MENA marketers honored in top marketing awards

Companies from across the MENA region were honored for excellence in marketing effectiveness during the recent 2010 GEMAS Effie MENA Awards held in Dubai recently. Nearly 900 marketing and media professionals attended the glittering gala presentation ceremony, organized by Mediaquest Corp. which saw a host of regional and international brands vie for the region’s top marketing awards.

Star of the show, however, was Standard Chartered Bank which earned the gold trophy in the Banking & Finance category for its social media campaign, UAEfoodexplorer.com.

The bank also scooped the added bonus of the most coveted award of the night, the GEMAS Effie MENA Grand Prix, for accruing the highest number votes across the 13 categories.

The GEMAS Effie Awards unites two major initiatives: the global Effie and the GEMAS, the GMR Effectiveness in Marketing Awards launched in 2003 to mark the magazine’s 10th anniversary.
Launched to recognize, educate and encourage effectiveness among the marketing communications industry they celebrate great marketing ‘Ideas that Work.’

Chairman of the 15-strong judging panel, which comprised regional and international marketing experts, was managing director of adagency MAC DDB Qatar, Hubert Boulos.

“Had it been a wine, the GEMAS Effie 2010 would be a great year. Most of the winners are on par with the best global standards,” he said.

“What in the past was an exception has now become standard. Indeed almost every single GEMAS Effie relied on engaging consumers in a genuine and sometimes very entertaining way.”

Other gold winners included Henkel Arabia for Arwa3 Abaya Persil campaign and Beirut florist Exotica for its Valentine’s Day Make the first move promotion. Both companies triumphed in the non-food FMCG category.

Bahraini telco Batelco carried off the Best Use of CSR Gold Award for its eco-friendly initiative, The Notepad. And it was a double whammy for The Saudi Snack Food Co which won two golds for its Jammers versus the Jammers for its Doritos campaign in the Best Youth Marketing category and the Food & Beverages FMCG category.
GEMAS Marketer of the Year was Boutros Boutros, Divisional Senior VP Corporate Communications – Emirates Group who was honored for his contribution in helping to develop Emirates from a local into a truly global brand.

Commenting on the event Alexandre Hawari, co-CEO of Mediaquest Corp. said:
“The quality of this year’s entries and the subsequent shortlist is a powerful testament to the superb quality of work being produced by marketers working in the Middle East. We’re looking forward to even more entries and a much tougher contest next year.”

Hawari also thanked the following companies for their valued support: The main sponsors Choueiri Group and Kassab; strategic partner, Cadillac along with category sponsors: Barbican, Philips, Al Marai, Yahoo Maktoob and Anayou.

The event took place in association with Emirates Printing Press and was independently monitored by KPMG to ensure full Effie compliance and transparency.

The GEMAS Effie MENA Awards were launched to recognize, educate and encourage effectiveness among the marketing communications industry across the Middle East.