2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Off&On is a barbershop – but to the privileged few in the know, behind its hides an underground club. The venue’s clandestine nature means that it cannot advertise and this led to the club being relatively empty on some nights. The client came to us with this problem – asking for a tailor-made solution, but the challenge was to communicate about a place that we cannot communicate about. We created an app that would allow users to control whether the club opened or not, making them feel as if they were part of an underground society and further pushing the venue's concept.

Results and Effectiveness

The app allowed Off&On to have significantly have more full nights, opening their doors nearly every day of the week. Users were not only opting to slide right to have the venue open, but by signing in through Facebook, the user would also get a notification telling them whether their friends has requested the club open that night. This encouraged a snowball effect of engagement – as the Lebanese are more likely to go somewhere if they know others are going too. Eventually, the increased bookings allowed for the club to save money, open more and retain their secret identity.

Creative Execution

Our mission was to have the app available to only Off&On’s exclusive circle of selected clientele, so the invite to download the app was only sent to the club’s private members. While the existence of the app spread through word of mouth, it did so through clients of the venue, therefore bringing in only those that were like-minded. We didn’t want the app to be number one on the App Store – we wanted it to stay as hush-hush as possible, hand-picking only Off&On’s profile customers digitally.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The brand’s target audience is media-savvy, millenials who aren’t easily impressed. They come to Off&On because it makes them feel like they are participating in something clandestine. Traditional or even social media was out of the question, as that would make the club mainstream. The creation of the app kept the club underground and made our customers feel as if this was their little secret.