2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Holw El Sham is one of the leading sweets manufacturers in Egypt for the past 20 years. They are one of the most popular ‘sweets’ manufactures in Egypt and specifically have developed the sweets of the molid el Naby across the years. They have a huge plant, which allows them to manufacture the big quantities for any occasion in just couple of weeks prior to the occasion/celebration hence ensuring that there sweets are fresh. The popular consumer base for this brand is C+ class across Egypt.

The Brief

The Prophet’s birthday is something big deal in the Middle East. It is steeped in tradition. One of these traditions is giving sweets. While the brand is known to be a producer of the ‘profit Mohamed's’ sweet historically no one in the industry has claimed it. The client wanted to own this category this year and create an immediate emotional bond between the brand and the consumers noting that this category lacked innovation and already was not appealing to the younger generations. The objective was to appeal to the younger generations as well as not alienating the older generation and for sure generate sales.

How the final design was conceived

What we did was creating a name "Souq Al Halawa" which literally translates to "The market of Sweets" in an attempt of owning the category. We handcrafted an iconic logo for this occasion called ‘the market of sweets”. The logo was inspired by the traditional elements of the carnival of this occasion, the dancing horse & the oriental dancer. In addition to the famous material that decorates the carnivals ‘kheyma’ which is very embedded in our culture and has joyful and celebratory meaning. We took all these elements as the inspiration for the logo development. We sketched out these design several times while adding a modern twist to the elements to bring it to the modern times of today in addition to placing it in the famous oriental star design to hold the logo together. Adding to the logo the name of the product “the market of sweets” in our created typography brought the logo to life.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The design of "Souq El Halawa" uplifted the brand of Holw El Sham as a whole, as the design capture the attention of the masses not only the C class but the B class as well. Which is a great accomplishment and had a direct impact on the brand and the sales as well. Also it brought back the nostalgic memories and strengthened the culture that is deeply rooted in the Egyptian culture on that occasion however lacked innovation, became boring visually and not appealing to the younger audience. The result on sales were staggering, achiving a 9 millions EGP in sales which is double last year's figures!