Leo Burnett dominated the MENA Cristal festival’s awards night on Thursday, taking home both the agency and network of the year titles.
At the Music Hall in Beirut, the agency won a total of three Grand Cristals in the production, film and PR categories and seven Cristals.
The Beirut office of Leo Burnett clinched the agency of the year title thanks to campaigns ‘Volunteers Don’t Seek Recognition’ for Offre de Joie and ‘Home is Quest’ for Khalil Warde Lal, while network of the year came from a strong performance across the Beirut, Dubai and Cairo operations.
A total of 29 Cristals were awarded in categories including print craft, production, film, media, Arabic culture, press and radio.
Other big winners included Impact BBDO Beirut, whose An Nahar 80 years campaign won awards across several categories, including the advertisers’ Grand Cristal.
Apart from the performance of Leo Burnett, the evening was notable for the low number of Cristals and Grand Cristals this year, as there was no Cristals awarded in the outdoor, integrated, and digital and mobile categories.
JWT Cairo won the Arabic culture grand prix for its ‘Fakka’ campaign for Vodafone Egypt.
In media, Starcom MediaVest Group Dubai was named media agency of the year courtesy of its Hello Tomorrow campaign for Emirates, and network of the year.
Christian Cappe, founder and CEO of the Cristal Festival Network, said: “This year again, the MENA Cristal Festival has reinforced the quality of its prize lists. The independence left to the jury in the decision making process and the precision coupled to the diversity amongst its members lead to a renewed festival footprint.”