Effie MENA Awards 2014 winners announced

The winners for this year’s Effie MENA Awards have been revealed. Taking place on Wednesday November 19, 2014, at The Meydan Hotel in Dubai, approximately 1,500 invited guests attended to celebrate the campaigns, advertisers and agencies that have had the most measurable impact over the past 12 months.

The Effie MENA Awards 2014 was expanded this year to incorporate 23 classes of achievement; with categories including: ‘Best Youth Marketing Campaign’, ‘Best Use of Social Media’ and ‘Most Effective Agency Network of the Year.’ Corresponding with the rise in the number of categories was an increase in the number of entrants, with submissions 75 percent higher than the previous year. Mediaquest – the media organisers behind the event – noted that the increase in categories and nominations reflects the dynamism of the regional marketing industry and the innovation currently being seen in the sector.

“This year’s Effie Awards were the biggest to date, featuring the largest number of nominations and the greatest number of categories for inclusion,” says Alexandra Hawari, Co-CEO, Mediaquest. “The diversity of marketing forms and approaches that we are now witnessing across the region necessitated the introduction of new classes of achievement in order to fully acknowledge the impact on audiences that have been achieved with unique techniques.”

The evening saw FP7/DXB awarded with an impressive haul of seven Gold Awards, coming first place in six categories, including ‘Best Use of CSR,’ ‘Best Youth Marketing Campaign,’ ‘Banking, Finance & Insurance,’ ‘FMCG,’ ‘Single Media Activation,’ and ‘Brand Experience.’ The organisation’s array of impactful campaigns that had measurably resonated with audiences in the region resulted in it receiving the ‘Most Effective Agency Network of the Year’ title.

Cairo-based Media Direction OMD was awarded the ‘Best Use of Social Media’ award for their Barakat and Super Teta campaign, which was conducted on behalf of Vodaphone Egypt. JWT DXB and Carat DXB’s ‘I’m Coming Home’ campaign for Microsoft Mobile Devices saw the agency awarded in the ‘Telecommunications, Mobiles & Internet’ category, while JWT Cairo and Starcom MediaVest Group – also from Cairo – impressed the judges to win the ‘New Product’ category with their ‘Cinnamint’ campaign for Mondelez Egypt Foods.

All of the 23 category winners are now eligible to participate in the Effie Global Effectiveness Index. The scheme incorporates data from 40 worldwide Effie Award competitions to determine those in the industry that have had the most measurable success on a global scale.