2016 Winners & Shortlists

THE GREEN GENIE

BrandETISALAT
Product/ServiceRAMADAN DATA PACKAGE
EntrantINITIATIVE Cairo, EGYPT
CategoryUse of Integrated Media
Advertising Agency KING TUT'S PLAYGROUND Cairo, EGYPT
Media Agency INITIATIVE Cairo, EGYPT
Entrant Company INITIATIVE Cairo, EGYPT

Brief Explanation

During Ramadan, Vodafone released a high-budget and mega celebrity campaign. Etisalat wanted us to counter it effectively and immediately while promoting their social data package. Egyptians are always up for a good laugh and love light-hearted controversy especially between brands. Until now, Vodafone had used the character “El Mared” (genie) to promote its pre-paid packages. Dressed in Vodafone red, it was the brand’s popular icons. But he was left out of their all-star TVC. So we decided to ignite a light-hearted brand war with a real-time TVC convincing ‘El Mared’ to switch sides and promote Etisalat’s social data package instead.

Results and Effectiveness

Huge reach with over 25 million impressions across all digital channels (Source: Effective Measure) • Nearly 940,000 views on YouTube, 33% of which were organic, and an additional 145,000 organic views on Facebook (Source: YouTube and Facebook) • The search campaign captured a 42% impression share of search queries related to Etisalat and Vodafone Ramadan campaigns (Source: Google) • Hundreds of positive articles were published organically about Etisalat Ad and the smart marketing strategy behind it, highlighting Etisalat fast reaction and real-time planning brilliance. • Branded articles were shared 3,360 times on Facebook (Source: The Glocal)

Creative Execution

We sprang into action, and within just three days of Vodafone’s Ramadan TVC airing, we produced and aired our own real-time and highly controversial TVC starring ‘El Mared during the highest rated Ramadan programs, along with a 24 hours YouTube home page take-over (Masthead Ad) to reach, surprise, and delight the audiences. We kept the debate and conversation rolling online and by using branded articles & contextual targeting; our ads appeared on Google display network to anyone reading any reviews or articles about the Vodafone and Etisalat campaigns. We used search engine marketing and YouTube in-search ads to target keywords related to Vodafone and Etisalat Ramadan campaigns. Every click was re-directed to Etisalat’s Ramadan promotional page.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

For the past year, Vodafone had been using a funny character called “El Mared” (genie in English) to promote its pre-paid packages. The genie, dressed in Vodafone red, offered subscribers daily freebies and soon gained fame as one of the brand’s primary icons. Fortunately for us, we noticed that despite the genie’s fame, he did not appear in Vodafone’s all-star Ramadan TVC. So what if we could convince ‘El Mared’ to switch sides and begin promoting Etisalat?

Credits

Name Company Role
Adham Ayman Initiative Media Middle East Fz Llc Digital Director
Serena Abi Aad Funhouse Productions Managing Director
serge selwan Funhouse Productions assistant producer
Tamara Abdul Hadi Initiative Media Middle East Fz Llc Multimedia Designer
Tony Kayouka Initiative Media Middle East Fz Llc Social Media and Digital Delivery Manager
Seema Radhakrishnan Initiative Media Middle East Fz Llc Regional Planning Director
Hala Alayli Initiative Media Middle East Fz Llc Marketing/Communications Manager