Saudi‘s BigTime and Impact BBDO Dubai Dominate Regional Wins at Cresta

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At Cresta 2025, the agency took home six Golds for “Fight Night”, a campaign that reframed boxing promotion into a cultural event—merging cinematic craft, entertainment marketing, and local identity.

Founded just two years ago as the creative arm for the Saudi General Entertainment Authority (GEA) and Riyadh Season, BigTime has rapidly become the region’s most decorated independent shop. 

The win follows a remarkable streak: Emmy recognition, multiple Cannes Lions including two Golds in Entertainment for Sport, and being named Independent Entertainment Agency of the Year at Cannes 2025. BigTime’s creative storytelling—whether through The 4th Judge, Obsession, or Fight Night—has redefined how Saudi projects are perceived abroad, balancing Vision 2030 ambitions with daring, unconventional creativity.

CEO Mohammed Sehly has often described the approach as rooted in “trust, insight, and embracing Saudi Arabia’s unique cultural identity.” That ethos has clearly resonated with juries far beyond the Kingdom.

It wasn’t just BigTime carrying the regional flag. Impact BBDO Dubai scored a coveted Grand Prix for Long-Term Creativity, a recognition of the agency’s consistent storytelling muscle across multi-year campaigns. 

Publicis Middle East also converted its strong shortlist presence into Gold.

This year’s 32 Golds, 51 Silver and 76 Bronze have been awarded. They are topped by six Grand Prix awards - with an unprecedented four of them going to AMVBBDO of London.

The agency scoops up three Grand Prix for "Never Just A Period", the latest film in its outstanding work for Essity and its Bodyform/Libresse brands. 

The film takes top rating as best commercial over 60 seconds, and also wins for film direction and production design. On top of that, the overall multi-year campaign picks up a Grand Prix for long-term creativity. 

The BBDO network also marks its commitment to long-form creativity with Impact BBDO of Dubai taking a Grand Prix in that category.

However, Dentsu Creative Chicago breaks the near Grand Prix lock out, winning the highest honours with its influencer campaign for Oreo Empire, thereby preventing BBDO achieving a clean sweep of the top trophies.

Serviceplan/Plan.Net of Germany once again proved a big winner with four Golds, two going to its innovative campaign in the US for Amazon Health, 855-HOW- TO-QUIT (Opioids).

Other Golds went to Dentsu Creative Iberia, Edelman London, Havas Play, Leo of Hong Kong, Almap BBDO, BBDO New York, Dentsu Inc. of Tokyo, Publicis Middle East, POL from Oslo, BBDO Nordics from Stockholm, BBDO India, Horizon FCB, as well as more awards for AMVBBDO and Dentsu Creative Chicago. Production hotshots Omnicom Productions and Riff Raff Films also featured.

The Cresta Awards have built their reputation on independence and rigour: jurors vote individually online, avoiding the “groupthink” that can dominate other shows.

This year, the awards doubled down on categories like Long-Term Creativity and highlighted the rise of AI-powered campaigns, with three Golds going to work that used the technology in creatively effective ways.

Lewis Blackwell, Cresta’s CEO, pointed to the Middle East’s emergence as “a consolidation of progress” after several years of rising shortlist quality. The results proved it wasn’t just a shortlist story—it was a winners’ table shift.

Cresta 2025 will be remembered as the year of the emergence of the Middle East (Saudi Arabia in particular) as a global creative force. For decades, global award tables were dominated by Europe and the US. The new reality is different: Riyadh and Dubai are producing work that competes head-to-head with London, New York, and Tokyo. 

The question now is whether regional agencies can sustain this momentum—not just with breakout campaigns, but with a pipeline of ideas that keep the Middle East at the creative centre of gravity.