Campaign ME awards

Oye! Where was my invitation? I mean, i think i deserve it, after all i still write for (not to) the publication from time to time. Does that mean I am not on the A-LIST anymore?! (shriek)

yallah .. what to do :)

Anyhoo, the much anticipated Campaign ME awards winners are out. The guys at strategiy.com were at the dinner and covered the whole shebang. Here is the winners list from their coverage of the event:

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

Advertising Agency of the Year
Face to Face

(Can't deny i was surprised to see that, especially following the this whole air arabia copycat frenzy)

Television Campaign of the Year
Gold – Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai for Crest
Silver – JWT Riyadh for Domino’s Pizza
Bronze - Leo Burnett Cairo for Mobinil Mercedes Raffle promotion

(umm...)

Print Campaign of the Year
Gold – Tonic for Sony Microvault
Silver – TBWA\RAAD for Whiskas
Bronze – JWT Bahrain for Zayani Motors

Outdoor Campaign of the Year
Gold – JWT Dubai for One TV
Bronze - TBWA\RAAD for Emirates Today
Bronze – JWT Dubai for Dubai Autism Centre

(Hey! What about the Emirates Today launch campaign, bronze? The neon sign at the 3rd or 4th interchange had the same headline of the day's newspaper every morning for about a week or two! Who can beat that?)

Radio Campaign of the Year
Silver - Team Y&R Dubai for Radio 1

(I was shocked to see any winners at this category)

Direct Marketing Campaign of the Year
Gold – Wunderman for Microsoft
Silver - Wunderman for Fed Ex
Bronze - Wunderman for Adobe

(You have to give it to Wunderman - these guys do wonders)

Integrated Campaign of the Year
Gold – Lowe Dubai for Axe
Silver – JWT Beirut for Heineken
Bronze - Face to Face for Barbican
Grand Prix – Tonic for Sony Microvault

(Grand Prix award?)

Young Creative of the Year
Avinash Sampath from Saatchi & Saatchi

Dubai Media Agency of the Year
Zenithmedia Cairo

Best Media Plan
Gold – Zenithmedia Cairo for Virgin Megastore
Silver – MindShare Beirut for Heineken
Bronze – Initiative Dubai for Barbican

PR Agency of the Year
Asda’a

(...the MD of Asda'a is on the judging panel, but i am sure objectivity was entertained :) )

PR Event of the Year
Gold - Traccs for Al Baik/Coca-Cola
Bronze – Asda’a for Adidas

(OKAY. Two things here: (1) What ever happened to Red bull Flugtag? That event was amazing, the coverage it generated was unbelievable! And Adidas? The media was ripping asda'a apart after that 'chip in a shoe' event! (2) Strategiy said "Among other winners were ASDA’A who were declared PR Agency of the Year and also won a Silver for their sucessful (typo) PR Campaign for Adidas" - so what did they win, silver or bronze?)

One observation is similar to strategiy's: - what happened to Best Online Campaign award - I would certainly give my vote to a couple of things by Flip media and eworks.

Also, why isn't there a category for PSA (public service announcements/advertising)? My vote goes for the Iraqi campaign.

Maybe the folks at Campaign ME could consider that for next year's awards...