2015 Winners & Shortlists

MASR WAHASHTONA

BrandEGYPT TOURISM AUTHORITY
Product/ServiceTOURISM PROMOTION
EntrantENTOURAGE MARKETING & EVENTS Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Entrant Company ENTOURAGE MARKETING & EVENTS Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Advertising Agency ENTOURAGE MARKETING & EVENTS Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The Campaign

Where tourism grew 5% across the world in 2013 after reaching a new milestone of 1 billion tourists internationally in the previous year (UNWTO, 2014), Egypt was losing an average of 30% of its tourism business, driving one of the major drawbacks in the economy of the country. Our problem was clear; tourists are no longer heading to Egypt and moving towards neighbor markets. Three main problems drove our focus that were more of perceptions rather than tangible issues: Egypt is a troubled place and must be avoided The majority of tourists were moving towards GCC market Egypt is well known country of attracting multi-visit tourists Objective: Creating a buzz around a popular Egyptian slang talk and directly reminding people to revisit the country they miss the most by creating a strong and TOM emotional message, the highlight of our approach that will differentiate the brand from other competing markets.

Success of the Campaign

Masr Wahshtoona took over the Arab world: - Recognized by Effie MENA and Conde Travelers Awards 2014 - Hotels occupation rate reached 100% during Eid. - Hotels prices increased 25% due to high demand supporting more than 70 industries that are linked to it - Outbound market to Egypt from UAE, KSA, Kuwait and Jordan increased 30% - Top rating and viewership in UAE, Kuwait and KSA market through strategic selection of prime time programs and channels - Media attention on both campaign and market increase that resulted in more than $400,000 combined ad value of free media coverage and commentary exceeding all previous expectations and estimations - A total increase of 9% in Egypt’s total tourism market in the month of July alone hitting 95% of our target within one month (Source: ETA, Hotstats July 2014 and various media publications)

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

Two main terms drove every aspect of our approach, time and place. We started by creating a 3 phase campaign, starting from June and ending at November. Each phase is a unique theme that address the same objectives of the whole approach, however due to the limited budget, we had to allocate all expenditure towards one focused approach, hence, we choose advertising channels as our communication touchpoints,and due to the political unrest, there was no support from any other entity, specially that the tourism industry is a combination of many factors, including special deals and digital approaches. We came with one headline, “wahashtona” meaning we miss you; an emotional slang talk that Egyptian families use to express their feelings when missing someone, even though it is a local term, the Arab world is well familiar with it and is sometimes used in many other slang.

Credits

Name Company Role
Mohammed Tayem Entourage Marketing And Events Managing Director
Abhiroop Sen Entourage Marketing And Events Director Of Strategy
Samantha Hettiarachchi Entourage Marketing And Events Senior Graphic Designer
Mofeed Malas Entourage Marketing And Events Strategy Planner
Hicham Monzer Entourage Marketing And Events Client Servicing Manager
Socrates Raymond Entourage Marketing And Events Creative Director
Awatef Khacib Entourage Marketing And Events Senior Media Expert