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Hill+Knowlton Strategies wins at MENA Young Lions PR

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PRCA MENA has announced Hill+Knowlton Strategies’ team of Mohamad Saber and Peter Hermina as the winners of the MENA Young Lions PR Competition for their ‘Half a Million Dollars’ campaign. The third year of the competition saw over 28 entries from teams of two, all creating effective and creative campaigns as per a brief from Education for Employment. Sponsored by the International Communications Consultancy (ICCO), the team will go on to represent the region at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity that will take place from June 17 – 21, 2018.

“It was inspiring to see the amount of passion, creativity and energy being put into the PRCA MENA Young Lions entries,” says Alex Malouf, Corporate Communications and Reputation Manager – Arabian Peninsula, Procter & Gamble, and part of the judging panel for the awards. “The short-listed entries combined sharp insights, innovative strategies and extensive use of measurement. The finalists made our decision very tough at the end of the day and I’m confident that the PRCA MENA Young Lions winners will do the region justice in Cannes.”

Leanne Foy, General Manager, PRCA MENA, adds “I would like to congratulate Mohamed and Peter on their win. We wish the pair the best of luck in Cannes where I am sure they will do the industry and the UAE proud.”

Shortlist for Young PR Lions MENA 2018 announced

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PRCA MENA has released the shortlist for this year’s Young PR Lions MENA competition to find the best young PR professional in the region. Eight teams have been shortlisted to win the accolade this year and one of them will be heading to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to take part in the international competition from June 17 – 21, 2018. The shortlisted teams include BPG Cohn & Wolfe, Edelman, Golin MENA, Hill + Knowlton Strategies, Q Communications and Weber Shandwick.

On March 19, the shortlisted teams will be asked to deliver a five minute presentation explaining their PR campaign and the winning team will be announced on March 20.

Geometry Dubai welcomes new Executive Creative Director

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Brand experience agency, Geometry has promoted Julian Hernandez to the role of Executive Creative Director of its Dubai office. Having joined Geometry in 2015, Julian worked as Executive Creative Director of the agency’s Hong Kong office, where he mentored the creative team and led the creative output across its list brands including Coca-Cola, Huawei and Pernod Ricard. In his new role, he will focus on creativity with an emphasis on genuine local insight to shape the agency’s new approach to shopper marketing.

“I’d like to see more culturally relevant work coming out of our office and the use of non-traditional channels to influence consumers in unconventional ways,” says Hernández. “The old ‘surprise and delight’ approach has never been more valid – even in our complex region – so that’s what we’re aiming for across a wider scope of touchpoints. To do so, we need to surprise consumers with brand experiences that enrich their lives, rather than interrupt them.”

Momentum/CAI appoints new Managing Director

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Momentum, part of Middle East Communications Network (MCN) has promoted Lina Fateen to the role of Managing Director of its Cairo office, Momentum/CAI. Lina joined MCN in 2002 as a part of FP7/CAI and most recently held the role of Deputy Managing Director at Momentum, where she worked on relaunching the agency as a full independent brand experience agency. In her new role, she will report to MCN Egypt’s CEO, Sahar El Zoghby and lead her team to produce award winning work to drive clients’ business award-winning building a brand reputation and setting standards of excellence for future openings of Momentum across the MCN network.

“My career at MCN has been a fantastic journey of valuable insights and experiences enabling me to build and foster a successful organisation with the right people here at Momentum/CAI,” says Lina. “And now with the continued opportunity to lead this company, I am excited to unravel the next steps in developing strong synergies with our clients for further award winning success.”

New Executive Creative Director at Tonic International

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Dubai-based independent creative agency, Tonic International has promoted Joao Camacho to the role of Executive Creative Director. Having joined the agency in 2016, Joao most recently held the role of Creative Director, where he restructured the creative team and transformed it into a high-level competitive department. In his new role, he will work on developing the digital aspects of the agency to build stronger, more loyal relationships between brands and its consumers, utilising the data as well as analytics at hand to drive the agency’s creativity.

“Creativity is not a service, it is a product,” says Joao. “I firmly believe that by treating creativity as a product, it sets the tone of an agency and truly accelerates its clients’ businesses. The services that an agency provides with creativity are a given, the way to do better is a combination of creative factors and discipline.”

House of Comms appoints new Head of PR

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Integrated communications agency, House of Comms has promoted Tryphena Greenwood to the role of Head of PR. Having joined House of Comms in 2016 as Senior Account Director, Tryphena was instrumental in developing the business by bringing in significant accounts including government, travel and tourism. She also helped in streamlining the process around recruitment and daily operations of the agency. In her new role, she will report directly to the managing partners and run the PR division of the business.

“When we appointed Tryph, nearly two years ago, we knew we had found ourselves a solid, experienced and extremely dedicated leader,” says Kaja Evans, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, House of Comms. “At such a senior level, it is rare to find someone who is such an all-rounder in terms of skillset but Tryph brings stellar new business abilities, wider business acumen, excellent account handling skills, solid training experience in order to develop and grow the team and buckets of creativity. Her promotion to Head of PR, is much deserved and we look forward to continuing to develop the integrated offering of the agency through Tryph and our senior team.”