2015 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

There's a hunger for local online content in Qatar. Branded entertainment is still at infancy stage compared to other more developed markets. This presented an opportunity for us to create the first reality web based series in Qatar. When it comes to Digital Branded Content in Qatar, there would be no established restrictions beyond an expectation that it should abide to the country's social sensibilities.

Results

The Objectives The key business objective was to drive data usage among existing subscribers, and drive trial among potential ones The key communication objectives were to drive TOM awareness for Vodafone's 4G launch, increase brand affinity & drive consideration among Qatari nationals The Challenge Being the second operator to launch 4G in Qatar, the challenge was to make the launch noticed and talked about among our primary target audience: Qatari Nationals. And with a competitor that outspends us three times fold, we had to outsmart. The Insight Research showed that our target audience knew 4G is faster than 3G, but did not know what this speed can do for them. The Strategy To drive data usage, we wanted to show our target audience the difference Vodafone's 4G speed can make in their lives. The Opportunity Given the declining TV viewership we wanted a more effective way to reach and engage our target audience. The lack of local online content was a key opportunity. And given that our launch coincided with the month of Ramadan (the month of series in the Arab world), branded entertainment was the perfect solution. The Idea 4G Challenging Conventions. We created the first web based reality series in Qatar. The Challengers followed two teams as they attempted to solve challenges using Vodafone's 4G network. The teams were given tasks that challenge conventions, such as taking grandma to the movies, in a country where grandmas never go to the movies. Or making Qatari men, who hardly enter the kitchen, cook… without a kitchen.

The webisodes were posted on social media (Twitter, Facebook & Instagram). Our heros promoted the webisodes on social media through their individual accounts. We also used pre-roll ads on YouTube to drive viewership for the trailer video and the first webisode. Given the hunger for local content in the market, the webisodes were highly shared among our target audience, which drove the viewership figures.

This was one of Vodafone's most successful campaigns in Qatar. With Qatari nationals being our primary target, our ambition was to reach 150,000 viewership count. The webisodes generated views that exceeded 1.15 Million in total, with individual webisode views nearing 300,000. These figures are quite impressive when put in context: Qatar is a small market, with a 1.8 Million population. Qatari nationals represent 13% of the total population, i.e. less than 300,000 Previous viral videos produced locally averaged 50,000 in views.