2014 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Valentine's Day is a time when the media is over-saturated with promotional messages and we needed a way to break through the clutter and make Mukhi Sisters the most talked about brand versus their competitors. The challenge was to be able to create an impactful campaign on a budget that was far smaller than the competition's, while also spreading the name Mukhi Sisters as far as it could possibly go. That's why we created Love Translator, a mobile application that would double as an essential Valentine's Day tool, while also being the perfect vehicle to further expose the brand. By developing a translator that would interpret Female to English, we designed a tool that had a universal purpose - helping men understand the difference between what a woman says and what she means. This isn't an exclusively local problem - it is something faced by couples everywhere, making the app globally appealing. Our strategy was to make the app reach all four corners of the world, extending the brand's reach with it. Whether through international coverage or downloads, our aim was to get Mukhi Sisters known in and outside the borders of Lebanon. Rather than use online advertising or films, we decided that our strategy would be to get our users to want to engage with our campaign, rather than us try to engage them with it. By using a problem that we felt was universal (the communication issues between men and women), we instigated interest and curiosity in the app, before our audience were even aware it was a branded application. This way, when they realised that somehow they were being advertised to, the campaign wouldn't feel intrusive, but rather apt and intelligent - and therefore absorbed and appreciated. Our plan was to launch the app on the App Store one week before Valentine's Day to gain the right amount of momentum before the big day. Any earlier and the campaign might have lost steam, any later and it risked not being exposed enough before the 14th. To support the launch, we created a promo film that could be viewed online, explaining the functions and benefits of the app. Also, as part of our strategy, we knew that strategic promotion of the app would result in users sharing the app themselves, and therefore widening the reach of its exposure. The plan went accordingly and has not been adapted or adjusted at any stage. Upon launching Love Translator, it was downloaded over 6000 times from the App Store, making it Lebanon's no.1 Utilities app, and ranking it in the top 100 apps in over 12 countries. It has been featured on TV, on the radio and in a variety of press outlets as well as being shared by local, regional and international websites and blogs. Consumers engaged with the app at lengths, sharing their results through Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #lovetranslator. Engagement was also seen through the thousands of submissions given through the "submit a translation" function on the app, which revealed how much time users were spending with the app, and thus the brand. Mostly, feedback online was positive, with users praising the app's accuracy and humour. Even after Valentine's Day, the app continues to be popular seeing hundreds of downloads in the following weekend.

Creative Execution

The app was implemented on the market firstly by being launched through the App Store and then shared online to encourage downloads. Once launched, we submitted it to several websites and blogs, who in turn shared the app through their portals.

Since its launch Love Translator has been downloaded over 6000 times, reaching the Number 1 spot in the Lebanese Utilities App rankings, as well as the top 100 in 12 countries around the world. It has been mentioned in hundreds of tweets and instagram posts, where people have shared the app and their results, using the user-created hashtag #lovetranslator. While we developed the initial database of translation results in the app, it is essentially user-generated. Within the first week, were inundated with submissions for translation suggestions through the app's "suggest" function. The app featured in several local, regional and international blogs and websites and has received press, radio and TV coverage in both Lebanon and the UAE.

When your budget is a fraction of your competition's, making yourself heard over the clutter of Valentine's campaigns is difficult. By creating a mobile application, we wanted to make sure we could increase the brand exposure while also increasing impact. The objective was to create an app, using a platform that would avoid typical "advertising app" standards and employ an idea that would be highly engaging from a user perspective, and therefore give the brand the exposure it needed. Mukhi Sisters have always been known for their young, fresh and innovative communication, and launching an engaging app would be the next natural step in their communication strategy. In creating an app that didn't directly advertise to its users, we would be able to offer them a tool that would remain with them a lot longer than any other use traditional medium would with our competitors communication.