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Grazia Middle East goes live

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Women’s weekly publication, Grazia Middle East, part of ITP Publishing Group will be going live at Dubai Festival City from November 4 – 12, 2016. The editorial team will host a week-long event at the mall, giving visitors an opportunity to experience the different elements of magazine creation for their special live issue.

“This partnership with Grazia is ground-breaking, as for the first time ever we are allowing readers, fans and visitors the chance to be a part of the production of one of their favourite magazines,” says Steven Cleaver, Director, Festival City Shopping Malls. “We believe that Festival City is more than just a shopping destination – we are leading from the front by giving people the chance to have unique experiences and create lasting memories. We are delighted to showcase the mall’s new fashion offering and are very much looking forward to seeing the result.”

Alison Tay, Editor-in-Chief, Grazia Middle East adds, “I’m so excited we’re launching such a pioneering event for the region through the Grazia Middle East brand. As well as bringing together the region’s best-loved influencers and experts in the fields of fashion, beauty and lifestyle, visitors will be able watch the magazine come to life, alongside our exclusive cover star Alanoud Badr. And for the first time ever in the Middle East, readers will be able to vote their preferred Grazia cover. We can’t wait to see everyone there.”

Trends partners with INSEAD to celebrate Top CEO

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To be held in Dubai on March 30, 2015 the forthcoming Top CEO event, organised by Trends magazine and INSEAD, celebrates the very best in GCC business leadership. The award honours leaders from publicly listed companies, evaluating these companies on the basis of their performance in 2014, when the combined market capitalisation for stock exchanges in the GCC grew to AED3.78 trillion ($1.029 trillion).

Top CEO was established in 2011 to acknowledge industry heads at the helm of growth in the Gulf equities market, which is increasing at a rate of 22% year on year. The program celebrates the business acumen of senior GCC business figures and highlights those individuals who have excelled as leaders for their respective listed organisations. The Top CEO award categories are: The 100 Best Performing Companies and CEOs, The 10 Most Transparent Companies, The Five Best Banks, The Five Best Telecom Companies and The Five Best Consumer Goods Companies.

“Top CEO is a major awards ceremony held to recognise and celebrate the achievements of the region’s leading CEOs,” says Julien Hawari, Co-CEO at Mediaquest, organisers of Top CEO and publishers of Trends. “Along with independent auditors, Trends and INSEAD will ensure the transparency of the process. In addition, Hawkamah – the corporate governance institute – helps us verify that corporate governance criteria have been adhered to. The awards’ stringent and open evaluation procedures make them the foremost leadership awards program in the region and a benchmark for business heads and their companies.”

Mediaquest & C Squared to launch Festival of Media

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Mediaquest has joined with C Squared to launch the first-ever Festival of Media in Dubai. The partnership between two of the region’s leading publishers and events companies will bring the internationally renowned industry awards and networking programme to the city, with the inaugural event scheduled to take place on April 15, 2015.

“The Festival of Media has a well-earned reputation as being one of the foremost marketing and media events in the world and one that celebrates the very best in industry thinking,” says Alexandre Hawari, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Mediaquest. “The Festival comprises a number of components that marks it out as a global leader. These include an awards programme that recognises the very best marketing campaigns, an exhibition that enables vendors to promote initiative to prospective clients and several platforms that provide networking and thought-leader opportunities. In fact, the high quality of discussion and debate at the Festival has led to it becoming known as ‘the Davos of advertising.’

Launched in Venice in 2007, the Festival of Media Global was created to highlight key developments in the media sphere, such as consumer trends, branded content, advertising and social media. The Awards element was added in 2009, establishing the Festival as a leading media event on the international marketing calendar. The Festival of Media MENA will add to the pantheon of global Festival of Media events, which currently take place in Rome, Singapore and Miami.

Charlie Crowe, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of C Squared adds, “The Festival of Media is more than just an event, it is a movement. Since 2007, we have not only been reflecting the changes taking place in media, but we have also been part of shaping this change. After our partnership with our friends at Mediaquest, we now have the Festival of Media in four regions and we look forward to inviting media professionals and advertisers across the MENA to be part of the conversation.”

The Festival of Media Global Awards is one of the world’s largest advertising ceremonies, attracting work from more than 40 countries. The awards are judged by a senior panel of media agencies and advertisers and are open to all who are involved in advertising. The MENA edition of the Awards is expected to attract a multitude of entries that reflect the diverse array of media operators producing high-quality work in the pan-Arab region. Alongside the awards programme, The Festival of Media MENA’s one-day conference is set to feature seven to nine global media leaders who have been invited to offer their thoughts and expertise on a number of topical and pertinent MENA media subjects.

Effie MENA Awards 2014 winners announced

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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.