MullenLowe MENA has won the Campaign of the Year – Middle East & Africa at the New York Festivals AME Awards for its ‘Fixing the bAIs’ campaign created for Aurora50, a leading diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) impact agency. The campaign was also honoured with a Gold Tower, two Silver, and a Bronze award.
The campaign was ideated around the objective of highlighting Artificial Intelligence (AI)’s potential to revolutionise our world, while also addressing the challenge that AI is not always intelligent when it comes to gender representation. To break this bias, MullenLowe MENA used AI to fix AI in this campaign.
The winning campaign addressed biased datasets in AI that perpetuate gender stereotypes, which undermines women’s representation and opportunities, and undoes years of workplace progress. Aurora50 developed a databank of inclusive images of women, removing gender metadata to prevent bias.
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Impact and effectiveness of the MullenLowe MENA campaign
The campaign contributed to the passage of the EU’s AI Act, the first regulation deeming biased datasets unacceptable, adopted by 52 countries in the European Parliament.
Recognised globally as a benchmark for tackling gender bias in AI, the campaign received praise from institutions like Ceimia and Mila and set a world record for the most pledges received for a gender equality workplace initiative in 24 hours.
“We are incredibly honored to have ‘Fixing the bAIs’ recognised with the prestigious AME Campaign of the Year Award for the Middle East & Africa. This achievement is a testament to how real work, grounded in real data, can make a real difference. The campaign not only addresses pressing issues but also offers a robust solution, giving hope to underrepresented genders, races, colors, and ages in professional spaces,” said Prerna Mehra, Creative Director, and Head of Art and Design, MullenLowe MENA.
CREDITS:
Client: Aurora
Lead Agency: MullenLowe MENA
Mounir Harfouche – Chief Executive Officer
Matthew Butterworth – Managing Director
Paul Banham – Chief Creative Officer
Prerna Mehra – Creative Director & Head of Art
Dan Zecchinelli – Associate Creative Director
Belén Arregui – Senior Copywriter
Zahid Gill – Motion Graphic Designer
Pravesh Kumar Pandey – Senior VFX & Motion Graphic Artist
Manahil Azeem – Designer
Daniyal Lotia – 3D & AI Artist
Aleks Pawlik – Account Director
Dennis Lopez – Co-Founder & Director – Bluamoeba
Muhammad Siddique – Web Developer – Bluamoeba
Peter Jacob – Managing Director – Current Global
Jude Lahham – Senior Manager – Current Global
Diana Wilde – CMO & Marketing Director – Aurora50
Fardeen Veljee – Marketing Manager – Aurora50
Leo Burnett Middle East, Saatchi & Saatchi Middle East claim honours
The 2024 AME Grand Jury also awarded Leo Burnett Middle East two Gold Towers for the innovative ‘ProtecTasbih’ campaign, which shed light on the world’s first sanitising prayer beads.
These 100 per cent recyclable beads were distributed to 65,000 guests on SAUDIA Airlines’ flights and lounges en route to Mecca, with an additional 35,000 distributed across the city. The campaign also earned two Silver Towers and one Bronze.
Saatchi & Saatchi Middle East, also took home honours for its creative excellence, further showcasing the regional impact on this year’s global competition.
The results from the AME Grand Jury sessions are compiled into an annual rankings brief, The AME Report. This creative ranking system, based on points awarded for winning entries, highlights the top-performing agencies and brands from this year’s competition.
