Leo Burnett was named network of the year and media agency of the year at last night’s Dubai Lynx awards, with Y&R Dubai becoming the first ever agency to retain the agency of the year crown.
Y&R’s haul included the grand prix in the direct category for its ‘Headline News Cup Sleeve’ campaign for Al Nisr Publishing, while Leo Burnett won a raft of golds for campaigns such as ‘Fake it all’ for the Brand Protection Group, its ‘Keep Walking Lebanon’ work with Nadine Labaki, and ‘Break the silence’ for Himaya.
One of the night’s big winners, however, was Memac Ogilvy Label, which collected a haul of golds across multiple categories, primarily for its ‘Return of Ben Ali‘ campaign for Engagement Citoyen. Its sister agency, Memac Ogilvy Dubai, also did well, picking up both the outdoor and promo & activation grands prix for its ‘Sprite Cricket Stars’ for Coca-Cola.
The film grand prix was awarded to Elephant Cairo for its ‘Ping Pong‘ campaign for Kalbaz, while FP7/BAH won the print and print & poster craft grands prix for Batelco’s ‘Directory’. Shawati Abu Dhabi won the design grand prix for its Abu Dhabi Culture and Heritage work on Sheikh Zayed Mosque. No grands prix were awarded in the film craft, interactive, integrated, media, mobile, PR and radio categories.
Capping off a good night for Leo Burnett, Raja Trad, CEO for Leo Burnett Group MENA, was named advertising person of the year, while P&G was crowned advertiser of the year. Intaj was the first recipient of the inaugural Lynx Palm award, which is given to the most awarded production company.
In total, from 2,037 entries from 17 countries, seven grands prix were awarded, along with 44 golds, 55 silvers and 82 bronzes at the event, which was was attended by more than 1,500 guests at Dubai’s Madinat Jumeirah.
For the full list of award winners, visit the Dubai Lynx website.