2012 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

The Reyada Award is the leading entrepreneurship program in Qatar that was launched with the objective of promoting entrepreneurship in Qatari culture and economy. The challenge was to awaken a self-contented generation to consider entrepreneurship as a highly challenging but rewarding career. The purpose was to slightly shock the audience out of their routine and inspire them with a “dare to be different” attitude.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We capitalized on the overall sentiment of the Arab spring. Everybody’s radar was tuned to guerrilla type of messages. Inspired by the classic Ernest Shackleton classified ad seeking volunteers to reach the South Pole, we created an equally challenging message related to Entrepreneurship and distributed it via cheaply printed A5 flyers at different public places all across Doha, without obtaining a permit from the authorities! The flyers contained no logo or contact details adding to the intrigue and mystery.

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

The unusual daring message from an anonymous source created a stir in the market. In fact, the flyers were so successful that the security forces immediately cracked down on the distribution agency suspecting some kind of unauthorized movement in the wake of Arab Spring. The guerrilla got featured in many local social media and public forum sites and started people talking about the concept. The slogan of the campaign, “Brave Qatari Wanted”, was widely used by columnists to address public issues in a number of articles.

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

We used honesty as a tool to confront the target audience instead of painting a rosy picture of entrepreneurship. This guerrilla flyer was most relevant to promoting the Reyada Award because of the prevailing attitudes and mindsets of a majority of Qataris. Hugely dependent on oil, the government rather than the private sector drives the nation’s economy. People aspire to work in the public sector rather than face the challenges and risks of business. All these factors compounded by the nervous tension of the times provided the right environment to launch the Award program.