2015 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Brief: Being the UAE’s youngest bank, Al Hilal Bank wanted to celebrate National Day by celebrating Emirati youth in an innovative, aspirational and organic way. Insight: Emirati youth are the LOUDEST groups during National Day celebrations. Challenge: How can we turn their voices into the ultimate show of national pride? Idea: Raise your voice. Raise your flag: An interactive movement where Emirati youth raise the UAE flag to the edge of space by singing/tweeting the national anthem. Mechanism: Emiratis used various digital/physical platforms to sing/tweet the anthem. Entries fed into http://www.itsallabout.ae. Strategy: Perception management and engagement plays a crucial role in national initiatives of this magnitude and sensitivity. So our strategy was three-pronged: Engage the youth to generate awareness and interest, raise awareness amongst the public and the UAE leadership, create a narrative revolving around pride, ambition and innovation. Execution: We engaged the youth via social media, online news articles and digital/social content in order to generate participation. We used press, TV and online coverage, which included articles, interviews, viral content and press releases, to raise awareness about the initiative and the stunt amongst the public and the UAE leadership. Results: Participation: 10,218 entries Earned Media: AED 800,000+ Social Media Community Growth: 9.6% in less than a week YouTube Engagement: achieved 56,000 minutes Surveyed Brand Affinity: 27% increase amongst Emiratis Flag Altitude: 102,000 feet

The Brief

Since the flag’s altitude depended on website entries, participation numbers were a key success factor. We also wanted to create long-term brand affinity amongst our stakeholders, the public and the leadership – so coverage, behavioral change and perception were also critical indicators.

Results

Earned Media: AED 800,000+ Surveyed Brand Affinity: 27% increase amongst Emiratis Coverage: press releases to all local, pan-Arab publications in Arabic & English Participation: 10,218 entries Social Media Community Growth: 9.6% in less than a week YouTube Engagement: achieved 56,000 minutes Flag Altitude: 102,000 feet

Execution

Due to military flight path approvals, national security considerations and weather conditions that directly affect our flag launch, our plan had to be dynamic enough to adapt to any sudden mishaps or developments. Our press releases started with the launch of the campaign, focusing on establishing the narrative and the participation call to action. We employed social media monitoring to guide our releases, ensuring that TV and press coverage were consistent as the flag was launched and retrieved. Press conferences, interviews and social content were also employed after the success of the launch and during the flag tour period.

The Situation

Al Hilal Bank is the UAE’s youngest Islamic bank. It is perceived as a modern, Emirati-focused and innovative financial institution. But it hasn’t managed to create a long-lasting connection with one of their most important prospective customer base and talent pool – the Emirati youth. We needed to create a sustainable narrative that ran through from participation to flag launch to the flag tour exhibition that followed. Our PR efforts also needed to underline our national commitment to the public and the UAE leadership

The Strategy

Perception management and engagement plays a crucial role in national initiatives of this magnitude and sensitivity. So our strategy was three-pronged: Engage the youth to generate awareness and interest, raise awareness amongst the public and the UAE leadership, create a narrative revolving around pride, ambition and innovation. This narrative started during the participation phase and evolved as we moved from the flag launch to the flag’s return, it’s countrywide wide tour and its gifting to the UAE leadership. Our coverage strategy included TV, press, digital and social media both in the UAE and it grew organically across the GCC.