Dubai, UAE, 23 May 2025 – Yango Ads, the Ad Tech division of Yango Group, a global tech company, has won the Silver award in the Real-Time Marketing category at the MMA MENA SMARTIES™ 2025 for its campaign “Journey into Her Story,” created in partnership with Al-Futtaim Toyota, Memac Ogilvy and PHD Media MENA. Launched to commemorate Emirati Women’s Day last year, the campaign transformed a typical navigation experience into a platform for cultural discovery by spotlighting the lives, contributions and legacies of Emirati women who have streets named in their honour across the UAE.
The project invited users to engage with UAE heritage through Yango Maps, using branded pins, banners, 3D objects, and audio narratives to surface the stories behind iconic street names such as Latifa Bint Hamdan Street. The campaign recorded over 1.8 million banner impressions, reached more than 200,000 unique users, and saw 668,000 impressions from search menu icons. Interactive 3D objects alone generated over 155,000 impressions with a strong 2.5% click-through rate (CTR), while push notifications achieved an exceptional CTR of 5%. With Bassem Yousri, Head of Agency Partnership at Yango Ads MEA, leading the campaign’s execution, the project’s success demonstrated the platform’s ability to deliver precise, context-aware advertising that resonates with local audiences.
“Our goal was to make advertising feel less like an interruption and more like a discovery,” said Evgenii Pavlov, General Manager at Yango Ads MEA. “As the UAE’s digital advertising market is set to exceed $8 billion in 2025, brands are seeking smarter, more impactful ways to cut through the noise. Through geo-ads, we’re enabling brands to reach people in real-time, making each journey more engaging and relevant. For our team and our partners, this recognition validates our belief that advertising should not only perform well, but it should add value to the user experience and reflect the community it speaks to.”
Yuliya Kim, Head of Partnerships at Yango Ads MEA, highlighted the importance of creative and strategic alignment: “This campaign represents what’s possible when storytelling and data work together. We want to build a bridge between brands and the communities they serve, and create impact in the real world. The response, both in terms of user engagement and now industry recognition, reinforces that audiences want more than impressions. They want experiences that matter.”
Yango Ads entered this campaign from a strong foundation, having already established a robust portfolio of advertising solutions within its ecosystem. From Geo Ads, Retail Media, App Monetization, to its in-house creative bureau, Yango Ads Campaigns, the company has steadily equipped brands with the tools to monetise space and attention in smarter ways. The introduction of geo-ads, as showcased in this award-winning campaign, marked a major leap forward in delivering location-aware messaging to help brands boost visibility as users navigate their surroundings.
The Silver win at the MMA MENA SMARTIES™ 2025 reflects a growing track record of innovation for Yango Ads. With operations across 30+ countries, access to 50,000 websites, and integration with over 20,000 apps, the platform empowers brands with AI-driven tools and more than 600 targeting options. This campaign stands as proof of Yango Ads’ ability to turn cultural moments into measurable success, cementing its role in shaping the future of digital advertising across the region.
For more information, visit https://yango-ads.com/.
About Yango Ads
Yango Ads is a global ad platform that helps businesses monetize and grow. We help brands reach relevant audiences through the websites, apps, and services they use daily. With access to one of the largest ad networks, we connect brands to engaged users within the Yango Group ecosystem.
Whether you’re looking to boost app revenue, run campaigns, or make data-driven decisions, Yango Ads has the tools to make it happen.
