2013 Winners & Shortlists

LBCI DRAMA CAMPAIGN - WARD EL KHAL

Bronze
BrandLBCI & LBCI DRAMA
Product/ServiceLBCI DRAMA
EntrantIMPACT BBDO Beirut, LEBANON
CategoryBEST USE OF LIVE EVENTS, STUNTS AND OR CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT
Entrant Company IMPACT BBDO Beirut, LEBANON
Advertising Agency IMPACT BBDO Beirut, LEBANON
Advertising Agency 2 LBCI Beirut, LEBANON

The Campaign

Summer of 2012 was the apogee of competitive assail on LBCI, all-time leading TV station in Lebanon. It essentially marked a broiling, media-centered attack on the organization. False rumors fired at the group's equity alongside misleading advertisement that discredited the station from its anchored leadership. The station needed to smartly respond to this media war through a move that would drastically shift negative communication. LBCI was anticipating the launch of its new thematic station LBCI Drama. Consequently, the silver lining to the media assault emanated almost naturally. The station found the opportunity to turn the table by potentially hitting 2 birds with one stone. Using the drama factor that is fundamental upon the Lebanese society,. Hence the viral catfight idea. By premeditating a fight that would become the talk of the town, LBCI would use the opportunity to grab nationwide attention, arise buzz, and finally announcing the birth of LBCI Drama. That said, the process and its components became quite clear. We anonymously disseminated a viral video of a cat fight featuring one of Lebanon's most famous actresses, shot with an amateur phone cam to build on the spontaneousness of the event. In a week, the footage generated unbelievable buzz with instant thousands of views. Competitor TV stations mentioned the incident on their main news bulletin, blogs covered it extensively and it soon became the talk of the town, as we had hoped for.

The Brief

LBCI needed an ultimate comeback to harness maximum awareness despite competitive obstacles; In the midst of this "dramatic" turn of events, LBCI had to find a way to overcome the competitive obstacle.

Results

In literally 4 days, the viral video got more than 250,000 views out of a 1.3 million online community . Malicious gossip even caught the sharp attention of LBCI's direct competitors who unanimously covered the scandal, on their 8 o'clock news and through influential bloggers. 6 days later, and to the surprise of all, LBCI announced it would unveil the truth behind the viral fight. The star who never answered any query during the dramatic week revealed the truth behind the stunt on the main news bulletin. A new station dedicated for Drama was born. The incident got full exposure, hundred of thousands of dollars worth of advertisements for 0$ paid on media.

Execution

The premeditated cat fight footage that soon became talk of the town was released online to divert the drama and later on initiate the launch of LBCI’s new drama station. Since Lebanese people have a passion for gossip and ache for spreading rumors, it was inevitable to exploit that social phenomenon to our advantage. The campaign had to be interactive, people had to live drama to appreciate the soon to be launched channel. With almost no budget at all, the scandalous brawl was orchestrated, employing one of the famous and glamorous Lebanese actresses Ward El Khal, and shot with an amateur camera. It was then anonymously posted online for people to discover it as an actual celebrity fight, and do the job of sharing it and intensifying the buzz around it.

The Situation

LBCI wanted to launch its new thematic station LBCI DRAMA. So when LBCI approached other TV stations to buy media time for the launching campaign, all of them refused to run it.

The Strategy

Lebanese citizens have developed a great passion and need for sharing emotional, exciting or unexpected events. That interest extends to the biggest TV stations who rely on their on ground reporters to collect social artifacts. We were to launch the new station, based on that social truth.

Credits

Name Company Role
Lbci Promotion Department LBCI Promotion Department
Walid Kanaan Impact BBDO Regional Creative Director
Omar Sadek Impact BBDO Manager - Content Developemnt
Digital Department LBCI Digital
Promotion Department LBCI Copywriter
Chris Jabre Impact BBDO Copywriter
Tv Campaign/Revelaer LBCI Lbci Promotion Department