Portoroz: Saatchi & Saatchi became the 2^nd most awarded agency at the Golden Drum awards after winning two Grand Prixs (Israel), one gold (Israel) and seven silvers (two for Serbia, and one each for Israel, Finland, Romania, Ukraine and Russia) at the festival in Slovenia.

Blood Relations from Baumann Ber Rivnay Saatchi & Saatchi in Tel Aviv won two Grand Prixs; one in Film and the other in Events, 1 Gold in Direct and 1 Silver in PR.

Yoram Levi, ECD of BBR Saatchi & Saatchi said: "The Blood Relations project is important to us beyond being an advertising campaign; this project carries the most important international vision. We are proud and pleased the judges chose to award us the most important awards at the festival, and we promise to continue to make this message in ways that are creative and most effective".

The ‘Blood Relations' campaign brought together bereaved Palestinian and Israeli families from the Parents Circle Families Forum to donate blood alongside each other, that would then be donated to save lives on the opposite side. The first donations took place in September 2011 on the UN International Day of Peace. Saatchi & Saatchi Israel then worked with the authorities on both sides to get them to agree to accept both sets of blood donations.

Serbia's Battle for the Babies' campaign for more and modern incubators in hospitals for babies, won two silvers in Integrated and also in PR. Veljko Golubovic, Saatchi & Saatchi Belgrade's ECD said: "We are one of the smallest Saatchi offices and we fight for rewards like the Babies in our campaign. The campaign already won many awards but for us Golden Drum was a special privilege to contribute to a network score. Now it is important to continue the winning streak".

‘Battle for the Babies' was launched with the aim of raising funds for 100 incubators in poorly equipped Serbian hospitals. The 40 year old incubators were severely outdated, resulting in an above 60% death rate for babies. People were invited to join the battle and fight together. More than 700 companies and 1 million people supported the campaign which raised funds for 195 incubators, amounting to €2.600.000 and covering the needs of the entire country.

Finland's Lucky and Muggy campaign for Toyota Hybrid won them a silver in the film category. The 3 executions - Silence, Fuel and Reliability - aim to educate the public about Toyota Hybrid cars with the style of very familiar children's animation figures from the 1970's.

"It is the first time that Lahtinen Mantere Saatchi & Saatchi has won in an international competition and we are extremely proud of it! Many thanks to our team!" said Kauko Kyyro, Account Director on Toyota.

Also winning for Toyota, this time in radio, Saatchi & Saatchi Romania's Braveheart execution for the Toyota Land Cruiser V8 .

"It's a great win for our Agency and I'm especially happy that it's for our good and faithful Client Toyota", Johan Ohlson - ECD Romania

Already positioned as king of all roads, the Toyota Land Cruiser V8 launched a top navigation system - a feature meant to inspire even more confidence to the driver. Using this as a starting point, the idea was to personify the voice of the navigation system as the voice of 3 well known warrior-leaders from 3 of the most successful international movies: Leonidas from 300, General Maximus from Gladiator and William Wallace from Braveheart.

The Ukraine won silver in press for Novartis for Theraflu cold medicine. Oleg Lapshin, ECD at Saatchi & Saatchi Ukraine: "For the agency it is the first award at Golden Drum so it is a big step forward and besides, we are very happy that it is for such big and important client as Novartis".

Finally, Russia's ‘Save April First' for Paramount Comedy Channel won them silver in PR.

Stuart Robinson, ECD in Moscow said: "We're very happy to have won silver in the PR category at Golden Drum for the launch of the Paramount Comedy channel in Russia. We also apologize to any Russian Ornithologists who were hurt in the making of this campaign".

The campaign uses April 1^st, which is not only April Fool's Day but also The International Day of Birds, to launch Paramount Comedy and build its association with humour and fun.

John Pallant, Regional Creative Director, EMEA said: "I'm delighted to see so many awards for Saatchi & Saatchi spread across so many categories. There is definitely confidence and momentum for this year in the region".

All the work can be seen on the Golden Drum website: http://www.goldendrum.com/competition/showcase/winners-2012/