Jury

With over three decades of experience in the advertising sector, Rana is one of the most influential figures in the communications industry in Jordan today. Rana held many leadership positions through various International agencies and is one of those talented creative strategists who has moved into the world of management and leadership. A successful brand in her own right, Rana has been a frontrunner in Jordan's creative, marketing, and communication industry since co-founding DDB in 1995. With a degree in Communication Arts, Rana graduated with honors from San Diego, California and later joined Intermarkets as a senior Art Director. Rana then moved to Publi-Graphics where she led the creative department before moving to co-found DDB. In 2000, Rana joined Adpro Communications as the Managing Partner and, through the years, became the Group Executive Director and Partner of both Adpro Communications and Adpro OMD, a position she holds till this day. Since joining Adpro Communications, Rana has focused on creating and generating strategic growth opportunities through a deep understanding of clients’ needs and market dynamics, leading one of the Kingdom’s largest communication, creative, media and digital talent pool to deliver ownable, holistic, compelling, and unique creative solutions that drive brand and business growth to date. As a Group, it has become known as one of the most powerful and strategic brand-building Agencies in the Kingdom. Rana believes that only innovation, agility, disruption, curiosity, and empowerment can keep the Agency at the helm of the industry. Under her stewardship, the Agency developed many award-winning campaigns for local, regional, and multinational brands and has been instrumental in taking her Agency and clients through major consecutive wins as well as several local and regional firsts across the creative and media scene. Renowned today for producing some of the most memorable brand campaigns in Jordan, Rana won her country its first international advertising award back in the 1990's - the silver Silver Keithreihard Award. Rana continues to lead with many firsts until this day, most recently becoming the first and only Agency in Jordan to ever get shortlisted at the Loeries Awards, Gerrety Awards and AdForum's Phnx Awards. In that same capacity, her Agency became the first and only Agency in Jordan to be shortlisted at Campaign's Agency of the Year Awards - Middle Easter Chapter. Hamarneh was also the first female Creative Director in the Middle East to participate in Clio Awards' Art of Advertising in 1994. Rana continues to manage client relationships across various sectors, including Banking and Finance, Financial Technology, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Non-profit Organizations, Real Estate, Technology, Telecommunications, Government Political Communications. With her team, she has managed to create, develop, build and launch brands in the most saturated categories and deploy innovative, intelligent, and impactful behavior-strategies that redefined the entire category at the time. To Rana, this field only gets younger by the day. With all the innovation happening, Rana feels renewed excitement about the industry and the technological revolution, which has given her and the industry at large a new array of tools to create work that works even better. In 2021, the Agency was awarded the most prominent brand-building mandate of the year, recently launching the region’s newest and the Kingdom's first Neo Bank with a brand and communication strategy so effective it closed annual business targets within the first four months of the year. In the same year, Rana expanded the Agency operations into the Iraqi and Palestinian markets and became the first Agency Leader in Jordan to sign the UN’s Women Empowerment Principles and increase female participation in the Agency to 50%. In an industry dominated by a global agency network presence, Rana has maintained the Agency's top three positions across creative and media rankings since the 2000s. In 2022 alone, the Agency was the most recognized, shortlisted and awarded Agency from the Kingdom across global award shows. Rana has been featured in many local, regional and international publications for her work and thought leadership and was named as the Most Influential Woman in a Communications Agency in Jordan in 2018, 2017, 2015, and 2006 by global publications and bodies and more recently by Campaign UK in 2021. Rana has created an agency culture with a true sense of working together, side by side, supporting one another for the benefit of the whole, through a relentless focus on doing great work, achieving excellent results, and hopefully making purposeful work that moves people, shifts perceptions, changes behavior and ultimately make the world a better place. A people person to the core, Rana believes that we are in a people's business and people over processes is what truly makes a difference. Hiring, nurturing, and developing the best talent and allowing them to shine, seeking success not only for the Agency but also for the team members as individuals is what led the Agency to enjoy the highest talent retention rate in the Kingdom. Beyond the Agency doors, Rana sat on multiple boards through the years; International Advertising Association - Jordan Chapter, Injaz, and Nuqul Automotive, and took part in many board committees. Rana also consulted on several projects for the Royal Hashemite Court and the Prime Ministry. She recently took part in the Economic Modernization Vision for Jordan, where the focus was on unleashing Jordan's economic potential to achieve comprehensive sustainable growth and improving the quality and standard of living for all Jordanians by developing various sectors, including the creative and innovation industries. Rana continues to participate in several forums to nurture a culture of creativity in the country. Rana also participated in the Leadership Network in New York and was a jury member in several regional and international award shows, most recently AdForum's PHNX. As an avid contributor to Injaz, Rana has acted as a consultant empowering youth through Injaz's startup program, helped students find their path and passion within the leap initiative, and took several business leadership campaigns talking to students in government high schools and mentoring them for several years. A Mentor at heart, Rana dedicated much of her life and career to mentorship programs across the country, seeding hope and inspiration everywhere she goes. Throughout the different seminars, talks, and workshops she leads, she constantly looks to provide opportunity, guidance, and counseling for the youth, especially young females, helping them find better paths for their future and motivating them to keep going against the odds.