and are no longer far removed from one another. Indeed, with the ongoing and extensive migration to digital, traditional media is quickly transforming across the spectrum – with each medium translating into a consumer touchpoint. Advertisers today need to recognize the undeniable interplay between TV and digital media and both channels’ relentless ability to intertwine – especially in the eyes of the consumer. Most importantly, it is pivotal to understand that this observation doesn’t merely stemfrom our own changing habits or speculation –it’s all in the numbers, repeatedly proven through surveys and research analyses. Simply put, TV and digital media act as multidisciplinary entities that clearly grow in parallel paths, not at the expense of one another. While the role of media agencies is, of course, intended to be perpetually redefined and redeveloped – so as to ensure that we keep pace with changing times and societies – we must, nevertheless, always remember to effectively gauge consumer reaction first, and thus remain a pioneering human understanding resource. “We need to leverage change to generate competitive market advantage and create successful campaigns that reflect an allencompassing user experience – and also stay true to the brand philosophy. Integrated thinking is key to taking media disciplines to new depths – and enabling a future where traditional and digital platforms not solely coexist, but also thrive together. As industry leaders, it is imperative that we play our part in breaking down ■ barriers and rethinking all media forms.

ADVERTORIAL

eaded by Wassim Daniel -who

On launching during a critical time

has previously held the posi-

of cost-cutting and shrinking budgets

tions of chief operating officer and

for both the local and regional ad-

managing director of FP7 at Middle

vertising markets, Daniel says he is

East Communications Network, and

a firm believer in Lebanon’s position

of regional communication director

as a growing market and a creative

at Publicis Graphics Dubai- commu-

hub for the Levant and GCC regions.

nication agency People was set up

“Lebanon is a tough market, and we

in both Lebanon and Qatar back in

know some agencies have been serving

January 2012. “In Qatar, we have the

clients for almost a decade here. But

know-how through our sister digital

we still think new blood is needed in

agency Xpert Solutions, which has

the country, and this is evidenced by

is, just as its name indicates, “people,

been there since 2005, and needed

the still growing network of boutique

not fancy slogans. And we are counting

to be complemented by a specialized

agencies. There is a lot of good adver-

on the educated clients to be smart

communication agency, People,” ex-

tising on the local front, but also a lot

in choosing their agencies, and not

plains Daniel, now general manager at

of mediocre-quality work on billboards,

be fascinated by the nice offices and

People. The agency currently counts

and even on TV. Qatar, on the other

big spaces”.

twenty employees - twelve based in

hand, is a natural market for us in the

People is an independent agency

Lebanon and eight in Qatar- handling,

GCC region, and needless to say it is

that will provide 360-degree commu-

in Qatar, the Qatar Football Associa-

still booming. The Fifa 2022 bid win

nication services for clients, because,

tion and Al-Ahli Hospital accounts,

and the Qatar National Vision 2030

says Daniel, “old days of integration

and in Lebanon the Banque du Liban

will only solidify that ,” says Daniel,

of services are back. You cannot but

and Trillium Development accounts.

adding that People’s solid investment

be 360 nowadays.”

PEOPLE Advertorial.indd 1

12/18/12 11:03 AM

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | DEPARTMENTS

Media Work

UM and Lancôme pull creative outdoor stunt Last October, cosmetics and skin care brand Lancôme and media agency Universal Media, resolute to set the brand apart from the Lebanese outdoor mess and clutter for its biggest perfume launch of the year, “La Vie Est Belle” (Life Is Beautiful), decided to freeze 26 LED panels scattered around Beirut and Mount Lebanon, covering the capital’s main axes and spreading from Downtown. The freeze

38 I Communicate Levant

took place on Friday, October 5, at 4 pm sharp, coinciding with the highest traffic timing of the week. The panels remained frozen for the eight consecutive hours that followed up until 12 am and into the next day, displaying the revealer campaign of “La Vie Est Belle”, which featured Lancôme international brand ambassador Julia Roberts along with the new perfume bottle. According to the team behind the campaign, the tough task lied in persuading outdoor

suppliers to dedicate their spaces for only Lancôme for eight consecutive hours, the frozen LEDs normally serving a total of 202 clients who booked some 93,600 spots that were removed for Lancôme’s revealer. The revealer campaign followed a one-week teaser campaign, which ran across the same LEDs, featuring only the “La Vie Est Belle” line in white font to a black backdrop, an ironic yet hopeful non-branded message that struck a chord with

Lebanese drivers amid the local and neighboring political tension. The entirety of the campaign ran alongside a two-fold TV campaign; a 25-second teaser TVC sponsored LBCi prime time talk show “Ahla Jalseh” for three days – using the same outdoor teaser visual – and four more days, only showing Julia Roberts’ face, and was followed by thirty- and forty five- second revealers that were released across local TV stations.

“I haven’t turned the lights on for three weeks.

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SEPTEMBER DEC 2012/JAN 2011 2013 | DEPARTMENTS | DEPARTMENTS

Regional Work

Al Ain Zoo Zarafa Cafe: Come Chill at the Zarafa Cafe Advertising Agency: Y&R, Abu Dhabi, UAE Creative Director: ZorZi El Hoyek Art Directors: Sunil Das, ZorZi El Hoyek Copywriters: Avinash Subramanian, Charbel Moukhaiber Retoucher: Sunil Das

RadioShack Pepper Spray: Buy 0ne Keep Your Virginity Advertising Agency: AW, Cairo, Egypt Creative Director/Art Director: Ahmed Wahid Copywriter: Wael Khairy

DU: Add Life to Life Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett, Dubai, UAE Director: Anders Hallberg DOP: Jens Maasboel Executive Creative Director: Peter Bidenko Creative Director: John Smeddle Agency Producer: Anju Purushot Executive Producer: Andrea Ciarla Producer: Antonio Sabatella Production Company: Filmmaster MEA Productions Post-Production: Optix Digital Pictures Editor: David Zavadescu Composer: Reiner Erlings These ads (and more) can be found at adsoftheworld.com

40 I Communicate Levant

DEPARTMENTS | DEC 2012/JAN 2013

Blogosphere D

are we say that Lebanon’s Independence Day arouses less excitement each passing year? Normally, we would steer clear from such cheap shot, sexual innuendos, but not this year. Not when Lebanon just celebrated its 69th independence anniversary. And, hey, we were not the only ones; only recently, online flyers stating “69 years of Independence and still in the same position” poked fun at the national holiday. Worse, Citymall’s seaside façade, covered with a visual of a Lebanese flag serving as a

price tag – not very far off from the truth – wishing citizens a “happy independence sale”, and international pop star Jennifer Lopez holding a Lebanese flag during her Dubai concert shouting “Dubai” at an Emirati crowd, did little to downplay the irony of it all; no wonder the Lebanese people are confused as to whether they should take it all in their stride, or in good humor. Our bloggers? Well, they take it all in. Period. And dish it all out. Period.

For legal reasons, Gino from Gino’s blog had to test both patience and self-restraint when he and other bloggers were sued by Joe Maalouf, host of MTV’s EntaHorr (you are free) for bashing him over his homophobic slurs. Now, Gino is speaking out on the absurd lawsuit that led to nowhere; and he’s not holding back… http://ginosblog.com/2012/11/21/ joe-maaloufs-lawsuit-againstthis-blog-has-been-scrapped/

When NowLebanon pulled a piece criticizing its rumored funder ex-PM Saad Hariri, the blogosphere raised concerns on a media model in Lebanon that would secure editorial integrity and independency; the online news outlet republished the piece along with an apologetic explanation. Lebanon Spring’s Zak explains why we should give some credit to NowLebanon. http://lebanonspring.com

You wouldn’t expect a major real estate developer to respond like a five-year-old against big meanies questioning the size of its social media numbers, but Sayfco Holding did just that. On Twitter. Bloggers had their fun with the disastrous tweet exchange. Rasha from Lebanese Voices likes to call it “Sayfiasco”. “Welcome to the wall of shame,” she says. http://blkbtrfli.wordpress. com/2012/11/08/sayfco-holdingsocial-media-madness/

Not only did supermarket chain Spinneys’ alleged unethical treatment of employees lead to a protest in November (which strangely turned into a proSpinneys “loyalty” campaign), but its recent campaign struck a wrong chord with Brofessional Review’s admin nc. That is one bad PR month. http://brofessionalreview. com/2012/11/18/spinneysjuggling-its-brand-position/

Plenty of individual efforts were made by banks and other startups to make mobile payment work in Lebanon, yet none have succeeded on a national scale. According to Youssef from Joe’s Box, mobile service “Pay BySimba” promises to do just that. Here’s to hoping for paperless purchases in 2013. http://www.joesbox.com/2012/11/ mobile-payments-coming-soonto-lebanon.html

Brofessional Review attended TEDxBeirut 2012. And in case you didn’t, Admin I gives us a pretty honest review of how it went. It could easily be summarized by the blog’s own conclusion: “All we need is, again, less bullshit!” http://brofessionalreview. com/2012/11/20/tedx-beirut2012-reviewed/

Communicate Levant I 41

DEC 2012/JAN 2013 | OFF THE RECORD

The Dish Blind carbon copy He seemed confused from the get-go as to who his intended recipients were, sending out “Dear Sir/Madam” e-mail intros left and right (do people still do that?). But the worst was yet to come for Mohamed Fazal Noor from “Special Projects” at Mosaic Live Communications, when he sent out his regret note, titled “RFP / Tender for Social Media Services – SMM – 34310”, for passing on the proposals of practically all digital agencies based in Dubai (wait for it), most of whom never even pitched for the job (it gets worse), copying all of them in full sight of each other’s e-mail addresses. We don’t need to spell it out for you: it is your classic send-out-by-mistake-proposal-refusalsfor-agencies-that-never-pitchedand-expose-those-that-did-to-theircompetitors slip-up. Isn’t it? Oh well, let’s not be too harsh. Our “special agent” probably got confused with all the acronyms and code names; Mosaic Live Communications FZ LLC just needs some basic ABCs on BCCs before mass-rejecting RFPs for SMM-34310s. You know, just a thought. Analyze that No, we were not thrown off by the bad English (believe us, we’ve grown immune to that), but rather the content of a statement made by a Bahraini political opposition party regarding a police crackdown which caused the death of four civilians and a police officer. The government blamed the opposition, the opposition retorted with a confusing response; heck, this party is not even sure the whole incident happened. “Due to the absence of independent human rights and media parties, it is difficult to clearly detect the truth behind incidents that are said to have occurred, weather speaking of the actual occurrence or who stand behind it, in case they did occur,” said its statement. Of course, it goes on condemning or supporting the violent clashes that occurred or didn’t, regardless of who was or wasn’t behind them. ASDA: Ancient Sexist Dinosaur Advertising Okay, that’s a cheap shot, trying to decode British supermarket chain AS-

42 I Communicate Levant

DA’s name into a well-fitted description of its recent campaign “Behind every great Christmas there’s mum”, which showed a sexy mama running around in preparations for the Christmas holidays, while the rest of her family did, well, nothing. Thirty-three viewers complained about the ad to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority watchdog, some calling the advertisers “dinosaurs”, others even unsure whether it was insulting to men or women – serious stuff right there, the Fathers’ Rights Organization even talked of a possible “turkey sit-in”. We, on the other hand,

Poet’s corner Introducing the scent of innocence A burst of deep, tart blackberry juice and sparkling grapefruit, blending with the freshness of just-gathered bay. Softened with delicate flowers, resting on a brambly base of vetiver and cedarwood. Delicately bracing in our bath and body range. And verdant in the Home Candle. Luscious worn solo or spritz with Lime Basil & Mandarin for added vibrancy with a peppery, citrus zest. Layering with Nectarine Blossom & Honey tempers the sweetness with a green, herbaceous edge. . An excerpt from the Blackberry & Bay Collection by Jo Malone London press release

are confused as to how far from the truth and how insulting the ad actually was to ASDA shoppers. But, personal opinions aside, ASDA, you know better; before deciding on your target audience and message for a multimillion-pound campaign, you need to situate it in time, you know, decadewise. And, on that note, here’s another cheap shot: Hey ASDA, Mad Men just called; they want their advertising back. Ba Dum Tss. Fear factor Insure ME, what were you thinking? You know an image of the fire that had broke out the day before in a 34-storey Dubai residential tower doesn’t have the oomph you need to scare unsuspecting consumers into buying your services, or ad for that matter. You

could have thrown in some images of corpses in there, you know, casualties, traumatized children crying, their elders mourning the loss of their souvenir boxes, you know, the ole “pouring salt on wounds” kinda advertising – wait, that’s new. You might be protecting Emirati houses from accidental fires, but you sure as fiery hell burned down your own brand, and burned out advertising fear appeal while at it. On second thought, you could try using your own services to cover that mess, although rescue chances are zero to none. You’re even worse than those Globaleye International Wealth solutions folks. At least they had the decency to

use a wide-angle image of the same fire, romantic feel and all. Ah, who are we kidding? Potayto, Potahto!

D P(oo) S Most of you would think this is by pure luck, or hard luck, but our print expert eyes know better about subliminal imagery: a Dayquil/ Nyquil combination leads to bodily elimination of chocolate milk-like matter, helping to “rebuild muscle, so you’re less likely to feel sore the next day.” A little lavender should kill any uninvited odors resulting from this “power” – make that bowel – “move”; at least that is what this double-page layout suggests. Shameless health tricks indeed.

Communicate Levanrt cannot guarantee the accuracy of the rumors, innuendo and idle gossip that appear on this page. Send your anonymous Dish tips to editor@communicate.vg