Historic

The MENA Cristal Awards were created in 2005 with the aim of introducing a new competition based on advertising in all the North African and Middle Eastern countries. It rewards the best advertising creations with the famous « Cristal », and therefore profit from the characteristics which made the success of the Meribel Ad Festival.

This event was created as the First Advertising Festival for the Arabic Countries and it gathers all communication actors in the world: the principal agencies, clients, producers, directors, media, survey companies, TV producers … in a series of rich and convivial exchanges.
The ambition of the Festival is to associate creativity and business, and to promote Arabic advertising creativity, it is a real place of exchanges and networking:
- Competitions: a mixed international jury (Clients and Agencies): The creative judgment represents the market demand

- The Cristal Lab: Innovation and new talents: Conferences and debates with top speakers from the communication world, witch explores perspectives on creativity.

- Networking: A Strategic Organization of the Festival Program: The organization of accommodation, Lunches and dinners make meetings and exchanges easier.

- Frequentation: creation of real communities of interest: Professionals give every year their suggestions regarding Jurys and speakers they would like to meet in the Festival, and thanks to this activity the number of participants has increased in the 3 last years.

The MENA Cristal Awards take place in a very convivial atmosphere, “In Mzaar Faraya ski resort” in Lebanon.
Furthermore, the competitions in December close the creative year and announce the broad tendencies of the coming international prizes. The « Cristal » rewards the year's best creations for the different media, and are awarded by a mixed international jury made up of agencies and clients.

The MENA CRISTAL AWARDS in a few dates:
2005 :
- Creation of the festival
- Award Ceremony in Casablanca – Morocco
- President of the MENA Jury: Farid CHEHAB, Chairman & CCO MENA Region Leo Burnett - Libanon

2006 :
- Media man of the year: Antoine CHOUEIRI, CEO – CHOUEIRI Group  - President of the festival: Dani RICHA, COO (MENA) – IMPACT BBDO Group / President IAA – Lebanon Chapter
- President of the MENA Jury: Jacques SEGUELA, Chief Creative Officer Worldwide HAVAS Group 
- Presidents of the Marketing Cristal Jury: Catherine MICHAUD, Chairman - K Agency 360 / Chairman - communication division - HighCo Group / Chairman of the Marketing division - AACC (France), Jean-Paul BARADEL, General Manager - Danone CRM Unit
- Presidents of the Media Cristal Jury: Hernan SANCHEZ NEIRA, Chief Intelligence Officer - MPG Worldwide, Christian BARLUET, Worldwide advertising Director - Renault
- Presidents of the Cyber Cristal Jury: Hervé CUVILIEZ, Chief Executive Officer - Rapp Collins Paris , Jérôme DE LABRIFFE, Senior Manager e-banking, BNP Paribas/ President interactive advertising bureau (France)

2007 :
- Media man of the year: Sheikh Walid BEN INRAHIM AL IBRAHIM, Chairman MBC Group - President of the Festival: Dani RICHA, COO (MENA) – IMPACT BBDO Group / President IAA – Lebanon Chapter
President of the MENA Jury: Olivier ALTMAN, Chairman of the Worldwide Creative Board – Publicis Worldwide, Hassan KABBANI, Chief Executive Officer ORASCOM TELECOM Algeria 
Presidents of the Marketing Cristal jury: Catherine MICHAUD, Chairman of K Agency 360, Chairman of the communication division - HighCo Group and Chairman of the Marketing division, AACC (France), Pierre-Philippe CORMERAIE, Sales Communication CEO / Caisse d’Epargne (France)
Presidents of the Cyber Cristal Jury: Matthieu DE LESSEUX, Co-President - Duke (France), Nicolas WOLIKOW, Responsable International Marketing- Meetic (France)
Presidents of the Média Cristal Jury: Susannah OUTFIN, CEO - Carat Global Management (United-Kingdom), Bernard GASSIAT, Communication Director - CIC and Chief of Administration Officer of Club des Annonceurs (France)
Presidents of the Integrated Cristal jury : Tony DAVIDSON, Executive Creation Director - Wieden + Kennedy (United-Kingdom) René VAN DUIJNHOVEN, Chairman - Beiersdorf (Germany)