2013 Winners & Shortlists

TITANIC

BrandAXIOM TELECOM
Product/ServiceMOBILE DEVICES RETAILER
EntrantTBWA\RAAD UAE Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryUSE OF BROADCAST: TV, CINEMA, RADIO
Entrant Company TBWA\RAAD UAE Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Advertising Agency TBWA\RAAD UAE Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Media Agency OMD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Results and Effectiveness

Each time the commercial ran, the same thing happened. People mistook it for an animated remake of Titanic. Then without fail, laughter followed when Rose stumbles overboard. For us, the happy ending was when people immediately reached for their mobile phones and turned them off. Our only measure of success was that no mobile phones interrupted the movie for others.

Creative Execution

In order to make our message most effective, we needed the commercial to run at the right time. So our media buy was the last commercial before the movie began. After all the other spots as the audience impatiently awaits the main show, it was the perfect moment to play our message. To appeal to a larger audience, we chose the iconic scene from Titanic, one of the biggest grossing films of all time. We used animation to arouse curiosity and increase appeal across audiences. Once Rose stumbles overboard our message appears, reminding moviegoers to switch off their mobile phones. By recasting mobile phones as something that ruins movies, we made the message more relevant to moviegoers.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Moviegoers in the UAE love their mobile phones and they love their movies. But some of them love both at the same time. It’s not unusual for people to be talking on their mobiles during a movie. Warning signs to shut off mobile phones all around the theater are apparently not enough. As a mobile phone retailer, we took up the opportunity to reframe the warning and make it entertaining for viewers who had come there for entertainment. The idea was to show what would happen to a famous movie scene when interrupted by the ring of a mobile phone.

Credits

Name Company Role
Martin Lever TBWA\RAAD Executive Creative Director
Malek Atassi TBWA\RAAD Senior Creative Director
Daniel Djarmati TBWA\RAAD Associate Creative Director/Art Director
Bassam Doss TBWA\RAAD Associate Creative Director/Arabic Copywriter
Tuan Le TBWA\RAAD Copywriter
Hesham Ezzat TBWA\RAAD Senior Art Director
Rouba Asmar TBWA\RAAD Producer
Natalia Abboud TBWA\RAAD Brand Leader
Roland Zahra TBWA\RAAD Account Director
Monisha Mirchandani TBWA\RAAD Senior Account Manager