Shadi Kandil

OMD has won several Gemas Effies this year at the annual award ceremony .The Gemas Effie MENA Awards saw the regional network build on its impressive track record at the event by winning 12 awards. In 2010, it had won six and five the year before. It is the third year in a row that OMD is the most awarded agency in this prestigious competition, part of a global program of events and awards.

OMD’s work for Henkel and PepsiCo was the most awarded on the night, with four trophies each, with campaigns for Marico Industries in Egypt adding a further two trophies and one for du in the UAE and Cornelli Ice Cream in Lebanon. These include two gold, five silver and five bronze awards. The second most awarded agency claimed five awards. Full results are enclosed.

Of the 30 category awards given on the night, OMD received more than a third, ahead of both creative and media agencies, validating its commitment to and performance in driving tangible business results for its clients.

Another interesting learning from this year’s result is the predominance of social media in campaigns that seek to develop consumer engagement. It certainly was the case in about half of OMD’s entries.

“Data and consumer engagement have long been identified as two key priorities for our group and this approach has been stunningly validated,” commented an elated Elie Khouri, CEO of Omnicom Media Group MENA, the holding of OMD in the region. “Effectiveness is something we take as seriously as our clients and have had a tradition of challenging the status quo to raise the bar in this area. Be it through research initiatives, planning and data management systems or specialist services such as digital planning, social media or branded content, this has considerably helped us take our clients to new heights, as these accolades amply demonstrate.”

“We often hear that clients get the agencies they deserve. It’s certainly true that we have had to evolve our service offering in order to meet their growing expectations as well as ours,” Shadi Kandil, managing director of OMD UAE, pointed out. “Clients have become increasingly specific in terms of their objectives and many now give us the means, namely data, to realize their ambitions. It certainly makes for a more fruitful, stimulating and rewarding relationship.”

“It’s been a memorable year for us in Egypt, in terms of new business and industry accolades,” Ronald Koukjian, general manager of OMD Egypt, commented. “After our first Dubai Lynx earlier this year, to add six Effies, including two gold, is more than we could have even hoped from such a turbulent year. Yet, our determination to raise our game and challenge ourselves has paid off. I’m very proud of our clients and our team in Cairo.”

The next OMD Predicts conference, staged in Dubai on October 2, will highlight the data trends that companies need to focus on to maximize their performance in the coming years.

With four silver and two bronze awards, OMD was named the runner-up media agency of the year at the 2011 Dubai Lynx awards.

Thanks to a strong showing at this year’s MENA Cristals’ media awards, OMD has been named Media Agency of the Year for the second time in a row.

Henkel, one of the world's leading FMCG manufacturers with brands such as Persil, Dac, Pril, Palette and Theramed, has consolidated its media account across the whole MENA region for the first time and appointed OMD after an extensive pitch process.

More than a third of business and marketing executives are looking for arguments to operate a change in the way their company works, a spot poll of the 210 delegates at the 2010 OMD Predicts conference has shown. Another third admitted to seeking inspiration to perform better.

OMD, the media agency network, is staging its third OMD Predicts conference in Dubai, with the ambition of providing local marketers and communications specialists strategies to renew with growth.

Business 24|7 reports that advertising spend and branded content make up 20 to 30 percent of TV investments, according to Shadi Kandil, OMD’s General Manager, who recently spoke at the Media Innovations Forum.

The forum, organized by Omnicom Group, has proved that over the years, more clients are becoming ready to embrace innovation, where conferences are being able to present international case studies that demonstrate similar categories and scenarios.

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