Universal Media (UM) added yet another prestigious accolade to its portfolio on Thursday, February 7, as it received the 'Highly Commended' award for 'Best Use of Print Media' at the GMR Effectiveness in Marketing Awards (GEMAS) ceremony.

UM was recognized for its innovative media campaign designed for the launch of Acer's Aspire Gemstone concept.

In promoting Acer's exclusive gemstone finish laptop, UM developed an endorsement concept which delivered to the public thousands of light-weighted and almost equally-sized natural stones via a daily newspaper. The challenge was in completing the overall mission of transporting, packaging and fixing over 60,000 gems to the front page of a leading newspaper. All in less than one day.

The GEMAS award came to highlight the overwhelming outcome which caused an impressive number of hits to Acer's local websites to check on the new product and an increased footfall in shops and stands where Acer is present.

Aman Khan, Acer's Regional Marketing and Communications Manager, commended the creativity and dedication of the team which contributed to the most successful one-day campaign to ever hit the print media in the region.

'We are very proud of the GEMAS win for our creative campaign. The award is also a tribute to the creative insights and innovative efforts of the UM team which will definitely motivate them to plan even more progressive media solutions'.

Speaking on behalf of the team, Tala Amhaz, who leads the account at UM, said 'It is a great honor for us to compete with the industry's leading talents for such a prestigious award. We continually strive to raise the bar in terms of creative ideas and to maintain that rise to service our clients and sustain the trust in the work that we do'.

Hundreds of marketing, media and advertising executives attended the exclusive GEMAS awards ceremony which was held at the Al Joharah Ballroom in Madinat Jumeirah to honor the creatively hot, fresh and trendy talents in the regional media and communications industry.

Fortune Promoseven and the Promoseven network of agencies have unveiled a new look website.

The new site has a news portal look and feel - but also has the requisite corporate elements.

The main story on the new site at launch is the announcement of the new Promoseven Tower being built in Dubai, and the whole site has a regional focus that works across several of the agency brands that fall under Promoseven or under the MCN (Middle East Communication Networks) umbrella. The beta version of the new site is entitled '24/seven' - in reference to the news portal like look&feel of the site.

Promoseven agencies are spread across 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region and includes agency brands such as Fortune Promoseven, Promoseven Weber Shandwick and Promoseven 360. MCN brands include Universal Media, Brandbeat, Momentum, Innovations, Lowe, Magna Global, Magna Entertainment and Mint.

Commenting on the website, Tom Roychoudhury, MD of Corporate Communications and Innovations at MCN said 'This is a new direction in positioning our agency online. We're a buzzing, happening agency network, and this is a portal to the world of Promoseven - that will evolve regularly. A static, one-time upload website just wouldn't cut the ice for us.'

The Corporate Comms team at Promoseven hope to have the site updated regularly, not just with news and views of what's happening at the agency, but also to share information on clients, the ad industry, the media and more.