A stellar performance at Cannes and the Dubai Lynx

advertising network of the year
23 December 2012
memac ogilvy
A stellar performance at Cannes and the Dubai Lynx was just the
starting point for an excellent year at the resurgent Memac Ogilvy
W
hichever way you cut it,
2012 was a pretty special
year for Memac Ogilvy.
Its history making awards
haul may have grabbed the
spotlight, but the network
is on course to achieve double-digit
growth, having combined significant
new business wins with some of the finest work ever produced in the region.
Much of the credit for the network’s
re-emergence as a creative force lies at
the feet of its Tunis outpost, Memac
Ogilvy Label, and OgilvyAction, which
had such an impressive year that the
Dubai operation became the most celebrated OgilvyAction office in the world.
As an indicator of how well the regional
network did this year, both the UAE and
Tunis offices made it into the Ogilvy
cadre (Ogilvy’s top 15 creative agencies
around the world) for the first time ever.
OgilvyAction Dubai also achieved the
highest ranking ever for all OgilvyAction offices worldwide since the agency’s inception in 2007.
In total, the network won 62 regional
and international awards, including
three golds at Cannes for Memac Ogilvy
Label’s ‘The Return of Ben Ali’ (the
most ever by a regional agency in a single festival), and two grands prix and 19
golds at the Dubai Lynx.The Tunis office
also became the first regional agency to
win a grand prix at the Clios, while
Memac Ogilvy made a significant contribution to Ogilvy & Mather’s coronation as the Cannes network of the year
(see page 13).What’s more,‘The Return
of Ben Ali’ would have won far more
grands prix had it not been ineligible as
a public service campaign.
Importantly, while most of the awards
were for work created in 2011, OgilvyAction continued to produce top class
work throughout 2012, picking up a silver at Cannes for its ‘Smallest Ikea Store
in the World’ and a clutch of Effies in
November. Memac Ogilvy’s success at
Cannes can also be viewed as a continuation of the agency’s resurgence, which
has continued throughout the year and
began at the Dubai Lynx, where it was
placed second and third in agency of the
year and second behind Leo Burnett in
network of the year.
However, awards and work are just
part of the story. The network won 26
pieces of new business this year, including a strong entrance into the telco market with the winning of Viva in Kuwait
and Bahrain, and the landing of the LG
Levant business from Jordan. It also
opened offices in Erbil and Qatar, while
working on various briefs for Coca-Cola globally and strengthening its operations with the hiring of strategic planners in practically all offices. It also
brought on board Fabian Roser as regional creative director of OgilvyOne in
March, with the task of rebuilding the
agency from the ground up.
There have been disappointments
though, most notably the subdued nature of Memac Ogilvy Label in relation
to new work, the lack of a major new
business win, and the average or mediocre performance of offices outside of
Dubai, Tunis and Beirut. Nevertheless,
if Memac Ogilvy builds on its success
of the past 12 months, strengthens its
above-the-line advertising and creative
leadership, retains its main clients, and
picks up some sizeable new business
next year, it could prove that 2012 is
more than just a flash in the pan.
leo burnett
After 2011’s stellar year, it was always
going to be difficult for Leo Burnett to
retain its crown. In many ways it has
done enough to be named Campaign’s
network of the year for a second year in
a row, winning the network of the year
accolade at both the Dubai Lynx and the
MENA Cristals on the back of work
done in 2011. Yet it has been nowhere
near as successful in 2012 in terms of
new business and the overall quality of
its work, with the obvious exception
of Leo Burnett Beirut (see page 9). In
short, Leo Burnett was not the all-conquering behemoth it was last year and
the majority of its awards glory this year
has come from one office – Beirut.
The understandably subdued nature
of its traditionally strong Cairo office
has also been compounded by the loss of
executive creative director Mohamed
Hamdalla to King Tut’s Playground (see
page 31), while the network had to make
a number of redundancies in the Middle
East and North Africa following the loss
of the Chevrolet and Aldar accounts.
Chevrolet was a global loss, but its affects were felt in the MENA region.
However, Leo Burnett remains a powerful force and was only knocked into
second place by a rampant Memac Ogilvy Label and an on-form OgilvyAction.
It won in exccess of 35 new pieces of
business, acquired digital agency Flip
Media (see page 16), strengthened its
presence in Qatar and set up a beachhead in Oman with the winning of the
country’s second telco operator Nawras. It has also solidified its presence in
Iraq, servicing clients such as Asiacell,
Fanous and Farouk Holding.
If it manages to strengthen its offices
outside of Beirut – Dubai being the possible exception – and return to pitchwinning ways in 2013, it will once again
be the main contender for network of
the year.
jwt
After falling off a cliff sometime around
2009, JWT has been having a hard time
of it in the MENA region. Swilling
around in the paddling pool while the
big kids played in the water park, it was
hit hard by the global recession and staff
issues, leading to instability and poor
creative output, particularly in Dubai.
After years as an also-ran, however,
JWT is making something of a comeback, led by the Beirut and Cairo offices,
with a revitalised Dubai operation
showing signs of promise under the creative leadership of Seyoan Vela.
The network won 27 pieces of new
business in 2012, including Touch in Beirut, Nokia, Red Bull and Danone in
Cairo, Emaar in Jeddah and Bawan in
Riyadh. JWT Dubai was also appointed
as a specialised creative partner on strategic digital campaigns by du, while
JWT Riyadh consolidated its business
with Saudi Telecom (see page 20).
In terms of awards it wasn’t necessarily the best performer, but it was the network’s work this year that ensured
JWT’s position as the third placed network of the year. The Beirut office’s
work for Touch (see pages 23 and 27) has
been excellent, while Riyadh created
one of the best TVCs of the year for
Saudi Telecom (see page 23). If the network continues in this fashion it could
easily regain some of its former glory.
7