2013 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Saving the heritage of a country is saving its identity. The challenge was to make every Lebanese realize the gravity of losing their heritage. And the most efficient way to do it was to turn every Lebanese into a militant who would adhere to the cause, own it and then defend it with both passion and conviction. Thus, the reliance on the viral aspect of social media as our main communication tool and the ability it procures to host dialogue, debate and conversation. So when the home of the famous author Amin Maalouf was destroyed, our militants denounced it first before the news aired on prime time shows. The campaign became the drive to reinforce protective laws and a fund destined to revive the Lebanese heritage is about to be activated. Today, old Lebanese homes are being revived and the number of militants is continually growing.

The Brief

Our ultimate goal was to turn the Lebanese into militants protective of their own heritage and by implementing such a campaign with such shared values; we wanted to reinforce the emotional bonding with the brand Dewar’s. Our consumers are mainly males, aged 30 to 45 years upper-lower class. They are genuine, warm, friendly and confident, and they spend their life doing the things they truly believe in. Year after year, they slowly started to disconnect from their past, leaving old Lebanese homes to destruction and Lebanon’s heritage at loss.

Results

The most influential Lebanese NGO, “Saving Beirut Heritage” joined our cause as well as many other activist groups. Suddenly, the cause for saving old Lebanese homes made headlines in many magazines and newspapers. The Facebook page became an active hub and a reference point for our militants. So when the home of the famous author Amin Maalouf was destroyed, our militants denounced it first before it was aired on prime time news. The campaign became the drive to reinforce protective laws and a fund destined to revive the Lebanese heritage is about to be activated. On the sales front, for the months of September, October, December 2012, Dewar’s White Label noticed an increase of 5% compared to the same period of the previous year. And this is an achievement when you know it comes after a 4-year Compound Annual Growth Rate of -5%. Alternatively, today, the old homes in Lebanon have hope and the movement is continually growing every day.

Execution

We started with an emotional film and invited everyone to join the Worth Doing movement on a dedicated Facebook page, with the use of Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. In parallel, the movement was announced via a press conference. Three Lebanese influencers joined the cause and spoke up for us and helped recruit more partisans. A Facebook application was developed to help identity locations of endangered houses and reveal a “Before and after” map of the country. It prompted more and more militants to shed the light on the current state of our heritage and post pictures of endangered and saved old Lebanese homes on our Facebook page. It didn’t take long for the movement to gather militants even outside of the circle of social media. The most influential Lebanese NGO joined our cause as well as many other activist groups.

The Situation

Lebanon’s construction came at a high cost and out of 2000 classified old homes in Beirut only 200 remained today. Beirut struggled to preserve its heritage, and Lebanon was facing the threat of a cultural decline. The worst part was that the Lebanese people had little interest in the subject matter. With more than 150 years of knowledge in every drop, Dewar’s believes in the values of the past. So it was only logical for the brand to support such an important and sensitive issue as the endangered Lebanese heritage.

The Strategy

The strategy was to create a platform for the Lebanese to gather and be able to share heritage-related data and spread the different information concerning the current state of their heritage, raising the alarm on the destroyed homes across Lebanon and exhibiting the beauty of revived homes. This was destined to reach the Lebanese people emotionally and convince them to become the voice that defends their own heritage and turn them into active, passionate and dedicated militants of a cause worth defending.