2010 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

We were tasked with creating a new brand identity for Qatar Foundation that would serve as an umbrella brand for its 80+ separate divisions and form the basis of its first global branding campaign. In addition to creating awareness about QF among the public at large, campaign needed to increase traffic to the QF web site. In terms of specific target audiences, locally, we wanted to reach the thousands of staff and associates of QF and build excitement and unity for their new brand identity. Regionally and internationally, we wanted to reach members of academia, research centers, think tanks, government policy makers and social development organizations. Since no single product, service or program could represent all of QF, we decided to focus on something all its divisions have in common: pushing people towards new ways of thinking. We wanted to create work that would engage and provoke people into thinking.

Success of the Campaign

Since the campaign’s launch in September 2009, the total number of monthly visits to the Qatar Foundation web site is up more than 213%, the number of unique visitors is up 140% and the total number of monthly page views is up more than 162%. (data provided by Google Analytics) Perhaps more importantly, the new brand identity has been embraced internally by the various divisions of QF. The green and yellow branding is now being used in much of QFs internal communications, external marketing materials and merchandise. In addition, students have been creating their own versions of Think campaign ads. Some of this work has ended up on YouTube or on display around the Education City campus.

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

The campaign was launched with a series of events on the Education City campus. These events were covered by local, regional and international press. Invited guest included Qatar Foundation staff, students, associates and international dignitaries. Soon after, the campaign rolled out in full -- the first ad to appear publically was the full-page Think Manifesto newspaper ad. This ad set the tone for the rest of the work that followed. The TVC began airing on channels including BBC World, CNN International and Al Jazeera International. More print ads began appearing in newspapers and magazines in MENA, US and Europe. OOH work was also launched in MENA, US and Europe including billboards, building banners, airport terminals, building banners, and ambient work. Online banners appeared on sites such as BBC, CNN, and UPI. But no matter in what media the work appeared in, every execution maintained the campaign's distinctive look and feel.