MARTINO O’BRIEN

Creative director and managing partner YouExperience

ADIDAS (1)

When you have an icon like Zidane you can’t help but make the campaign iconic. Pun intended. It’s a great way to raise the next generation of football icons and what better way to kickstart it than at the Dubai Frame – an icon of Dubai. I like the way it was put together. Quite slick.

COCA -COLA (2)

A brand like Coca-Cola doesn’t do it small. So, this seems to be in line with their thinking. This was an impactful maximisation of a brand idea. I liked the idea of more people coming together to paint the Burj Coke-red. But I wish the execution felt more real. It felt rather rehearsed. Even the case study felt that way. The actor implants in the audience and fake surprises sucked the fizz out of the idea.

CASTROL (3)

Tight brief: we are an engine oil and want to do a CSR campaign. Under the circumstances, I believe that the best possible CSR was done. And using AR was a clever twist. But I’m not sure this campaign will make me look at a mechanic with hearts in my eyes, but I’ll surely try though. Promise.

MOHAMMED BIN RASHID AL MAKTOUM GLOBAL INITIATIVES (4)

If someone told me that to raise $10m all we had to do was lock a YouTuber in a glass room, I would have suggested they spend some time in a room with padded walls. Seriously, though, I loved the novelty of the idea and, most importantly, the success it achieved. They set out to achieve a lofty goal, and they did. Promises made, promises kept. And they had the perfect hook – trap a famous YouTuber in a room until the sum was collected. The whole initiative appeared extremely exciting. And the proof of campaign effectiveness can’t be ignored (nor can the question of toilet time in a glass room).

THE BEIRUT HERITAGE INITIATIVE (5)

Our history is sprinkled with evidence of the spirited resilience of the human spirit. Our innate ability to turn tragedy into treasure. Take the Taj Mahal for instance – a personal loss turned into a magnificent symbol of love. Or the Women of World War Two memorial in London that honours the selfless service of women in one of the darkest passages of history. The Here’s to Beirut campaign did just that: it turned something unusable, shattered and broken into symbols of resilience, optimism, and beauty.

Reminds me of kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken things with gold, so what is mended is now more precious than it ever was.