Leo Burnett Beirut has broken through to the top 50 best agencies in the world, making it the first agency from the MENA region to do so. In the 2009 Big Won Report, released this week, Leo Burnett Beirut came in a strong 38th position. This is the culmination of a series of prestigious international and regional awards, following an impressively successful creative year for the Beirut agency.

The agency's star campaigns of 2009 also got high rankings, according to the Big Won Report. The "Khede Kasra" campaign for the Hariri Foundation, which subtly builds on the Arabic language in order to empower women, ends up the year as the Top Media (No.1) campaign worldwide for its effective, innovative and extensive media outreach. The campaign also ranked 14th worldwide in the best campaign top list.

The Pert Plus "Stop the Suffering" campaign ranked as the 20th best TV ad worldwide, and as the 49th best campaign for the year. By humanizing hair loss, the campaign allowed users to relate to the issue and had an impact on people's behavior.

Kamil Kuran, Managing Director of Leo Burnett Levant, stated: "We believe the most exciting thing creativity can do is change behavior. This is why we leverage our proprietary approach, Humankind, to create "Acts"- communications that motivate people to act based on true human needs. This is exemplified in the communication acts we created for Khede Kasra and Pert Plus."

Kuran added, "With Khede Kasra in particular, highlighted Nada Abisaleh, Deputy Managing Director, the Agency was able to build an interactive campaign using a multitude of unconventional media in a fresh and innovative way."

"Through these campaigns, we were able to observe and integrate genuine human behavior and to really change the way people think and feel." added Bechara Mouzannar, Regional Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett MENA, in charge of the Beirut agency. "Engaging the Lebanese society and drawing hundreds of international jurors' attention through our ideas encourage us today to come up with more innovative and groundbreaking storytelling."

Besides earning high marks for effective creativity as an agency, Leo Burnett Beirut tops off a fantastic year with a series of high rankings within its staff. Bechara Mouzannar has been recognized as the 29th best executive creative director worldwide, ahead of any other in the region. Rana Najjar, the agency's Arabic Copywriter, comes in at an impressive 21st place, while Yasmina Baz ranks 37th best art director, and is the only art director from the region to make the list.

This announcement follows LB Beirut's win of a Gold Lion, earlier this year, for 'Khede Kasra', the first Cannes Lion won by a Lebanese communication agency, and of the title of 'Agency of the Year' at the European Golden Drum 2009 award show.

The Big Won Report (thebigwon.com), the online reference for worldwide creative excellence in Communication, is an annual analysis of the world's best international and regional advertising awards, as measured by the quantity and quality of awards won.