2012 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

The campaign was created to encourage potential customers to switch accounts to Barwa Bank. The bank offered to pay for the education of an underprivileged child with each new account opened, in line with the bank’s positioning as a socially engaged company. The campaign was timed to launch on the first day of Ramadan. The campaign featured a number of children of different ages and ethnic groups, who were shown painting, an expression of their creativity which would be brought out by the education provided by the bank. The campaign was deliberately shot in vivid primary colours against a plain background, to maximize visual impact and simplicity, particularly in press and outdoor media. Finally, the bank logo was ‘painted in’ to continue the painting theme into the call to action.

Success of the Campaign

The campaign created a 133% increase for brand consideration, together with a 400% increase in consumers who stated that Barwa Bank would be their main preference if they were to switch banks. In post-campaign research, 44% of those questioned had recall of the campaign. On-line clicks proved a major source of potential leads with just under 2500 ‘clicks’ during the campaign. The client considered the campaign to have been a great success. Hussein Fakri, Marketing Director of Barwa Bank said, ‘The campaign played a major part in highlighting Barwa Bank’s commitment to our Shari’ah principles, and positioning us as a socially responsible and engaged company.’

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

The TV was shot in Dubai, directed by a leading UK director, with press work also shot in Dubai, The campaign was timed to break on the first day of Ramadan, and ran across a wide spectrum of media: TV in both English and Arabic, 42 full-page colour press ads, 3 poster circuits (with a total of 91 faces), online banners, and PR. Mall activation was also used to encourage spontaneous response and to provide more information about the bank’s activities.