Steve Semelsberger has been hired as the CEO of YouEarnedIt, an innovative employee rewards and engagement platform that offers a best-in-class approach to employee recognition and corporate incentive programs. In the six months since its beta launch, YouEarnedIt has quickly grown to serve more than 30 companies, including RetailMeNot, Mass Relevance, Tempurpedic and 24/7 Media. Customers have seen an improvement in employee productivity and retention from using the platform, which is built to increase happiness at work. 

Semelsberger was previously SVP & GM, Social Products Group for Demand Media, a publicly traded media and technology company (NYSE: DMD). He came to Demand Media through the acquisition of Pluck, a leading provider of customer interaction solutions. While at DMD, he also oversaw real-time events tool CoveritLive and Facebook publishing system RSS Graffiti. 

Primarily via three Austin-based start-ups (iChat, Motive and Pluck), all of which were acquired and/or taken public, Semelsberger brings 16 years of early-stage executive, sales and marketing experience to YouEarnedIt. The startup recently moved its headquarters to Austin in order to align with the city’s friendly and open culture – and its strong talent pool. 

“With YouEarnedIt, I’m thrilled by the opportunity to serve companies of all sizes with solutions that drive tangible business value and encourage positive work environments,” says Semelsberger. “Our world-class platform, innovative mobile experience and modern business model are already driving rapid growth – and I am excited to help increase our momentum. Further, I’m fired up to be part of an amazing team that is deeply committed to building another great Austin technology company.” 

The hire marks an acceleration of investment for YouEarnedIt. Founder Kenny Tomlin remains Chairman while also serving as CEO of Rockfish, a digital innovation partner. Semelsberger’s experience will complement YouEarnedIt’s presence in the social enterprise space, says Tomlin. 

“Steve’s experience in building, marketing and growing social products makes him a great asset to YouEarnedIt as we put down roots in Austin and continue our mission of supporting happiness at work,” says Tomlin, who recently relocated to Austin from Arkansas, where he founded both Rockfish and YouEarnedIt. “His success in the market with early-stage, high-growth companies is unmatched, as is his love of Austin. We can’t wait to see what the summer and fall brings for YouEarnedIt.” 

Euromoney Magazine recently named Citi 'Best M&A House in the UAE' for the period covering past twelve months. The prestigious accolade was part of the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2013, considered to be among the most respected global awards for banking excellence.

The global bank, with a long and embedded presence in the UAE, came ahead of the competition across all main categories, and was particularly recognized for advising on critical and M&A deals, and customizing innovative financial solutions on behalf of clients in the UAE.

During this period, Citi successfully executed top advisory deals, including:

•TAQA's acquisition of 53.2% in the Atrush block in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, where Citi acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC ("TAQA").

•Sale of DP World Limited's stake in two container terminals and a logistics center in Hong Kong. Citi acted as a joint financial advisor to DP World on the monetization of its stake in its Hong Kong assets.

"Citi is again recognized for its leadership of landmark transactions in the UAE and rest of the region, thanks to a dedicated team of bankers on the ground," said Omar Iqtidar, Citi's Head of Middle East Investment Banking. "We are also extremely grateful to our clients who have put their trust and confidence in Citi to serve them on some very important and innovative transactions," he added.

Citi has been in the Arab World for nearly 50 years and views the region as critical to its global franchise. It currently offers full scale corporate and investment banking services in UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.

Citi's capabilities include Investment Banking, Capital Markets, Equity Sales & Distribution businesses, Transactions Services, Equity Research, and Global Islamic Banking serving the MENA region.

ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller, the region's leading public relations consultancy, and Silatech, a social initiative that works to create employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for Arab youth, will launch the Qatar findings of the 5th Annual ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey 2013, the largest independent study of its kind, on Monday, June 3 in Doha.

A ground-breaking initiative of ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller the survey was conducted by international polling firm Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) through face-to-face interviews with 3,000 exclusively Arab national men and women aged 18-24. 

The survey covered 15 countries - the largest to date since the annual study began in 2008 - including the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain), Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, and three new countries added this year: Morocco, Algeria and Yemen.

A presentation of this study, with a special emphasis on the findings from Qatar, will be revealed at a high-profile event and panel discussion in Doha, for the first time. 

HE Sheikha Hanadi Nasser Bin Khaled Al Thani, Founder and Chairperson of Amwal, will lead a panel of speakers debating the findings, together with Dr. Tarik Yousef, Chief Executive Officer, Silatech; Jaber Al Harami, Editor in Chief of Al Sharq newspaper, and Ahmed Nasser Sraiya Al Kaabi, COO of Al Sraiya Holding and CEO and MD of Widam Food. The panel will be moderated by Ghada Oueiss, Senior News Anchor at Al Jazeera. 

The four experts will discuss the implications of the findings for governments, the business community, the media and wider civil society, as well as the policy and decision-making changes needed to address the concerns of young people throughout the Arab world. 

Dr. Tarik Yousef, Chief Executive Officer, Silatech, said, "Prior to the events of the Arab Spring, the concerns of young people were often secondary for regional policy makers. Now, however, they are at the forefront of political and economic agendas throughout the region."

He added, "The voices of young people matter, and initiatives such as the ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey that are able to study the hopes, aspirations, and concerns of young people are valuable tools for measuring deeper trends and shifts in Arab societies." 

"Our hope is that by publically discussing and exploring the challenges that young Arabs face today, we can help increase awareness of the importance of addressing these issues among policymakers, the private sector, media and civil society," he added.

Sunil John, Chief Executive Officer of ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller, said, "Every year ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller conducts the Arab Youth Survey because we understand how important it is to access reliable data here in the Middle East, initiative demonstrates our firm belief in the principle of evidence-based communications."

"It is our pleasure to be presenting the findings in Doha with a closer look at the Qatari results, in partnership with Silatech," he added. 

"In 2010-11, the highest priority of young Arabs was to live in a democratic country, and in the months that followed, the region witnessed an unprecedented outpouring of public opinion that defined the Arab Spring. But in 2012, after the uprisings, their top priority was being paid a fair wage and owning their own home," he stated.

For the fifth edition of the survey, respondents were interviewed in-depth on subjects ranging from the political to the personal. Topics include the ongoing impact of the Arab Spring; economic and social concerns; attitudes towards democracy; foreign relations; personal values and beliefs, media consumption trends and social media habits. 

The study sample, including exclusively nationals of each of the surveyed countries, was weighted to provide an accurate reflection of each nation's geographic and socio-economic make-up.

Celebrating its 60th year, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is set to commemorate its anniversary with the launch of Game Changers; an exhibition and accompanying book that celebrate six decades of campaigns that have changed the landscape of the advertising industry forever.

On display in a designated area of the Palais des Festivals, the exhibition will run alongside the Cannes Lions Festival welcoming both delegates and the general public from 15-22 June. From Volkswagen’s ‘Think Small’ to the Nike Fuelband via Levi’s ‘Launderette’, it looks at the ‘firsts’ from the creative companies that have been transforming brands for 60 years. After the Festival this exhibition is set to travel to different venues around the world.

The book, Game Changers: The Evolution of Advertising, published by Taschen for Cannes Lions, features more than 150 of the most outstanding campaigns to have been produced since the 1950s, and discusses the context in which they were launched. It also features eye witness accounts from key industry players David Bailey, Lord Tim Bell, Lee Clow, Brian DiLorenzo, David Droga, Jeff Goodby, Paula Green, Bob Greenberg, Sir John Hegarty, Valdean Klump, Aaron Koblin, Piyush Pandey, Fernanda Romano, with an introduction by Arianna Huffington.

“There is no better way to celebrate Cannes Lions’ birthday,” says Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals, “Pulling together decades’ worth of ground-breaking campaigns reminds us why this industry is so special. Its relentless creativity, passion and its ability to innovate and reinvent shines through in Game Changers. It is both a fascinating and educational walk-through of defining industry moments and the world’s greatest creative work.”

The Game Changers: The Evolution of Advertising book will be exclusively available for sale at the exhibition in Cannes before going on general release later this summer through major bookstores and online. More information is available at www.gamechangersatcannes.com.

Other 60th anniversary celebrations taking place at the Festival include an exhibition of Cannes Lions memorabilia and a drinks reception hosted by the City of Cannes at the Cannes Connect Bar on Friday 21 June. The 2013 edition of the International Festival of Creativity takes place in Cannes, France, from 16-22 June.

Superbrands, the independent authority and arbiter of branding, announced that they are hosting their annual tribute event to honour UAE's strongest brands on June 4, 2013 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dubai Festival City.

The brand that will receive the highest score amongst all the Superbrands will be declared the highly anticipated 'Brand of the Year'. Superbrands will also unveil the ninth edition of the much coveted coffee-table style Superbrands book, which includes a two-page profile of each of the Superbrands, at the Tribute event. 

Speaking about the event, Mike English, Director, Superbrands Middle East, says, "It gives us great pleasure to announce the 'Oscars of Branding' night, our tribute event for UAE's strongest brands. This year we had many new entrants which included many local brands make it to the Superbrands list in addition to the globally recognised brands. These brands were not only voted for by our distinguished brand council members but also by 2,500 marketing professionals, who voted through an online poll. The brand which scores the highest points will be awarded the accolade of 'Brand of the Year' at the Tribute Event." 

After rigorous selection criteria, set by the Superbrands Council, over 2,500 professionals were invited to vote for candidate brands. More than 1,415 leading UAE brands were scored by the Superbrands Council and through the online poll and the highest scoring brands were designated as Superbrands. Only brands that achieve the level of recognition set by the independent Superbrands Council are eligible for inclusion in the Superbrands UAE book, which traces the history and achievements of each of the brands

"UAE's best brands, which range from FMCG brands to local family owned businesses, are featured in the Superbrands book. Participation in the book is by invitation only and acknowledges the inherent strength of the organisation and its brand value," Mr. English adds.

The Superbrands Council comprises individuals who have shown exceptional aptitude in business and who have a thorough knowledge of the market and methods of business. To be voted as a Superbrand is a powerful endorsement and is evidence for existing customers, potential customers, media, suppliers, investors and employees of each brand's exceptional status.

The Superbrands Tribute event, which will be attended by the Who's Who of the corporate world, is set to be a true celebration of many of the country's highest profile brands, and promises to live up to its global reputation as the "Oscars of Branding".

Warner Bros. Consumer Products has licensed Sterling Parfums, the region's leading fragrance and cosmetics company in private labelling and own branded products, to manufacture and offer its range of world renowned brands of perfumes and cosmetics in the region.

Sterling will be manufacturing a diverse range of Warner Bros. Consumer Products' character themed fragrances; Looney Tunes, Baby Looney Tunes, Tweety, Scooby Doo, Tom & Jerry, The Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the other characters in the series.

Commenting on the signing of the partnership, Mr Roy Chacra, Managing Director of Shooting Stars, Warner Bros. Consumer Products Representative in the Middle East, said, "We are pleased to appoint Sterling Parfums to produce and distribute a unique range of products based on popular characters of Warner Bros. We believe they are the right partners to work with and they have demonstrated this through their production and quality capabilities as well as their distribution network. We're looking forward to seeing the products on shelves!"

A part of this new range of products which primarily will be for a younger demographic and will cover a broad age range of infants to teens, will be unveiled to the trade partners at Beauty World Exhibition at Dubai World Trade Centre in Dubai on the 28th - 30th May 2013.

"This is a great opportunity to bring the popular and famous Warner Bros. characters to the dressing tables of the kids in the region. I am confident that the kids and their fashion forward parents will be excited to enjoy the experience of having the specially designed product range," said Rakesh Puri, CO of Sterling Parfums.

"At Sterling we will ensure quality and innovation for the product range is of the highest standard," added Puri.

Amit Vardhan, Marketing Director for Sterling, added, "We are planning to put together an attractive range of high quality products ranging from perfumes and deodorants to body cream and air fresheners. The Sterling team is working on innovative packaging ideas that will be very attractive for kids." 

Sterling Parfums, with its brands like ESTIARA and luxury French fragrances ARMAF, cosmetics range from its sister concerns like Feah and Lady Diana, Cotton products of Femelle etc. has built a very strong identity across several countries in a very short period.

Google is now the world’s largest media owner, with media revenues 39% higher than its nearest competitor DirecTV, according to ZenithOptimedia’s Top Thirty Global Media Owners report.

Google, with media revenues of $37.9bn, and The DirecTV Group ($27.2bn) topped the ranking, followed by News Corporation ($26.4bn), the Walt Disney Company ($19.7bn) and Comcast ($16.2bn).

Time Warner ($15.6bn) took the sixth spot, followed by Bertelsmann ($11.3bn), Cox Enterprises ($11.1bn), CBS Corporation ($10.8bn) and BSkyB ($10.2bn).

The four internet media owners on the list – Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo – generated a total $49.2bn in revenue from internet advertising in 2011, out of the total $77bn spent on internet advertising globally.

Google alone accounted for 49% of the world’s internet ad spend, Yahoo for 6% and both Microsoft and Facebook on 4% each. Twitter didn’t make the top 30 with revenues of $140m.

Despite the rise of digital media, the majority of media revenues are generated by traditional media and entertainment companies that create and distribute content. Of the top 30, 22 of the companies’ main business is producing strong content, which together account for $169bn in media revenue in 2011, or 61% of the total generated by the top 30.

Five new entrants made their debut in the ranking this year – Facebook, Microsoft, Globo, ProSiebenSat.1 and Sanoma.

Globo and Televisa were the only two media owners from emerging markets to make the list, with the rest of the ranking dominated by companies based in North America and Europe. No companies from China made the list, however China’s leading search engine Baidu narrowly missed out on a place this time and is a likely candidate for inclusion next year, according to ZenithOptimedia.

“Google’s position as the number one global media owner is testament not only to its strength in search, but also to its expansion in other key digital platforms,” says ZenithOptimedia head of forecasting Jonathan Barnard. “ZenithOptimedia’s top 30 ranking now includes four digital media owners, and we expect there to be at least one more next year.”

“We also expect more media owners from China and other “rising markets” to join the two Latin American media owners in the top 30,” adds Barnard. “Despite the rise of digital, media and entertainment companies that create compelling content remain at the heart of the media business, and account for most of the revenues from our top 30.”

The Top Thirty Global Media Owners report ranks the world’s largest media companies by media revenue, as estimated by ZenithOptimedia . The report first launched in 2007 and was last published in 2010.

Source:M&M Global

View Isobar has been named Digital Agency of the Year at the XV Festival by the Creatives Club in Portugal, the most important creative festival in the country.

In one spectacular night, View Isobar was crowned Digital Agency of the Year, while also winning 10 additional trophies in other categories. 

Of the 18 shortlisted entries, View Isobar went on to win 4 Golds, 3 Silvers and 3 Bronzes trophies. FFMS (Fundacao Francisco Manuel dos Santos), a key client for the agency, won the title of Digital Brand of the Year as a result of the View Isobar's work.

‘Conhecer a Crise’ (Know the Crisis) a campaign for the FFMS, was awarded Gold in four prize categories: Portal, Non-commerical, Best Interface & Navigation, Social Causes & Public Good. The Moving Picture Company won Silver within the Institutional, Commercial and Mobile Site categories, ‘POP’ (also for the FFMS) was awarded Silver and Bronze in respective Portal and Non-Commercial Prizes, and GM Opel Ampera Music won Bronze within the Digital Banners category.

For years, Coke has encouraged people to share happiness—and has given them lots of surprising ways to share a Coke.

“There was one thing they couldn’t share” said Chris Garbutt, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy & Mather, France, “The can.” “So we asked ourselves,” continued Chief Creative Officer, Eugene Cheong, Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific, “What if they could?”

With that same sentiment Ogilvy & Mather Singapore and Ogilvy & Mather France galvanized resources and shared thinking to make sharing a can of Coca-Cola possible.

Take Coca-Cola Classic’s one person can and design it for two. Twist, turn and share—“yes”, the Coca-Cola can itself.

Furthered Leonardo O'Grady, IMC Director Coca-Cola ASEAN, The Coca-Cola Company, “Half for you and half for someone you love. The Coca-Cola Sharing Can is at the heart of the brand's optimistic and social spirit heritage over the past 170 years and delivers yet another unexpected moment of connection and happiness."

Mindshare, an agency dedicated to innovative brand development for its clients, recently announced the appointment of Riham El Sawy as Managing Director of its Egypt office.

El Sawy has amassed a wealth of experience in challenging areas in the industry including youth marketing, content development, and digital strategies. Her impressive client portfolio spans a wide selection of goods and services. Prior to joining Mindshare, El Sawy has worked at Zenith, MCN and Ingredients.

El Sawy graduated from the American University in Cairo with an academic background in economics, mass communications, and business administration. She quickly established herself in the advertising and media field locally, and then expanded her horizons to regional companies that span a diverse array of industries.

Speaking on the occasion, Mindshare MENA CEO Samir Ayoub said, "We are delighted to appoint Riham El Sawy as our new MD of Mindshare Egypt. With her specialized insight into the Egyptian market and successful track record, we strongly believe that Riham will make a big difference and boost significantly our market position in Egypt.