Christian Cappe, CEO of the MENA Cristal Awards, president of the 2C Associés and general director of the Meribel Festival de la Publicité, struggled with local political developments to bring the awards show to Lebanon. But the organizers’ tenacity came through, and the ceremony honored the region’s best and more creative minds. Executive caught up with Cappe while he was in Lebanon. E Describe your involvement with the MENA Cristal awards and the Meribel Festival. What inspired you to create a festival in the MENA region? The Meribel Ad Festival was created in 2001 and for its first “edition” welcomed 300 delegates. In 2006, we received 850 delegates. This means the staff and I do our best to promote the event, searching new ideas on development and supporting networking between advertisers, clients and producers. The MENA Cristal Awards was launched in 2005 with the aim of introducing an ambitious competition
