The Midas Awards Announces 2016 Award for Innovation

The Midas Awards for the World’s Best Financial Advertising announced the 2016 Midas Award for Innovation and Midas Report rankings.

FP7/DXB (A part of McCann Worldgroup) and MediaVest Spark earned the Midas Award for Innovation for 'The AC Vests' for client Emirates NBD. This special award honours the highest scoring entry that showcases a leading-edge idea or execution.

The award-winning campaign’s strategic objective was to increase SME clients from the UAE’s construction industry for Emirates NBD. Since UAE temperatures soar up to 50C degrees, Emirates NBD created a new product to attract clients and address the challenge of extreme working conditions during the summer months—The AC Vests. This innovative product resulted in a +20.72% uptick in new-to-bank business accounts.

Tahaab Reis, Regional Head of Strategic Planning, FP7/DXB & MediaVest Spark, commented: "The biggest oversight our industry should avoid when we talk about 'innovation' is believing that it only implies the next big tech creation. That's not entirely accurate. 'Innovation' should be about authentic creative ideas that do use new technology but are not all about that technology. The technology should solve a human problem and have purpose at its core. So, we are very happy and excited to see that our collective work (as Emirates NBD, as FP7 and as MediaVest) has resulted in us being awarded the Midas Award for Innovation. It involved us, using an innovative fabric technology and overcoming several logistical barriers, to solve a business problem in a meaningful and purposeful way. The idea helped make workers' lives a little bit better; it brought the brand respect and fame and also, grew the business in a key segment. We couldn't ask for more! A big thank you to Midas Awards and to the judges.”

For the first time in the history of the Midas Awards, Midas will honour global agency networks who have produced the most creative and measurably effective calibre of work on behalf of prominent brands, and whose entries have achieved the highest number of points earned. The Midas Network Report recognises Agency Networks that are the foremost leaders in the world of financial advertising.

McCann Worldgroup earned the number one ranking in the first annual Midas Network Report, cumulatively achieving the most points in this year’s competition. Publicis Worldwide, earned the number two slot, followed by R/GA, Wunderman and Havas Worldwide.

“As a global marketing services network, McCann Worldgroup is privileged to work with many companies in the important financial services category,” said Devika Bulchandani, Managing Director of McCann’s NY agency. “Winning Midas’s prestigious Network honour is a tribute to the shared commitment of these clients and our company in working together to create effective communications that connects with consumers across a wide range of platforms and channels.”

Agencies from around the world competed for top spots in this year’s Midas Awards Agency Report; FP7/DXB Dubai (Part of McCann Worldgroup) was in the spotlight, ranking number one on the Midas Agency Report with a robust 190 points. McCann New York ranked number two this year with 90 points and the Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) Johannesburg earned the number three spot with 86 points.

Tarek Miknas, Group CEO, FP7/MENA added, "It’s always an honour for me to see brands from the region or work from the region that is recognised by reputable global institution. And Midas is just that. Judged by internationally recognised experts in financial communications, there is no greater honour for financial institutions than winning these accolades. As an agency network, we have strategically placed great efforts in securing our ranking from 9th place to 3rd place to the world’s most awarded agency globally in the last three years respectively. It’s through the trust of our clients that we were able to work together to achieve this ranking. I couldn’t be more proud.”

David Bell, Executive Creative Director for MercerBell Australia (which was honoured with the number eight slot) commented: “MercerBell is extremely proud to be acknowledged for a range of work across many of our key clients. The multiple awards we’ve won this year are testament to our strong financial services expertise and passion. To be recognised so highly for craft in two different campaigns goes to show the level of endeavour and care that has been put into these campaigns. Midas is, and will continue to be, an important award to win for both our clients and our staff.”

For the third year running, Mastercard scored first place with a staggering total 229 points in the Midas Brand Rankings due to the combined creative efforts of the following global agencies: FP7/DXB; McCann Canada, McCann XBC, McCann Worldgroup. Absa/ Barclays ranked second place for the third year in a row, they received 89 points for their innovative work created by Jupiter Drawing Room (South Africa) Johannesburg.  Emirates NBD, whose award-winning campaigns were created by FP7/DXB, ranked third place for third consecutive year.