2016 Winners & Shortlists

PERSIL ABAYA SHAMPOO- NATIONAL RESONANCE

BrandPERSIL ABAYA SHAMPOO (HENKEL ARABIA)
Product/ServicePERSIL ABAYA SHAMPOO
EntrantOMD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryNon-Fiction: Series or Film
Media Agency 2 OMD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Entrant Company OMD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Media Agency OMD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The Campaign

Persil Black has forged a strong bond with women in the UAE. Not only had it carefully washed their Abayas for 7 years, it has also championed an inspiring Abaya fashion movement that has propelled the ambitions of many young and aspiring Abaya designers. However, other similar black fabric brands with stronger equity and deeper heritage in the region, constantly wanted to steal women’s hearts away from a brand that was somehow still perceived as a foreigner. The brand needed to do more to ingrain itself in the GCC culture and further grow its affinity with Arab women. The United Arab Emirates leads the Arab world when it comes to women empowerment. Women hold 2/3 of public sector positions and over 30% are in senior decision-making roles. But although women are becoming more assertive about their role and the potential they could unlock for their country, there are still a lot of cultural sensitivities towards what veiled woman can or cannot do in society. We realised that to build affinity with Emirati women we needed to fuel their quest towards empowerment with a daring initiative with Persil Black as the enabler. The idea was hiding in the obvious. It was living in the Persil Black bottle itself. Through collaboration between a musical instrument maker and a sound engineer we transformed the Persil bottle into a real guitar and brought a woman to sing the UAE’s national anthem while playing the Persil bottle guitar. We wanted this to be a strong symbol of national resonance from the very core of the brand and with the powerful voice of a woman.

The results truly proved the power of emotional and relevant communication. Across 3 days, the video garnered 596,000 views, 2,600,000 ad exposures, and over 19% view through rate on the video exceeding both industry and brand benchmarks. Considering how all platforms are moving towards limiting organic reach, we managed to get 16% organic views, also exceeding industry norms. Finally, we managed to reach the heart and minds of our consumers with the overwhelming response of more than 75,000 engagements including comments, likes and shares. We created a beautiful piece of content to celebrate the women of the UAE, and in return they thanked Persil Abaya Shampoo for acknowledging them and that advocacy alone was more powerful than any media metrics could demonstrate.

Credits

Name Company Role
Neelofer Sheikh Omd Mena Associate Director- Digital
Farah Moumneh Omd Mena Senior Director Planning
Zeeshan Merchant Omd Mena Director- Planning
Roxanne Gahol Omd Mena Senior Executive - Planning
Haytham Zoghby Omd Mena Director of Innovation
Muhammed Ali Jamadar Omd Mena Manager- Social Media
Ramy Al Kadhi Omd Mena Manager- Digital