At one of the world’s largest advertising festivals, Leo Burnett Beirut has won advertising Agency of the Year. The Golden Drums, held in Slovenia, received 2,474 submissions from agencies that came from 41 countries. At the competition Leo Burnett Beirut won seven awards, and as a result is the first agency from the Middle East to win the accolade.
Every year the festival brings together the best advertising agencies that are given a chance to shine by presenting their work across various categories. Their submissions are subsequently showcased in front of an international jury that selects the winners and provides professional feedback.
Contributing to Leo Burnett Beirut’s success were campaigns for the Hariri Foundation, Pert Plus and BETA (Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). For the Hariri Foundation, Leo Burnett Beirut created a campaign called “Khede Kasra” which promoted female rights in the Middle East. The work won two Grand Prix in the Outdoor and Media categories and gold in the PR category.
Speaking about the campaign, Kamil Kuran, managing director of Leo Burnett Levant, said: “The Hariri Foundation wanted to address the imbalance of gender roles in Lebanese society, through their “Women Empowerment Program”, so chose to tackle gender inequality in the Arabic language, a part of Lebanon’s daily reality. Spoken and written words in the media that would otherwise be addressed to men by default, were altered with a ‘kasra’ accent. It had a profound effect in Lebanon with public notices, newspapers and TV all incorporating the ‘kasra’ into their text. The change in thinking and behavior is exactly what Leo Burnett sets out to achieve and winning at the Golden Drums is a testament to our objective.”
For Pert Plus, Leo Burnett Beirut won a Golden Watch in the Integrated category and Silver Drum in the TV category for a campaign called “Stop the Suffering.” And for BETA Leo Burnett Beirut won a Golden Drum in the Print Category. All these awards contributed to Leo Burnett Beirut winning Advertising Agency of the Year and Leo Burnett Global winning Network of the Year.