2015 Winners & Shortlists

BOOKS VS. MOVIES

BrandQATAR FOUNDATION
Product/ServiceTHE BENEFITS OF READING
EntrantMEMAC OGILVY Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryBrand or product integration in to an existing programme or platform
Entrant Company MEMAC OGILVY Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Contributing Company MEMAC OGILVY Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production Company LEAN & MEAN Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The Campaign

Currently the region is a hotbed of active social media users and online video consumers. The MENA region watches 310 million online videos every day, with Saudi Arabia alone consuming over 90 million YouTube videos daily, the highest in the world for any nation. In addition 88% of the Middle East’s online population use social media sites every day making it the ideal place to launch our campaign.

Results

Our challenge was to capture people’s interest on the subject of reading by using other types of media that people use for entertainment as an alternative to reading. By using these same alternatives to reading that books are up against, we wanted to spread the message of how entertaining and beneficial reading actually is. Our strategy was to use these alternatives to reading to our advantage not only to spread the world but by also demonstrating our idea. We used everything that prevents people from reading and turned them into our own weapons to fight off their aversion to books. We created a series of films placed on YouTube in order to reach people in the one place where they are consuming the most entertainment. Online. The films use the actual words from books placed as subtitles on famous movie scenes to highlight what people have been missing out on by not reading. People shared the films using social media to spread awareness about the campaign and encourage others to read more too.

We placed our films on YouTube in order to maximize their exposure. Then, through social influencers and people sharing the films they began spreading online and making their way onto social media sites. The campaign also got attention through the use of our hashtag #booksVSmovies that people were using on Facebook and Twitter.

We don’t have concrete results yet as the campaign has only just been launched, but the initial reaction from the public is very promising and positive. The films are getting more views every day as people are sharing them and talking about the campaign on social media using the hashtag #booksVSmovies. We’ve even come across the first user-generated version online already. We’re very excited to see more buzz coming our way over the next few weeks.

Credits

Name Company Role
Ramzi Moutran Memac Ogilvy Executive Creative Director
Sascha Kuntze Memac Ogilvy Creative Director
Maram Ashour Memac Ogilvy Art Director
Waleed Bachnak Memac Ogilvy Copywriter
Maram Ashour Memac Ogilvy Editor
Amin Soltani/Tamara D'costa Memac Ogilvy Agency Producer
Atul Shenoy Memac Ogilvy Regional Account Director
Evan Kearney Memac Ogilvy Strategic Planning Director
Golnaz Maktabi Memac Ogilvy Senior Account Manager
Hisham Droubi Memac Ogilvy Senior Account Executive