DUBAI: “The Election Edition,” a campaign by Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar and Dubai-based marketing communications group Impact BBDO, was awarded the Grand Prix in the Print and Publishing category at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week.
The campaign had “the kind of genius simplicity that we often see in Grand Prix-winning work,” said jury president Natalie Lam, who is Publicis Groupe’s chief creative officer for Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. “The best work is the least complicated. It cuts through the clutter and hits straight at your heart.”
The Election Edition was an edition of An-Nahar that was never printed. The newspaper halted the presses on Feb. 2 to highlight attempts by the Lebanese government officials to disrupt a scheduled parliamentary election.
One of the reasons the officials gave for wanting to postpone the election was a shortage of ink and paper with which to print the ballots. An-Nahar and Impact BBDO decided, for the first time in the newspaper’s 88-year history, not to publish a print edition and instead donated the unused ink and paper to the government. They also installed empty news racks to emphasize and explain their decision and direct readers to the online edition.
The message went viral as the Lebanese people supported the campaign on social media and even took action of their own by donating paper, books and magazines to the government. The online edition of An-Nahar that day was the most-read in the paper’s history.
“The irony is that it’s a Grand Prix in Print and Publishing when there was no printing at all — something that shows that the power of an idea can transcend design,” said Dina Richa, the CEO of Impact BBDO.
The campaign also won a silver award in the same category, as well as silver and bronze awards in the Outdoor category.
The election in Lebanon took place on May 15.
