2015 Winners & Shortlists

HEAR THE HUMAN STORY

BrandAL JAZEERA NEWS NETWORK
Product/ServiceAL JAZEERA ENGLISH
EntrantMEMAC OGILVY Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryUse of Digital Media in a Direct Marketing Campaign
Entrant Company MEMAC OGILVY Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Advertising Agency MEMAC OGILVY Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Media Agency MINDSHARE MENA Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production Company DEJA VU Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production Company 2 GEOMETRY GLOBAL Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The Brief

News networks in recent years have resorted to sensationalism, opinionated news anchors and selling the news as entertainment to keep ratings up. So more and more people are looking for alternative news sources, covering news that really matters. Al Jazeera is a news network that prides itself on doing just that. So we created a global campaign called Hear The Human Story. We chose six people from Rwanda, India, Jordan, Spain and the Philippines to share their incredible stories in our global campaign.

Creative Execution

Al Jazeera is a global news network that believes that people around the world have important stories to tell, regardless of their location, culture or economic status. They believe humanity is what unites us all, so they place it at the heart of every story. This unique philosophy is something we wanted the world to know. So we developed a campaign inviting people to Hear The Human Story.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

At the heart of the campaign was an eight-minute online documentary that told the real story of Champa Pal, a woman in India left destitute when her husband was murdered and her land stolen, until she joined the all-woman Gulabi Gang. Then we travelled the world to capture real human stories, and gave six people a platform to share their incredible stories in our online films. Each film was dedicated to one person and their journey with a deliberate emphasis on stunning visuals and a candid narrative to inform people in a fresh, entertaining way.

Results

These human stories resonated with people across the world. With 237 million global media impressions, an 8% rise in channel viewership and 16% rise in online engagement, the campaign did more than just position a brand, it injected humanity back into the news and gave a voice to those that other networks often choose to ignore.

Credits

Name Company Role
Ramzi Moutran Memac Ogilvy Executive Creative Director
Tarek Shawki Memac Ogilvy Business Driector
Sean Hart Memac Ogilvy Operations Director
Sandra Henein Memac Ogilvy Senior Accounts Manager
Nora Nasr/John Dayal Memac Ogilvy Account Executive
Dylan Kidson/James Bisset Memac Ogilvy Associate Creative Director
Gary Rolf Memac Ogilvy Group Head Art Director
Maram Ashour/Waleed Bachnak/Irfan Ghani Memac Ogilvy Creative Team
Tarek Bawab Memac Ogilvy Head Of Studio
Evan Kearney Memac Ogilvy Strategic Planning Director
Amin Soltani/Tamara D'costa Memac Ogilvy Agency Producer
Pablo.g.plant/Miika Leskinen Editors
Orlando Von Einsiedel Director
Manasavi Gosalia/Hermann Meingast Executive Producers
Michael Christopher Brown Photographer
Keram Mazouzi/George Farra Mindshare Director Client Leadership
Abdulla Al Najjar Al Jazeera Exec Director Marketing
Satnam Matharu Al Jazeera Director Marketing Comms
Kayoko Nidsaid Al Jazeera Manager Of Marketing
Adrienne Tollemache/Nibras Kardaman Al Jazeera Head Of Marketing