2015 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Female live concerts and almost any concert are impossibilities in the KSA market. Egypt is generally a more tolerant country, but public concerts have been limited due to the current sociopolitical situation. KSA is ranks amongst the top countries in the world in online video consumption because they are time-rich with very limited access to entertainment. Music is of high interest in both markets especially among the young audience–our target group.

Results

Herbal Essences launched its brand-new Nature Collection across the Arab World, the first mass product inspired by Natural ingredients free of silicones, parabens and dyes. The collection was launched for its young audience seeking more natural hair products. In order to engage our audience with the novelty of the collection, we needed to create a first-of-a-kind experience for women in the region. And our greatest challenge was to engage women in the KSA, our key target market. Women in Saudi Arabia are prohibited from attending musical concerts – not to mention, there hardly being any public concerts in the country – and this presented itself as a perfect opportunity to focus our efforts online. We launched the first-ever interactive online concert in the Arab World called “Love&Forget”. We decided to work with the face of Herbal Essences Arabia, Lara Scandar, a young singer recognized in Egypt but not known in Saudi Arabia. We knew that her all-natural beauty and voice would inspire young women across the region to celebrate nature and express themselves freely. We invited women to love nature, and forget themselves in music. We created a nature-inspired musical experience powered by digital and social media tools. Attendees at the virtual concert could watch Lara Scandar perform unique and unforgettable songs created for the concert. They could let their hair loose by selecting their avatar’s hair colour and style. And throughout the concert, users could interact with the artist as they virtually requested special songs, applauded, cheered, lit up their lighters, took photos, and shared what they wanted to Love and Forget. Users could also scan any Herbal Essences Nature Collection product to gain backstage access and get personalized virtual album signings from Lara Scandar herself, along with exclusive media.

We launched a media campaign on YouTube, music portals, key female portals, & Facebook using the brand and the artist communities. Socially, the campaign led people to the website to book their free e-tickets and were asked to share what they “Love” and want to “Forget” to earn their free tickets. The shared tickets, themselves, became our online campaign, and drove more people to the website to book their tickets.

We promoted the concert 15 days before the event and immediately sparked conversation making the Love&Forget concert one of the top trending topics in the region in only 45 minutes. The online campaign lead 550,000 visitors to the website where they shared what they love and forget to earn their free ticket. With a conversions rate of 9%, our ‘Love&Forget’ messages spread immediately across the Internet. Over 15 media sources brought the public’s attention to the virtual concert. Come concert day, 50,594 attendees took part in the virtual concert and 7,600 people bought the product to gain backstage access. Users shared their experience online, as they could connect with their friends, check in, and share photos taken at the concert on social media. 40% of the audience came from the KSA meaning many of the audience members had experienced a musical concert for their very first time! Women across the Arab World let their hair down, sang their hearts out, and set their minds free.