It was a step back in time and a day away from the office recently for more than 150 members of the Leo Burnett Group of Companies, Dubai and Kuwait, who shared an employee appreciation and integration-building day beachside.
Time was of the essence since this year’s event, called “Blast from the Past”, marked the 69th anniversary of Leo Burnett’s opening in Chicago and decades of the agency’s brand-building creative work in the Middle East. In line with the theme, the day’s activities involved competition among 10 teams with names drawn from across the ages, beginning with “cavemen”, moving on to “gangsters” and “hippies” among others, and ending with “rappers”.
“Every day our people give their best to the company and to the brands they serve. Leo Day offers us a chance to celebrate their work, their initiative and their excellence,” said Kamal Dimachkie, managing director, Leo Burnett Dubai and Kuwait.
Although called “Leo Day”, the annual event brings together all four companies that form the Leo Burnett Group of Companies, Dubai – CRM and digital agency Arc, brand agencies Black Pencil and Leo Burnett and Manning Selvage & Lee public relations. The Dubai event included staffers from the companies’ Dubai and Kuwait offices.
“On this day we not only celebrate individual achievement, but also the success of the group as a whole – independent of our areas of specialization – in delivering effective, integrated, multi-disciplinary marketing campaigns. This holistic communications approach is a core aspect of what we offer our clients and is particularly important given today’s complex and fractured media environment,” Raja Trad, CEO, Leo Burnett Group of Companies, Middle East and North Africa.
Filled with competitions that generated skits, ballroom dancing, rapping, pirate ship building, fashion shows and storytelling, among much else, the day also offered delicious food and drink, azure oceans, great weather and a raffle for dozens of prizes.
“By gathering together for team building and creative challenges, we deepen the meaning of integration on both an individual and organizational level,” said Jean Traboulsi, regional account director, Leo Burnett, and one of the event planners responsible not only for the activities, but for developing the logo and theme of Leo Day.
During the day, a number of employee honours were bestowed, including Employee of the Year, the LB Initiative Award and several Service Awards. The event concluded with the raffle, which gave away dozens of prizes, including the grand prize of a new car.
Haytham Lamaa, copywriter, who won one of the raffles and was one of the winners of the Leo Burnett Annual Initiative Award, said about the experience, “Everyone had a really great time. The activities were creative and inspiring and gave us a special opportunity to interact and hang out with colleagues from our sister companies in a different environment.”
Teams collected points throughout the day based on their success at various tasks and challenges. The top three were honoured with trophies.
Matt Wilde, senior web developer, who was on one of the winning teams, said, “You can’t help but have a great time and be inspired when you’re working with such great people. We have fun at the office, so it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that we’d have fun on the beach, even if we were trying to figure out how to build a sea-worthy boat from cardboard!”
