The winners of this year’s MENA Effie Awards were announced at the Armani/Pavilion in Downtown Dubai. 2,000 top marketing and advertising professionals gathered to celebrate the most effective marketing in the Middle East.

This year’s expert panel of judges was tasked with assessing a total of 293 shortlisted entries across 24 categories, against a backdrop of mounting competition in the marketing industry.

Alexandre Hawari, Co-CEO of Mediaquest – the organizer of the MENA Effie Awards – says: “2017 saw tighter budgets, increasing pressure to deliver revenue and growing competition in the industry, but despite this high-pressure environment, marketing professionals have upped the ante with new levels of innovation, creativity and resourcefulness. This is what we look for in our award-winners, who have all successfully faced the challenges by finding ever more strategic and targeted ways to reach audiences and deliver a solid return on investment.”

Winning an Effie has become a global symbol of achievement and this year’s prestigious Grand Prix went to FP7/CAI for the “You’re Not Accounted For” for EGBank. Other top accolades included Marketer of the Year for Sephora’s Ghada Khoury; Most Effective Media Office of the Year for PHD Dubai; Most Effective Agency Network of the Year for FP7 and Most Effective Advertising Office of the Year for FP7 Dubai. FP7/CAI won two Golds in the newly introduced Renaissance category for its campaigns, “They’re Just Cows – The Comeback of Sawsan & Souad” for Labanita and “You’re Not Accounted For” for EGBank.