The Cresta Awards, which honor an absolute standard of creative excellence in international advertising and marketing communications since 1993, has issued the call for entries in its 24th worldwide competition.
Creative Standards International, the Cresta Awards is pleased to announce its selection for 2016 Jury President, Mr. Fadi Yaish, Executive Regional Creative Director, Impact BBDO, Dubai. Mr. Yaish was the first creative director from his region to be ranked in The World’s Top 10, finding himself at #3 ECD Worldwide in 2014, #5 CD Worldwide in 2009 and #2 CD Worldwide 2008. Described by Dubai’s Media Week as “The Dark Horse” in the region, Fadi made his agency and the region famous and took a place between the World’s Top 10 in Advertising today. He has always helped his agency and network to be ranked among the Top Two Agency and Network of The Year at Dubai Lynx and Effie and among the top 5 performing offices in his global agency networks. Fadi joined Impact BBDO in late 2013. Under his creative direction and leadership, Impact BBDO Dubai delivered most innovative cross-channels body of work that has been recognized nationally and globally, winning at every show. Within his first year, he led his agency to be ranked #6 Worldwide, and #1 Agency and Network in MENA.
He is one of the world’s most awarded creative leaders in advertising. His work has been recognized with over 250 industry honors and accolades at award shows such as D&AD, Cannes Lions, Clio, One Show, LIA, New York Festival, Cresta, EPICA, Dubai Lynx, Loeries, The Cristal and Effie. With a career that has seen many firsts for his Clients and Agencies, he continues to adamantly raise the benchmark for innovation and creativity year after year. Along with his passion to advertising and contributions towards the industry, the one thing he made priority, is to inspire the young generation in his region, with engagements at institutes such as Applied Science University, Virginia Common Wealth University, Qatar Foundation, Jordan University and the American University of Dubai.
Upon his acceptance of the Cresta Grand Jury presidency, Mr. Yaish said, “At Cresta it’s you, the work and nothing else in between. It’s gut, jealousy and plenty of “I wish I had done it”, minus any adulteration. This is what makes it special. And this is why I am proud and honored to have the privilege to work with the Grand Jury, comprised of 84 of the world’s finest from 44 countries, as Jury President of the Cresta International Awards 2016. There have been many great creative talents in the MENA region who have worked tirelessly with plenty of brave clients over all these years, for us to reach a higher ground in the global advertising fraternity. The fact that I am the first president from our region is humbling. I can tell you we will not be looking for any specific type of work that delivered certain kind of results. We will only be looking for the world’s most outstanding work and celebrate creativity in all its forms. Work that inspires the world beyond the parameters of our industry. For, there is little more fascinating than seeing first-hand how our creative world is innovating to find new ways to connect with people. I look forward.” said Mr. Yaish.
All entries will be screened by several worldwide juries, who will compile a short-list of finalists that will be submitted to an International Grand Jury of expert creative directors, film specialists and graphic artists. Short-listed interactive entries will be judged by a separate Grand Jury of interactive experts. Work will be judged on originality of the creative idea and quality of its execution (except in the Crafts & Design competitions where only executional quality is taken into consideration).
Of the eight Grand Prix’s which were awarded in 2015, taking the honors in the Branded Entertainment and Integrated Campaigns competitions was Forsman & Bodenfors, Gothenburg for its “805 Million Names” campaign for United Nations World Food Programme. The Outdoor and TV/Cinema/Online Film competitions was won by Lowe China, Shanghai for their client Shanghai General Motors/Buick, titled, “Human Traffic Sign”. The Ambient Media competition was won by Kolle Rebbe, Hamburg for Misereor Charities, titled, “The Social Swipe”. The Interactive competition was won by Åkestam Holst, Stockholm for Audi, a Mobile Application titled, “The Swedish Snow Rescuer’s”. The Crafts competition (Best Direction) was won by Finch, Sydney for New Zealand Transport Authority, a TV spot is titled, “Mistakes”. And finally, the Press competition was won by Impact & Echo BBDO, Kuwait City for it Honda GPS newspaper campaign titled, “Confusing Indian”, “Confusing Iranian” and “Confusing Arab”.
The 2015 Cresta Awards received more than 3,600 entries from 52 countries. Of those, 81 entries from 15 countries were winners. Network of the year honors went to BBDO Worldwide and Agency of the Year to Forsman & Bodenfors, Gothenburg.
On Monday, 10 October 2016, the ‘winners gallery’ for the coveted Grand Prix, Gold, Silver and Bronze statuettes will be released in the form of a micro-site designed for all computer and mobile devices via (www.cresta-awards.com/2016).
The Cresta Awards are open to all advertising agencies, advertisers, studios, and production companies worldwide. Both national and international campaigns may compete. All advertising and marketing communications used since 1 January 2015 are eligible as entries into the following competitions: TV/Cinema/Online Film, Press, Outdoor, Radio, Ambient Media, Interactive, Direct Marketing, Integrated Campaigns, Promotions & Incentives, Design, Crafts and Branded Entertainment.
The deadline for entries is Friday 11 March 2016. All work must be submitted online at www.cresta-awards.com/registration. Entrants who submit and finalize work between February 8th though February 26th will receive a 10% discount on their entry fees! After February 26th, the entry fee for single items is $425/each. For campaigns consisting of a series of ads for the same product or service the fee is $225/item. Integrated Campaigns has a flat fee of $700.
Cresta Partners include: AdForum http://us.adforum.com/; Lürzer’s http://www.luerzersarchive.net/; RACA http://www.akarussia.ru/; AdSpur http://www.adspur.com/ and RAMS http://www.ramu.ru/
