IT IS A LONG STORY
BY RAMSEY NAJA
FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2019
7:00 - 7:45 PM
AT STARCO
In this talk, Ramsey Naja, Chief Creative Officer of JWT MEA, will argue that communication in the digital age can learn much from classical advertising storytelling. Formats have changed dramatically and media channels have exploded, but the need for compact narratives has never been more important. Nostalgia often takes the form of comedy or ridicule when applied to advertising but in Naja’s view, the key principles that underpinned successful communication in the past are surprisingly relevant today.
SPEAKER'S BIO:
RAMSEY NAJA
Chief Creative Officer
J. Walter Thompson Middle East & Africa
A former pirate radio DJ, theatre director, and TV news anchorman, Ramsey Naja escaped his native Lebanon’s civil war to move to the UK in 1985. He collected an MA in Drama from Hull University and later joined J. Walter Thompson in 1994, before returning to Beirut in 2001. He was appointed Chief Creative Officer for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in 2004. Under Naja’s stewardship, J. Walter Thompson MENA became one of the region’s most awarded networks, with first-time and regular international recognition in Dubai Lynx, D&AD, One Show, IPG, London International Awards, New York Festivals and Cannes amongst others. It was voted network of the year twice and most effective network in 2014. In 2015 the Cairo team won the agency its first Titanium Lion; and in 2016 the MENA Network won Network of the Year at Dubai Lynx with a record breaking 5 Grand Prix awards to its credit. He was appointed Chief Creative Officer for Middle East and Africa in 2012. Ramsey is a member of J. Walter Thompson’s Worldwide Creative Council and a columnist in Campaign ME magazine. He is usually based in Beirut, is obsessive about comic books and skiing, but mostly about his wife Marianne and their children Emily, Sophie and Mark.
