2016 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Revenue projections for Telecom operators over the coming years will be based on Broadband consumption. Saudi Telecom (STC) is therefore making a great effort to provide all the necessary infrastructure, and package services in the most convenient, appealing way to gain market share. Back in 2013, STC was not known for Broadband and was behind in terms of market share as a result of fragmented tactical communication across the Broadband portfolios held by its various Business units. There was a need to come up with an umbrella platform for STC Broadband that would encompass all the services, be they fixed or mobile, in order to differentiate STC from the competition, and make it the point of reference. The challenge was to anchor an emotional benefit for this platform in order to enhance STC’s image, while tackling the various functional RTBs: Best Coverage, Speed, Quality of Service, Innovation, Competitive Pricing, and Flexibility of Packages and Interfaces. Building on the insight that Saudi Youth are very active online, we launched an online Hub, “LaYwagif”, which hosted entertaining Branded content in the form of sitcom series with multiple episodes and seasons. The sitcoms talk about the Broadband RTBs in a light-hearted and subliminal manner. Sure enough, the portal became an entertainment destination, and we decided to post another series that went beyond the Broadband service: “Rayi7 Rayi7” was a newly created series tackling the Roaming service, in which a group of friends travel with a Puppet character and enjoy new experiences together on vacation, with no internet hiccups. The Puppet represented a left-behind friend who still managed to be part of the fun! The objective of the series was to communicate the “worry-free” positioning of the STC Roaming service. Results exceeded all expectations (with over 37 millions views across all episodes).

The popularity of the shows represented an unprecedented success in terms of positive results: Views: • LaYwagif shows achieved a total of 24,492,567 views (across all episodes). • Rayi7 Rayi7 shows achieved a total of 12,803,589 views (across all episodes). • That’s a grand total of 37,296,156 views. Brand Health Tracker: • STC became a consistently leading Brand in Broadband. • Brand Equity for STC in Broadband continues on an upward trend, with its Brand Equity Index of 8.7 exceeding that of Mobily (STC’s closest competitor) by at least 6 points. Market Share: STC became market leader – with a 50% market share in 2015, compared to 40% the previous year. The total earned publicity value for the STC Broadband is $470,000.