Leo Burnett Beirut has won advertising Agency of the Year. The Golden Drums, held in Slovenia, received 2,474 submissions from agencies that came from 41 countries. At the competition Leo Burnett Beirut won seven awards and as a result is the first agency from the Middle East to win the accolade.

Every year the festival brings together the best advertising agencies that are given a chance to shine by presenting their work across various categories. Their submissions are subsequently showcased in front of an international jury that selects the winners and provides professional feedback.

Contributing to Leo Burnett Beirut's success were campaigns for the Hariri Foundation, Pert Plus and BETA (Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). For the Hariri Foundation, Leo Burnett Beirut created a campaign called 'Khede Kasra' which promoted female rights in the Middle East. The work won two Grand Prixs in the Outdoor and Media categories and gold in the PR category.

Speaking about the campaign, Kamil Kuran, Managing Director of Leo Burnett Levant said: "The Hariri Foundation wanted to address the imbalance of gender roles in Lebanese society, through their "Women Empowerment Program", so chose to tackle gender inequality in the Arabic language, a part of Lebanon's daily reality. Spoken and written words in the media which would otherwise be addressed to men by default, were altered with a 'kasra' accent. It had a profound effect in Lebanon with public notices, newspapers and TV all incorporating the 'kasra' into their text. The change in thinking and behavior is exactly what Leo Burnett sets out to achieve and winning at the Golden Drums is a testament to our objective."

For Pert Plus, Leo Burnett Beirut won a Golden Watch in the Integrated category and Silver Drum in the TV category for a campaign called 'Stop the Suffering'. And for BETA Leo Burnett Beirut won a Golden Drum in the Print Category. All these awards contributed to Leo Burnett Beirut winning Advertising Agency of the Year and Leo Burnett Global winning Network of the Year.

Farid Chehab, Chairman of MENA and Chief Creative Officer Leo Burnett CEEMEA said: "This is the first time an advertising agency from the Middle East has won Agency of the Year at an international award ceremony; an incredible achievement that is testimony to how far the region and Lebanon has progressed creatively. The team from Beirut has been brilliant and I want to publically congratulate our Regional Executive Creative Director, Bechara Mouzannar and the superb teams who created the Khede Kasra campaign and his colleagues who made 'Stop the Suffering' for Pert Plus. The advertising campaigns they have created for our clients are so powerful - people have adjusted their thinking, which is the holy grail for advertisers. Furthermore, we have won across nearly all the categories cementing our credentials as an integrated advertising agency."

Farid Chehab is an industry stalwart in the Middle East and as a result was invited to speak at the Golden Drum Festival. During his speech, entitled 'The Power of Creativity to Change Human Behavior', Chehab revealed how quickly the communications industry is developing and how it will change the manner in which agencies are assessed. Chehab went on to explain that success will only be achieved by advertising that makes a qualitative difference in a person's life.

Follow the award ceremony, staff from Leo Burnett Beirut were granted the prestigious opportunity to dine with the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilio Turk, who also presented the agency with the Golden Rose for winning Agency of the Year.

In the same week Leo Burnett Beirut also won a silver award at the Loeries in South Africa, again for the Khede Kasra campaign. At the same event Leo Burnett Cairo won bronze for its client- Link DSL, whilst Leo Burnett Dubai also won bronze in the print category for its work on GMC Acadia.