Leo Burnett Beirut has walked away with a silver Lion at the opening awards ceremony in Cannes.
The agency was the only regional outfit with a chance of winning anything during the festival’s inaugural awards night, grabbing silver in the PR category thanks to its ‘Fake it all’ campaign for the Brand Protection Group (BPG).
Inside the cavernous Grand Audi, awards were handed out this evening in the PR, direct and promo & activation categories, although there were no Middle East shortlists in the latter two.
Leo Burnett had been nominated twice for the BPG initiative, which sought to raise anti-counterfeit awareness in Lebanon. The integrated campaign had included a look-alike replacing TV personality Marcel Ghanem and impersonating him during the opening sequence of Kalam El Nas on LBC.
Nada Abi Saleh, deputing managing director of Leo Burnett Beirut, said the agency was delighted with the win, especially as it was won in the ‘best integrated campaign led by PR’ category. “This is the first Lion from the region this year,” said Abi Saleh. “Since its inception, the ‘Fake it all’ campaign had an immediate resonance among consumers and across all media and bloggers. We are indeed genuinely proud about this award tonight and hope that our fight against counterfeit products won’t stop there.”
The region has a total of 43 pieces of work shortlisted in press, 12 in outdoor and four apiece in media and radio. Winners will be announced tomorrow night. The festival runs until 25 June.
Congratulations!
Wohooooo congrats 😀