Riding the coattails of the successful Okaz annual Creative Advertising Awards (OCAA) held Feb. 1, the Saudi Gazette opinion poll asked 300 guests who attended the event to nominate his/her top five print business advertisements. Out of more than 66 advertisements by 14 competing advertising agencies and 32 individual ads-designers, the outstanding 10, along with the top five ads, were selected. Each respondent was asked to rank the top five print ads judged by the three criteria: first, ad cultural acceptability, motivation to buy the product and ad word formulation. The photos of the top five ads, and the remaining five are shown (from top left clockwise). First place honor went to House Of Donuts Company. This ad was the most photographed by visitors during the four hours exhibition. "The concept is marvelous. It connected a religious ritual during Hajj or Umra which is the walk between Safa and Marwa with its human diversity and transposed the vision unto their products," said Dr. Salwa Al-Attas, visiting art and culture lecturer at Jeddah Female College. The colors are diverse but somber and comforting and adding the phrase "blessed Hajj" added to the serenity. Do-gooders fell in love with Jeddah Albir Society, taking the second honor. The ad showed the domains of distributing donations and Zakat money. In simple words, it reads: "Your goodness offer shelter", "preserve dignity", "offer medical treatment", and " sponsor orphans". Seven Days Croissant and Evian water took third and fourth places, respectively. The 7days croissant ad, to highlight their caramel-filled new product, took traditional hard-candy wrapping and put the croissant in it. To add a little bit of tease, it added the slogan: you missed it… sweetie!. Julian Heath-Mansouri, naturalized Saudi and mother of three, said "30 years ago this was the wrapping of candies, my kids grown up now but still remember it, it sure homeruns with parents and kids, devilishly creative… I love it!" Evian water by Firaaz Dahjat, which took fourth place, is calm, evoking the product's natural origin and purity, "I'ts mature, it knows whom it talks to," said Najwa Alam-Addin, senior Lebanese graphic-designer at Effat College. "Snow-covered mountains, contained in sealed and transparent container, held by a hand and poured right into Evian bottle? …need not say more! It elegantly tantalizes social upper niche," she added. "Sugar without sugar… Canderel" was ranked fifth. Probably most who voted for this ad were weight-watchers and diabetics. It showed two palms, stretching out into the infinity, representing the sides of a scale with the edge tipped in favor of the product. "May be it does not say much about the product, but to put up head-on against sugar tells the story," said Dr. Baeisa, dean at College of Business Administration (CBA). "Two of my brothers are diabetics and they have been using it for over 18 years, I know of no complaints on their part." The remaining honors went to: Louzine (6th), Riyad Bank (7th), mas detergent (8th), Al-Baik (9th) and, Mc Donald's (10th). __
