2014 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

With social media as a highly popular form of expression in the region, and Memes trending heavily among Arab youth as a language of its own, we broke traditions in the region by creating a branded content and entertainment platform as our main campaign. Compared to other major confectionary brands in the region, this is something seldom done or seen as too risky. Traditional advertising like classic TVCs, billboards or radio ads are more the norm. But that’s the last thing we wanted to do. With a youthful culture that is constantly connected on social media and isn’t afraid to laugh out loud with their friends, it was the perfect opportunity for a refreshing brand like Mentos to reinforce its global proposition of ‘fresh thinking’, creating an entire entertainment platform in Arabic and English online, giving a truly refreshing take on advertising in the region, as well as Arab culture.

Results

Mentos wanted to adapt their global platform of ‘fresh thinking’ to produce their first-ever campaign for the region. It also needed to increase brand engagement with Arab youth in a more relevant way. With this in mind, we discovered an insight that fit perfectly. As Arabs, we often find ourselves doing things that don’t make sense, yet we do them anyway as part of culture. Call them idiosyncratic or plain bizarre; we’ve all partaken in these behaviors. This unique insight inspired our campaign, where it is during these moments that Mentos is the ‘fresh thinking’ needed when people around us don’t make sense. And so we created a highly entertaining platform for Arab youth on Social Media (#GiveThemAMentos). We generated hilarious Facebook Memes and Tweets inspired by everyday situations in Arab culture that could really use some fresh thinking. From melodramatic moms, to our obsession with plastic wrap, we encouraged people to #GiveThemAMentos when others don’t make sense. We launched our campaign with a TV ad, which also became a YouTube film, and with the help of Twitter – we even sent out packs of Mentos to those in serious need of fresh thinking, giving people a Mentos digitally, but also in reality.

We launched our branded content campaign with a refreshing and quirky TVC, inviting Arab youth to give people around them a Mentos when they need fresh thinking the most. We also broke further traditions by featuring a prominent hashtag in our slogan, identifying the main social media focus of our campaign and drawing viewers through maximum exposure to view our branded content online. Our audience was also drawn through DM, sending out packs of Mentos to people in the region with our message of fresh thinking.

In the first days of our launch, #GiveThemAMentos was proving to be a success with our Memes and Tweets circulating the blogosphere and social media. In the first 2 weeks alone, Facebook Post likes on Mentos Arabia increased by 344%. Facebook Post Shares also jumped by a refreshing 938%. A significant growth in engagement levels compared to previous content. And 8 weeks later, over 3.7 million unique people were reached with over 4.7 million social media impressions. With thousands of New Facebook fans joining Mentos Arabia, it was clear that our audience found our content refreshing too.