humour Archives - Campaign Middle East

UGC is not a tactic; it’s the engine powering modern paid media

Anup Oommen — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 04:20:21 +0000

There’s a conversation happening in every media and marketing team right now. Cost per thousand impressions (CPMs) are rising. And yet performance is flatlining, or worse, declining. The instinct is to pour more budget into distribution. But the problem isn’t reach. It’s creative. Having spent more than a decade working with the world’s leading brands […]

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How brands can win the FIFA World Cup beyond the broadcast

Anup Oommen — Thu, 07 May 2026 05:00:40 +0000

In less than two months, the first 48-team FIFA World Cup kicks off across the US, Canada and Mexico. For broadcasters, it will be the largest tournament ever staged. For brands, it will be something else: the most fragmented one. Because the match is no longer where the audience lives. The experience now unfolds around […]

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Radio ads: Have we swapped the Mona Lisa for ‘paint by numbers’?

Anup Oommen — Wed, 06 May 2026 06:25:55 +0000

Quick. Think of a radio ad you heard recently that made you laugh out loud. Or that stayed with you the whole day. Or pulled the rug out from under you. And the trigger for your humour, your thoughts or your surprise was the brand being advertised itself. I once heard a kid on radio […]

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FP7 McCANN secures MENA region’s only International ANDY Awards win

Anup Oommen — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 13:20:57 +0000

FP7 McCANN MENAT has emerged as the only agency from the MENA region to secure a win at the prestigious International ANDY Awards, taking home an ANDY in the Idea category for its Not for the First Dates campaign for McDonald’s UAE. One of the most respected honours in global creativity, the ANDY Awards celebrate ideas […]

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Mastering mediocrity: AI didn’t create the problem, only amplified it

Anup Oommen — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:30:20 +0000

For decades, the advertising industry has welcomed every evolution that reshaped how we communicate with audiences. We embraced television when it dominated attention, digital when the internet transformed media consumption, and social platforms when brands suddenly had to publish content every day instead of launching campaigns every season. Now, we are welcoming artificial intelligence (AI). […]

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Landmark Group’s Home Centre takes KitKat Heist beyond social trend to in-store marketing

Anup Oommen — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:45:44 +0000

In early April 2026, reactions to the KitKat Heist took off across social media in the Middle East. Videos of children and adults being caught hiding KitKat stashes in increasingly creative places were everywhere, and brands across the region joined the conversation. Most brands what they typically do in these moments: they acknowledged the trend […]

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Gerety Awards reveals return of Funny Women Humour Jury

Anup Oommen — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 04:30:36 +0000

Named for Frances Gerety, the Gerety Awards brings together a global jury to select the best in advertising from a powerful perspective. The awards celebrate campaigns that are not only award-worthy but resonate with the world’s most powerful consumers, recognising work based on a single criterion: the originality of the idea and the creativity of […]

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Bocasu café in Dubai creates comedy drama mini series starring its own staff

Anup Oommen — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 04:40:56 +0000

In a first of its kind for the regional marketing and advertising landscape, Dubai-born Japanese concept café Bocasu has created and produced its own 10-part scripted comedy-drama series starring its actual team members, with no professional actors. Filmed entirely in Dubai, BocaShow is a narrative-driven series inspired by the real journey of building Bocasu, the […]

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Pizza Hut turns Italian scrutiny into a launch strategy for pasta

Ishwari Khatu — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 15:05:09 +0000

When Pizza Hut launched its new range of pasta – including some non-traditional versions – they decided to get a stamp of approval from the toughest critics – the Italians themselves. The range deliberately departs from Italian culinary convention, embracing creamy, heavily sauced dishes that sit outside the Italian cookbook rules. Rather than positioning the range […]

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Can ‘transcreation’ fix what translation breaks in global campaigns?

Anup Oommen — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 04:31:03 +0000

For years, global brands have approached the Arab market with confidence. The strategy is familiar: develop a strong English campaign, translate it into Arabic, launch across the region, and expect performance to follow. Yet time and again, the results tell a different story. Impressions are high. Media plans are solid. Creative assets look polished. But […]

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