2013 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

Footfall to Ski Dubai increased by 11%, driven mostly by large families. Overall sales for Ski Dubai increased by 20% YoY* Intention of visiting Penguins improved by 11% points to 40% post-campaign. Awareness of Penguins increased by 17% points - to 46% post-campaign ** Campaign was recalled across multiple channels Newspapers (54%), Facebook (31%), Radio (23%) Youtube (12%) *** On Youtube, Spot the Penguins series got 130,000 views in just 6 weeks. The average engagement rate on the Facebook page increased from 2% to 11 %. In addition we added 12,000 new fans during the campaign.

Creative Execution

Meet Abe & Sara; A penguin couple who come to Dubai to meet their cousins in Ski Dubai but get distracted by the beauty of the city and spend their time being tourists! A&S broke all the rules in the Penguin book as they travelled in the metro, shopped in the Gold Souk and even suntanned on the beach. To top it all, they became the first ever penguins to fly! Their story was told through a YouTube Series 'Spot the Penguins' which chronicled their amusing experiences from landing in Dubai all the way to the big family reunion. The nation befriended them & followed their story on Facebook. The Penguin News Network (PNN) reported their journey via spoof news in newspapers. A&S even started writing a travel blog for their fans. Soon they became famous appearing on popular TV shows & meeting their fans in person.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Dubai prides itself for having the world's tallest tower, the biggest mall and largest indoor aquarium to name a few. Even though Ski Dubai was the world's largest indoor Ski resort in the middle of the desert, it couldn't stand out from the 'attractions' clutter. Ski Dubai needed something new to keep the footfall growing. Snow Penguins were flown all the way from Sea World in the USA but UAE residents remained largely unexcited by the new attraction. People in UAE are lazy, they expect everything to be delivered on a plate. With so much other news happening - Ski Dubai Penguins where falling of the consideration set. If people weren't coming to see the penguins we would have to take the penguins to see them and that's exactly what we did.