“Active Journalism,” the Effective Lotus Grande winner for Long-Term Creativity, was created by Impact BBDO, Dubai, for AnNahar Newspaper.
AnNahar, one of Lebanon’s oldest newspapers, was on the brink of irrelevance as sales were declining and trust in the media was weakening. Instead of giving up, AnNahar redefined itself five years ago.
AnNahar began using its role as a newspaper as a powerful engine for change. Active Journalism moved the brand from passive reporting to active participation, using its pages, resources and accumulated journalism to drive institutional change and public action.
“Active Journalism” was awarded the Grande of Effective Lotus for its continuous and impactful initiatives over the years including:.
The Blank Edition: AnNahar’s first active initiative launched in 2019 during a period without a functioning government, where the newspaper printed blank pages for people to write their own headlines until a new cabinet was formed.
The New National Anthem: Then in 2020, AnNahar rewrote Lebanon’s national anthem to include women. The new version became a chant during protests, while female representation in government later doubled.
The Elections Edition: In 2022, when Lebanon’s elections were supposedly threatened by a shortage of paper and ink needed to print ballots, AnNahar did not print its own edition. Instead, it donated the materials to print the ballots and kept the elections on track.
Newspapers Inside the Newspaper: In 2023, six Lebanese newspapers that had closed amid political and economic pressure were brought back inside AnNahar’s own edition. Their mastheads returned, along with the journalists who had written for them, giving silenced voices a platform again.
The New AI President: In 2024, after Lebanon had gone two years without an elected president, AnNahar trained an AI President on 90 years of its archives. More than 30,000 editions became the foundation for responses drawn from decades of reporting on the country’s politics, laws, culture and society. It became the first AI head of state used by a government, and nine months later parliament elected a real president.
While the resources changed with each challenge: paper and ink, publishing space, 90 years of archives, then decades of historical reporting supported by AI; AnNahar was driven by its unwavering commitment and purpose: use journalism to create action, not only report it.
The long-term strategy also changed the trajectory of the business. AnNahar recorded a 35% increase in revenue and 2.2 billion impressions, while rebuilding its popularity in Lebanon and expanding into a media powerhouse publishing across the Arab world.
Five years earlier, AnNahar was losing relevance and purpose. Active Journalism helped turn that around by giving journalism a role far beyond reporting the news, and set a new benchmark for purpose-driven brand building. AnNahar found its voice again by helping others find theirs.
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