Latest news with #SRMGLabs
Broadcast Pro
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Broadcast Pro
SRMG Labs wins at Cannes Lions for AI-powered tribute to Saudi icon Etab
SRMG Labs has achieved major recognition at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, securing both Gold and Silver Lions in the Audio & Radio category for its campaign The Second Release. Created for Billboard Arabia, the campaign pays homage to Etab, Saudi Arabia's first female musical icon, by reviving her voice and image using advanced AI technologies. Fewer than 0.78% of all entries at Cannes Lions earn a Gold Lion, placing SRMG Labs among the world's top creative agencies. The campaign centred around a remastered version of Etab's patriotic anthem Ya Saudi, Ya Saudi, launching on Saudi National Day 2024. Blending cutting-edge tech with cultural storytelling, it reintroduced Etab not only as a musical legend but also as a symbol of Saudi Arabia's shifting landscape for women in the arts. Through a stylized music video, digital campaigns, urban fashion, and outdoor media, The Second Release sparked wide public engagement and earned the Cultural Impact Award from the Saudi Ministry of Culture. Jomana Alrashid, CEO of SRMG, said: 'This Gold at Cannes Lions is a monumental milestone not only for SRMG Labs but for the region's creative voice at such an important festival. In just two years, Labs has become one of the leading creative agencies in Saudi Arabia and the wider region. With only 0.78% of entries receiving a Gold Lion, this win speaks volumes about the caliber of our work and the talent driving it. It reflects SRMG's commitment to reimagining the creative landscape — pushing boundaries, celebrating local stories, and delivering work that resonates globally.' Fadi Mroue, Chief Creative Officer at SRMG and Managing Director of SRMG Labs, added: 'With Etab, we weren't just telling a story — we were reframing the narrative. Bringing her legacy back to life using today's tools was about honouring the past, empowering the present, and inspiring the future. I'm proud of our team for delivering work that's bold, respectful, and culturally meaningful — and proud that one of the world's leading creative stages has recognised it.' The recognition arrives at a time when Saudi Arabia's creative and cultural industries are undergoing rapid transformation. Once sidelined, music and the arts now sit at the heart of the Kingdom's evolving identity, driven by a new generation eager to celebrate its heritage while shaping its future. Etab's return to the spotlight speaks directly to this moment: a powerful reminder of the women who paved the way and the possibilities that now exist for those following in their footsteps. The campaign tapped into this shift, blending innovation with authenticity to spark renewed national pride and bridge generational narratives through music.
Campaign ME
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Campaign ME
Gold Lions roar and platforms reveal AI plays
Day 2 at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025 offered respite from the heat thanks to lovely cloud cover through early parts of the day. It also brought a smile to the faces of those who bumped into old friends from across the globe, which led to a meaningful catch-up or heartfelt conversations along the Croisette. There were those who braved the long queues to access key panel discussions and beach activations, while others celebrated their latest metal cats on the red carpet outside The Palais. Speaking of metal cats, the MENA region's tally of coveted Cannes Lions trophies has jumped from seven on Day 1 to 15 on Day 2, with BigTime Creative Shop leading the pack and contributing to five of the region's total tally with 2 Gold Lions, 1 Silver Lion, and 2 Bronze Lions. The MENA wins include: AUDIO AND RADIO CATEGORY: 1 GOLD LION, 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: The Second Release Agency: SRMG Labs, Riyadh Client: Billboard Arabia, Riyadh DESIGN CATEGORY: 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: Sounds of the Land Agency: SRMG Labs, Riyadh Client: Billboard Arabia, Riyadh DIGITAL CRAFT CATEGORY: 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: The Shaded Route Agency: VML, Riyadh Client: Hungerstation Campaign title: Agency: Client: Hungerstation 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Read Better Agency: FP7 McCANN, Dubai / McCANN, Bristol Client: Waterstones DIGITAL CRAFT CATEGORY: 1 GOLD LION, 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: The 4th Judge Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: The Ring Campaign title: Agency: Client: The Ring 1 GOLD LION Campaign title: Obsession Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: Riyadh Season FILM CRAFT CATEGORY: 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Everything or Nothing Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: Riyadh Season Campaign title: Agency: Client: Riyadh Season 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Obsession Agency: BigTime Creative Shop, Riyadh Client: Riyadh Season HEALTH AND WELLNESS CATEGORY: 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: The Shaded Route Agency: VML Riyadh Client: Hungerstation OUTDOOR CATEGORY : 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: The Shaded Route Agency: VML Riyadh Client: Hungerstation Campaign title: Agency: Client: Hungerstation 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: Not For First Dates Agency: FP7 McCann Dubai Client: McDonald's PRINT AND PUBLISHING CATEGORY : 1 SILVER LION Campaign title: NOTES ON NOTES Agency: IMPACT BBDO, Dubai / AdPro& Jordan Client: Capital Bank Campaign title: Agency: IMPACT BBDO, Dubai / AdPro& Jordan Client: Capital Bank 1 BRONZE LION Campaign title: THE GREAT INDIAN DUNK Agency: LEO Dubai Client: NBA India Platforms claim their seconds in the spotlight For those who brought their running shoes along, Day 2 began with a 6.1km run with the Strava Business Club, while others who preferred an early morning stretch chose the morning yoga session on The Terrace. The morning then began with a fascinating panel discussion, which witnessed Elizabeth Rutledge, CMO, American Express; Aude Gandon, CMO, Nestlé; and Sumit Virmani, CMO, Infosys discuss the marketing priorities for the months to come; how CMOs must be good internal stakeholders, and measure and communicate the value of marketing within their businesses; and the new skills CMOs need to incorporate within a rapidly evolving brand and marketing landscape. However, platforms – YouTube, TikTok, Meta, and Spotify – claimed the spotlight on Day 2 at Cannes Lions with key announcements. YouTube: With the aim to continue connecting communities and content creators with advertisers, YouTube has released Open Call, a feature within the platform's Creator Partnerships hub, powered by the YouTube BrandConnect tool, which permits brands to discover and partner with creators at scale. Through this feature, brands and advertisers will now be able to share a creative brief listing the requirements of their campaign. This will allow multiple content creators within the YouTube Partner Programme the ability to pitch to the advertisers with video content created and designed specifically for that campaign. Once the brands and advertisers view, review and approve the host of video submissions, then the promotions or the partnership ads get activated. In conversation with Campaign Middle East at Cannes, Melissa Hsieh Nikolic, Director of Product Management for YouTube Ads, said, 'It's really about the creators and the authentic content that they're making that resonates with YouTubers and the communities. In particular, with Open Call and Creator Partnerships hub, it's really about bringing brands alongside to find creators who can tell their stories authentically, while giving creators of all different sizes an opportunity. We think there's a lot of power in that, providing people with a lot more ways to connect with brands.' Watch her take on how the ROI on this is measured in the link below. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) TikTok: At this year's Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, TikTok unveiled updates to TikTok Symphony, its suite of generative AI tools designed to streamline creative production and spark bold new ideas. These new updates aim to make scaling on TikTok faster, easier and more efficient. With Symphony Image-to-Video, TikTok will bring static images to life to help unlock new creative formats, generate multiple variations of existing on-brand content or bring a full product catalogue to life. Next, with Symphony Text-to-Video, all it takes is short text prompt to bring an idea to life, enabling advertisers to rapidly generate, test and iterate on a range of creative executions or customise content at scale. Finally, with Symphony Showcase Products, advertisers will be able to place their products front-and-centre by showcasing them with digital avatars. This gives marketers a new way to feature a product in TikTok-first creative content. Commenting on these new features, Andy Yang, Global Head of Creative and Brand Products, said, 'We're entering a new era of creativity, one where ideas move at the speed of culture, and where AI doesn't replace imagination but rather accelerates it. With TikTok Symphony, we're empowering a global community of marketers, brands, and creators to tell stories that resonate, scale, and drive impact on TikTok. By blending cutting-edge technology with human creativity, we're building a new creative standard, one that's more accessible, more agile, and more inspiring than ever before.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) Meta: Cannes Lions 2025 also witnessed Meta announcing a bevy of AI-powered features, including AI agents integrated into advertisements, which permits users to chat with an advertisers' bot immediately when clicking on an ad. In addition to merging creatives with conversational commerce, Meta also showcases ways for brands and advertisers to set up these AI agents on Messenger and WhatsApp through smart prompts. They also highlighted how performance insights can be derived to hold the 'AI agents' accountable to their knowledge and usefulness. Additionally, Meta also revealed voice-activated business AI agents, which opens out the possibility for customers to query branded business bots – especially for users who don't like typing and want a faster, hands-free experience. Add to this Meta's AI-powered translation tools, which further bring empower copy and creatives by translating ad content in 10 global languages, therefore, enabling advertisers to take their campaigns global faster. The number of languages that Meta's AI can translate is set to double by the end of 2025. Similar to TikTok, Meta is also rolling out an AI-powered image-to-video ad tool across Facebook and Instagram. Through this tool marketers will now be able to convert up to 20 static product imagess into multi-scene videos with music and subtitles right in the ad interface. WhatsApp: Advertisers can now become channel owners and run ads within their WhatsApp Status, unlocking a new ad revenue model inside the application. Meta is also reportedly testing native ads inside the WhatsApp Updates tab, making it the first time ads will appear inside WhatsApp rather than as a click-through from Instagram or Facebook. However, these chats and channels will be clearly differentiated from the encrypted personal chats, the company clarified. Spotify: Right before Cannes, Spotify revealed two new initiatives to help brands further tap into Spotify's creative playground: the Creative Lab Hub and its inaugural Creative Council. The Creative Lab Hub is a new global destination where brands and advertisers can access Spotify Advertising's most effective tools, formats, and insights — making it easier to create breakthrough campaigns. Meanwhile, its Creative Council brings together industry-leading creatives to help shape the future of advertising and brand storytelling on Spotify. This group includes top creative leads from agencies including R/GA, BBDO, McCann, Anomaly, VML, and GUT, as well as brand leaders from Ulta, AG1, and Coca-Cola. Where are the conversations happening? Meanwhile, Campaign Middle East continues its coverage live from Cannes Lions 2025, conversing with top leaders such as Reda Raad, Group CEO of TBWA\RAAD, and Tom Otton, CEO of Create. Group. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Campaign Middle East (@campaignmiddleeast) Tune into Campaign Middle East's social media channels to stay updated on the latest of what's happening at The Palais, the Rotonde, The Carlton Hotel and stay tuned for exciting events at the Campaign House Hilton Canopy.
Campaign ME
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Campaign ME
Saudi Arabia wins big at the Clio Music Awards 2025
Saudi Arabia's presence at the 2025 Clio Music Awards was marked by significant wins across multiple categories, reflecting the country's growing influence in music-driven advertising and branding. It was the only country within the region Billboard Arabia and the General Entertainment Authority (GEA) secured top honours, with projects that showcased innovative uses of music in storytelling and marketing. Recognising creativity at the intersection of music and branding, the Clio Music Awards celebrate work that shapes pop culture, redefines artist promotion, and sets new benchmarks in music marketing and advertising. Billboard Arabia and SRMG Labs took home multiple awards for 'Sounds of the Land,' earning two Grand Clio Music Awards for 'Use of Artists, Talent, & Influencers' and 'Packaging.' The project, which highlighted regional musical heritage, was recognised for its creative approach to fusing culture with branding. At the heart of 'Sounds of the Land' was an innovative use of topographic data from five locations in the region, transforming natural landscapes into unique soundscapes. Artists and music producers were then invited to reinterpret these sounds, creating one-minute tracks inspired by each location. In addition to the Grand Clios, 'Sounds of the Land' won four Gold awards in categories such as Use of Artists, Talent, & Influencers, Data Visualisation, Direct Marketing and Innovation. The creative conceptualiser of the campaign, SRMG Labs was also awarded In-House Agency of the Year at the awards. BigTime Creative Shop's collaboration with the General Entertainment Authority resulted in three Silver Clio Music Awards, all in the 'Use of Music in Film/Video Advertising' category for campaigns 'Knockout Chaos' and 'Everything or Nothing' that used music to enhance their storytelling and impact. Meanwhile, Droga5 New York's work on the film 'Rumble' for General Entertainment Authority secured a Gold Clio also in the 'Use of Music in Film/Video Advertising' category. The strong performance at the 2025 edition of the Clio Music Awards highlights Saudi Arabia's advancing creative landscape and its increasing presence in global advertising and branded content.
