2012 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Over a third of the Arab population is under 30. In a highly competitive and cluttered market, MBC Group wanted to develop a break-out television drama for this increasingly media savvy audience. Recognizing and embracing the way that young people lived their lives and consumed content, we re-imagined the television drama, 04. We adopted a trans-media approach to immerse its audience into the lives of 4 young men from across the Arab world, each struggling with real issues that reflect the lives and struggles of the audience. Through 23 online assets from across social media, unique websites and custom applications, viewers are able to engage with the show’s locations, characters and storylines, often in real time. 04’s characters spill out of the confines of a 30 minute television drama to respond not only to fans, but also to other characters and even events taking place in the real world. Awareness and traffic was built through an ATL campaign, digital and PR.

Success of the Campaign

The three-week print, online and television marketing campaign attracted 20,000+ unique visitors to the microsite with click through-rates over 60% higher than industry standards; the 04 YouTube channel saw 450,000+views. After three weeks on air IPSOS ratings (4.5%) showed the series was successfully connecting with the youth demographic in key markets. 04 had 10,000+ fans and followers across its social media sites - nearly 40% were continuously engaged and ‘talking about this’ – compared to 10% for other primetime dramas on the same channel. Active interactions on Facebook alone exceeded 34,000. The show has attracted a new male youth audience to primetime and had 160,000+ views on MBC’s VOD site. 04 is being recognized in the press for its groundbreaking approach and earned media coverage across the region was valued at $270,000+. Less than a month after 04 started airing, MBC announced that a second season would begin production and air in May, 2012.

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

To build intrigue, introduce the social media platform and generate early interest in 04, a marketing campaign posed the question, “What is 04?” through press and online banners. Mock tweets from youth across the region guessing at the answer defined the creative. Audiences were directed to “whatis04.com” a website that delivered a personalized immersive video to each user exposing them to aspects of the series to come. Pushed on to a Facebook page, users found further clues and links to an intricate social media universe that had been created around the lives of the series characters. A microsite was launched alongside marketing in print, online and on television revealing the new upcoming drama, 04; this answered all the clues of the teaser campaign; and, with the airing of the first episode, fans began to experience the full transmedia experience of the drama, engaging with characters in the context of series’ storylines. Fans even had the opportunity to chat with a key character in a Google Hangout.