2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

DISH is an American based company in the U.S.A that provides satellite TV with over 50 demanded Arabic channels. We needed to rebuild affinity with its Arabic client base and consequently increase subscriptions. Our main audiences are first generation Arab-American parents. They are integrated in the US yet hold on to their Arab identities, however they struggle to connect with their offspring over their heritage. Through the cultural entry point of Arabic language, we wrote an original ‘I SAY ARABI’ song and shot a hip-hop music video that depicts an Arabic rap battle between a father and his son.

Results and Effectiveness

The film went viral, reaching 4.3 M views, which is uncommon for an Arabic piece of content. The ‘I SAY ARABI’ video gathered: 56k likes 14k comments and 64k shares. Social-media KPIs were surpassed with 72% and 461% fan increase on Facebook and YouTube respectively. DISH’s website visits resulted in a 75% and 44% increase in Arabic landing page visitors and daily landing page visits respectively. Path-to-purchase resulted in a 200% increase in average daily calls from Dish’s Arabic website and a 74% increase in daily searches. We exceeded client expectations with a 16% lift from projections on launch day.

Creative Execution

We first launched the music video online, which went viral overnight even before we started any paid support. The content was quickly high jacked by various online communities and shared on their blogs, social pages, music sharing platforms, and media outlets. To support the video, radio scripts broadcasted the ‘I SAY ARABI’ message on American airwaves. Ambient and POSM branding were rolled out in several key cities that highlighted the same insight and branded the ‘Arabi Deal’. Each touch point used the Arabic language through the channel’s strength, be it audio, visual or both, reinforcing the brand’s role and benefits.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Through research we identified a tension between first and second generation Arab-Americans, where parents (our core audience) often make many efforts to connect with their children over their Arab heritage while their children feel estranged and disconnected from a culture that they do not know well. In order to address the generational and cultural gap, we created an online piece of entertainment through the important usage of the Arabic language and popular western hip-hop musical genre. This led us to create an Arabic rap battle, entitled ‘I SAY ARABI’ between an old cliché Arab father and his all American offspring.