MIDDLE EAST
PROFILE
THE DARK HORSE
Two years ago, few people gave much thought to FP7 Doha; then Fadi Yaish took over as
creative director and, seemingly overnight, the agency became an award machine. So why
isn’t he happy?
BY CHRIS WRIGHT
aybe I’m naïve.
M
“Hey, you keep
winning all these
awards,” I yell down
the phone to Fadi
Yaish, brimming with bonhomie. “What’s
going on over there?”
Yaish is creative director of FP7 Doha,
a relatively small agency in a relatively
undeveloped market. Yet the agency’s
haul of industry prizes over the last couple
of years has put many of the region’s
giants to shame: two Golds and a Silver
at Cannes, a Dubai Lynx Grand Prix and
a second-place Agency of the Year, along
with a Grand Cristal and a barrow-load of
other awards at this year’s MENA Cristals.
So, what’s going on over there?
I expected Yaish to answer in kind—“I
know! It’s crazy!” Instead, he goes on
the defensive.
“A lot of people are talking about our
office, the gossip network, people sharing
emails saying we have a secret cell that
will only do award work, blah-lah-lah-
lah,” he says. “It’s not healthy, okay?”
Okay.
Part of the chatter about FP7’s track
record stems from the brouhaha that
greeted its 2008 Cannes Lion-winning work
for EA Games—the winning campaign,
apparently, had not been approved by EA’s
North American headquarters, which led
some to charge the agency with resorting
to underhanded tactics. As one person
wrote on an online message board, “This
is a scam ad... it’s just a cheap way to
propel FP7 Doha!!” (After reviewing the
situation, Cannes adjudicators found no
cause to retract FP7’s awards.)
Yaish, for his part, admits that his
agency produces proactive work from
time to time, but insists that this fact does
not compromise the work’s ability to “win
hearts and minds and market share”.
Anyone who claims otherwise, he adds, is
probably “jealous”.
VITALS
Fadi Yaish
Age: 34
Years in the industry: 15
Drives: VW Touareg
Family: married with one
young child
One word philosophy: Passion
10 / 08 FEBRUARY 2009 www.mediaweekme.com
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