Louai Alasfahani

IAA Kuwait Chapter sponsors Young Creative Challenge under the theme 'Democracy'

editor — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 04:32:26 -0700

As part of its mission to promote talents from Kuwait on an international level, the International Advertising Association Kuwait Chapter is sponsoring the Young Creative Challenge a poster design competition for young creatives aged 28 years or less. The theme for the competition is Democracy.

Young creatives can participate in the poster design challenge by submitting their artworks to Paragon Marketing Communications offices in Al Fanar at no participation fee and can submit unlimited number of entries.These artworks will then be carefully judged by an elite panel industry professionals headed by Louai Alasfahani the president of the IAA.

The top two winners in the competition will represent Kuwait as a team in the Young Lions competition in the print category at the prestigious Cannes Lions 2011 festival and will receive air tickets and a delegate pass each sponsored by the IAA Kuwait Chapter to attend the Cannes Lions 2011 advertising festival.

The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival is a global festival for those working in advertising and related fields. The seven-day festival, incorporating the awarding of the Lions awards, is held yearly at the Palais de Festivals in Cannes, France. Thousands of delegates from around the world attend the festival to view shortlisted work and attend seminars, workshops and master classes.

The competition also supported by Paragon Marketing Communications, Kuwait Times, Webtech and many other sponsors, presents a brilliant opportunity for the youth of Kuwait to shine internationally and put Kuwait on the international map of advertising.

Four International books feature Paragon Marketing Communications

editor — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:43:21 -0700

Paragon Marketing Communication’s one of Kuwait’s leading advertising agency has yet again been featured in 4 recently published international books on advertising and graphic design. Namely, ‘Logo Lounge Master Library’ Vol.1 3000 Initial and Crest Logos, ‘Logo Lounge Master Library’ Vol. 2 Animal and Mythology Logos, ‘Letterhead and Logo Design 11’ and ‘Design Matters//Portfolios’.

Logo Lounge Master Library authored by Catherine Fishel and Bill Gardner is a collection of logos assorted from the internationally reputed website logolounge.com. The book features designs created by international design firms, along-with, top-tier logo designers who share their insights on values, traditions and the future of designing. While Letterhead and Logo Design 11 by Design Army presents the latest, most innovative, and exciting work from well-known design leaders, new design firms, and cutting-edge artists. The third publication Design Matters//Portfolios by Maura Keller focuses on what makes a design stand out from the crowd in terms of layout, core attributes, and materials used.
Paragon Marketing Communications has been previously featured in several international books on advertising and graphic design some of which are: The Complete Graphic Designer by Ryan Hembree, Crack by Alexander Egger, The Best of Business Card Design by Sibley/Peteet Design/Austin, Letterhead & Logo Design 9 by The San Francisco Design Office Mine, Logo Lounge 4 by Bill Gardner, Identity Crisis by Jeff Fisher, The Big Book of Self promotion by Peleg Top and Ilise Benun, 500 Really Good Logos Explained by Margo Chase, Rian Hughes, Ron Miriello and Alex W. White.

On these latest achievements Sheikh Dawoud Al Sabah a prominent International Advertising Association member and a long standing patron of Paragon Marketing Communication’s work said "We are proud of Paragon's achievement and that their work has represented Kuwait well globally”. In addition Louai Alasfahani Managing Partner & Chief Creative Officer, Paragon Marketing Communications commented that “we are proud to represent Kuwait in the international arena”. Furthermore Gaya Kruchlik Deputy General Manager Paragon Marketing Communications added that “Paragon Marketing Communications achievements also include a total of 52 awards which reinforces its position as Kuwait’s most awarded agency”.

Reference to Paragon Marketing Communications work is available on www.paragonmc.com.

Louai Alasfahani: Inflated number of awards disproportionate to region’s true level of creativity

editor — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:09:25 -0800

Louai Alasfahani of Paragon Marketing Communications is a dedicated and outspoken advertising professional, founding member of the IAA Kuwait Chapter and a well-known blogger (BlogAnubis). mediaME spoke to him about the state of creativity in the region and much more.

Q1. Kindly introduce yourself, your experience and your company.

I am a passionate, dedicated industry professional licensed by the LCCI in the fields of Advertising and Public Relations.

An advertising practitioner with 18 years of experience working in the GCC that is credited with establishing several agencies in Kuwait including Bozell Worldwide, Graffiti and Paragon Marketing Communications - Kuwait’s most awarded agency; with offices in Kuwait – Bulgaria and Oman.

In addition to being a founding member and secretary general of the IAA Kuwait Chapter my work is featured in many international books on advertising, graphic design and corporate identity which have won many awards on the local, regional and international level.

I have also been an elected judge at the Summit International Awards, which is one of the few recognized awards on the IAA global website, and the first and only Arab national to serve on the judging panel. Paragon has been the only agency from the Middle East to ever win the Platinum Best of Show print at the summit.

I am also a regular contributor to a plethora of professional trade magazines and an active member of CIM and IPRA.

I love photography, art, travel, reading, music, hiking, basketball and graphic design but not in that exact order.

Q2. As the head of a prominent Kuwait-based advertising agency, tell us more about the status of the advertising industry in the country, both in terms of media expenditure and levels of creativity.

In terms of levels of media expenditure Kuwait is ranked 4th overall – according to both PARC and IPSOS but in terms of creativity levels, it ranks much, much lower than that according to regional and international creativity awards.

Although I believe there is still a small pool of good talent left in Kuwait the fact is that the majority of published creative work is either bad, very bad or based on cliché/copy-cat advertising which is not so good.

For those of you reading this who have already jumped to conclusions and labeled me bias - answer this simple question, why are several prominent Kuwaiti clients employing the creative and media services of agencies in neighboring countries as far as South Africa or starting up their own in-house agencies?

Q3. Your agency has won awards in several competitions, what's your view regarding the regional versus international award competitions?

We all agree that the aim of all advertising awards are noble in terms of promoting creativity and raising the bar, etc. etc. and I acknowledge the fact that judging mistakes can and do happen all over the world, but what I do not agree with is the alarming amount of mistakes that happened in regional competitions, take the Dubai Lynx, KAAA, KREA, JAA and MENA Cristal for example.

Some of the regional competitions’ problems are related to mimicking international awards while others are a direct result for not placing Arab judges in Arab creativity awards that take place in Arab countries, where the majority of ads are created in Arabic, target Arabs and use the Arabic language.

Bottom line is that the inflated number of awards given to the numerous agencies is disproportionate to the region’s true level of creativity – the proof being the poor performance of the same agencies at the international competitions.

Q4. Middle Eastern creativity is a hot topic that you are engaged in, through your well-known BlogAnubis, which is a copy-cat catcher. Tell us more about this blog, and an interesting story or two that you faced since this blog's launch.

Establishing BlogAnubis.com, the Arab world’s first copycat blog and then partnering with joelepompe who is an authority on copycats has been an organic growth from co-founding Awraq, the Arab world first Arabic language advertising critique magazine.

BlogAnubis was born out of necessity, to fill a void created by the absence of industry regulatory bodies, consumer watchdogs, lack of enforcement of the intellectual property rights laws and the proliferation of copy-cat, spoof and cliché ads, in addition to the regional awards’ organizers turning a def ear to complaints about awarding such work.

When the organizers’ mission deviated from celebrating, promoting and raising the creativity bar to that of pure profitability, Anubis was waiting for them to weigh their heart against the feather of Maat [Truth] and report his findings to the jury of the gods.

I don’t know if being threatened by competition organizers, agencies and anonymous individuals qualify as interesting stories, But what is really interesting is that BlogAnubis has contributed towards establishing the true level of creativity by ensuring that the organizers do a good job in securing scrutinizing judges, and that they have adopted tighter rules and regulations to disqualify scammers, but most importantly, copycat creative directors have been fired and replaced by talented deserving individuals who would never have had the chance to get that position because it was occupied by copycats who were busy stealing ideas from advertising annuals, winning awards, top positions and top cash by doing so.

Q5. What's your view regarding online advertising potential in the Middle East? What's the level of client awareness and does it seem like there's considerable online advertising in Kuwait?

According to a recently published study, online advertising in the Middle East represents less than 1% of the total advertising expenditure, which means the only way is up; having said that - don’t hold your breath - progress is slow in this part of the world, I estimate that it will take another five good years to see considerable growth. In my opinion online is great, we have used it for some of our clients, even those from the traditional media of radio and newspapers, but in general, the problem is twofold, when it comes to online only some agencies are ready but most clients are not. Not yet anyway.

Q6. As an IAA Kuwait board member, kindly tell us about the chapter's aims, recent initiatives and the industry response so far.

Through my role in the current board, I aimed at breaking the status-quo through much needed industry related exhibitions, workshops, seminars and activities of which I succeeded in with the help of a few board members.

Although I believe in social activities, however, I resent the portrayal of the Chapter as a catering company and as such I am offended that the participation of the remaining members was limited only to the Ramadan banquets! Is it because they think so poorly of our industry and the people working in it? In all fairness judging by the overall attendance of the intellectual events verses the banquets I must confess they knew their target audience better than I did.

Q7. Anything else you would like to add?

“The most powerful weapon in the hands of the oppressor are the minds of the oppressed” - Steve Biko.

Paragon wins four accolades at the 2009 Summit Creativity Awards

editor — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:10:41 -0800

Paragon Marketing Communications – Kuwait won four trophies at the 15th Annual Summit International Awards, which contested thousands of entries from 26 countries and five continents based on the strength of the big idea, the quality of execution and the ability to communicate and persuade.

Paragon Marketing Communications scored Silver in the outdoor category for Mix FM “launching” campaign, Silver in the print category for I-City “go places” campaign, Silver for Safe Hands Health System Holding Company in the corporate identity category as well as a Bronze for Eduglobe in the same corporate identity category.

Paragon Marketing Communications latest achievement fortifies its position as Kuwait’s most awarded agency with a total of 52 creativity awards and work featured in nine international books on advertising and corporate identity.

In a recent visit to the Mix FM premises, Louai Alasfahani the managing director of Paragon Marketing Communications and Gaja Kruchlik the deputy-managing director both presented the Mix FM Silver trophy and certificates to the radio station general manager Talal Al-Yagout and the stations consultant Hussain Mosawi.

Al Jothen assign Paragon Marketing Communications as their communication partner

editor — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:15:46 -0700

after a meeting held between Paragon Marketing Communications and Al Jothen at the Al Jothen premises, it was announced that both the organizations will be entering into a contractual agreement on a monthly Retainership basis. Having already worked together in the past both entities have decided to come together to form a creative partnership and reconnect their ties. Paragon Marketing Communications will be effectively the sole creative agency handling the advertising activities of Al Jothen.

The meeting held at the Al Jothen premises was attended by the respective authorities on both sides, with Hussein Diab, the General Manager and Roudaina Modar Al Khash the Media & Events Manager from Al Jothen and Louai Alasfahani - Chief Creative Officer and Managing Director, Kostantine Assenov - Executive Creative Director and Account Manager Gaja Kruchlik representing Paragon Marketing Communications.

On being asked about this new collective Louai Alasfahani, Chief Creative Officer and Managing Director at Paragon Marketing Communications said "Paragon Marketing Communications and Al Jothen follow very similar corporate beliefs; both strive to make a difference in their respective fields and provide services and products that are distinguishable from the competition. That is why I believe we will have the best of chemistry working together''.

Hussein Diab, General Manager at Al Jothen commented that "Paragon Marketing Communications has a distinct style of communication which fits our approach and I believe this synergy between our organization spells success''.

Roudaina Modar Al-Khash, Media & Events Manager at Al Jothen added "We wanted a communication partner that could deliver the results we look for and I feel that we have found the right partner in Paragon Marketing Communications''.

Al-Jothen, member of Madi International Group, started its operations in Kuwait in 1991. The group specializes primarily in professional beauty products, furniture, & equipments, with major emphasis on Beauty Salons and Beauty Institutes sector. Today Madi International Group has branches located across GCC, having a strong hold in Lebanon, KSA, UAE, Qatar & Oman.

With the creative spark of Paragon Marketing Communications and Al Jothen's distinguished style of advertising, one can be rest assured that indeed something really exciting is on its way.

Tawasul | Fragile Data

paragon — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:00:08 -0700

Agency: Paragon Marketing Communications, Kuwait

Kuwait Times | We don't mix facts

editor — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:42:39 -0700

Agency: Paragon Marketing Communications, Kuwait

Paragon adds 4 KAAA awards, becomes Kuwait’s most awarded agency

editor — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:23:20 -0700

Paragon Marketing Communications, won 4 additional trophies this year; one gold, two silvers and one bronze at the 2007 Kuwait Arab Advertising Awards honoring creativity in the Arab world.

The awards ceremony was held on Monday the 23rd of June, 2008 Arraya Ballroom under the patronage of H.H. the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah.

Paragon Marketing Communications a local agency based in Kuwait latest achievement tallies to 14 trophies since the Kuwait Arab Advertising Awards inception back in 2005 reinforces its position as Kuwait’s most awarded agency.

On this occasion Louai Alasfahani the Managing Partner & Chief Creative Officer at Paragon Marketing Communications thanked the clients for their ultimate trust in the agency ability to achieve results beyond expectations, the agency team for their dedication towards creative excellence and the media for their indispensable support.

On the same occasion the Creative Director Konstantin Assenov who holds an MA (masters of art from the academy of fine arts in Bulgaria) reassured the industry of Paragon continued commitment to fulfilling its mission of placing Kuwait at the forefront of the global graphic design and advertising industry.