2015 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Healthcare communication is considered to be one of the toughest challenges not only in the region, but also in the whole world. That challenge is inevitable despite the fact of technological & creative breakthrough in today's communication and advertising industry. This gap was supported by the fact that we employ facts and figures to change people’s behaviour. When in reality, just knowing a fact is not motivating enough to change our behaviour. The key catalyst in the process of betterment is to give the right external stimuli to people in order for them to desire and implement change. Adding to that the critical nature of the healthcare industry and governmental regulations -that aim for minimising the iatrogenic effect and provide population with better health- makes any trials in that field are limited and lacking the innovation. In our case the challenge was doubled due to the fact that diabetes awareness is continuing to be a hot topic in the region and population reached some sort of saturation on the topic. That's why we were challenged by the Dubai Health Authority in coming up with something that disrupt that saturation and deliver that message to UAE residents as well as visitors.

Results

Diabetes has always been a hard and painful challenge. We see people with diabetes in our day to day interactions without noticing their suffer and struggle. Given the fact that 20% of UAE's population is living with diabetes who we want to support and show that we care for them. So we came up with the idea to show people who are living with diabetes some support. In order for us the "non-diabetics" to help them, we need to do two things; first we need to feel their pain, and secondly we need to show them support in a genuine way. For simulating the struggle we came up with a mobile tapping game which required the supporters to get the highest score within 60 seconds. The results were amazing, people found that in order to get a high score in the tapping game, they developed some sort of soreness after 30 seconds of high performance. On the other side, we did app activations in some schools and universities in Dubai. Given that juniors’ awareness was on our top priorities as they will shape the future. We were inspired by the energy those kids have, and how they were open to deeply support people living with diabetes. Given that there were some kids suffering from diabetes among them. For showing them support, every app download was represented by a bulb to form the largest diabetes symbol "Blue Circle" to enter Guinness World Records. The event was held at the Downtown Dubai, Burj Khalifa Park where residents came along with visitors to Celebrate The Moment and show their genuine support which was truly from the heart. Need not to say that the Guinness Record Achievement was the least in such an inspiring moment.

The audience response to the campaign was amusing, the competition on the leaderboard was very high during the campaign duration. The top 10 players played 2660 times, which is equal to more than 44 hours. The app went viral and that was clear when it climbed to be the top ranked app in the Apple AppStore in UAE within the "Health & Fitness" category. Another inspiring motivating observation was the excitement on the face of the kids during our schools activities. They were very happy and engaged, and we kept hearing requests from the schools to have us back again.

The success of the event has touched many people from different backgrounds and cultures. Dubai Health Authority managed to educate the kids in the schools and universities about diabetes, elevating their awareness to the disease among their peers. over 1200 kids was reached in the schools and universities tours. The social media coverage reached people everywhere. The app has total downloads of 10,901 and the game was played 48,343 times. A young Emirati diabetic was inspired by the social media campaigns of the event and he decided to participate personally with a speech in the event as a real struggler appreciating the invested efforts with the awareness campaign. Interviews and media exposure were withheld during the preparation and within the live event. Media coverage were estimated to worth 169,010.21 $ and reaching 1,521,780 person. The impact of ahieving a Guinness World Records for the largest light bulb circle amplified the social buzz among Dubai residents and the followers of the campaign.