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Following Impact BBDO's Grand Prix win at Cannes lions 2022 Festival, ArabAd talked to Dani Richa, chairman and chief executive of BBDO Middle East, Africa and Pakistan, to record his views on Impact BBDO’s partnership with An-Nahar, which has been an extremely lucrative one in terms of awards.
You’ve won quite a lot of awards for your work with An-Nahar now. How as your collaboration with the paper helped it through challenging times for the country and the newspaper industry?
We are constantly inspired by An-Nahar; they demand that we bring to them the boldest ideas possible – this mutual respect and openness has resulted in some of the most powerful work in the region, and it’s only natural that it would be awarded. The campaigns that have come out of our collaboration have not only helped the newspaper build on its reputation and success of being a champion of the people’s voice, but have also positively impacted Lebanese culture. Whether it was to change the Lebanese national anthem in order to include women in it, or to eliminate the government’s attempts to delay elections, our partnership has always been at the forefront of moving society forward.
What was the message you wanted to deliver with this campaign?
The message was simple: the elections must happen, no matter what. And we are prepared to sacrifice our daily edition for it. There are no excuses – the voice of the Lebanese people must be heard.
How pleased are you with Impact BBDO’s current trajectory? Agency and network of the year at the Dubai Lynx, a Yellow Pencil at D&AD, now a grand prix at Cannes. How are you looking to develop the agency?
I am, of course, beyond pleased that we have consistently been the best performing agency in the region for a while now. However, we are constantly setting our sights higher, choosing not to rest on what we have achieved yesterday. Last year we were ranked as number two agency in the world on the WARC rankings, but today is when we begin planning to become number one. The agency will continue to develop some of the best and most effective creative in the world, thanks to an incredible team that we are building for the future.
