AOTY Snapshot: Fusion5 on winning Independent Media Agency of the Year 2024
Mario Saaiby, Head of Agency Growth at Motivate Media Group, awarded Fusion5 Advertising the Independent Media Agency of the Year award.
Fusion5 was awarded the Independent Media Agency of the Year 2024 title at Campaign Middle East's Agency of the Year Middle East Awards.
The judges chose an agency whose philosophy is deeply rooted in data-driven solutions and commitment to exceptional return on investment (ROI) for its clients. With a remarkable 19 per cent revenue increase and a 29 per cent team size expansion, the agency successfully secured several major accounts during the review period.
Elie Haber and Johnn
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The second panel, conducted in partnership with SRMG Media Solutions, and moderated by Nader Bitar, Director of Digital Solutions, SRMG, welcomed to the stage, Mitin Chakraborty , Head of Marketing , Babyshop, Nikola Djordjevic, Head of Marketing, ASICS Arabia, Andrew Ene , Head of Performance, Spark Foundry MENA, and , Head of Performance, and Anjana Murali, Associate Director – Growth & Best Practices, Keyade Middle East The panellists delved into an in-depth discussion on capturing attention and connecting with consumers in a fragmented media landscape; identifying core target audiences and the most relevant media channels to reach them; as well as developing a cohesive brand story that can be consistently communicated across chosen media touchpoints. Nikola Djordjevic said, 'We have all seen a major shift in the way customers consume media and entertainment, and we all need to be where these customers and consumers are. 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However, when you're thinking of multi-channel strategies, you're thinking about making a choice about where you have the right to win based on where the consumers are at in a fragmented media landscape, and then crafting a story that touches all of those points.' Anjana Murali added, 'The way we fundamentally think about marketing is shifting. Quite often, we find ourselves as marketers sitting in a room to identify five personas that match our brand. However, if you're thinking of narrowing all of your target audiences into merely five personas, you're already missing out. This is where algorithms and AI come into the picture. They can predict and reach people far better than we used to do, and can do.' She continues, 'However, just because AI and algorithms seem to be doing the heavy lifting, it doesn't mean some of us marketers can take a nap. It's important to marry the two together — what AI can do and what we bring to the table in terms of our experience, the creative, understanding the feedback, leveraging what message resonates with the user, and more. That creative and strategic input still lies with us — and that's why at the core, we are still needed.' Before the panel concluded, Chakraborty also highlighted standardised measurement as a common pain point that needs to be addressed on priority — a problem that's becoming a road block for marketers trying to join the dots in terms of decision-making around platforms, providers and an ideal full-funnel approach. To view the panel discussion in its entirety, stay tuned for the full video of the Campaign Breakfast Briefing that will be added to this article shortly. Fireside chat: Balancing creative ambition, business objectives, and community-driven demand for relevance The final discussion of the event, a fireside chat with marketers, explored ways to measure the effectiveness of cultural relevance within campaigns, while simultaneously staying aligned with broader brand and business objectives. The fireside chat, moderated by Anup Oommen, Editor, Campaign Middle East, welcomed on stage two client-side marketers, including, Iva Kutle Škrlec , Director, Destination Marketing, Hilton MEA, and , Director, Destination Marketing, and Remya Menon, Associate Director of Marketing, Bayut Iva Kutle Škrlec said, 'I think the whole cultural relevance piece starts by defining what that means for your brand and what you're trying to achieve, because that then determines what you're measuring. Do you need a brand-lift study? Do you need to look at your engagement rates and so on? For example, when we launch channels and newsletters and content that resonates with a lot of people in the region and links into cultural concepts here, we definitely see increased engagement rate, engagement rates, and better response from our customers. But again, there needs to be a piece where you ultimately tie that back to the business and say, 'okay, this is having an impact' or is it just a nice to have, and are we getting it right?' Through the chat, marketers discussed the cultural nuances of the region — how there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to 'Middle East culture' or the 'Arabic' language, given that the region is a confluence of so many different cultures, dialects, traditions, beliefs, histories, and nuanced forms of expressing each of these. Škrlec added, 'So I think getting that granularity right and to understand what it is exactly that resonates with people — in terms of messaging, offers, promotions and products is essential. The way we market one hotel in this market might be entirely different to another place. That's why it ultimately comes down to that granularity of what matters to each individual community and customer and what impact it has on the brand and the business outcomes.' Building on this conversation of measuring the impact and effectiveness of getting cultural relevance right, Remya Menon, said, 'I'll be honest, the measurement piece is a conversation that we have all the time, almost on a weekly basis with our CEO, and we've been doing this for about two years. And I think measurement and specifically in the context of cultural relevance is difficult, right? But am I saying that it's impossible? No. We have all of our usual levers such as brand lift studies, surveys, feedback loops and so on and so forth. But as a brand guardian, you also have to build your own hardware and use your internal data and what your audience is actually feeding back to you to build those measurement methods.' Through the discussion, the marketers delved into the need to truly listen to consumers in order to get the 'cultural relevance piece right'. Menon added, 'Yes, there are KPI-driven conversations and there are creativity-driven conversations, but the consumers now have made their opinions very clear — they want to co-create with brands. They want their feedback to be heard and to be more involved in the conversation.' The panellists also discussed the need to build the right team structures to ensure that creative outputs and brand is aligned with cultural relevance, and organizational culture: Nurturing a safe environment that embraces mistakes and learning is how you innovate and stay ahead of the curve. They concluded the discussion sharing their take on the course correction required within the industry. To view the panel discussion in its entirety, stay tuned for the full video of the Campaign Breakfast Briefing that will be added to this article shortly. All in all, some of the key takeaways that attendees shared from the event were: Curiosity remains key; those who take a hands-on approach to the latest tools are those who will win. However, the adage 'garbage-in-garbage-out' remains true, given that generative AI tools are only as smart as the information they learn from, and the prompts they respond to. Meanwhile, even as personalisation, shopping agents, precision targeting and tasteful messaging are shaping marketing strategies, the core objective of the 'game' still remains to serve people. The magic of marketing strategies is to take a human-first approach and be a brand that matters to people. After the keynotes and panels at the Campaign Breakfast Briefing: Marketing Strategies 2025 event, attendees stayed back for a time of networking. 1/4 Campaign Breakfast Briefing: Marketing Strategies 2025 Attendees networking at the Campaign Breakfast Briefing: Marketing Strategies 2025 event. For those of you who were unable to attend this stellar gathering of like-minded leaders shaping the top trends and addressing the top challenges in the industry, keep an eye out for the YouTube video of the entire event. Mark you calendars. Campaign Middle East's next event, Campaign Breakfast Briefing: The Future is Now, which will be held on 12 September 2025.
