AME Awards Grand Jury Spotlight Interview: Sasan Saeidi
The AME Awards, honoring the World’s Best Advertising & Marketing Effectiveness℠, assembles its global jury from 5 regions around the world. The AME Grand Jury is responsible for awarding the most effective advertising campaigns on a global scale.
AME Grand Jury member, Sasan Saeidi is the Group Managing Director of FP7 McCann-UAE; overseeing FP7 DXB & Momentum operations. Under his leadership, FP7 DXB has invested a lot of energy and passion behind creating "Work that matters” beyond anything else. With his vision ofbelieving in Creativity with purpose. the agency has gone from strength to strength and success year on year since 2011.
Sasan prides himself as an ad guy that truly places human culture and its ideals & ideas before anything else. He believes that an agency’s “Gross happiness index” stemming from this clear human culture and is the single most important driver of success in our industry. Everything else stems from this foundation. Nurturing talent and creating positive change has been one of his main contributions.
In the interview below, Sasan shareswith AME what makes a campaign award-worthy, how cultural and social change influence creative work, his favorite ad that he’s created and much more!
AME Awards: Why did you agree to judge this year’s AME Awards?
Sasan Saeidi: It’s always rewarding to be a participatingin the marketing and communication industry; share learning and have the opportunity to engage and review communication and marketing work.
AME Awards: What are the hallmarks of an award-winning campaign?
Sasan Saeidi: Insights; clarity of idea; simplicity; and objective tactics.
AME Awards: In your opinion how doescultural/social change influence regional work?
Sasan Saeidi: Creativity and marketing is surrounded by society. What we create in the creative industry is a reflection of the society at large and the consumer economy. So there is a direct relationship between social change and creative work in the region; and one impacts and influences the other heavily.
AME Awards: What makes the AME Awards stand out from other competitions?
Sasan Saeidi: Clarity of approach; and presentation of the cases for the judges to review.
AME Awards: What was a defining moment in your career?
Sasan Saeidi: I was 33 years old when I became the group managing director of FP7 McCann UAE; in challenging times when we needed to change the company around. It was exciting and a true defining moment in my life and career. 5 years on; and we have completely turned the ship around and have become one of the most successful agencies in the region with Global recognition.
AME Awards: What’s your favorite ad that you created?
Sasan Saeidi: The best ad I have created the Lexus and Toyota work from the 2004/2005 in U.S./Canada, when I was at Saatchi & Saatchi.
AME Awards: In your opinion, what is your favorite ad that embodies both creativity and effectiveness?
Sasan Saeidi: I can’t really number all of them…..but the work from Droga 5 for (Decode JZ/Bing) & from Wieden & Kennedy for (the man your man could smell like) are two of my all time favourite ideas that were brilliant creativity that resulted into mass awareness, participation and real effectiveness by all true measures.
AME Awards: What inspires you?
Sasan Saeidi: Words, Honesty, Courage and love.