Latest news with #BigTimeCreativeShop
Campaign ME
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Campaign ME
Cannes Lions MENA winners 2025: The regional round-up
The MENA region has had a great run at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025, with a total of 27 trophies awarded across agencies and markets – up from 22 in 2024. This year's Cannes Lions MENA winners include work from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and, for the first time, Jordan. Agencies from the UAE secured 13 awards, while Saudi Arabia followed closely with 14. Jordan marked a milestone by earning its first-ever Cannes Lion in the festival's 72-year history. The awarded work spans a mix of categories and disciplines, offering a snapshot of the campaigns and ideas that resonated with juries this year. Below is a breakdown of the Cannes Lions MENA winners and the campaigns recognised in 2025. RECIPE FOR CHANGE Agency: FP7 McCann Dubai Client: Arla Foods Lions: Gold (Sustainable Development Goals); Silver (Brand Experience & Activation); Bronze (Creative B2B) THE 4TH JUDGE Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: The Ring Lions: Gold (Entertainment for Sport); Silver (Entertainment for Sport) View this post on Instagram A post shared by TURKI ALALSHIKH تركي آل الشيخ (@turki) THE SECOND RELEASE Agency: SRMG Labs, Riyadh Client: Billboard Arabia, Riyadh Lions: Gold (Audio and Radio); Silver (Audio and Radio) OBSESSION Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: Riyadh Season Lions: Gold (Entertainment for Sport); Bronze x2 (Film Craft, Film) THE NEW PRESIDENT Agency: Impact BBDO, Dubai Client: Annahar Newspaper Lion: Gold (Creative Strategy) THE SHADED ROUTE Agency: VML Riyadh Client: Hungerstation Lions: Silver (Digital Craft); Bronze x2 (Health & Wellness, Outdoor) SOUNDS OF THE LAND Agency: SRMG Labs, Riyadh Client: Billboard Arabia, Riyadh Lions: Silver (Design) SOCIAL FEED Agency: VML Dubai Client: Hungerstation Lions: Silver (Creative Commerce); Bronze x 2 (Brand Experience & Activation, Creative Data) NOTES ON NOTES Agency: Impact BBDO, Dubai / AdPro& Jordan Client: Capital Bank Lion: Bronze (Print & Publishing) READ BETTER Agency: FP7 McCann, Dubai / McCANN, Bristol Client: Waterstones Lions: Bronze (Digital Craft) SAFE AT 3AM Agency: VML Dubai Client: Dubai Tourism Lions: Bronze (Direct) NOT FOR FIRST DATES Agency: FP7 McCann Dubai Client: McDonald's Lions: Bronze (Outdoor) SPONSORED BALLS Agency: FP7 McCann Dubai Client: Testicular Cancer Society Lion: Bronze (PR) EVERYTHING OR NOTHING Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: Riyadh Season Lion: Bronze (Film Craft) THE GREAT INDIAN DUNK Agency: LEO Dubai Client: NBA India Lion: Bronze (Print & Publishing)
Campaign ME
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Campaign ME
Gold Lions roar and platforms reveal AI plays
Day 2 at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025 offered respite from the heat thanks to lovely cloud cover through early parts of the day. It also brought a smile to the faces of those who bumped into old friends from across the globe, which led to a meaningful catch-up or heartfelt conversations along the Croisette. There were those who braved the long queues to access key panel discussions and beach activations, while others celebrated their latest metal cats on the red carpet outside The Palais. Speaking of metal cats, the MENA region's tally of coveted Cannes Lions trophies has jumped from seven on Day 1 to 15 on Day 2, with BigTime Creative Shop leading the pack and contributing to five of the region's total tally with 2 Gold Lions, 1 Silver Lion, and 2 Bronze Lions. The MENA wins include: AUDIO AND RADIO CATEGORY: 1 GOLD LION, 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: The Second Release Agency: SRMG Labs, Riyadh Client: Billboard Arabia, Riyadh DESIGN CATEGORY: 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: Sounds of the Land Agency: SRMG Labs, Riyadh Client: Billboard Arabia, Riyadh DIGITAL CRAFT CATEGORY: 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: The Shaded Route Agency: VML, Riyadh Client: Hungerstation Campaign title: Agency: Client: Hungerstation 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Read Better Agency: FP7 McCANN, Dubai / McCANN, Bristol Client: Waterstones DIGITAL CRAFT CATEGORY: 1 GOLD LION, 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: The 4th Judge Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: The Ring Campaign title: Agency: Client: The Ring 1 GOLD LION Campaign title: Obsession Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: Riyadh Season FILM CRAFT CATEGORY: 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Everything or Nothing Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: Riyadh Season Campaign title: Agency: Client: Riyadh Season 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Obsession Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: Riyadh Season HEALTH AND WELLNESS CATEGORY: 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: The Shaded Route Agency: VML Riyadh Client: Hungerstation OUTDOOR CATEGORY : 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: The Shaded Route Agency: VML Riyadh Client: Hungerstation Campaign title: Agency: Client: Hungerstation 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Not For First Dates Agency: FP7 McCann Dubai Client: McDonald's PRINT AND PUBLISHING CATEGORY : 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: NOTES ON NOTES Agency: IMPACT BBDO, Dubai / AdPro& Jordan Client: Capital Bank Campaign title: Agency: IMPACT BBDO, Dubai / AdPro& Jordan Client: Capital Bank 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: THE GREAT INDIAN DUNK Agency: LEO Dubai Client: NBA India Platforms claim their seconds in the spotlight For those who brought their running shoes along, Day 2 began with a 6.1km run with the Strava Business Club, while others who preferred an early morning stretch chose the morning yoga session on The Terrace. The morning then began with a fascinating panel discussion, which witnessed Elizabeth Rutledge, CMO, American Express; Aude Gandon, CMO, Nestlé; and Sumit Virmani, CMO, Infosys discuss the marketing priorities for the months to come; how CMOs must be good internal stakeholders, and measure and communicate the value of marketing within their businesses; and the new skills CMOs need to incorporate within a rapidly evolving brand and marketing landscape. However, platforms – YouTube, TikTok, Meta, and Spotify – claimed the spotlight on Day 2 at Cannes Lions with key announcements. YouTube: With the aim to continue connecting communities and content creators with advertisers, YouTube has released Open Call, a feature within the platform's Creator Partnerships hub, powered by the YouTube BrandConnect tool, which permits brands to discover and partner with creators at scale. Through this feature, brands and advertisers will now be able to share a creative brief listing the requirements of their campaign. This will allow multiple content creators within the YouTube Partner Programme the ability to pitch to the advertisers with video content created and designed specifically for that campaign. Once the brands and advertisers view, review and approve the host of video submissions, then the promotions or the partnership ads get activated. In conversation with Campaign Middle East at Cannes, Melissa Hsieh Nikolic, Director of Product Management for YouTube Ads, said, 'It's really about the creators and the authentic content that they're making that resonates with YouTubers and the communities. In particular, with Open Call and Creator Partnerships hub, it's really about bringing brands alongside to find creators who can tell their stories authentically, while giving creators of all different sizes an opportunity. We think there's a lot of power in that, providing people with a lot more ways to connect with brands.' Watch her take on how the ROI on this is measured in the link below. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) TikTok: At this year's Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, TikTok unveiled updates to TikTok Symphony, its suite of generative AI tools designed to streamline creative production and spark bold new ideas. These new updates aim to make scaling on TikTok faster, easier and more efficient. With Symphony Image-to-Video, TikTok will bring static images to life to help unlock new creative formats, generate multiple variations of existing on-brand content or bring a full product catalogue to life. Next, with Symphony Text-to-Video, all it takes is short text prompt to bring an idea to life, enabling advertisers to rapidly generate, test and iterate on a range of creative executions or customise content at scale. Finally, with Symphony Showcase Products, advertisers will be able to place their products front-and-centre by showcasing them with digital avatars. This gives marketers a new way to feature a product in TikTok-first creative content. Commenting on these new features, Andy Yang, Global Head of Creative and Brand Products, said, 'We're entering a new era of creativity, one where ideas move at the speed of culture, and where AI doesn't replace imagination but rather accelerates it. With TikTok Symphony, we're empowering a global community of marketers, brands, and creators to tell stories that resonate, scale, and drive impact on TikTok. By blending cutting-edge technology with human creativity, we're building a new creative standard, one that's more accessible, more agile, and more inspiring than ever before.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) Meta: Cannes Lions 2025 also witnessed Meta announcing a bevy of AI-powered features, including AI agents integrated into advertisements, which permits users to chat with an advertisers' bot immediately when clicking on an ad. In addition to merging creatives with conversational commerce, Meta also showcases ways for brands and advertisers to set up these AI agents on Messenger and WhatsApp through smart prompts. They also highlighted how performance insights can be derived to hold the 'AI agents' accountable to their knowledge and usefulness. Additionally, Meta also revealed voice-activated business AI agents, which opens out the possibility for customers to query branded business bots – especially for users who don't like typing and want a faster, hands-free experience. Add to this Meta's AI-powered translation tools, which further bring empower copy and creatives by translating ad content in 10 global languages, therefore, enabling advertisers to take their campaigns global faster. The number of languages that Meta's AI can translate is set to double by the end of 2025. Similar to TikTok, Meta is also rolling out an AI-powered image-to-video ad tool across Facebook and Instagram. Through this tool marketers will now be able to convert up to 20 static product imagess into multi-scene videos with music and subtitles right in the ad interface. WhatsApp: Advertisers can now become channel owners and run ads within their WhatsApp Status, unlocking a new ad revenue model inside the application. Meta is also reportedly testing native ads inside the WhatsApp Updates tab, making it the first time ads will appear inside WhatsApp rather than as a click-through from Instagram or Facebook. However, these chats and channels will be clearly differentiated from the encrypted personal chats, the company clarified. Spotify: Right before Cannes, Spotify revealed two new initiatives to help brands further tap into Spotify's creative playground: the Creative Lab Hub and its inaugural Creative Council. The Creative Lab Hub is a new global destination where brands and advertisers can access Spotify Advertising's most effective tools, formats, and insights — making it easier to create breakthrough campaigns. Meanwhile, its Creative Council brings together industry-leading creatives to help shape the future of advertising and brand storytelling on Spotify. This group includes top creative leads from agencies including R/GA, BBDO, McCann, Anomaly, VML, and GUT, as well as brand leaders from Ulta, AG1, and Coca-Cola. Where are the conversations happening? Meanwhile, Campaign Middle East continues its coverage live from Cannes Lions 2025, conversing with top leaders such as Reda Raad, Group CEO of TBWA\RAAD, and Tom Otton, CEO of Create. Group. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) Tune into Campaign Middle East's social media channels to stay updated on the latest of what's happening at The Palais, the Rotonde, The Carlton Hotel and stay tuned for exciting events at the Campaign House Hilton Canopy.
Campaign ME
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Campaign ME
BigTime Creative Shop claims milestone Sports Emmy® win
BigTime Creative Shop has received a Sports Emmy® Award for Outstanding Promotional Announcement at the 45th Annual Sports Emmy® Awards presented by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) – a win BigTime says marks the first time a Middle East and Africa-based creative shop has taken home the honour. The award was for Obsession – Usyk 2 Fury Reignited, a stylised promotional film created for Riyadh Season's highly anticipated boxing rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. The film was conceptualised by BigTime, directed by French collective Megaforce, and produced by Riff Raff Films. Set to Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out of My Head, the film offers a surreal and comedic depiction of mutual obsession between the two boxers. From Fury imagining Usyk replacing his entire family to Usyk spotting Fury's face on a sausage – a nod to the fighter's infamous taunts – the film built global buzz around one of the sport's most talked-about rivalries. The campaign was part of Riyadh Season's broader strategy to cement Saudi Arabia as a global hub for major sports and entertainment events. BigTime Creative Shop has worked across sport, culture and entertainment and was recognised as the most awarded independent agency in MENA at Dubai Lynx and The One Club, and named Middle East Agency of the Year at Adfest.
Campaign ME
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Campaign ME
MENA agencies score big at The One Show 2025
MENA agencies delivered a strong showing at The One Show 2025, with standout performances from IMPACT BBDO, Leo Dubai, and BigTime Creative Shop. The region's work was recognised across major categories including non-profit, health & wellness, out of home, craft, and creative use of technology and data. Dubai-based IMPACT BBDO took home the Best of Non-Profit accolade for its emotionally powerful campaign, Child Wedding Cards, developed for UN Women. The campaign transform wedding invitation cards to raise awareness about child marriage. IMPACT BBDO also topped the Middle East and Africa agency rankings for the second time in three years, underlining its continued creative leadership in the region. The campaign also earned two Gold Pencils – in Health & Wellness: Direct Marketing and Print & Promotional: Print for Good – cementing its status as one of the region's most awarded initiatives this year. Leo Dubai's campaign for NBA India, The Great Indian Dunk, was another top performer. It received Gold in Out of Home: Craft / Photography and Print & Promotional: Craft / Photography, alongside Silver Pencils for Out of Home: Craft / Art Direction and Posters / Series, and a Bronze for Print & Promotional: Newspaper / Series. Independent Riyadh agency BigTime Creative Shop picked up Silver in Creative Use of Data: Innovation / New Ideas and Bronze in Creative Use of Technology: Use of AI for its work with The Ring Magazine. The campaign stood out for its inventive approach to storytelling through AI and data visualisation. The agency also won in the Moving Image Craft & Production category for its cinematic work with the General Entertainment Authority. Everything or Nothing was awarded Silver for Production Design, while Obsession received a Bronze for Direction (Single). Finally, FP7 McCann Dubai, along with Current Global and Craft, secured a Bronze Pencil in Customer Experience / CX for its Heinz Insurance campaign. The One Show 2025 received 19,860 entries from 62 countries. Jurors awarded a total of 156 Gold, 197 Silver, 270 Bronze Pencils and 1,027 Merit awards across the competition. The One Club for Creativity – home of The One Show is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support and celebrate the success of the global creative community.
Campaign ME
09-05-2025
- Business
- Campaign ME
Industry Snapshot: The creative rise from Saudi Arabia to the world
In this industry snapshot, BigTime Creative Shop's Mohammed Sehly shares how bold ideas, cultural insight, and creative trust are propelling Saudi Arabia onto the global stage. What does it take to be a multiple award-winning agency that also helps clients meet their brand and business objectives? It started with building an exceptional team – talent from diverse creative disciplines and cultural backgrounds, all united by one mindset: How do we push boundaries and go bigger? Insight and research have been core to our process from the beginning, especially when speaking to global audiences. We focus on creating culturally resonant work – storytelling that fans instantly connect with, share, and remember. But above all, it requires trust. We're fortunate to work with clients who empower us to think boldly and execute without compromise. That trust has allowed us to explore a wide range of creative expressions – from turning a golf cart into a mobile DJ experience with LIV Golf to designing a bespoke luxury watch with Riyadh Season and Jacob & Co. which was auctioned at Sotheby's for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. It's also taken us from a psychological thriller boxing promo voiced by Kylie Minogue that got us our first Emmy nomination to an all-star production tennis film featuring six of the sport's biggest names. Each project represents a different kind of creative risk – but all share the same DNA: bold ideas, cultural relevance and the trust to bring them to life globally. These initiatives didn't just win awards – they delivered impact. They broke out across social, earned global media coverage, and elevated brand visibility. More importantly, they positioned us as a creative force -attracting world-class directors who now seek to collaborate because they believe in the BigTime vision. None of this would be possible without the belief and support of His Excellency Turki AlAlshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority and Riyadh Season – a driving force in enabling us to take Saudi creativity global. His support continues to inspire us as we build culturally relevant work that delivers results on local, regional, and global levels. How is BigTime helping Saudi Arabia reshape the way the world views the Kingdom in line with Vision 2030? Our work is shifting global perceptions of Saudi Arabia – not just as a market, but as a creative powerhouse. Through global sports and cinematic storytelling for Riyadh Season, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Thanks to Riyadh Season, we've produced promos that set new standards – locally and globally. One tennis promo was described as 'bigger than a Marvel movie'. This momentum earned BigTime a place among the Top 12 Independent Agencies globally – a first for Saudi – and the Independent Agency of the Year recognition at Dubai Lynx, Adfest and Cresta. It is important not to group Saudi Arabia within 'Middle East marketing strategies', but instead to focus on marketing specifically for Saudi Arabia because … Saudi Arabia is a distinct nation with five major regions, each with its own subcultures, dialects and humour. With 70 per cent of our population under 30, we're young, hyper-connected, and culturally fluid. Marketers must move beyond assumptions. They need to understand us with precision and nuance – like the TikTok algorithm does. Only then can brands truly speak our language. Brands, marketers and agency leaders in Saudi Arabia must prioritise … Pop culture. If a brand isn't participating, it risks irrelevance. We don't respond to hard-sell tactics or recycled real-time bidding (RTB). We want smart, emotional, and culturally in-tune storytelling. When a message feels native, it sticks. Get it right, and it becomes part of the culture. The biggest marketing disruption in Saudi Arabia in the next two years will be … The intersection of high-quality content, technology, and gaming. Gen Z sees gaming creators as bigger than athletes. The real opportunity is building content with this audience – content that blends smart storytelling with the platforms and formats they care about. The biggest proportion of marketing budget allocation for brands in Saudi Arabia should be towards … Ideas that work. Not fixed deliverables. When briefs are outcome-driven, not media-led, bold and effective campaigns are born – the kind that truly moves the needle. Local Saudi Arabia icons, celebrities, influencers, and gamers will have an effect on Saudi marketing because … We're seeing Saudi creators gain real global appeal – from singers and artists to gaming icons. This gives brands a powerful opportunity to collaborate with talent that's locally relevant and globally resonant. The most important challenge that needs to be addressed within Saudi Arabia's creative, marketing, and advertising industry is … Consistency in creative standards. We've proven we can break through. Now, we need to sustain it – through investment in originality, nurturing talent, and committing to ideas that are media-neutral, insight-driven and globally competitive. My opinion on the brand versus performance debate is that … This debate is outdated. Today, the right creative can deliver both brand impact and performance in one shot. When work lands culturally, everything else follows. By Mohammed Sehly, Chief Executive Officer, BigTime Creative Shop
