2016 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

The challenge in the “Driven By Smiles” campaign was to personify the meaning of Eid in a corporation that prides itself in being a big family. Since it is the largest automotive dealership in the Middle East, the decision to incorporate a car like aspect in the title of the campaign was paramount. “Driven By Smiles” was created. The objective was to let Al-Futtaim automotive associates vote for colleagues whom they thought were exemplary in their ability to brighten the workplace with their “smiles”. Creating a microsite in which the whole company would then send in votes nominating those they think deserve a free trip to their hometown on Eid brought the whole company together and made the process that more personal. Multiple trips were made to our labor camps to introduce the campaign to all our workers and mechanics who did not have access to the campaign microsite. We provided them with forms that allowed them to participate and submit their entries. The nomination phase went on for 3 weeks and we received more that 2,500 entries. 3 winners were chosen by lucky draw and we surprised each winner at their work place. After the winners were selected and announced, video documentation of how they received their prizes was followed by videos of each employee’s individual trips was created and posted on YouTube and Facebook for everyone to view, cry to and share.

Other than the views and shares of the videos (53,000 combined views of the original video. This video launched the Al-Futtaim Automotive YouTube channel), what was considered the measure of success was the feedback from within Al-Futtaim Automotive. This campaign brought employees closer together and builds the framework for other humanitarian campaigns within the company. Next Eid will bring the sequel to the “Driven By Smiles” campaign. Stay tuned.