hala lynx / Dubai Lynx announces Yum! Brands as the Advertiser of the Year 2023

Dubai Lynx announces Yum! Brands as the Advertiser of the Year 2023

8 March 2023

Dubai Lynx, MENA’s Festival and Awards for creative excellence in branded communications, has today announced Yum! Brands as the 2023 Advertiser of the Year. The Award recognises a brand that has distinguished themselves through innovative marketing and embracing creative work produced by their agencies.

The Advertiser of the Year Award will be presented to Yum! Brands representatives: Beverley D'Cruz, General Manager, Middle East, and Pakistan, Pizza Hut and Ozge Zoralioglu, Chief Marketing Officer, MENA, Turkey, Pakistan & CIS, KFC at the Dubai Lynx Awards Ceremony, taking place at the Madinat Arena, Madinat Jumeirah on Wednesday 15 March 2023.

Yum! Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company, has accumulated 25 wins at Dubai Lynx since 2014. Notably, in 2022, Yum! Brands’ ‘Offline Hour’, by M&C Saatchi Dubai took home the Mobile Lynx Grand Prix, in addition to a Gold and Silver Lynx in Brand Experience and Activation. The work for Pizza Hut asked people to disconnect from the internet for Earth Hour to get a free pizza, and, in turn, save up to 12% more energy. Another notable piece of work, ‘Chickenstock’, by TBWA\RAAD, Dubai, won a Silver Lynx in Creative Strategy and Digital, as well as a Bronze Lynx in Media and Digital. The campaign intended to counteract the incorrect use of KFC brand assets with the launch of KFC Chicken Stock, an image database of high-resolution images, available to anyone and completely free to use.

Speaking about the Award, Ian Fairservice, Vice Chairman, Dubai Lynx, said, “The Advertiser of the Year award recognises creative excellence, demonstrating the business value of creative communications. We are delighted to award Yum! Brands as this year’s Dubai Lynx Advertiser of the Year, a brand that celebrates doing things differently, boasting extraordinary results, which raises the creative bar for the MENA region and the world.

Beverley D'Cruz, General Manager Middle East, and Pakistan, Pizza Hut, said, “Pizza Hut is delighted to be selected as the Advertiser of the Year! We take pride in partnering with our agency partners, franchisees, and teams to create work that makes Pizza Hut Red (Relevant, Easy, and Distinctive). At Pizza Hut we love bringing people together over pizza and driving connections. This year we have also introduced our Brand Purpose which is all about ensuring an “Equal Slice for Everyone”. Pizza by design is perhaps the most democratic food in the world. Evenly sliced and enjoyed by all. We believe that life should be like that too. And so we have launched a program called “LeadHERship”, that empowers women and gives them an equal chance at life. It’s a movement for an equal seat at the table, for a fairer kinder world.

Ozge Zoralioglu, Chief Marketing Officer, MENA, Turkey, Pakistan & CIS, KFC, added, “As the #1 chicken brand in the region, it’s a true honour to be recognized today as Dubai Lynx’s Advertiser of the Year. We dig the realness in our fans and celebrate their originality through advertising that’s as real as them and isn’t afraid to get messy. We’re proud that, together with our agency partners, franchisees, and teams, we’ve been able to create original work that’s won hearts, minds and fingers across the region and resonated with the younger audiences that we champion. As a brand, we aim to constantly evolve and innovate on digital, so that we continue to be rooted in culture and create access and ease for everyone’s finger lickin’ cravings in our region. Everyone is truly original, and everyone has a place at our table. We would like to celebrate this humbling award with all our fans who have shared our buckets as well as our tables.

The presentation of the 2023 Dubai Lynx Advertiser of the Year Award will take place during the Dubai Lynx Awards Ceremony at the Madinat Arena, Madinat Jumeirah on Wednesday 15 March 2023. For further information on Festival and Awards Ceremony passes please visit the Dubai Lynx website.