2013 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

The Challenge: Get people in Saudi Arabia to believe in the power of classified ads. Objective: Engage people in a creative and relevant manner. Strategy: Drive engagement through direct engagement that leads to amplification. Execution: Direct 0ne-on-one interaction, that starts offline, moves online, and have enough cut through to be noticed by digital media and social media.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

The campaign has been implemented as per the below steps: More than 1000 promoters invaded the streets of Saudi on a Thursday night. Each promoter held a message that attract people to scan a QR Code. The QR Code revealed a message answering the message on the sign. Exposed the messages to social media figures who picked it up and spoke about it. Spoofed radio and tv shows. Created viral ads that were scattered on the net. A couple of promoters posted the ad in competitor classified ads newspapers (Al Moubawaba, etc) – the QR Code led people to Alwaseela.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

58,000 people scanned the QR code in only 5 hours. 70000 re-tweets. 188000 likes on Facebook. total of 77000 views on Youtube 500000 views on electronic media & social media more than 500000 people saw it on one of the leading youtube programs around 1M Sr worth of free PR. this campaign was able to increase the sales of classified ads by 20+% during the period of the campaign.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

The goal is to get people to depend on classified ads, provided by Alwaseela, versus using all sorts of ways to announce. We wanted to connect with the youth of KSA. We believe that the behavior of young people is easier to change. This justified the messages which were intended to shock people and entice them to participate.