2016 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

In 2014, Souq launched “White Friday,” an Arab spin on the American “Black Friday.” This year, Souq sought to strengthen its relationship with Arab consumers in Egypt and the GCC. Specifically, Souq had 3 objectives: raise awareness of the story behind White Friday, (2) create excitement for the countdown and (3) increase purchase intent for the sale. As a result, Souq partnered with Kasra, an Arabic website of viral stories. Kasra, known as the “Arabic version of Buzzfeed,” published “brand stories” around the White Friday sale. In doing so, Souq and Kasra created a unique hybrid of “paid earned” media.

Results and Effectiveness

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

Creative Execution

The creative execution involved two main stages: testing and engaging. 1. 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 The social media team used unpublished Facebook posts to test the article with a small audience. Articles that elicited negative social media response were updated or removed before the article went public. 2. Final versions of the article were broadcast on Kasra’s Facebook and Twitter channels. Kasra, as a brand, participated on conversation with users on social media, such as informing users where to find price information on White Friday.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The target audience was Arabic speaking consumers in Egypt and the GCC (KSA, UAE, and Kuwait). The focus was on new customers who had not yet purchased on White Friday, or were not fully aware of the story behind the sale. Kasra researched existing beliefs and interests among the target segment using flash polls on social media. Kasra then created brand stories to link the key messages from White Friday to the audience. For example, one brand story was called “10 Things That Are Better After Arabization” and included items like Captain Majid and of course, Souq’s White Friday.