2013 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Branded entertainment is allowed in Lebanon, several TV shows such as The Voice foster people participation. While there are some restrictions on user content on TV, i.e. religious censorship, there are no legal restrictions to content communicated online.

Results

We needed to assert Chateau Ksara’s position as the Wine of Lebanon - an appellation patented on paper but no longer as vivid in people’s minds. The wine market expansion of recent years has been driven by new young wine amateurs who are brand savvy with low to no loyalty for the established big brands. This new market perceived Ksara as a default wine, with an outdated image. In a market pushing for modernity the strategy was for Chateau Ksara to go back to its roots by telling its original story, which is proof of authenticity, and know how. We told a 19th century story through 21st century mediums. We aimed to change people’s behavior towards established heritage brands by showing them that they can still be relevant in today’s market. Campaign summary: 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 TVC introduces the (interactive) diary where Father Superior recorded the discovery. An interactive diary (microsite) online allowed for a holistic user journey experience, which aims to generate crowd-sourced content. This activation was supported by TV, two print campaigns, online banners, an internet movie, Facebook activation and on pack promotion that led consumers to the micro-site.

All the campaign mediums led to the microsite. The campaign leverages the art of storytelling as a means of expression. The core element of the campaign is the micro site (digital diary) where crowd sourced content (people’s own version of the cave discovery) was uploaded in three different formats (Videos, pictures and text). Storytellers out there started owning a stake in Chateau Ksara’s story and shared their visions on their Facebook timeline. User generated content went viral as people were enthusiastic about owning a brand’s story, and sharing it through social media recruited more fans that engaged with the brand.

Early results show the campaign achieved its main goal: To reposition 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. 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.