2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

In 2014, Souq launched “White Friday,” an Arab spin on the “Black Friday” shopping event in the U.S. Overnight, White Friday became the largest eCommerce event in the Middle East. This year, Souq partnered with Kasra, an Arabic website of viral stories, to strengthen its relationship with Arab consumers. Kasra, described as the “Arabic version of Buzzfeed,” published 10 “brand stories” mentioning White Friday. These brand stories were viral articles, such as “5 mistakes everyone makes when buying a new phone.” Each brand story included a “smart link” that pointed to the Souq website or mobile app, based on the reader’s device. In total, the 10 brand stories achieved a CTR of 3% - as much as 100x banner ad alternatives. Through this innovative approach of “paid, earned media,” Souq was able to achieve direct marketing outcomes while also building brand equity with Arab consumers.

Creative Execution

The creative execution involved two main stages: testing and engaging. 1. Testing: Each brand story was first published through a private link on the Kasra website. The social media team used unpublished Facebook posts to test the article with a small audience. Brand stories that elicited negative social media responses were updated or removed before the article went public. 2. Engaging: Final versions of the article were broadcast on Kasra’s Facebook and Twitter channels. Kasra, as a brand, participated in conversations with users on social media, such as informing users where to find price information on Souq’s White Friday.

Results

In total, the 10 brand stories achieved: (1) +670,000 page views, with 60% from Egypt, 30% from KSA, and 10% from the rest of the GCC (2) +2 minutes of average reading time on each article, equal to 2 years and 7 months (3) +210,000 engagements on Facebook and Twitter, equal to an engagement rate of 30%. (4) 3% CTR to Souq’s website or mobile download (5) 4.9x awareness uplift of the White Friday story (6) 11x uplift in purchase intent on White Friday.