2015 Winners & Shortlists

Results and Effectiveness

Marzouq’s Twitter account attracted more than 10,000 followers in less than a month. To date he has nearly 43,000 followers. The initial earned media campaign generated over 14 million impressions on Mobily’s owned platforms. But viral spread from our activity earned nearly 600,000 conversations from over 220,000 users, generating an estimated 150 billion impressions. Neqaty’s member base grew 6% during the first 3 months. Redemptions at retail partners increased 22% generating 14% incremental revenue. And within the same period, 2/3 of Neqaty redeemers had made one transaction and 1/3 had made multiple transactions among partners.

Creative Execution

First, we set up Marzouq’s Twitter profile - @marzouqksa. He’s a self-described ‘down-to-earth-guy’ who loves coffee, technology and helping people as much as he can (and expert in Neqaty). Marzouq’s first tweets were generic in nature, such as posting a picture of rainy weather in Riyadh with a sarcastic caption’#good_morning – splendid weather. Tweet pictures of where you are.” As he started to gain followers, he tweeted how he was suddenly beginning to feel famous. He then directed his followers to a YouTube video that revealed him as a rising star and Mobily customer service rep who can answer any question related to Neqaty. It wasn’t long before Marzouq started getting questions, not just about Neqaty, but topics unrelated to Mobily. Curious Saudis wanted to try their luck at getting a witty reply from their new favorite Twitter hero. Behind the scenes, our community team kept respondents coming for more.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Mobily had just revamped its customer loyalty points program, Neqaty and needed to let subscribers know about all the new benefits and partners. The complexities of how best to earn and redeem points meant that we needed a clever way to get our customers to listen. We identified an angle with Twitter. We knew that many Saudis use Twitter to interact with celebrities. We didn’t have a Mobily celebrity spokesperson, but what if we could create one? Meet Marzouq! Marzouq is an actual customer service rep at Mobily. His quirky and likeable personality earned him a spot on Mobily’s TVC and is featured as the go-to-guy who has an answer for everything. Our strategy was to use Marzouq’s wit and charm to help turn him into a Twitter celebrity. Marzouq doesn’t just have answers about Mobily, but can respond to just about anything, no matter how bizarre or off-the-wall.