Just got back from the Kuwait Advertising Arab Awards, it was better then last years event but it was still extremely poor. The way the categories were divided and the way the ads were nominated didn’t make any sense. Our agency submitted work to some categories for example but during tonights event those categories didn’t exist. I heard the same feedback from other agencies who participated, everyone was just confused to what the hell was going on. The actual presentation of the awards was also a mess, they couldn’t get the TV commercials playing right (how hard is it to press play and pause) and the woman announcer had the most cheesiest one liners. The event was also supposed to start at 7PM according to our tickets (which had a major mistake btw), but according to their website the event was supposed to start at 7:30PM but in reality the event actually started at 8. There were also less agencies participating this year probably because after last years fiasco no one wanted to be involved with the KAAA.
On a positive note the stage looked good, BUT it was a near copy of the KREA awards. Compare the picture above to the picture [Here]. Notice the starry backdrop?
Anyway my agency ended up collecting the most awards (I think), with a total of 12 bronze, silver and gold trophy’s but it really doesn’t mean much since the KAAA doesn’t have any credibility internationally. One of my favorite TV commercials ever which was created by our Beirut office won a Gold in the food category. The version of the ad they played wasn’t the one I liked though, it has a different soundtrack and editing so I figured I would share with everyone the version I like which I uploaded to YouTube a while back. The commercial was for the product Zwan, if you haven’t checked it out you can by clicking [Here]. And thats it basically, I got to see a lot of old friends and I got to wear a suit so everything else didn’t matter much. Hopefully next year I won’t go.
update: here is another review of the event [Link]
update2: Just found out that they canceled one of our categories because we were the only ones who entered it. So according to the KAAA logic if you are successful and have no competition you can’t win. Now lets play along with that for a moment, how about you call us and tell us that you canceled that category, at least then we could have told the client not to come to the event. No professionalism whatsoever.
15 replies on “Back from the KAAA”
So it was a little better but still needs ALOT of improvement! Hopefully they will decide to get some professionals to run it instead of them! So they can learn from them, how can category just disappear!
Miscommunication and poor organization is the result of this KAAA! yala we can only see how things will improve!
I think a lot of us did find it pleasant because we expected a chaotic night such as last year. Starry fabric is cheesy in my opinion by the way… i personally cannot stand them but thats a matter of taste.
The time issue was a big deal for me since I didn’t get out of the office until 6:20 and still needed to go home and change! Also, the freaking long speeches!!!! i didn’t listen to a single one of them coz i was fooling around with my cam and i doubt anyone else listened either.
I had a good night though 😉 4 awards LOCALLY 😛
How was the celebratory champagne?
I don’t remember how it was…all i remember was they had a serious shortage of service.
Have you guys ever been in Cannes? I will give you a review next year 😛 KAAA can’t be any better!
Sorry rampurple, I had a good night too 😉 5 awards LOCALLY 😛
MAbrouk Mahi! No need to be sorry….just watch out next time 😉
Oh and Mahi, no one said KAA is better than Cannes or than a lot of other advertising awards shows around.
What categories did you win your awards in and which places?
I just watched the commercial .. when do the kids find the hatch?
firends in advertising told me about and the only reason they went was cos they were forced to.
i don’t know about everybody else but i had a blast eheheheh
lol Fonzy… i think we all go to these events just because we are forced to… its all about making the best of it while ur there. me and a colleague had so much fun because we entertained ourselves during the speech lol
By the way, the decor was not intended for the night, but for the following night which was for another party for Al Watan newspaper. None of the moving heads moved, did any one notice. Food was poor, I was missing the chicken from my main cours and my friend was missing the veal, sauce cold, sweet course was a mess just like the netire event. MC no good, speaches boaring. how could sponsors be nominated for some categories? Is this realy better than last year’s? Good god!
Miserable failure.
Zwan the band is pretty spanking tho.
I attended the event (my 1st time). God, that was one of the cheapest events I’ve ever attended! It was so bad that no one around me was even looking at the screens!
What’s this about Khrafis (Americana) and their allies winning a lot of prizes?