2014 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

Our colleagues heard our call and showed up in numbers. In true SMG spirit, 33 employees (more than a third of all SMG employees) devoted their time after work preparing and distributing meal boxes as opposed to having Ifar with family and friends. The result was 1,200 meals delivered to 1,200 thankful blue-collar workers. A survey capturing the true sentiments of the participants showed that they felt this was the perfect way of living up to SMG’s promise as the ‘Human Experience Company. Based on this, SMG will be touching even more lives in 2014 through such initiatives.

Creative Execution

We tied up with the ‘Karama Kanteen’ initiative – an initiative that provides free meals to blue-collar workers residing in Dubai’s Karama in time to break their fast at Iftar. We knew that many of them would be working while fasting and wanted to make sure that our un-sung heroes enjoyed at least one fulfilling meal during the holy month of Ramadan. To ensure we had enough meals prepared, we called upon our fellow SMG-ers to volunteer their time outside of work, and help us pack and serve food to as many people as possible. However, realizing that many were fasting themselves, we were skeptical about the participation turnout. Boy were we surprised…

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

With only 30% native population, Dubai is a melting pot of cultures from all over. Among the expats, Dubai is highly segregated with two very clear social divisions – ‘the educated elite’ who live a life in the open and blue-collar workers who live a life in the shadows, tucked away in ‘labor camps’ far from the eyes of society. This polarization of societies means that the educated elite hardly ever interact with the labor force. The result: people who have actually built this city get no recognition. We wanted to change that. Since creating experiences that enhance people’s lives is at the heart of what we do, we wanted to live up to our corporate promise by thanking blue-collar workers for building this great city we all call home. We set out to make a difference in the most charitable time of the year, yet busiest month for us - The holy month of Ramadan.