Leo Burnett excels at Dubai Lynx Advertising Awards

The Grand Prix is highest accolade bestowed upon an agency for their creativity on any single advertising campaign and was one of 23 awards Leo Burnett won; the others being six gold, nine silver and seven bronze.

The competition received over 2,000 entries from advertising agencies across the region and each entry was judged by 29 international jury members. The winners were subsequently announced at the 3rd Dubai Lynx Awards.

The Grand Prix was won by Leo Burnett's Cairo office for a Heinz Ketchup advertising campaign entered into the print category. Leo Burnett's Beirut office was also a winner and its 'Khede Kasra' campaign for Women's Empowerment won more awards than any other entry with an incredible five golds and two silvers. As a consequence Leo Burnett Beirut was placed 3rd for Media Agency of the Year despite not being strictly a media agency. Leo Burnett's sister company, Starcom MediaVest won Media Agency of the Year winning 16 awards including one Grand Prix and five golds.

Organisers of the Dubai Lynx Festival also awarded Melody Entertainment Advertiser of the Year Award. The media and entertainment conglomerate was presented the inaugural award for embracing and encouraging the creative work produced by its agency, Leo Burnett Cairo.

Leo Burnett Mena CEO, Raja Trad said of the win:

"Leo Burnett is committed to creating ideas that are so powerful, they have the power to truly move people. And the 'Khede Kasra' and 'Heinz Heritage' campaigns are terrific examples of how people are now at the centre of our mindset. Not the brand and not the category. As a consequence these campaigns struck an emotional chord by Leo Burnett's understanding of the local trends and both are deserving winners of their respective awards."

Also attending the festival was Farid Chehab, Chief Creative Officer for Leo Burnett Central and Eastern Europe, Mena, who led a debate on North African advertising.

He said, "Creativity, innovation and integration are words that best reflect our teams core thinking; I congratulate the entire Leo Burnett team whose recent work has reflected the agency's commitment to the creation of big ideas and its purpose to build meaningful communications that make a qualitative difference to people's lives. 2009 was another successful year for Leo Burnett setting the bar higher for greater creativity in 2010."