Historic wins for Memac Ogilvy & Mather at Cannes Festival

Memac Ogilvy & Mather further cemented its position as the Middle East’s leading communications agency by winning Gold and Bronze awards in the Media and Press categories respectively at the 58^th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (more commonly known as the Cannes Lions), which just concluded. 

Furthermore, among all the MENA-based agencies which entered their work both in the Film and Grand Prix for Good categories, Memac Ogilvy was the only one shortlisted. 

Memac Ogilvy Label Tunisia supported by sister agency Mindshare won a shining Lion d’Or (Gold Lion) in the Media category for their ‘June 16th 2014’ brand campaign. This is the first ever Gold Lion awarded to a Tunisian agency. 

In addition to the direct, positive economic aspects of this ground-breaking work, the campaign started numerous conversations and dialogues in the online community. The campaign was the most talked-about topic on French Twitter. The agency enrolled major Tunisian brands and media to ‘pretend’ it was June 16^th, 2014, three years after the first scheduled free elections in the country. Via fictional news reports, radio debates and bulletins, the campaign presented Tunisia as a modern, prosperous democratic country where people freely express their hopes, dreams and desires. To protest the economic standstill, people returned to work and the brands involved in the campaign resumed their marketing activities –prompting others to follow suit- thus injecting much needed funds into the country’s battered economy. 

Eddie Moutran, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Memac Ogilvy, said: “I am extremely proud of our team in Tunisia for their incredible work on this initiative. This achievement, however, would not have been possible without the support of our clients, who shared the team’s vision and I am grateful for their involvement. The results of the campaign, and the resulting Gold Lion at Cannes, not only further confirm our standing in the industry but, more importantly, it shows the world that enthusiasm, leadership and creativity are alive and well throughout the MENA region.” 

In the Press category, Memac Ogilvy Dubai took the Bronze Lion for their anti-censorship print campaign for the Reporters Without Borders organization. The ads showed images of world leaders such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or Vladimir Putin, with parts of the pictures blurred so as to suggest something inappropriate when in fact there was no such need for censorship. 

“The Cannes Lions is by far the most prestigious competition for the communication industry, be it for broadcast, print, digital, public relations, advertising and other disciplines. With nearly 29,000 entries from all over the world, simply being shortlisted is a major achievement so being awarded is simply indescribable. Our agency has been in this industry for over 26 years and we have grown from a handful of people to now over 500 employees in 13 offices all across the MENA region. This is a great day for Memac Ogilvy and a great day for creativity in the region” added Mr. Moutran. 

In addition to Memac Ogilvy’s wins, Ogilvy & Mather globally had its best year ever at the competition, securing its highest place ever in the much-coveted "Network of the Year" category and winning second place. The agency won more Gold Lions than any other agency network. 

In total, this year Ogilvy & Mather has won 61 Lions across all categories. The company scooped up 12 Gold, 17 Silver and 32 Bronze awards, as well as having 133 Finalists in this year’s festival. 

Tham Khai Meng, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy & Mather, commented: “As we celebrate our founder, David Ogilvy’s centennial, it feels appropriate and right that we have had our best performance in history in Cannes. Our performance tops off a historic week for Ogilvy. I am very proud of everyone who has contributed to our success. Thanks to all our clients and to every one of our 18,000 Ogilvy colleagues around the world for making this happen. Congratulations.”