2015 Winners & Shortlists

TOUCH LEB KEYS

Short List
BrandTOUCH
Product/ServiceTOUCH
EntrantJ. WALTER THOMPSON BEIRUT, LEBANON
CategoryUse or integration of digital or social media
Entrant Company J. WALTER THOMPSON BEIRUT, LEBANON
Contributing Company J. WALTER THOMPSON BEIRUT, LEBANON

The Campaign

Branded entertainment t in Lebanon is mainly used in films and traditional advertising, but when it comes to digital content solutions, it is not common in the country. Because the Lebanese often need to adapt to the trends that come from more developed countries. Be it the social media platforms they use everyday or even in the hardware. Here, we’re talking about keyboards. When keyboards were first designed, they took into account English speakers. The Lebanese had to adapt to that keyboard, and since their language has letters that don’t exist in Latin, they recreated them out of numbers. This is called Latin Arabic. Today, it is the most used chat language in Lebanon on social media and texting. But it comes with compromise. The numbers that they use in almost every word are on the second page of the English keyboard. Each time the Lebanese want to write a word, they have to go back and forth on the pages of the English mobile keyboard to fetch their numbers. They lose 2 seconds per number fetched. That’s 1 min lost every 30 words. If they are heavy chatters, that number can go up to almost 30 minutes lost everyday.

Results

Touch, Lebanon’s leading mobile operator, promises a new world of innovation. And so touch took it upon itself to provide the Lebanese with a solution. Touch created leb keys, a mobile app that carries a 3rd party keyboard. A Latin Arabic mobile Keyboard. The Keyboard was created by identifying the letters that the Lebanese don’t use when chatting in Latin Arabic (Q,P,X,V) and replacing them with the numbers they do use (3,2,7,5). The app was then placed on google play and the app store. Once downloaded, users install the keyboard and it becomes part of their phone’s preset keyboard menu, ready to use for anything they want to write on social media or text.

Leb keys quickly made its way onto the devices of the Lebanese, less than a week within its launch, the app had 3000+ downloads. But it also made its way onto their Twitter and Facebook posts. Talking about it, sharing it, claiming it as a very clever solution. But mostly, the Lebanese saw it as a great way of ‘unleashing the inner Lebanese in them’ (source: blogoftheboss.com). That sentiment was shared by many. It even reached the politicians. Nicolas Sehnaoui, the ex-minister of Telecom, was quick to tweet about it, sharing the links and inviting his followers to use it.

That’s how touch turned a complicated chat into a seamless one. Leb keys also saves the Lebanese a lot of wasted time. Millions of hours lost fetching numbers. But it also gives them a sense of up-to-date-ness. They as Lebanese, for the first time, have a keyboard they can call their own, on which they can express their every emotion and opinion in the language they like to chat in vs. adapting to others. On a brand level, touch subtly branded the keyboard and positioned it as ‘brought to you by touch’. It then made the keyboard available to all Lebanese, touch users or not. Reinforcing its leadership in the market and its promise of creating a new world of innovation. But it also subtly penetrated its competitor’s territory and its user’s mobile devices. The best part is, leb keys is here to stay, as a keyboard that each Lebanese will use, each time they want to post or text.

Credits

Name Company Role
Nicolas Geahchan J. Walter Thompson Beirut Executive Creative Director
Nicolas Geahchan J. Walter Thompson Beirut Executive Creative Director
Paola Mounla J. Walter Thompson Beirut Associate Creative Director
Paola Mounla J. Walter Thompson Beirut Associate Creative Director
Layal Khatib J. Walter Thompson Beirut Digital Art Director
Layal Khatib J. Walter Thompson Beirut Digital Art Director
Omar Sadek J. Walter Thompson Beirut Managing Director
Omar Sadek J. Walter Thompson Beirut Managing Director
Celine Noujeim J. Walter Thompson Beirut Account Director
Celine Noujeim J. Walter Thompson Beirut Account Director
Ramzy Salhab J. Walter Thompson Beirut Account Manager
Ramzy Salhab J. Walter Thompson Beirut Account Manager
Lana Khayat J. Walter Thompson Beirut Account Executive
Lana Khayat J. Walter Thompson Beirut Account Executive
Nadim Lahoud J. Walter Thompson Beirut Account Manager
FOO Mobility Partners Mobile applications developer