2012 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

Being the diamond sponsor of the Arab Games 2011, Qtel - Qatar Telecom - wanted to create a corporate campaign that reflects its support to sports and closeness to people beyond its telecommunication products and services. This campaign aimed to reach all people in the Arab world and not just in Qatar. This was a big challenge, and we looked at it as an opportunity to spread a message of unity and pride that goes beyond the Arab Games in order to touch every Arab's heart and mind in these critical times that the Arab world is going through.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

This could have been another sponsorship campaign for a sports event. However we looked at it from a totally different angle. "I am Arab and Proud" was the message communicated to make every Arab feel proud to belong to the Arab Nation. We gave people the tools to express their pride. We made sure to cover as many channels as possible in order to reach and engage with people effectively. We wanted the Arab Games event to support and promote our message and not the other way around.

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

The minute the campaign kicked off, it became the talk of the town and started spreading online like wild fire. The amount of press releases, posts, shares, tweets, likes (150,300+), etc... reached the highest ever for a campaign done in Qatar. It became an open forum where people across the Arab world started expressing their feelings and their Arab pride. For example: "Even if we are not politically united, it's good enough that our hearts are." Not only that, but in some tweets, people wished this campaign was the campaign for the Arab Games and not from a sponsor.

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

With 21 Arab countries gathering in Qatar, the Arab Games 2011 was the perfect stage for Arabs to demonstrate their unity and pride. Qtel pushed this movement through TV, Print, Outdoor, YouTube, Tweets, Twibbon, Facebook, Welcome Packs including T-shirts, badges, wristbands and "Arab" leather passport cover. In malls we gave them paint to express themselves and their pride on the wall. Everything had one message "I am Arab & Proud". We sparked the thought, they lead the way.