Hot off the press: Campaign Middle East's Cannes Lions 2025 magazine hits stands
This July edition of Campaign Middle East is packed with opinions from key industry leaders on ethical and 'do-good' marketing. The issue also incorporates recaps from some in the region who attended the 72nd Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, who coincidentally, also raise questions on how the industry can strategise and create 'marketing for good'.
Senior-level marketers and advertisers, both brand and agency side, have poured their concerns into the pages of this issue to make the case for better advancements in ethical and sustainable media and marketing practices. Al Masaood's Marwa Kaabour reflects on how ethical leadership weaves sustainability, inclusion and governance into the fabric of business. C2 Comms' Roy Aftimos echoes this and attributes his agency's success to prioritising people and purpose.
Unilever's Manan Gupta adds to the discussions with a take on why the retail shelf is one of the biggest missed opportunities in consumer sustainability, while Warner Bros. Discovery's shares how brands can inspire ec-action in young audiences through kids' media and entertainment.
Contributors to Campaign Middle East's annual 'Do-Good' issue also include Conscious Media's Andy Powell, WonderEight's Karim Abou Rizk, The Vantage's Robin Phillips, and Motivate Val Morgan's Sahal Valliyot.
Also under the spotlight this month is an in-depth look into all the heated debates, interesting insights and top takeaways from Cannes Lions 2025.
In the issue's cover feature, Anup Oommen, Editor at Campaign Middle East, recounts perspectives on this year's Festival of Creativity from Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, Aude Gandon, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Nestlè, Fabio Silveira, Managing Director, Havas Creative Middle East, Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO and Chairman, Vayner Media, Siddarth Sivaprakash, Head of Brand & Marketing, Home Centre, Landmark Group, Josefien Olij, Senior Director Marketing Communications, Phillips, Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer, Impact BBDO, Melissa Hsieh Nikolic, Director of Product Management, YouTube Ads, Andy Yang, Global Head of Creative and Brand Products, TikTok, Fahd Hamidaddin, Board Member & Founding CEO, Saudi Tourism Authority, Reda Raad, Group CEO, TBWA\Raad, Tarek Miknas, CEO, FP7 McCann MENAT, and Khaled Al Shehhi, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, UAE Government Media Office.
Also contributing their thoughts on the Festival is UK Advertising's Aisling Conlon, DCT Abu Dhabi's Nada Assaf, Déjà Vu's Manasvi Gosalia, Serviceplan Group Middle East's Natalie Shardan and Livingroom Dubai's Seyoan Vela.
This month's Brand Focus section hears from Modon Holding's Dina Jreissati, who writes that brands that nudge societal conversations end up on top.
Amjad Puliyali contributes to the month's Saudi Focus, and explains how Saudi Arabia's investments in artificial intelligence position the Kingdom as a leader in technological advancements.
From recaps from the shores of the south of France to discourse on how the industry can be better and do better, Campaign Middle East's Cannes Lions 2025 and Do-Good magazine holds a mirror to the industry's wins and areas of improvement.
Read more in the full issue below or click here.
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The campaign unfolded in three distinct phases, starting with early awareness efforts before progressing into targeted media and influencer engagements, and then culminating in highly community-focused activations of workshops and activities, which set the direction for the venue's ongoing programme of experiences offered to its guests. Pre-launch awareness Ahead of its March 2025 opening, the team laid the groundwork for targeted brand awareness. Bilingual press materials were shared with regional media, and first-look exclusives were pitched to trusted lifestyle outlets. Regional publications featured Seed & Bloom before its launch, drawing attention to the design details and menu highlights. Fact Magazine called it 'a space for cakes, classes and coffee in equal measure,' capturing the layered intent behind the concept. This early presence established media recognition and positioned the brand as experience-led from the outset. Launch coverage The launch campaign brought together select content creators to engage their audiences with original, immersive storytelling. Influencers including Alia Alhosani, Amal Ismail, Lana Kaati and Sister's Diary covered their visits through Reels and stories. Through detailed concept briefing and on-the-ground collaboration with these individuals, content focused on the concept's craftsmanship, interiors and the sense of calm the space offered. Time Out Abu Dhabi's walkthrough reel highlighted the café's botanical interiors and pastry selection. A similar walkthrough on TikTok added another strong stream of content. Secret Abu Dhabi's video looked at the sustainability story and the space's distinctive tone. View this post on Instagram A post shared by @gardensplazaad Combined, these videos received more than 80,000 views across platforms. 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Campaign ME
a day ago
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Creativity and clients at Cannes Lions 2025
I've got nothing against babies or rainforests but, in all honesty, they seem to do less for me than for my fellow judges. I was on the Innovation jury with some amazingly talented people who were intelligent, insightful and articulate. But they seemed to earnestly believe we should be saving the world more than selling to it. I know that sounds shallow but that's why I work in advertising rather than for Greenpeace or the United Nations – not that they would have me. That said, Cannes Lions 2025 showed me that both were possible. I saw campaign after campaign – including 'Three Words' by Axa, 'Beer Retirement Account' by AB InBev, 'Drops of Hope' by Kimberly-Clark, 'Cars to Work' by Renault – all of which combined meaningful purpose with increased sales. I saw several campaigns where you could appreciate the long-term benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), knowing that these problems could only have been identified – let alone, solved – by people from a variety of different backgrounds. Great examples of this include 'Caption with Intention' for the Chicago Hearing Society or 'Breastmilk Money' for Herconomy, a digital bank in Nigeria. Cannes Lions 2025 felt like creativity was back at the heart of the best marketing campaigns. Or at least creative thinking took centre stage while performance marketing and adtech were back to lurking ominously in the shadows. Metaphorically speaking, the big tech companies and media conglomerates were back to being the rich men in suits buying sparkling beverages in the club while advertising reverted to its traditional role of being the pretty ones enjoying these beverages for free. This year, advertising finally reclaimed the dance floor leaving the tech companies to enjoy the VIP booths. It was a much-needed antidote to all the talk about artificial intelligence (AI) because, at least for now, it shows there is still a valid place in business for divergent thinking. This year, across most juries, you could really notice the supremacy of the idea. Maybe it showed a growing maturity of the awards industry, or maybe it was a reflection of more diverse juries – not only creatives but also strategists, client servicing specialists and marketers. However, executional craft played second fiddle to brave thinking. There was still great craft, but it was built on the solid foundation of great ideas. There was an attention to detail, but the best work executed it at scale – big, bold campaigns that were often years in the making. The unique quirk of the Innovation jury was that the shortlisted work was presented on stage, in person. And this is where the rubber really hit the road. Chief marketing officers (CMOs) of household brands such as Phillips and Apple pitched their work along with their agency. And 10 minutes of passionate presentation can do more than a two-minute case study could ever do. In-person presentations with the client also made it hard to scam the work and exaggerate the results. Unfortunately, this was another hot topic of conversation in the week following Cannes Lions 2025. My personal view is that there is far less of a scam across both regional and global awards. I always felt that 'gaming the awards' was misguidedly thought of as just a bit of fun – part of the game. But now there are a lot more people online and in-person willing to call it out. Judging is intense. 12 hours locked in a dark room with unhealthy snacks and far too much soda. But my fellow jury members and I still took the time to question the validity of each idea – doing the necessary background checks when presented with sceptical information. AI may be helping to game some case studies, but it takes little effort to uncover fabrications. So, to conclude, my personal observations from the jury room are: AI is here, but using AI is not an idea – and it was surprising to see the number of entries that seemed to think it was. Americans were everywhere. Maybe it's because they're the people with the most money or maybe they just wanted to get out of their country for a week, but it felt like at least half the attendees were from the US. So were clients. Cannes Lions used to be about creatives and production companies. Now clients are central to every aspect – from the speeches to the jury. Ambitious ideas that use creative thinking to solve business issues were in general winning the big awards. Ads about those ideas were sometimes good but just being a good ad didn't seem enough. South American creativity, especially from Brazil and Colombia, is having its moment. They showed what can be done and how to have the most local relevance, irrespective of controversies surrounding certain topics. Creativity is becoming more democratised. Agencies from Denmark and Thailand, Puerto Rico and Nigeria won big. And those are my two cents. By Seyoan Vela, Chief Creative Officer, Livingroom Dubai
