2012 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

1. Total ad awareness reached 89% 2. Unprecedented viral effect on Social Media. Quotes from the ads were used and Jokes were created using the Selewa character. (Facebook, BBM, and SMS) 3. More than 75 fan pages and 23 groups were created with more than 80,000 fans (Free PR) 4. YouTube views for the campaign reached 202K 5. People built up on the campaign’s success and started their own business lines of Selewa branding; custom made T-Shirts, mugs, etc…were sold everywhere. 6. The jingle used in one of the TVCs was made into a song and mobile phone ring tones.

Creative Execution

The copy was executed in order to stand out amongst Ramadan TV clutter. The message was introduced by mid-Ramadan and created the hype in only 2 weeks. “El Selewa”- an animal and a phenomenon associated with Egyptian’s courage and adaptability was used in VFE’s campaign to emphasize the numerous products and services offered by Vodafone and their effectiveness and reliability.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The month with the highest TV viewership, Ramadan is the advertising season. Telecoms are of the top spending categories, making VFE’s challenge to not only standout amongst the clutter through creative execution, but aggressive and integrated media presence was essential. “El Selewa” - a mix bred of wolves and dogs that live in deserted areas, was introduced to the Egyptians as the city started expanding to the remote outskirts. El Selewa attacks on citizens caused public panic at first, but it was not long until Egyptians overcame their fear of El Selewa and found a way to tame the wild animal. The Selewa phenomenon became a cultural reference for Egyptians’ courage and adaptability. It even translated into humorous context in movies and other cultural products. Vodafone Ramadan “El Selewa” campaign used the same concept to present not only a unique production but something very specific to the Egyptian culture.