2010 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Colors hit an emotional hot button in people, evoking different emotions and aspirations. They are usually connected to feelings, not finance. P&A Advertising took a bold step: using color to launch the Barwa Bank brand in Qatar... The goal: to splash color onto the rather black-and-white world of finance … generate excitement and awareness... and forge a closer, emotional connection to customers People were polled at mall kiosks on which colors they liked and why... and received prizes and tote bags for participating. This also helped the bank gather customer data. To build curiosity and buzz, each swatch was introduced separately in a reveal campaign. The campaign also ties in with the tag line: “The future has a bank.” The colors symbolize the spectrum of life, customized services, and the positive hope of a rainbow.

Success of the Campaign

Considering that it was Barwa Bank's launch campaign, this campaign created a lot of buzz, excitement, awareness and traffic for the bank. The campaign was launched during the ramadan season of 2009 and helped generate a fairly large database of over 2000 names as well as converted into a large percentage of new accounts with the bank. The campaign was well received by one and all as it was a fresh departure from the conventional stereotypes of banking and financial marketing. The use of colours in the bank's logo and brand built help make the right connection with the campaign concept and helped generate brand recall for the consumer.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

P&A developed a memorable, high impact Integrated Media campaign using print, promotions, premiums, television spots and public relations, to launch Barwa Bank. To build curiosity and buzz, each swatch was introduced separately in a reveal campaign. People were polled at mall kiosks on which colors they liked and why... and received prizes and tote bags for participating. This also helped the bank gather customer data. The meanings of the different colors were then brought together in a spectrum logo – symbolic of the individualized services Barwa Bank offers. This campaign achieved its goal: raising awareness, generating buzz and changing the way people see banking: It has has indeed proven to be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for Barwa Bank.