2011 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

Olay Arabia was launching a new line of three eye products. For the first time ever, each product was designed to tackle a specific issue – such as puffy eyes, dark circles and wrinkles. Hence, it promised women a complete eye makeover. Our primary target audience was local women from Saudi Arabia and UAE. The challenge was first to promote these products, and second to eventually lead them to beauty stores and supermarkets for sampling.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

Our insight? The one place where our audience felt completely free and unrestrained was online – so we decided that the best way to promote these products was online. Despite being very conservative in their thinking and style of dressing, the one thing that local women love showcasing is their eyes. So we created an online beauty pageant, just for the eyes! We gave them absolute control of the pageant and they could participate as contestants or judges. We showed them how the new Olay products could be used to get their best eyes possible.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

With 991 visits a day, 82,155 women participated in the pageant either as a judge or contestant. The Olay Arabia website got 806.12% more visits than the previous month. Advertised only through web banners, the campaign spread on its own through blogs, Facebook and mobiles, greatly improved the reach and response. At the end of the campaign, Olay had found the most beautiful eyes in Arabia with the help of local women. They had also sold 57% more eye products than the same time last year.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Keeping in mind the conservative culture of the region, Olay Eyes of Arabia gave women the freedom and the ease to enter a beauty pageant online. Moreover, this was a pageant just for the eyes, something these women are proud of and are willing to showcase and share with the world. We also allowed them to reveal a little more about the personality behind their eyes. With this campaign Olay as a brand would be associated with beautiful eyes in Arabia.