MMA SMARTIES honoured the most innovative and effective modern marketing campaigns that ran across the Middle East and North Africa region during 2020 at the Virtual Ceremony held after the inspiring MMA MENA Creativity Unplugged Event. The event featured “Best Cases of MENA” session held by Abdullah Ghandour, Digital Communications Manager of Etisalat, Banali Malhotra, Marketing Director of RAKBANK and SamerChebab, Regional Head of Social Media, Mindshare MENA, who raised the SMARTIES Trophy in 2019 with their winning campaigns and guided the attendees through their winning campaigns and results right before the MMA MENA SMARTIES Virtual Awards Ceremony.
MMA MENA Creativity Unplugged 2021 Brought Together Marketing Thought Leaders, TechExperts and Researchers
The half-day event hosted MENA thought leaders from leading brands of the marketing ecosystem. Marc De SwaanArons, Founder at the Institute for Real Growth, made a striking introduction about the new profile of ‘’The da Vinci Growth CMO’’ for the event opening.‘’The Art of Storytelling in the Mobile Age’’ session held by Ali Conker, Migros and Faheem Saiyad from Storyly, enlightened the attendees about the ways of turning storytelling into mobile experiences.
When it comes to creativity, TikTok has become the first social media platform that comes to mind in this Digital Era. At the TikTok panel, Sami Moutran,Senior Director Business Marketing and Communications, METAP, TikTok expressed their achieved goal of unleashing the creativity in today’s user. The session is followed by ‘’The Ramadan Creative Playbook’’ panel whereAhmedYounis A.K.A fizo, Creative Shop Lead, Facebook, MENA sharedvaluabletipstohelpbrandscreateRamadanmagicandunlocknewgrowthopportunitiesbefore, duringandafterRamadan. One of there markable sessions of the event was the ‘’IDFA ios 14 MenaLandscape’’ Panel ledbysubjectmatterexperts: Cihan Ozturk, Product SalesLead, App,Criteo, AlexRitchie, Product Manager, Privactand Data, AdColony, UtkarshSinha, Head of Product Marketing, InMobi as they discussed one of today’s hottest topics on data driven advertising.
Record Number of Case Submissionsin 2020 Compared to Previous Years!
The aspect that sets this year’s SMARTIES Awards apart from the previous years is the newly added themes considering the events affecting the world such as Covid-19 and Social Responsibility under the main category called ‘’BusinessUnusual 2020’’Despiteuncertaintimes, in 2020, there were twice as more campaigns submitted to take the coveted SMARTIES trophy home compared to last year. The esteemed jury consisted of marketing thought leaders from MENA, voted to chose MMA MENA SMARTIES 2020’s winning campaigns after a long and dedicated process of evaluation among more than hundred submissions.
While Gold, Silver and Bronze SMARTIES were presented to their owners at the Virtual AwardCeremony, Themostsuccessful Media Agency, TechnologyEnabler, Ad Network, Advertiser and Best in-show Case of SMARTIES MENA 2020 have been honored by receiving The Industry Awards.
Here aretheMMA MENA SMARTIES 2020 WinnersBased on Categories:
MARKETING OBJECTIVE
BrandAwareness:
Memotraits – AI Brings Memories to Life FOR RAKBANK, Pixelplus Media– GOLD
Dubai Properties La Vie // MENA // AdColony FOR Dubai Properties, Dubai Holding Group, AdColony, Magna, AdColony – GOLD
Vodafone Qatar 5G Launch Campaign – Red Velvet and Stop the Clock FOR Vodafone Qatar, InMobi, Wavemaker Qatar – SILVER
KitKat Core FOR KitKat, Nestle, AdColony, Zenith MENA –SILVER
PlayStation / Marvel Iron Man VR // MENA // AdColony FOR PlayStation, Sony Interactive Entertainment, AdColony, MediaCom –BRONZE
Whiskas // MENA // AdColony FOR Whiskas, Mars Group, AdColony, Mediacom –BRONZE
LeadGeneration / Direct Response / Conversions:
FCA FOR Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Apex Exchange, Publicis Group, Yazle –GOLD
Prediction Meets Tradition- Striking Gold with Machine Learning FOR RAKBANK, UM, Airpush –SILVER
Euphoria Moments FOR RAKBANK, Silverpush –SILVER
Lux – Device ID FOR Lux / Unilever, Magna, Lifesight –BRONZE
stc pay Stay at Home Campaign FOR stc pay, STC, InMobi, UM Saudi Arabia – BRONZE
Product /Services Launch:
PlayStation / Marvel Iron Man VR // MENA // AdColony FOR PlayStation, Sony Interactive Entertainment, AdColony, MediaCom– GOLD
CONVERTSATIONS- Kickstarting new SMEs amidst the Pandemic FOR RAKBANK, UM, Project Agora – GOLD
McDonald’s Taskeeta // MENA // AdColony FOR McDonald’s KSA, McDonald’s Corporation, AdColony, Abdel Kader Khereiji&Parters // Targets –SILVER
Vodafone Qatar 5G Launch Campaign – Red Velvet and Stop the Clock FOR Vodafone Qatar, InMobi, Wavemaker Qatar –SILVER
Dettol Shower Gel // MENA // AdColony FOR Dettol, Reckitt Benckiser, AdColony, Universal McCann– BRONZE
M&M’s Minis Are Back FOR M&M’s, Mars, AdColony, MediaCom– BRONZE
GenderEquality in Advertising:
She Can Play FOR RAKBANK, Kiyany Media– GOLD
MEDIA
Mobile Gaming, Gamification& E-Sports:
Euphoria Moments FOR RAKBANK, Silverpush-GOLD
GSK Centrum GNE FOR Centrum, GSK, AdColony, Publicis Media-SILVER
McDonalds – Quarantine Offers FOR McDonalds, Bruce Clay MENA, Yazle, Activision Blizzard Media-BRONZE
Galaxy Dates Ramadan FOR Galaxy, Mars Group, AdColony, MediaCom-BRONZE
Mobile Social:
She Can Play FOR RAKBANK, Kiyany Media-GOLD
Storyly FOR App Samurai-SILVER
Mobile App:
Etisalat Moonwalk // MENA // AdColony FOR Etisalat, Emirates Telecommunication Group Company, AdColony, Initiative, AdColony –SILVER
stc pay Stay at Home Campaign FOR stc pay, STC, InMobi, UM Saudi Arabia –BRONZE
TECHNOLOGY
Mobile Video:
KitKat Core FOR KitKat, Nestle, AdColony, Zenith MENA-GOLD
M&M’s Minis Are Back FOR M&M’s, Mars, AdColony, MediaCom –GOLD
Memotraits – AI Brings Memories to Life FOR RAKBANK, Pixelplus Media – GOLD
Kotex FOR Kotex, Kimberly-Clark, Mindshare, Yazle-SILVER
GSK Oral Sensodyne FOR Sensodyne, GSK, AdColony, Publicis Media-BRONZE