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Latest Middle East/Africa articles

Leo Burnett Dubai hand-draws a billboard for Chevrolet

Back when I was young kid, I used to wonder exactly when they changed the billboards in my neighbourhood and around town. One night, I’d see the same billboard I’ve been seeing for weeks, and by morning, I’d see an all new billboard. No, it wasn’t a big mystery as to what was happening, just when. Even today, even actually being in the advertising business, it’s been very rare that I’ve seen a billboard being posted.

Lightning strikes twice (well, seven times actually) for Lowe Bull, Tetra Pak

Roy Sullivan, once a forest ranger at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as being struck by lightning a record seven times. Lowe Bull’s Johannesburg office uses this man’s miserable luck to illustrate a point about the comparative envirnonmental soundness of buying drinks that come in Tetra Pak packaging.

Y&R Cape Town tells the harrowing story behind conflict diamonds

Every precious diamond has a story behind it, and in the case of ‘conflict’ or ‘blood’ diamonds, that story is filled with greed, corruption and death. Young & Rubicam Cape Town has created a stirring 60 second spot for the African Diamond Council, the governing body of Africa’s diamond producing countries.

Alright stop, collaborate and listen: Ogilvy, Vanilla Ice for Castle Lite

I never liked Vanilla Ice. Never. I hated his rhymes, I hated his outfits, I hated that trimmed part in his eyebrows. I even wrote a rap about how much I hated him way back in high school, and if you get me drunk enough at some party and I might be able to recite it after all these years.

King James rebels with a cause for Allan Gray

What if James Dean didn’t die in a car crash on a lonely strip California highway that fateful afternoon in September, 1955. Would he have gone on to become a successful film director, an even bigger race car driver, a horse rancher, a famous humanitarian… or would he have just bit the dust three years later at age 27, as is custom for young, troubled legends?

Award Show Bedlam! Eurobest, London International, Loeries news

Lots of news for three big awards shows today. First up, the 2nd Annual Eurobest Advertising Festival has announced that delegate packages are now on sale. This festival takes place at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam on November 25–27th.

McCann-Erickson Israel launches controversial TV spot

Discussing Israeli/Palestinian relations is often an exercise in walking on eggshells. Passions run high on all sides of the debate, and it’s near impossible to take a stand without offending those who don’t agree with you.

Whether it intended to raise tensions or not, Tel Aviv’s McCann-Erickson Israel has been pulled into the fray after launching a TV spot for Isreali communications firm Cellcom.

Burger Envy Via Skype

Over the past few years, Skype has been a fantastic and inexpensive way of keeping in touch with friends who have moved away to some far off destination. And those friends love to tell you how awesome their new city is, how hip and trendy it is, how much more fast-paced/laid-back it is (whichever is better) [...]

“Cannes Zions” Promotes Israeli Advertising

The Cannes Lions might be winding down (isn’t tonight usually the major party night?) but the Cannes Zions website is in full swing. This project is “kinda like our way of saying to the world “start paying attention to the Israeli advertising community,” says Dori Ben-Israel, head of Mizbala, a Tel Aviv based agency specializing in guerrilla marketing.

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