Mazen M. Fayad, Executive Creative Director, JWT Kuwait

“On behalf of JWT Kuwait, JWT creative team and myself I would like to congratulate all the winners at the KAAA especially agency/network of the year FCB Horizon.

Mabrouk.

Although JWT Kuwait harvested 10 awards (4 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze), we were surprised that none of the work that was celebrated at the regional and international ceremonies (New York Festivals, Dubai Lynx and Mena Cristal) had won. Then again, while international recognition means a lot to us, being respected and admired locally shows that our work is well-targetted and relevant to our business, our clients and our immediate consumers.

On that front, and I’m sure you would all agree with me that the level of advertising including those we had won is still not up to all our desired standard. Is it because of the nature of the market? Is it because of the budget factors? Is it because we are not up to the international level? Is it because we have conformed to the status quo? Or is it because of the qoz? Frankly, we have the tendency of turning all these questions into invalid excuses but at the end of the day we all want to produce great work.

So let’s do it!

As creative directors, we owe it to our talents to bring out the best in them. If they can’t do it on their restricted briefs, let them do it pro-actively. This is their motivation - and trust me we would all be surprised (even on the business side). So let’s not bash one another for what was released and what was not and what is ghost and what is not, instead, let’s celebrate good ideas wherever they come from and raise the standard of the industry we work. Because on any given night, winning another award is not as orgasmic as winning the one we are all proud of”.