The MENA Effie Awards is Back For its Eleventh Edition

The eleventh edition of the MENA Effie Awards is back this year with a total of 275 shortlisted entries across 35 categories. The much-anticipated awards ceremony is set to take place on November 6th at the Coca-Cola Arena Dubai and is expected to attract an impressive 2,000 guests.

The first round of deliberations recently took place on October 6th to 9th, where 130 judges assessed the large influx of submissions, narrowing it down to 275 shortlisted entries. This year’s MENA Effie Award winners will be officially decided on November 27th and 28th.

Alexandre Hawari, CEO of Mediaquest (the organizer of the MENA Effie Awards) shared his excitement:

“We are delighted with the high caliber of entries this year, which have demonstrated the exceptional level of innovation and creativity that we look for in our award winners. For marketeers in the MENA region, 2019 turned out to be challenging in many ways, especially in terms of tighter budgets; but the entries also demonstrate that marketing professionals have faced this challenge successfully by rebalancing their media mix.”

Shaking things up this year, the MENA Effie Awards 2019 program included new categories such as:

• ‘Food’
• ‘Beverages Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic’
• ‘Healthcare Services’
• ‘Household Goods Supplies and Services’
• ‘Snack and Desserts’
• ‘David vs. Goliath’
• Four ‘Positive Change’ categories for:
  • Environmental – Brands
  • Environmental Non-Profit
  • Social Good – Brands
  • Social Good Non-Profit
• Two ‘Sustained Success’ categories for Products and Services
• Two ‘Small Budget’ categories for Products and Services

Other categories vary from ‘Automotive-vehicles,’ and ‘Banking, Finance & Insurance,’ to ‘Beauty, Cosmetics and Fragrances,’ ‘Entertainment & Sports,’ and the list goes on.

Alex Malouf, Communications Head at Protect & Gamble, commented:

“The MENA Effies are the standard by which marketers are judged, both on creativity as well as effectiveness. There was a strong focus on data-driven campaigns this year, as well as online audience targeting. We saw a number of ideas based around a content marketing strategy. Those who have gone on to the second round should be proud of their work, and the impact they’ve made.”

Winning an Effie has become a sought-after award for marketers around the region, alongside other recognition awards including ‘Marketer of the Year,’ ‘Most Effective Advertising Agency Office of the Year,’ ‘Most Effective Media Agency Office of the Year’ and ‘Most Effective Agency Network of the Year.’

The MENA Effie Awards is supported this year by The Choueiri Group as the Main Sponsor. The SME Category is powered by Dubai Media City; Entertainment Partner is ATL; Official Music Partner is Spotify; Official English Media Partner is Arab News; Effie’ciety Partners are Brandripplr, Group Plus and MMP World Wide; Radio Partner is Shock Middle East; Official Outdoor Partner is Hills Advertising; Location Architect is MEmob; Official Print Partner is United Printing Press; Official Transportation Partner is Careem; Design and Creative Partner is BOND and the Media Partner is Communicate.