Leo Burnett Beirut has won the Middle East’s first Cannes Lion this year by winning a gold award for its ‘Khede Kasra’ campaign in the PR category.

The winning campaign was for the Hariri Foundation, who wanted to address the imbalance of gender roles in Lebanese society through their “Women Empowerment Program.” The agency chose to tackle gender inequality in the Arabic language and words, which would otherwise be addressed to men by default, were altered with a “kasra” accent, making them addressed to women. The campaign became such a talking point and created such a debate that it has now been recognized as one of the best global PR & marketing campaigns by the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival.

The award was one of 15 Lions awarded to Leo Burnett World Wide on the first night of the Festival. The agency’s tally includes eight Gold Lions, which already tops their Gold Lion tally for 2008.
   
Speaking about the win, Bechara Mouzannar, executive creative director for Lebanon and Levant said, "Winning a Lion in Cannes illustrates our commitment to the creation of big ideas which can change the way people think, in this case about gender inequality in Lebanon. The team was committed to ensuring that the imbalance of gender roles in Lebanese society was addressed and the Gold is testament to the hard work, creativity and integrated approach that we took. We believe we made a real difference to people's lives and are incredibly proud of that fact."

The global chief creative officer Mark Tutssel added; “Our performance tonight demonstrates the power of the world’s best creativity when married to the world’s most powerful PR.”