2012 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

The UAE was a guest nation at the 2011 G20 Summit in France. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wanted to engage young Emiratis in the G20. The site includes a face matching game for younger visitors; and the i20, where gamers can manage an imaginary national economy through a 20-year economic cycle. Funding can be raised through tax collection and boosting industrial output; and investments made in R&D, infrastructure, education, healthcare, civil defense, etc. Random events like earthquakes wreak havoc if the country is unprepared. Leader-boards in various categories showcase the best educated country, the richest country, etc.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

Our challenge: how to explain how this elite international club of rich and powerful nations decides what to to do with trillions of Dollars; and how the decisions can have wide reaching knock on effects for the global economy and everyone's lives? Early on, we developed the idea of actually taking your own (online) seat at the G20 and created the online ads using this theme, to build maximum engagement. We spent weeks snagging every aspect of the site and the games to ensure that our simulated economic cycles were as close to reality as we could manage.

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

The online banners had high click-through rates and the site had many visitors in the UAE and beyond. The i20 game developed a real following, with multiple leader-boards measuring everything from the smartest nation to the richest, and the best educated to to the poorest.

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

The UAE has a very high level of broadband penetration at around 72%, higher than France, for instance; moreover, the UAE population is skewed young and spends way above average time online by global standards. Arab youth are true digital natives and seek their information online. So it seemed logical to use an online platform for our promotion. Banners drove traffic to the dedicated site where multiple games were offered to different age groups.