Ninth edition of the awards programme took place against a backdrop of mounting competition in the marketing industry

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 22 November 2017:  The winners of this year’s MENA Effie Awards have been announced during a ‘Great Gatsby’ themed awards ceremony that took place on 15th November at the Armani/Pavilion in Downtown Dubai. 2,000 top marketing and advertising professionals gathered to celebrate the best marketing in the Middle East. 

This year’s expert panel of judges was tasked with assessing a total of 293 shortlisted entries across 24 categories, against a backdrop of mounting competition in the marketing industry.

Alexandre Hawari, Co-CEO of Mediaquest – the organiser of the MENA Effie Awards – commented: “2017 saw tighter budgets, increasing pressure to deliver revenue and growing competition in the industry, but despite this high-pressure environment, marketing professionals have upped the ante with new levels of innovation, creativity and resourcefulness. This is what we look for in our award-winners, who have all successfully faced the challenges by finding ever more strategic and targeted ways to reach audiences and deliver a solid return on investment.”

Winning an Effie has become a global symbol of achievement and this year’s prestigious ‘Grand Prix’ went to FP7/CAI for the ‘You're Not Accounted For’ campaign it developed for EGBank. Other top accolades included ‘Marketer of the Year’ for Ms. Ghada Khoury of Sephora, ‘Most Effective Media Office of the Year’ for PHD Dubai, ‘Most Effective Agency Network of the Year’ for FP7 and ‘Most Effective Advertising Office of the Year’ for FP7 Dubai. FP7/CAI won two golds in a new category this year, ‘Renaissance’, for its Labanita ‘They're Just Cows - The Comeback of Sawsan & Souad’ campaign and EGBank ‘You're Not Accounted For’ campaign. 

Reflecting the ever-broadening marketing landscape, the MENA Effie Awards 2017 programme included a wide range of industry-specific categories, as well as categories for ‘Social Good’, ‘Shopper Marketing’ and ‘Youth Marketing’. Entrants were also encouraged to showcase their marketing and branding innovation in categories such as ‘New Products & Services’, ‘Media Idea’, ‘Brand Experience’, ‘Branded Content’, ‘Media Partnership Activation’ and ‘Seasonal Marketing’. The full list of 2017 winners can be accessed via the awards website.

Hawari added: “We would like to congratulate all of this year’s entrants and winners for their outstanding efforts, and thank our judges for generously lending their time and expertise to assessing what has been the most impressive range of entries to date.”

The MENA Effie Awards aim to establish a gold standard of creative marketing brilliance in the region and is being generously supported this year by Choueiri, Main Sponsor; Al Aan TV and Dubai Media City, Strategic Sponsors; ATL, Group Plus, Hills Advertising, Insydo, IPSOS, Kwanko, and MMP, Category Sponsors; LMTD, Creative & Digital Partner; MadHouse, Media Audit & Consultancy Partner; IBM, Marketing Technology Partner; IABC, The Marketing Society and Warc, Association Partners; Communicate, Gulf Marketing Review and The Media Network, Media Partners; Cicero & Bernay Public Relations, Official PR Partner; UPP, Official Print Partner; and KMPG, Independent Observer.