2010 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

The cards were a smash hit and had to be reprinted again and again, with clients appreciating the clever and irreverent take on the financial crisis. By year-end many thousands of undersized Business Cards had been delivered to their precise target audience all over the Middle East. This was the first recession-themed idea covered by both Campaign and Media Week magazines, where the desired audience celebrated it as relevant, smart, insightful and engaging. In 2009, Memac Ogilvy participated in more pitches than ever before.

Creative Execution

We created undersized business cards to drive potential clients to ogilvyonrecession.com; a website Ogilvy created offering smart strategies to deal with the economic downturn. These 9 ‘Downsized’ Business Cards carried the details of the most senior staff from all our respective disciplines, to highlight our integrated offering. Various designs and messages on the back of the cards highlighted our ability to deal with the recession creatively and effectively.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Marketing budgets are often cut during recession, so we wanted a tool that would allow us to speak candidly and tactfully to prospective clients about the services we provide. We wanted to communicate simply, cheaply, and effectively that we understand their needs and can help their business now, perhaps more than ever. This was an opportunity to showcase the profound effect of a big idea.