Campaign Middle East hosted the third edition of its Agency of the Year Middle East Awards, celebrating excellence in advertising, marketing, media, creative, PR and communications. The winners were revealed during a ceremony on 12 December at The Westin Mina Seyahi, Dubai.
This year’s winners showcased exceptional achievements, from business growth to championing diversity. They set new industry benchmarks by reimagining their operating models with greater agility, prioritising smaller teams, profit-sharing initiatives, and cultures centred on equity and recognition.
A jury of 29 diverse, sector-agnostic client-side marketers judged the awards in multiple rounds, carefully audited at every touchpoint by a PwC team, under the parent company MediaSense . The editorial and commercial teams of Campaign Middle East were not involved in the judging process.
This iteration of the awards witnessed a record participation of more than 91 unique agencies from across the region, marking a 75 per cent year-on-year increase compared with entries received in the previous edition of the awards. Out of these 91 participating agencies, 75 unique agencies were shortlisted for awards, with winners announced across 36 different categories.
Delivering the welcome address at the Agency of the Year Middle East Awards, Ian Fairservice, Managing Partner and Group Editor-in-Chief of Motivate Media Group, said, “Apart from growth in the sheer number of entries, we have also seen much more diversity, with teams from several countries in the region vying for the Best Agency trophies. We are also pleased to see many more independent and new agencies participating. Despite the global challenges faced in 2024, the brand, marketing and creative industry has been resilient. Tonight we celebrate trailblazers who have redefined success in our region.”
The crème de la crème of the industry turned up with force and flair to Campaign Middle East’s Agency of the Year Middle East Awards 2024, under the Motivate Media Group and Haymarket banners.
More than 400 people from agencies across the region attended the awards, with many flying in from other countries with the hope of holding a trophy aloft. Agencies from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Oman, Egypt and Iraq were recognised for their business successes.
Addressing the attendees during the opening address, Nadeem Quraishi, Publisher of Campaign Middle East, said, “It is extremely overwhelming to see a room packed with old friends, colleagues and partners. Thank you everyone for attending and making Campaign’s Agency of the Year Awards Middle East a resounding success. This shows not only the success and strength of these awards but also the success of the dynamic and strong agency model in this region. So, congratulations to each and everyone in this room who has contributed to the success of our resilient industry.”
All the winners were announced on stage at the awards ceremony, without any winners being revealed in advance. The judging process was so stringent that some categories were dropped altogether, where the submissions didn’t make the minimum score for a shortlist.
Marwa Kaabour, Chair of Judges for Campaign Middle East‘s Agency of the Year awards, and the Chief Marketing Officer at Al Masaood Group, said, “What stood out to us as judges wasn’t just the creativity of the work — it was the focus on the purpose. Agencies across the region have stepped up to encourage brands to serve the communities they touch and to pay back to their society. We’ve seen beautiful CSR work paying tribute to the elderly, paying tribute to mothers, paying tribute to many to those who lost their villages and their homes due to floods and typhoons, and raised awareness on mental health, and this was beautiful. Thank you!”
Here’s a look at the agencies, teams and people who stood out and a special word of thanks to the sponsors who partnered with Campaign Middle East on a highly successful event: Criteo, DMS, MMS, Pixis, Seedtag, The Vantage, Yango Ads, Huda Beauty, MediaSense and African+Eastern.
Agency of the Year Middle East Awards winners 2024
PEOPLE, TEAMS AND CULTURE CATEGORIES
Account Person of the Year
Stuart Randall, Publicis Groupe – One Team Stellantis
This award recognised a professional responsible for client account management who has displayed the most innovation, skills and enthusiasm in bringing the benefits of advertising to their clients’ businesses, resulting in lasting business relationships.
Arabic Copywriter of the Year
Khalid Maina, Publicis Groupe – Leo Burnett KSA
This award recognised an entry that not only set the standard for creative excellence but also raised the bar for innovative and disruptive ideas, working for more than a single brand to blend local and culturally relevant content with creative storytelling.
Agency Producer of the Year
Jack Wilkinson, Create Production
This award recognised a professional who displayed the most innovation, skills and enthusiasm when executing agencies’ campaign ideas.
Judges considered how agency producers brought difficult executions to life, contributed to the most creative campaigns and facilitated long-lasting relationships with clients in the process.
Strategic Planner of the Year
Adrian Mutescu, Publicis Groupe – Saatchi & Saatchi UAE
This award, which needs no introduction, was handed to Adrian Mutescu of Saatchi & Saatchi UAE from Publicis Groupe. Tahaab Rais, Chief Strategy Officer and Film Director at Publicis Groupe picked up the award on Mutescu’s behalf at the awards ceremony.
Outstanding Women in Advertising or Media of the Year
Jennifer Fischer, Publicis Groupe Middle East
This award had a lot of excellent entries, and our judges shortlisted seven, with Publicis Groupe’s Jennifer Fischer being chosen as the Outstanding Woman in Advertising or Media of the Year.
Talent Management Individual & Team of the Year
Claudinia Harper & Majida Tabch, TBWA\RAAD
According to the judges, the winning entry was well-organised, detailing each initiative and its alignment with agency goals, and clearly showcasing how the talent team drives value across the organization. The judges were impressed by several initiatives launched to tackle the old school way of working at agencies, and the effort made to create a workplace where employees can focus on mental health and overall wellbeing.
Corporate Comms & Marketing Team or Individual of the Year
Felicity Stokes, Maram Ali & Katie Taylor, GroupM MENA
This award recognised success in addressing issues related to reputation, brand-building, corporate campaign execution and media relations. Judges picked the shortlists and the winner based on ability to reinforce the communications’ role in the agency and the C-suite; showcase impact on the agency’s broader reputation; creativity and originality of programmes; the strategy and execution of those programmes, and their impact on revenues and profits.
Influencer Management Team of the Year
LPS Influencer Management Team
This award recognised an influencer management team within an agency that has driven the most revenue and growth from existing or new business, and that has regularly hit and surpassed the KPIs supplied by the clients, delivering good ROI for its clients.
Commenting on the winning submission, the judges said that the entry shared impressive examples of gaming and AI advancements, and is clearly ‘ahead of the game’, especially with their focus on live streaming influencers. Their in-house tech for real-time brand results and their ability to create creators out of streamers is impressive, the judges added.
Creative Team of the Year
Farhan Siddiqui & Paurav Shah, Publicis Groupe – Leo Burnett Middle East
This award recognised the team that has not only set the standard for creative excellence but has also raised the bar in terms of delivering on innovation and disruptive ideas. To pick the shortlists and the winners, the judges reviewed the quality of the work produced, how it was received by the industry, as well as the team’s commitment to diversity or social initiatives.
New Business Development Person of the Year & Team of the Year
Mario Soufia & Nadine Essinawi, GroupM MENA
This award honoured those who have built and developed a new account or accounts, or expanded the services of established client relationships. Judges evaluated achievements against objectives, client profiles and disciplines, new business wins and retained accounts, client growth, and solid examples of leadership in new business development initiatives that contributed to the success and financial growth of the agency.
Strategy Leader of the Year
Tahaab Rais, Publicis Groupe MENAT
The award recognised an individual who has made the biggest impact on clients’ businesses through the development of breakthrough consumer strategies, brand and communication strategies, as well as innovation and commercial strategy development.
Creative Leader of the Year
Ali Rez, IMPACT BBDO
This award recognised a Chief Creative Officers who have overseen the best work.
The judges shortlisted the finalists and chose the award winner based on the individual’s contribution to staff development initiatives, particularly their involvement in nurturing young talent, and how their work has contributed to the role or image of advertising in the region.
Head of Agency of the Year
Bassel Kakish, Publicis Groupe MENAT
This award recognised a leader who has gone the extra mile to build their agency or network within the industry.
To finalise the shortlist and the winner in this category, judges focused on achievements against objectives; the size of the agency’s local operation; client profile and disciplines; new business wins; client retention; and personal involvement in staff development initiatives, among other criteria.
The winning entry impressed the judges because of the leader’s people-focused response to the regional crisis, a clear focus on numbers, and for making positive contributions to the community.
Best Place to Work
Middle East Communication Networks (MCN)
Campaign Middle East created this category to recognise an agency that has gone above and beyond the norm to foster the most productive and rewarding working environment possible.
Judges were asked to look at how companies created cultural diversity, cultivated an inspirational vision and provided purpose, balance and career development opportunities for its employees.
Each entrant was asked to provide evidence of high staff engagement, retention and a ‘best in class’ approach when judged against agencies globally.
This new category clearly was well received by the industry, because we not only received a lot of submissions, but the judges also were well impressed by the quality of submissions in this category.
GEOGRAPHY CATEGORIES
Top agencies from across the region were honoured for being the best in their countries based on business outcomes and financial success of their agencies during 2024.
Best Agency – Egypt
Impact BBDO Cairo
Best Agency – Iraq
Brodmann
Best Agency – Jordan
Adpro&
Best Agency – Oman
Kenshō Mindful Communications
Best Agency – Qatar
UM Qatar
Best Agency – Saudi Arabia
Zenith KSA from Publicis Groupe
Best Agency – UAE
Action Global Communications – UAE
AGENCY SPECIALITY CATEGORIES
While other awards around the region focus on The Work and the creative effectiveness of campaigns, the Agency of the Year Middle East awards awarded agencies on speciality categories based on their business growth, workplace culture, leadership, as well as diversity and inclusion.
Based on these criteria, the panel of 29 judges recognised agencies of all sizes, specialisms and nations in the region. Here are the agencies who picked up awards for their outstanding contributions within their specific specialities.
Start Up Agency of the Year
BigTime Creative Shop
Production House of the Year
Electriclime°
Brand Experience Agency of the Year
BUREAU BÉATRICE
Events, Experiential and Engagement Agency of the Year
Jack Morton MENAT
Independent PR Agency of the Year
Gambit Communications
Independent Media Agency of the Year
Fusion Five Advertising
Independent Creative Agency of the Year
BigTime Creative Shop
Independent Agency of the Year
Tactical
Social Media Agency of the Year
SOCIALEYEZ
PR / Communications Agency of the Year
Gambit Communications
Performance Marketing Agency of the Year
Magna Global
Digital Agency of the Year
Create. Group
Integrated Marketing Agency of the Year
Publicis Groupe MENAT
Media Agency of the Year
Wavemaker MENA
Creative Agency of the Year
Saatchi & Saatchi Middle East from Publicis Groupe
All in all, Campaign Middle East’s Agency of the Year Middle East Awards in 2024, held under the Motivate Media Group banner and in partnership with Haymarket in the UK, was a resounding success.
Once again, Campaign Middle East thanks its sponsors who partnered with the brand on a highly successful event: Criteo, DMS, MMS, Pixis, Seedtag, The Vantage, Yango Ads, Huda Beauty, MediaSense and African+Eastern.
Congratulations to all the winners.
