2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Ma’aden is the first and biggest Mining and Metals conglomerate in Saudi Arabia. It started in 1997 as mining company specializing in the extraction and production of gold and, by 2014, the company became a major group involved in the extraction and production of gold, phosphate, aluminum, copper and other industrial metals – with a very ambitious and progressive expansion plan. As a Business-to-Business operation, Ma’aden’s communications mostly involve targeting a very specific and highly specialized audience within the same industry, in addition to major investors and VIP stakeholders within the Saudi government. The project had a budget of $100,000.

The Brief

Our brief was to send a bespoke annual report that would intrigue stakeholders and create more interest in Ma’aden while reflecting the core essence of the brand, its achievements and future prospects. The report was to be delivered to VIP stakeholders and major shareholders to demonstrate Ma’aden’s continuous quest for new resources, within a spirit of progress and modernity, while staying true to the brand and the nature of the business as an industrial mining conglomerate.

How the final design was conceived

Our starting point was the VIP target audience, who routinely receive annual reports from many different companies each year. We needed to provide them with something different and engaging, yet within the context of the brand. As such, we used a mining helmet as it symbolizes the discovery of new resources, echoes the brand core business and is a safety tool used by miners. Thus, it became a metaphor for the solid financial results achieved by Ma’aden during 2014. And through a meticulous design process, we transformed the front light of the miner’s helmet into - literally - an overhead projector, named QUEST ’14. Stakeholders wore the helmet and viewed a video projection uncovering Ma’aden’s newest resources and immersed themselves in its biggest achievements of the year. Not only this new format to present the annual report was unorthodox but it also provided a tool for our target audience to use the helmet for any other projection they would like as the installed projector is designed to use various digital formats. Thus the report in itself was rather a multipurpose tool.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

By creating a new annual report that is not only true the soul of the brand - as a mining and minerals company - but also represents a multipurpose immersive tool that could be used over and again, we managed to provide our target audience with an unconventional annual report that made them engage with the brand in a new way. A report that by far exceeds all expectations regarding what a business to business corporation usually do to deliver bulky and rather dull financial and strategic information regarding its core business. As such our report not only served the initial purpose it is supposed to do as an annual report per se but also raised the bar of what companies can do and the creative tools they can use to communicate their messages. Not to forget, that this report provided both clear & solid financial data in addition to the fact that it presented Ma’aden as the futuristic and forward thinking company that is not shy to explore new methods and tools as long as it serves its purpose.