Events & experiential (incl. stunts and celebrity endorsement)
Entrant Company
FP7/DXB Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Advertising Agency
FP7/DXB Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
The Campaign
To improve brand Dubai's international perception, create positive word of mouth, and reduce road rage, we transformed the city’s forgotten police fleet into the worlds most talked about brand. Turning the cars into modern crime-fighting units. And introduced The Supercop Cars from Dubai Police.
Promoted primarily via social media, The Supercop Cars went viral with their uniqueness. Dubai Police became world famous and its cars became a tourist attraction. Brand Dubai earned positive worldwide PR. Copycat supercop cars emerged in Italy and Los Angeles. And traffic violations reduced by -5.3%.
The Brief
The strategic goal was to create something that would be meaningful and relevant to the city and truly unique vs. just creating a typical travel and tourism campaign about Dubai.
Brand Dubai needed to create massive worldwide buzz, attraction and stories that moved from people to people.
We needed to look at what made Dubai… well, Dubai! And what has always put Dubai in the global limelight – positively, and made the world look at Dubai with AWE.
Results
(1) 1.125 billion impressions globally.
(2) Over 17 million impressions in UAE.
(3) Over 7 million articles and posts.
(4) Hundreds of thousands of user generated photos.
(5) Hundreds of thousands of user generated videos.
(6) Over 4 million USD in earned media, featuring on media platforms and sites such as: Top Gear, Stuff, Automobile magazine, Total car magazine, CNN, BBC World, Bloomberg, CNBC, Yahoo!, The Sun, Daily Mail, Sky News, Global Post, Telegraph, 9 News, Beverly Hills Magazine, and many more.
(7) Voted “Car of the Year” and “Best Supercar” at the Middle East Motor Awards
(8) Most effectively, traffic violations in Dubai reduced by 5.3%.
Execution
Promoted primarily through Dubai Police’s social channels and its on-ground presence, the fleet took a life of its own on social media. The Supercop cars started getting their much-deserved star treatment on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, setting off a firestorm of activity on social media as they drove through the streets of Dubai – being covered not just by Dubai residents, but also by tourists, local media and most importantly, by all leading international media platforms such as CNN, BBC, Yahoo!, CNBC, Bloomberg, Daily Mail, Telegraph and more.
The supercars also had a mesmerizing effect on the tourists in Dubai as it became a must-see tourist experience on its own!
And for errant motorists, all the social media buzz generated made sure that because of the amazing Dubai police car fleet means there was absolutely no escape for any intentional mistakes on the roads of the city.
The Situation
In 2014, with the economic crisis abated and the financial environment bearing a semblance of normalcy, the Dubai Government wanted to bring Dubai back into the international limelight. This was important because Dubai’s international reputation is very vital to its travel & tourism sector. Dubai’s success as a nation has not been owing to its oil dollars at work. It has been due to its tourism and real-estate sectors.
Now, real-estate was not something that could reinforce Dubai’s image. Tourism was.
The Strategy
Dubai is known internationally for its tallest, its biggest and its fastest. But on the downside, it is also known for one of the highest traffic violations, and its real estate and debt crises. These adversely affected its positive perception that the government sought to uphold. Dubai Police was chosen to strengthen Dubai’s international brand image and be seen as a modern crime-fighting unit, reducing road rage violations while at it.
So, the World’s First Supercop Cars were introduced – an innovative media channel to promote Dubai. Super powered, super fast, super cool, with a striking design, stylish new colors, and an exclusive Arabic font, these cars took over Dubai.
In a city that seeks to break records, this was a prime opportunity for the authorities to continue to showcase the Emirate of Dubai as a city of superlatives and offering another attraction for the growing number of tourists.