2014 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

German Airline, Lufthansa, has been in the Middle East for over 50 years but now struggles in Arabian soil against the three new formidable local carriers, namely Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways. With Lufthansa Ramadan Rewards, we created a microsite where we endeared the brand to the Muslim people, giving them a platform to exercise the central tenet of their Ramadan celebration – the act of giving to those most in need – by nominating deserving Muslims who so yearned to be reunited with their families during the most important time of the year.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We believe that a German carrier can definitely resonate with the Muslim people. Our main objective was to challenge the status quo, to dispel the misconception that the Muslim's sentiments belong solely to their 3 big Gulf carriers. We wanted to prove to the Muslim consumer that Lufthansa understands and respects the traditions of the region. Rather than going head to head with competition on an ATL campaign during Ramadan, we opted to invest on a program for the the consumers themselves - giving them the opportunity to rally behind each other, and thus generate buzz for Lufthansa amongst themselves.

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

For a purely online campaign with very limited budget during a highly saturated season, Lufthansa Ramadan Rewards exceeded both set objectives and program expectations: 1) We over-delivered on our business objectives with 14,632 registered leads on the microsite, and 2,727 promo codes issued; 2) We had a click through rate of 0.06% surpassing the external Facebook link ads benchmark of 0.02%*; and an above average conversation ratio of 12% from an industry benchmark of 4%**, with 14,632 online registrations converted from the 116,783 unique microsite visitors. *The Facebook Ads Benchmark Report, http://www.salesforcemarketingcloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/The-Facebook-Ads-Benchmark-Report.pdf?b9be0c. **The 2012 Website Optimization Benchmark Report, http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/average-website-conversion-rates-industry

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

Because of the physical and geographical barriers most Global Muslim Consumers were facing – since they were out of their homeland or were separated from loved ones based elsewhere in the world - we realized that the best way to engage them was via the digital realm where we could tap the power of the internet and social media to get a movement of Ramadan generosity going, all in the name of German brand - Lufthansa. On a business perspective, each registered voter on the microsite would be offered a promo code to encourage flight bookings and thus push sales.