2016 Winners & Shortlists

Creative Execution

Abdo’s famous song ‘Hala BilTayeb Al Ghali’ translates to “Welcome to the most precious and kind person. I never thought I’d get the chance to see you here.” We used this song and invited fans to record their renditions over a pre-recorded 30-second soundtrack. Using targeted posts and banners we drove participation on Facebook and other social channels. We installed pop-up sound-recording studios in busy public spaces. Flooded by eager Emirati’s and Saudites, their recorded renditions were directed back to the microsite. Every beautiful voice, in turn, became yet another tool to engage, encourage and strike a chord with others.

WithMohdAbdo.com became the world's first user-generated music content show. The campaign achieved social media success with over 40.5 million impressions on Facebook and over 18 million impressions on Instagram. Twitter contributed with over 700,000 mentions during the show. Voices of all ages poured in from across the region and beyond. 400 voices were selected and 10 made it to the final cut. 5 voices created the first ever user-generated song and one winner got a chance to meet Abdo in a highly-watched episode. We shattered the client’s viewership targets with an impressive 23% viewership in UAE and 37% in Saudi Arabia.

Dubai El Oula was launching its first interactive music show ‘Fanan Al Arab’ hosted by Saudi singer Mohammad Abdo. But competing against top TV shows like The Voice is no easy task, especially for a regional show in its first season. Our objective was to drive high viewership. We decided to use the show's regional edge to our advantage while engaging with the audience. Mohammad Abdo has rarely ever made a public appearance and has never hosted a show – making his massive fan following desperate to meet him. It was this insight that triggered our idea. We took this opportunity to go beyond TV and reach out to the fans. And so we created WITHMOHDABDO.COM - a microsite that gave every fan a chance to express and fulfill their wish of sharing the stage with the elusive legend.