Call for nominations: Brand Faces to Watch 2025
The Brand Faces to Watch recognises rising stars from the region who are already shaping the future of marketing. Whether they're leading brand transformations, building digital-first strategies or pushing creative boundaries, these individuals represent the next wave of industry leadership.
Nominations can be submitted by agencies who work closely with these marketers, or by senior managers within the client organisations themselves.
To submit a nomination, please fill in the form linked below and ensure all fields are completed within the word limits provided. A high-resolution image (minimum 1MB) must be attached for the nomination to be considered.
The selected nominees will be featured in Campaign Middle East's June 30th print and digital issue.
Final deadline for submissions for Brand Faces to Watch is 23 May 2025. Late entries cannot be accepted, so we encourage all submissions to be made in good time.
For any enquiries, please contact [email protected].
To view last year's Brand Faces to Watch, please see here.
We look forward to celebrating the talent that will drive the region's marketing future forward.
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2 days ago
- Campaign ME
Geography categories at Agency of The Year Middle East 2025 explained
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Therefore, submitting to this category offers your agency the chance to have its success be recognised by potential clients. Submission criteria In order to create a successful entry for the Best Agency under the Geographic category, agencies must include: Achievements against objectives Scope of operation Business growth Client profile and disciplines New business wins, client retention and relationships Awards and recognition within the eligibility period Staff retention and development initiatives Creative output where applicable How the agency has played a positive role in the advancement and reputation of the industry during the review period, including examples of work, promotions and initiatives that lead the industry – including DE&I and sustainability initiatives How the agency provides an exceptional place to work for staff and has built a strong positive culture How the agency has evolved its workplace to support the business internally and externally Judges will also consider factors such as the expansion of integrated offerings, leadership and innovation, demonstrable investment in R&D, influence within the industry, and commitment to talent and culture as they evaluate entries. 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The list includes: Best Agency – Egypt: Impact BBDO Cairo Impact BBDO Cairo was recognised as the Best Agency of the Year – Egypt with a trophy presented by Anthony Milne, Chief Commercial Officer, Motivate Media Group. Best Agency – Iraq: Brodmann Brodmann was named Best Agency of the Year – Iraq and received the trophy from one of the awards judges, Siddharth Sivaprakash, Head of Brand and Marketing at Home Centre under the Landmark Group. Best Agency – Jordan: Adpro& Adpro& was handed the Best Agency of the Year – Jordan award by one of the awards judges, Siddharth Sivaprakash, Head of Brand and Marketing at Home Centre under the Landmark Group. Best Agency – Oman: Kenshō Mindful Communications A judge at the Agency of the Year Middle East awards, Sahar Khan, Director of Marketing at Bayut and Dubizzle, awarded Kenshō Mindful Communications as Best Agency of the Year – Oman Best Agency – Qatar: UM Qatar UM Qatar was recognised as Best Agency of the Year – Qatar by one of the awards judges, Sahar Khan, Director of Marketing at Bayut and Dubizzle. Best Agency – Saudi Arabia: Zenith KSA from Publicis Groupe Publicis Groupe – Zenith KSA was awarded the Best Agency of the Year – Saudi Arabia by award sponsor Hicham Fakhoury, Content Solutions Lead at MBC Media Solutions. Best Agency – UAE: Action Global Communications – UAE Neel Pandya, former CEO – EMEA and APAC for Pixis, one of the awards sponsors, presented Action Global Communications – UAE with the Best Agency of the Year –UAE award. Enter now and save AED 500 Enter now for a chance to be recognised as the best in your geography, and even the entire region. 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Campaign ME
25-07-2025
- Campaign ME
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The brand is now entirely operated and managed by TGP International. Meanwhile, Katch International was tasked with generating media coverage for the venue and coordinating influencer visits during the opening phase. Me:Mo provided auxiliary marketing support during the three-month launch period, including content creation and social media management. Pyong Sumaria handled the photography for F&B and social, while Gavriil Papadiotis handled photography for the interior design elements. The campaign ran for a duration of eight weeks from 5 March to 5 May, 2025. 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The narrative was picked up by early visitors who began posting their own stories, photos and reels, which helped build an important layer of community-generated content within days of launch. Community event Seed & Bloom also hosted a dedicated 'A Blooming Beginning' event the weekend following its launch, inviting local families, creatives and lifestyle voices to experience the café through workshops, live music and community moments. The day featured a mix of hands-on activities including flower arranging, painting, and interactive culinary stations, with a focus on creating moments families could enjoy together. Attendees included Shania Rosario, Leen Melthem and Arpita Soni who captured impressions of the space that went beyond food. From floral focaccia to slow mornings on the terrace, the content reflected a sense of discovery that aligned with the brand's personality. Finally, a café in Abu Dhabi that feels like home—warm, personal and proud of where it comes from. — Experience Abu Dhabi The event extended the reach of the campaign into the local community and created additional stories that positioned the brand as part of the neighbourhood. Post-launch momentum In the months following the launch, Seed & Bloom continued to receive editorial coverage in What's On Abu Dhabi, BBC Good Food, Curly Tales and Experience Abu Dhabi. These pieces moved the narrative forward by spotlighting the café's evolving programme of events and workshops, including sourdough classes, sustainability pop-ups and creative gatherings. Freshly baked pastries, earthy interiors and a warm welcome—Seed & Bloom is one of Abu Dhabi's most exciting new openings. — Curly Tales Reviews on Tripadvisor consistently cited the ambience, service and quality of food, reinforcing the messages shared in media and influencer content. The café maintains a full 5.0 rating. 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Campaign ME
23-07-2025
- Campaign ME
PIF-backed HUMAIN's Acting CMO on Saudi Arabia as a global AI powerhouse
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How do data quality, cultural context and clearly defined use cases determine the real impact of AI strategies on brand, marketing and the society at large? At the core of AI lies data and used cases At the outset, Plimsoll told Campaign Middle East, 'In the same way that Aramco has led the region and the world in the oil sector, HUMAIN was established to lead the world in artificial intelligence. HUMAIN will be global first, but sovereign by design. We will power and enable AI from the ground up, creating capabilites in the region for the world, and this includes data centres, tokens, LLM models and applications built on top of it.' Since its launch in May 2025, the company has already signed deals worth more than $23 billion with global AI leaders such as Nvidia, AMD, Amazon Web Services, and Qualcomm. Plimsoll added, 'HUMAIN will power global AI moves with data centres and large language models. We will enable AI infrastructure while delivering on global demand and the sovereign needs of Saudi Arabia and the region from a data protection, security and capabilities perspective. This includes storing data, processing data and managing it in our data centres in Saudi Arabia – for the region and for the rest of the world.' However, brand and marketing leaders in the region leaning into artificial intelligence who are evaluating the effectiveness of AI strategies have stated that these strategies are only as good as the insights derived from AI analytics, which in turn are only as effective as the quality of first-party and third-party data that feeds AI. When questioned about data integrity and clean data, Plimsoll responded, 'Unfortunately, this is one of the less-asked questions and, yet, one of the most important ones. AI is trained on data. If you train AI on bad data, you get bad AI. If you then feed a bad AI model with bad data again, you get even worse answers. Sure, data remains one of the most important aspects in all of this.' He added, 'But more important than the data is the used case. Why are we using AI? What are we using it for? While it's easy to say that AI is going to change the world, we need to understand how and why.' Plimsoll uses the story of a drill as a metaphor to 'drill the point home'. We buy a drill to drill a hole; we need the hole to put a nail in; we need the nail to put a painting up on the wall – so essentially we bought a drill to put a painting up on the wall. However, AI is like double-sided sticky tape that we buy to put up the painting instead, which metaphorically disrupts the 'drill' and 'nail' industry. 'This is why we've got to ask ourselves, what is the problem that I'm trying to solve?' Plimsoll explained. 'We've got several tools at our disposal, and with the right data and approach, we can solve any problem. We can make any industry more efficient. We can make any human better. We can take the interdependency of human creativity and AI's precision and power, and bring them together to create a unique force that is better than what it is today.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) Arabic large language models: Built in Saudi Arabia, but for the world Building on the conversation of making the brand and marketing industry better, Plimsoll also addressed the untapped potential of Arabic large language models (LLMs) targeting users in Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East – especially given growing conversations around the localisation of content and connecting brands with communities by leveraging the languages in which consumers think. 'In the Middle East, and specifically in Saudi Arabia, it's important to understand that tradition, culture and heritage are embedded in everything we do, but most LLMs that we use are built of generic content available globally that are meant for everyone, everywhere. They don't understand cultural nuance or the several sub-dialects of the Arabic language. It's important to understand that the 400 million Arabic speakers in the world don't all speak the same way,' Plimsoll said. He added, 'This is why we need to train AI and large language models based on how people speak and choose to ask questions in their language. Then we need to train LLMs to create generative content that is relevant, contextual and culturally nuanced enough to accurately and efficiently respond to a query set in a hyper-local context.' Through the conversation, he went on to add that global campaigns 'converted', 'translated', 'created' or 'generated' to suit the Middle East region may look appropriate to a global audience, but completely inappropriate to audiences in the region due to its misrepresentation of national attire, colloquial language, cultural etiquette – all of which need to be addressed not only by creatives, but also by those developing LLMs for the region. 'We need to build the best Arabic large language models from the region that aren't just about Arabic, but are about understanding the Middle East in all its facets, including religion, culture, tradition, heritage, customs, behaviours, preferences, intent and, most importantly, people – and that's how we're going to change LLMs and the future of marketing,' Plimsoll concluded.
