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Seen and noted

Guest judge: Shahir Zag, chief creative officer, Y&R MENA

 GUEST JUDGE /BEST AD OF THE WEEK   UNITED ARAB EMIRATES    March 31, 2010 05:09 (Edited: February 17, 2023 05:19)
https://www.bestadsontv.com/news/upload/ShahirZag.jpgShahir Zag is the chief creative officer at Y&R Middle East & North Africa.
Based in Dubai, he has not just led his agency to become the most awarded agency in the Middle East, he has actively contributed to the region's emergence as a creative hotspot. He's also the founding member of the region's first Creative Club.
Shahir joined advertising spiritually when he was 14, after he saw a Nike poster. Four years later, he was writing copy. His first proper job was in 1994 with Ambience D'Arcy in Bombay. He returned to Dubai in 1997 when it was still an advertising backwater. Today, Y&R Dubai attracts talent from South Africa, India, Brazil, Australia and England.
A copywriter by trade, Shahir has won recognition for his work in advertising design too. He's written print, TV and multimedia campaigns that have won coveted awards that include Cannes Lions, Clios, The One Show, Dubai Lynx, London International Awards and New York Festivals. His work regularly features in the annuals of Communication Arts, Luerzers Archive, Graphis, The One Show and the Art Directors Club.

BEST TV
This week's best spot isn't for beer. It's for bread. That's right, bread! Guy Mainwaring delivers a beautifully realized knockout for Warburton's. This is a profoundly silly yet strangely moving campaign. Neatly done. I can almost picture Hovis taking an urgent meeting with their agency.
Old Spice follows up 'The man your man could smell like' with 'Matterhorn'. Well, let's just say this one smells considerably different. I have to mention Dos Equis. I love this work and although this is probably the 20th outing of The Most Interesting Man in the World, he's still got it.

BEST PRINT
In print, Frolic takes the risky route of showing overweight and unkempt dogs to push its croquettes, but manages to wing it with its gold digger gag. Just goes to show that anthropomorphism is still charming.
This week's best is clearly Land Rover. This looks like a monumental labour of love. If you don't think it's good, you've obviously not zoomed in enough.

BEST OUTDOOR
In Outdoor I liked the Salvation Army interactive adshell. It's a well-crafted piece for what seems like a very real problem. I just hope that the amount of money shown in the adshell isn't all that they collected. It looks suspiciously like under $5. As for SEAT's Lost USBs, it's certainly brave to be surreptitiously dropping off items in public places in this day and age. But heck, it's Switzerland.


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