Coca-Cola’s latest music-focused campaign ‘Coke Studio Middle East’ recently scooped up four awards at the Gemas Effie Mena 2012 and The Cristal Festival Europe.

Coke Studio Season One alone won three awards in three categories including Best Youth Marketing Campaign (silver), Best FMCG Campaign (silver), and Best Use of Social Media (bronze).

Sharing the spotlight at the Gemas Effie Mena 2012 and making a 2nd year comeback to the awards was the Sprite Cricket Stars Championship, which won two awards including Best FMCG Campaign (silver) and Best Use of Corporate Social Responsibility (bronze).

Judd Labarathe, chairman of Gemas Effie Mena 2012, creator of the Asia Pacific Effies, and sdvisor to the Effie Worldwide Board, said: “In an Effie year where big ideas were rare, and the best campaigns were those where the media idea and the creative were impossible to separate, Coke Studio stood out.”

"’Branded content’ is a buzzword in many places, but this effort shows how to do it right - namely, by developing an original idea, putting it on an audience-relevant platform, and then getting out of the way so the audience can appreciate the idea (or not) on its own merits.”

Coke Studio also celebrated winning an Emerald Cristal during The Cristal Festival Europe Cristal for its achievements as a strategic, innovative and engaging branded content platform in the Middle East.

The Cristal Festival Europe is an international festival for professionals of the communication, advertising and creative worlds, held in the Swiss Alps every year and bringing together juries of agencies and advertisers.

There is unique international award category dedicated to brand entertainment & contents that recognises original, engaging and entertaining content implemented via original distribution channels and content platforms, encouraging consumer engagement.
 
Imad Benmoussa, general manager of Coca-Cola Middle East, said: “Winning five Effies for Mena solidly marks the sound, creative and effective campaigns we strive to achieve. We celebrate with our team and share these awards with our partners across the region.”

“We are on an incredible path as the industry has consistently shown appreciation towards our strong campaigns, further proving the company’s dedication in achieving our business goals.”

Coca-Cola Middle East left with five Effie Awards in four categories at the Gemas Effie Mena 2012, leaving with the most prizes in the beverage industry. This is a record breaking year of Effie awards for Coca-Cola Middle East with five wins out of seven nominations for the world’s beverage giant.

TolgaCebe, region marketing manager for Middle East, said: “It is a great pleasure to see that our key marketing initiatives are generating both strong business results and high recognition from the advertising industry with five Effies awards complementing the eight Lynx trophies that we received in early 2012.”

“It is definitely a special encouragement for our brand teams and our agency partners that comes with the accountability for even more impactful campaigns in 2013.”

Gemas Effie Mena is the regional version of the world’s globally renowned awards for marketing excellence. The Effies celebrate Ideas That Work – marketing ideas that click, bring home the results, and meet organizational objectives, the statement said.

The entries are judged upon real, quantifiable and measurable results from marketing campaigns that have run in one or more Mena countries. The competition provides a platform to showcase creativity, compete with the very best, and gain marketing acumen.

Similarly, the Cristal Festival Europe is held to promote European advertising creativity and to showcase a variety of work from the international creative industries as inspiration, by means of a diverse range of competitions and through the sharing of knowledge. The Cristal juries are made up of both agencies and advertisers.

Over 1,000 people attend the festival every year coming for its debates, conferences, and workshops that are held about the latest topics, trends and developments in the industry. – TradeArabia News Service