2014 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

Mentos wanted to adapt their ‘fresh thinking’ global platform 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 something 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.

Creative Execution

The strength behind the campaign lied in its relevance to our audience, as teenagers and as Arabs. With social media as a massive channel for self-expression in the region and Memes trending specifically among Arab youth, it was the perfect way for a refreshing brand like Mentos to tap into its youthful audience, speaking their language directly and creating a campaign hashtag for refreshing content online. Focusing heavily on social media was also an untraditional approach for a brand in the region, further reinforcing Mentos as a voice of freshness among teens in the region.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

And so we created a highly entertaining platform for Arab youth on Social Media, generating hilarious Facebook Memes and Tweets in Arabic and English, inspired by everyday situations in our 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 an online 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, and directly.

Results

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.