RAMZY HADDAD
Executive Creative Director
An award-winning creative evangelist with more than 19 years of integrated advertising and branding experience in the MENA region. Ramzy spearheaded the creative teams of some of the region’s top agencies like Intermarkets/VML, Wunderman, Y&R, Publicis, M&C Saatchi, Webedia, and RAPP.
He is a strong believer in the power of turning real insights into big ideas, and big ideas into memorable experiences. With a track record of more than 120 regional and international awards, and an expanding portfolio of prestigious clients, from government and corporate entities to luxury services and goods, telecom, banking, tourism, automotive, real estate, F&B, FMCG, and NGOs.
Ramzy is also an evangelist on creativity and modern storytelling, participating as a jury member in many award ceremonies, and recently as an executive jury member in the Lisbon Advertising Festival. He is often featured as a speaker in award shows, panels, and as guest speaker at many universities in UAE, Lebanon and Jordan.
In another life, he’s a techie, trekkie, and an incorrigible sci-fi fan.
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"
Vincent Van Gogh
AL MOSAFER – AS FAR AS WE GO
Sometimes the things that are farthest from us are closer than we think... This Ramadan we're taking the trip north to visit a dear old friend who comes to us every December...
NESCAFE – IKIGAI
What if answering one question could improve your life? Okinawa, Japan, has the world's longest life expectancy. One of their secrets is "Ikigai". It means the reason for which you wake up in the morning. Have you discovered your reason?
WHY WEGO
We all have an innate need to go. Travel to places we’ve never been and return to places we will always call home. Either way, it’s our choice to start the journey.
EXTRAORDINARY STORIES
In this global brand film for Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA), We wanted to portray the capital city of the UAE as a multi-cultural and dimensional experience that is filled with new memories to be made, and new stories to be told. Filmed in over 40 locations within Abu Dhabi, the 'Extraordinary Stories' campaign comprises a two films dedicated to GCC and international markets.
MAKE IT AT TWOFOUR54
Twofour54 is more than a place, it's an open invitation to all creators and innovators to bring their ideas and make it real. The campaign aiming to position Twofour54 and Abu Dhabi as an amplifier of talent and a space where creativity flourishes.
CHRYSLER – PERFORMER
The Performer campaign turned the Chrysler 300 into a musical instrument. The integrated idea included a compelling 5 part TV campaign exploring, identifying and sampling the sounds of the Chrysler 300C. Technology led ideas included the region’s first playable posters and the world’s first retargetable print insert. On YouTube and the Google Network users could play the car’s sounds using their smartphone as a piano keyboard. The sampled sounds of the Chrysler 300C were mastered into a professional software musical instrument and sent to music producers as a direct mailing.
MAGGI DIARIES
Empowering women in the Middle East to join our band of ChangeMakers on their journey to discover real stories of exceptional women, food, and social change.
OPPO – RAMADAN LIGHTS
No matter the distance, what brings us closer is this invisible bond that connects us to the ones we love.
YAHSAT – LOOK UP
Looking at the stars and dreaming of a better future inspired many to push their limits and reach for a new tomorrow... But when this becomes a nation's dream, and when you empower it with an inspiring vision, the stars are just a step away.
In January 2018, Yahsat launched it's 3rd state-of-the-art satellite into orbit, servicing 22 countries across Africa and South America.
THE INSPIRATION CUP
Our lives are inspired by the discoveries we make, the people we meet, and the adventures we live... There are many new stories waiting for you out there, go find yours...
With the new global positioning "It all starts with a Nescafe", the brand wanted to speak to the youth and act as a catalyst that boosts their inspiration; The film was part of a larger campaign that featured different real-life "inspioneers" from the region who shared their stories to inspire others to start following their dreams and aspirations.
COFFEE-MATE BE SMOOTH
Coffee-Mate BeSmooth is not just a campaign about a creamer in your coffee, but a whole new way of life... This campaigns takes our human tolerance to the brink and back with hilarious real-life characters sharing with us a bit of their wisdom.
PROJECTS
Below, you’ll find a collection of recent projects I’ve worked on for Pizza Hut, Mobily and Wego.
PIZZA HUT – SUPER LIMO
December, 2019
With Pizza Hut's one-meter long pizza – Super Limo, we wanted to invite everyone to the biggest pizza party in town.
By collaborating with top Arabic Hip-Hop artists, we created an engaging theme song that fuses English and various Arabic dialects, featuring regional celebrity Tareq Al Harbi who choreographed and performed a signature Super-Limo-dance. Giving our audience a whole new vibe turning Super Limo into a party.
Our campaign rolled across various media channels, we shared our musical content online and in cinemas, while building hype and engagement with our social media and instore installment, soon everyone was dancing to our tune.
TikTok Super Limo Dance-Off got 44M views in one week, with a total of 33M impressions on Facebook alone, and a reach exceeding 8M.
MOBILY – THE INCOMPLETE ANTHEM
September, 2019
Mobily is celebrating the 89th Saudi National Day with a campaign aimed at changing societal stereotypes toward people with disabilities. The initiative, launched under the hashtag #EveryonesKingdom, is designed to spark a conversation to bring a change in people’s attitudes toward disabled individuals and promote their social inclusion.
The campaign comprises a short video featuring an orchestra performing the Saudi national anthem, with pauses in between symbolizing persons with disabilities, demonstrating that, just like in the performance, society is incomplete without them.
#EveryonesKingdom initiative is in line with Vision 2030 as it supports one of Saudi Arabia’s main objectives — “Rewarding Opportunities” — especially providing equal opportunities to everyone in the Kingdom.
OPPO RENO 2 LAUNCH
October, 2019
Oppo's biggest launch of Reno 2 needed to happen in a monumental venue that resonates with the top tier features in their latest smartphone edition. In front of thousands of spectators, we took over Burj Khalifa with a captivating show.
MOHAB – MANEA & TAKHTOUKH
January 25, 2023
Many Children in the Arab world are struggling with obesity, and for the majority of them, the root of the problem lies in unhealthy habits. “Manea and Takhtookh” is a comprehensive campaign that encourages parents and kids to work as a team in order to reduce childhood obesity in the UAE as per the national agenda for 2021. A virtual reality game has been developed to raise awareness among children on the importance of making healthy food choices and promotes a more active way of life.
PORTFOLIO
This is a selection of various brands and projects ranging from F&B, FMCG, Banking, Tourism, automotive, and telco, to NGO and social awareness.
“With great work comes great personality, or is it the other way around? No one is hiring good portfolios, agencies are hiring people. It is not only the work that counts, it is the people who you work with…”
ABOUT ME
Growing up, I could only dream of being able to turn art into a full-time profession, and now, here I am. Since the beginning of my career, I’ve focused on doing the work that I would love to see.
In a region where every country is a completely different experience, with different social norms, conflicts and restrictions, it's not always easy to find the silver lining... Yet I was fortunate to work with some of the best minds and talents in the region, working on many global and regional brands, to create memorable campaigns, that got their share of awards and recognition.
What keeps me going, is not simply to add more awards on my agency's shelves; many ECDs are doing this and it only contributes in nursing bigger egos... I believe that good work is its own reward, and when we fight we do it to win the war not to get medals.