2012 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

On the weekends the Dubai Fountain attract over 5,000 people each day, many of whom belong to our target group. Which means that in a month over 190,000 people witnessed the 38 spectacular shows that were specially choreographed by DHL. On site videography meant that this event soon went viral with numerous videos posted on the net. It was even blogged about. In this way our innovative Billboard went global, generating massive PR coverage and awareness for DHL. Most importantly, DHL witnessed a sales increase of 14% in 2011 versus 2010, for the same period.

Creative Execution

The iconic Dubai Fountain meets DHL 'Speed of Yellow'. We brought to life DHL's advertising anthem 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', where else, but at the Dubai Fountain. This song was specially remixed for the project and the internationally renowned group 'WET' were commissioned to choreograph the fountain. To drive home the 'Speed Of Yellow', we made sure the Aquatechnics gave a yellow light effect mirroring the jet-wash yellow beam from the TV commercial that was being aired in the region at that time. At the end of the show,a specially created 5 second tag announced that 'This song was brought to you in association with DHL Express'. And for the first time ever, a 4m x 3m DHL logo was projected on the outer wall of Dubai Mall. The show ran 3 times a day (during peak evening hours) on Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays, for one month.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

We needed to reclaim clear top-of-mind leadership for DHL through optimal use of media, and set them apart from their competitors like UPS and FedEx. The task was also to increase sales for the company. Through research we found that a large part of DHL's target audience led hectic lifestyles. They knew about DHL but had low affinity for the brand. We therefore had to capture their imagination in an innovative way, to get them excited about the brand and drive home the core message of DHL's latest campaign - the "Speed Of Yellow". Therefore, we decided to turn one of Dubai's most iconic symbols that attracts a lot of people, including those from our target segment, into a communication medium for DHL. What this gave us was a global canvas and a captive audience that were primed to listen to what we had to say.