2015 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

Around 60,000 people engaged with the portrait over 2 days. (Source : Dubai Mall Estimates) Over 3500 fans submitted their poetry via Facebook. (Source : Facebook) The Poetrait was widely talked about and delivered earned media worth $100,000.(Agency Estimates)

Creative Execution

First we invited young Arabs on Facebook to share their wishes for the country through poetry. Then these words of the nation were brought to life by a young calligraphy artist , Yazan Halwani who combined poetry and calligraphy to create a new art-form – a Poetrait. Poetrait was a celebration of UAE’s rich heritage of poetry and calligraphy. In just 2 days, Yazan turned verses into a Poetrait of Shekh Zayed, the father of the nation. The live portrait came to life on a 5 m long canvas at Dubai Mall (World’s largest mall and UAE’s busiest leisure destination). The Poetrait was then auctioned to raise money for children’s education with a local charity called Dubai Cares.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

2 art forms- poetry and calligraphy define UAE’s rich heritage. But the Emirati youth today are losing touch with their tradition . 43% youth today say that they are keen to embrace modern beliefs and values as traditional values are outdated (Source : Arab Youth Survey 2014). For them Poetry and calligraphy belong in the past Emirates NBD, a leading local bank, wanted to revive the cultural legacy in celebration of UAE’s National Day. In order to remind them about the forgotten past, we decided to create something new in the present. Leonardo Da Vinci had famously said “Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” – Leonardo da Vinci We took inspiration from this quote