2013 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

Tasked with creating a mailer that drives advertising revenue for CNN Arabic - the trusted online source of news in Arabic, we wanted to remind leading Arab media professionals about the core benefit and the power of the online news site.

Creative Execution

Instead of a conventional DM piece that brags about ratings, numbers and dull B2B testimonials, we created the ‘Mystery Box’. A 104-piece jigsaw puzzle with no clues to follow, no big picture to help solve the mystery; no messaging, no call to action. Just a white box with a fragment of the big picture. A riot? An angry mob leader? A protester, a fundamentalist - what’s happening here? The only way to find out was to complete the puzzle. Piece by piece. Then our message hit home. ‘Only when you see the full picture, do you get the full picture.’.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

The Middle East can be hard to understand. Complex. Confusing. Hard to get your head around. With its expert views and refined editorial content, CNN Arabic makes sense of it all. We not only had to engage media professionals that are accustomed to receiving direct mailers from media channels, but engage them in a memorable way. Showcase the portal’s understanding of the Middle East by an inviting demonstration, not by just claiming it.

Results

20 minutes of memorable interaction reinforced what CNN Arabic does best. We turned prejudice into a positive and tapped into the human desire to know how a story ends. Out of 200 recipients, 38 responded to fix appointments and discuss package deals. These resulted in advertising bookings worth $40,000 for 6 months. Effective, considering the total production cost was only $800. The challenging puzzle traveled from desk to desk, being dismantled and reassembled with the same curiosity and excitement, while reinforcing our message. But more importantly, it highlighted our relentless effort to fill the missing pieces between misconception and truth.