Another gold strike by FP7 makes Middle East history

FP7 Doha has made advertising history for the second day in a row by becoming the first Middle East agency to strike gold twice at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Yesterday the Qatar agency landed a gold in the press category for its campaign for EA Games' Medal of Honour, adding to the gold it won for the same campaign in the outdoor category on Wednesday. It also took home a silver yesterday in the press category for its series of print executions for Bayer Advanced – Plant Food. The three wins mean that not only is FP7 Doha the first Qatar agency to win at the prestigious festival, but it is also the most awarded agency ever from the Middle East, managing to land two golds in one year. The only other agencies to have struck gold at the Cannes Lions are Tonic Communications in 2005 and Wunderman in 2006, but they have only won one gold apiece. Also joining the party in Cannes, France, were FP7 Doha's sister agency Fortune Promoseven Dubai, which took home a silver in the press category for its campaign for Sony Microvault. Both agencies are part of the Middle East Communication Networks. JWT Dubai, named 'Advertising Agency of the Year' at this year's Dubai Lynx Awards in April, also got in on the act, taking home a bronze in the press category for its Red Dress work for Nicola Finelli/Tigerlily. The total awards haul so far means it is the best year on record for the Middle East, which in the past has only managed to win a total of two awards in any given year. The best previous year was in 2006 when Team Y&R won a silver alongside Wunderman's gold. Last year no agencies from the region won anything. The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival is the world's premier advertising festival and is considered a benchmark for global advertising excellence. The week-long event kicked off on Sunday and runs until tomorrow. It awards gold, silver and bronze Lions in categories such as film, press, outdoor, integrated and cyber advertising. Grand prixs are also awarded for the most outstanding work. Success at Cannes is considered a indicator of how well any given region is doing creatively. Winning a gold Lions is the equivalent of winning an Oscar in the film industry and even more awards are up for grabs, including the film, integrated and agency of the year Lions, which will be announced tomorrow. Although not a local agency, Emirates airline's UK-based online agency, Lean Mean Fighting Machine, landed a gold in the cyber category for its "Non-stop Fernando" site. The idea of the work was to create a character who could talk non-stop about Sao Paulo and Brazil for 14 hours and 40 minutes – the amount of time it takes an Emirates flight to reach Sao Paulo from Dubai. This year witnessed a record number of 616 entries from the Middle East and North Africa, up significantly on last year's total of 440.