2013 Winners & Shortlists

THE ORIGINAL STORY

BrandCHÂTEAU KSARA
Product/ServiceWINE
EntrantLEO BURNETT BEIRUT, LEBANON
Entrant Company LEO BURNETT BEIRUT, LEBANON
Advertising Agency LEO BURNETT BEIRUT, LEBANON

The Campaign

Ksara is the oldest winery in Lebanon. It has more than 155 years of winemaking history that began with the discovery of Roman era wine caves in 1898. This discovery changed Ksara’s history and consequently Lebanon’s winemaking future. The Original Story campaign focuses on that legendary moment. Time has created many versions of that discovery; Two TVCs relive the story as it happened according to a hunter and an orphan in 1898. Whereas the Original Story introductory TVC reveals the (interactive) diary where Father Superior recorded the discovery. An interactive diary online allowed for a holistic user journey experience, with the aim to generate crowd sourced content. This activation was supported by print, online banners, a Facebook activation and on trade pack promotion.

Success of the Campaign

Early results show that the campaign achieved its main goal: to re-position Chateau Ksara as the original wine of Lebanon in the hearts and minds of its core consumers but also amongst an important new segment: the youth. For the first time a wine brand engaged in an ongoing conversation online with its consumers, a conversation that started through an activation on Facebook that migrated the fans to the micro-site. The microsite, so far, generated significant traffic with more than 570,000 interactions while Facebook reached 2.5 million friends of fans. Interactions started to generate quality user generated content making Chateau Ksara one of the first regional brands to allow users from across different age groups to own a stake in its story. The campaign received widespread coverage from bloggers praising its storytelling approach. Amidst one of the toughest economic years Lebanon faced, Chateau Ksara enjoyed positive sales growth.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

The campaign was first launched on TV and cinemas. The Original Story introductory TVC was launched first for a period of 10 days and introduced the importance of the cave discovery. The Hunter and Orphan TVCs followed suit for 3 weeks, rotating between stations and movie theatres reinforcing the idea of a multi-version story. A Facebook conversation calendar was kicked off a few days after the first TV appearance paving the way to the digital diary’s launch, supported by online banners, print and on trade pack promotion. Two weeks after the launch of the campaign, the micro-site (ksaratheoriginalstory.com) was activated to allow users to own a stake in Chateau Ksara’s Original Story and start creating content by uploading their own version of the story. Finally we kept the momentum going by releasing an internet movie and 3 print ads all contributing to the historical story of Ksara’s caves.

Credits

Name Company Role
Bechara Mouzannar Leo Burnett Beirut Chief Creative Officer
Malek Ghorayeb Leo Burnett Beirut Regional Executive Creative Director
Areej Mahmoud Leo Burnett Beirut Creative Director
Caroline Farra Leo Burnett Beirut Creative Director
Christina Salibi Leo Burnett Beirut Art Director
Bernard Hajj Leo Burnett Beirut Art Director
Marlene Jaber Leo Burnett Beirut Agency Producer
Samer Zouehid Leo Burnett Beirut Copywriter
Grace Kassam Leo Burnett Beirut Copywriter
Nada Abi Saleh Leo Burnett Beirut Deputy Managing Director
Jad Hindi Leo Burnett Beirut Communication Supervisor
Samer Shoueiry Leo Burnett Beirut Regional Digital Director
Diego De Aristegui Leo Burnett Beirut Senior Communication Executive
Joyce Hallak Starcom Deputy General Manager
Sami Sabbagh Starcom Media Executive
Ray Barakat Clandestino Producer
Chadi Younes Clandestino Film Director
Yves Sehnaoui Clandestino Director Of Photography
Mark Calina Leo Burnett Illustrator