2012 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

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 and promote it in way that embraced the way the young lived their lives and connected with each other.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

An intricate social media universe was created around the lives of the main characters and populated with ‘real’ content that each character would realistically post and react to. Based on their personalities in the series, social media tools were created for each, a blog was created for the writer character and a Google+ profile set-up for the tech-savvy character. Real-time posts when the drama was on-air added to the immersive experience and took the show beyond the confines of the 30 minute episode. This transmedia approach blurred the line between fiction and reality and fans began to engage and interact with the characters as though they were real people.

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

After three weeks on air the TV series had 10,000+ fans across its social media sites of which nearly 40% were continuously engaged and ‘talking about this,’ compared to 10% for other primetime dramas featuring on the same channel. The active interactions on Facebook alone exceeded 34,000. 04'sYouTube channel reached 450,000+ views apart from 160,000+ views on MBC’s VOD site. The series has already been acknowledged in the press for its groundbreaking approach and earned media coverage across the region totaled $270,000+ in just three weeks. Less than a month after it started airing, MBC announced that a second season of series will be produced and aired in May 2012.

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

The transmedia promotion added a new dimension to the drama series, enabling the youth audience to participate and enjoy the show beyond the confines of the TV medium. For the first time in the region a TV series connected with the youth in their language and in their medium of choice. For the first time, the network got a pulse of the audience reactions to the characters and storylines in real-time. The VOD site was accessed through multiple platforms - PCs, tablets and mobile. The effort built a bond between the youth and the network – the youth felt that the Middle East’s largest network was listening and responding to them.