2013 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

The brief was to make new customers aware of Nawras’ (Omani telecom provider) consumer WiFi services. Our objective was to make everyone looking for WiFi try and test Nawras’ WiFi services, and then buy them. So we needed to engage prospective customers, and then turn them into eventual users. Our challenge was to ignore 'conventional' advertising methods and the strategy was to create a new way to engage with people, with zero media budget. We took advantage of the perfect, participatory digital platform to create a more surprising, direct and intimate way of talking to people.

Creative Execution

The Omani market isn’t as backward as people believe. Nawras is a forward-thinking company offering innovative products and services. It expects the same level of creativity and originality in the ideas we present to them. World-class Wireless Internet services demand forward-thinking ideas. The services we were selling are digital. The idea was based on a human insight. The execution used the most relevant medium. We used a digital platform to communicate Nawras’ digital offers. Our idea/lines were unexpected, dramatizing the service offering, and – most importantly – ensured that the client acquired a database of names and numbers.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

When you look for WiFi you try to steal it. It’s called ‘Piggybacking’. We based the execution on the most relevant medium: WiFi available networks (the ones you see when you’re searching for WiFi). We manipulated routers to create multiple messages/available network names, directed at people looking for free WiFi. Our own, ‘Nawras Piggybacking’. If people clicked on any of these network names, they’d test our speeds for free, after entering their names and numbers into Nawras' database. Nawras' desired response was two-fold: increasing product awareness among targeted consumers and reducing consumer resistance to buying the product.

Results

Despite zero media budget, with this campaign: - We achieved maximum exposure to the right people at the right time. - People got to test the speed of Nawras' internet for free. - Nawras' database increased significantly. - Revenue grew by 1.2% during the same period.