True designers show passion for creativity and so do over 50 young Saudi men and women who have engaged themselves in a promising business through the Okaz Creative Advertising Awards which will be announced Tuesday in a ceremony graced by Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah, at the Jeddah Hilton. Marketers are always on the search for the next big advertising stunt in hopes of attracting major attention as they do not believe in ‘cool factors' in advertisement anymore. And the young have come to help thanks to Okaz's initiative. With big hopes, young creative designers met over the weekend at the headquarters of Okaz Organization for Press and Publication ahead of the announcement of the awards to generate new ideas, and if they are lucky, they get to bounce them off each other. Throughout the day, the young designers were engaged in brainstorming sessions with eye, minds, and hands working new designs popping up on their window screens, looking like masterpieces some times. Amjad Al-Qithami, a female participant, said “Okaz contest has encouraged me to think out of the box and come up with creative ad ideas. The workshop for the Saudi talents has introduced me to highly creative and educated women in the field.” The group was enthusiastic about the whole scheme of this innovative idea of a booming business in the country that will help all designers to grow to be the future ad icons, she said. It was a thrilling experience for Sahar Qadhi to be part of the contest. She said that “The atmosphere of the competition has created a different feeling of enthusiasm and competitiveness pushing me and the rest of the group to produce the best we have.” A creative ad for the participants was the one that would have the audience laugh, talk about it, and at least look at it twice. Yahya Al-Qidaimi, 23, said “My participation with this number of talented designers has given me a warm feeling because the major objective is to produce a beautiful work born out of creativity.” For Al-Qidaimi, a strong promotional campaign is the one that moves the audience “and that would be possible only if it were creative and inspirational.” Hassan Al-Zahrani, 24, said, “The participation in this competition makes us feel that we are appreciated and respected by our society; something that really encourages us to produce the best we have to enrich our society.” The art in an advertisement would be very influential if it were able to convey its message, he said. Abdullah Banakhr, Secretary-General of the Okaz Creative Advertising Awards, said that the prizes allocated by Okaz for the first position (SR75,000), second (SR55,000) and third (SR25,000) would assist the talented winners to establish their own advertisement business. “By doing so, we would encourage the talented and the creative and spread the culture of creativity,” Banakhr said. Some of the works have reflected “a wonderful professionalism and creativity” and “Okaz, along with other press organizations, will definitely benefit from this competition as it would introduce these young men and women to the advertisement world,” he added
