Everyone was talking about digital at this year’s MENA Cristal Awards, but the prizes told a different story

Originally published in Communicate, March 2010

“This to me doesn’t feel like an awards show, it feels like a big family reunion,” said John Merrifield, creative at large of TBWA/Asia Pacific, and the president of the MENA Cristal Awards jury. He was on stage at the closing ceremony of the snowbound advertising extravaganza in the mountains above Beirut.

The Cristals has always been as much – many would say more – about networking as it is about awards, and this year was no different. The Middle East’s extended family of admen and adwomen sheltered together from a blizzard, swilling Chateau Kefraya and putting the marketing world to rights in the lobby of the Faraya Intercon. Merrifield was right – it did feel like a family gathering. Read the rest of this entry »