Asda’a honored for thought leadership

Asda’a Burson-Marsteller, a leading public relations consultancy, has scooped nine awards at the International Business Awards 2013, including the prestigious gold Stevie for the Public Relations Agency of the Year in the Middle East and Africa for the third year.
It was awarded a record two gold, four silver, and three bronze Stevies for PR campaigns for its clients including the UAE Government, the Dubai Expo 2020 bid, Emaar Properties, McDonald’s Arabia, and Reed Exhibitions.
The Dubai-headquartered agency, part of the WPP Group, counts Emaar, Emirates NBD, Ford Middle East, McDonalds Arabia, and Nestlé Middle East among its clientele.
With entrants from more than 50 countries, the International Business Awards — or Stevies — are the world’s leading business awards and a benchmark for the industry.
The awards, which were presented at a gala dinner at the W Hotel in Barcelona, Spain, were selected by a judging panel of more than 250 leading business executives.
“The record-breaking success of Asda’a Burson-Marsteller at the International Business Awards is a true testament to the thought leadership of the agency in executing compelling and results-oriented communications campaigns,” said Joseph Ghossoub, chairman and CEO of the MENACOM Group, the regional parent company of ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller.
“This year’s achievements, topped by the Public Relations Agency of the Year in the Middle East and Africa, reflects the extraordinary breadth of communications strategies rolled out by the firm. This success would not have been possible without the implicit trust of our clients in our competencies,” said Ghossoub.
ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, which has a team of 150 professionals in 11 fully-owned offices across the Middle East and North Africa, won the gold Stevie in the PR Campaign of the Year – Events & Observances category for its work on Downtown Dubai New Year’s Eve Gala for Emaar Properties.
The celebration, which attracted more than 1.7 million visitors to Dubai, has established itself as one of the world’s most watched New Year’s Eve events.
The communications program rolled out for the gala event was also awarded a silver honor in the PR Campaign of the Year – Marketing/Consumer Services category.
ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller’s silver Stevies included PR Campaign of the Year – Community Relations for the ‘Be part of it’ Dubai Expo 2020 Ambassador Campaign for work undertaken for Falcon Associates and PR Campaign of the Year – Events & Observances for the sixth World Future Energy Summit 2013 and the first International Water Summit 2013 for Reed Exhibitions.
The ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey 2013, which polls more than 3,000 youngsters across the Arab world to present evidence based insights into the attitudes of Arab youth, was awarded a silver Stevie in the PR Campaign of the Year – Public Service category.
Other awards include a bronze honor for the PR Campaign of the Year – Public Affairs for the inaugural Government Summit 2013, which brought together leading public sector stakeholders from across the region to discuss best government practices, and the PR Campaign of the Year – Public Service and PR Campaign of the Year – Issues Management for McDonald’s Arabia’s launch of nutrition labelling on its packaging.
Sunil John, CEO of ASDAA Burson-Marsteller, said: “Our success at this year’s Stevie awards are a strong endorsement of our agency’s commitment to deliver the most effective strategies for our client’s business and communications goals. We are thankful to them for their support and trust in us, which will continue to inspire us to deliver innovative, strategic and results-based campaigns.”