A super-duplex chalet, a private beach and an outdoor swimming pool; this was the place that accommodated nine jurors over a period of three intensive days in Kuwait for the KREA event. Kuwait Rewards Excellence in Advertising, organised by the Communication Zone, was an event taking place for the first time in Kuwait. The initiative came to put Kuwait on the creative map of the region and encourage good work in advertising.
More than 400 entries submitted by 26 advertising agencies left the jurors busy, thoughtful, and hopeful on the steaming sands of the Kuwait Hilton resort. Juror Anthony Ryman found the judging process a bit like the creative process. he said: "Lots of comments, ideas, navel-gazing, heated discussions and laughter". Judge Zuhair al-Mazeedi found the idea of distancing the committee from the city helped isolate the daily pressure from the juror's judgement. Juror Nadime Zahhar found the committee "homogenous and each juror's insight made the results fair and unbiased."
Clients were well represented by Laila al-Mutairi, marketing communications manager at MTC, and Timo Everi, chief commercial officer and director of marketing at Wataniya Telecom in Kuwait. Everi, who is a winner and previous juror in Cannes and other international award shows, described the jury as "very professional" and stated that his contribution reflected his creative background rather than his business background.
Entries were first subjected to a ticking system. each category was laid on the tables and each juror ticked as many as he/she thought these ads were worth. Then the elimination takes place while the surviving ones move to the next stage, which is scoring. Ads were being judged mainly on creativity (55 percent), marketing strategy (20 percent), crafting of the execution (20 percent), and personal opinion (5 percent).
"The judging procedure for each entry is the fairest and most objective I have ever experienced as a judge for design and advertising awards," said juror David Berman. The relaxing atmosphere helped ease the judging ambience and served as a good distraction during coffee breaks. An interval described by Juror Hanadi Shehabeddine as "smooth while judging and soothing when not".
The level of work varied between good and bad. Some jurors were looking at the bright side, taking into consideration that this was the first time an awards ceremony takes place in Kuwait. While others were more affirmative about it: "The judges decided to award gold, silver and bronze trophies in every category for encouragement, sometimes, since it is a relatively young market. But this doesn't mean that the work standards are high. In fact they are low, very low", to quote Juror Halim Choueiri.
When the award night arrived everybody had hopeful looks. Agencies were greeting each other with an eager smile. As results started to be announced, some faces glowed and others looked disappointed. Tables cheered at each and every announcement. KREA trophies filled some tables, such as Pulse DDB, which turned out to be the most awarded agency piling up 11 trophies.
The privilege of the KREA Grande Gold award went to Pulse DDB for Sony VAIO (0 percent) fat, while the best TV commercial was Pause for prayer/ Ministry of Awqaf by P&A, and best TV production went to Rainmaker motion pictures, for Gulf Investment House.
When the night ended everybody relaxed and applauded the efforts exerted by organisers, sponsors, jurors, agencies and planners. KREA, is a name to be added to the list of award shows in the Arab world, and to be anticipated by the advertising community in the years to come.
Now the juicy part with the results.
By Staff Reporter
© ArabAd 2006
