2016 Winners & Shortlists

AL TAWASOL

BrandTOUCH
Product/ServiceAL TAWASOL LINE
EntrantMINDSHARE MENA Dubai , UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryCorporate Responsibility
Advertising Agency J. WALTER THOMPSON BEIRUT, LEBANON
Media Agency MINDSHARE LEBANON Beirut, LEBANON
Entrant Company MINDSHARE MENA Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

The Campaign

Nearly 2 million refugees have fled to Lebanon from violence in Syria, staying connected to their relatives has grown increasingly difficult. Touch saw the opportunity to connect Syrians with their families at discounted rates. We partnered with NGOs to access camps where promoters connected with refugees to distribute flyers with information about the package. We created branded trucks for Al Tawasol-Line, which followed a route in key refugee areas, along with a highly-targeted mix of outdoor panels. We managed to connect 50,000 refugees in a month, exceeding our objective by 400%.

The Brief

Touch’s primary objective was to provide 10,000 SIM cards with a bundle of minutes, SMS, data and international calls to Syria at a very low rate (40% lower than the local Lebanese rate), so the refugees can easily afford to call and connect with their families back home.

Execution

Our partnership with NGOs allowed us to access the camps, where a fleet of engaging promoters with the Syrian residents, provided flyers with useful information about the special package. We created five branded mobile trucks for the Touch Syrian Line, which followed a specially-designed route in key areas such as the rural Bekaa region. We also built a highly-targeted mix of 4x3 displays with static unipoles around the camps to support the activation.

Within a period of one month, we managed to connect with over 50,000 refugees with their families. Additionally, we only spent 50% of our initial budget on the campaign and exceeded our objective by 400%. Our approach and NGO collaboration allowed us to use very precise targeting, which led to 50% saving in budget and 5 times greater than the target. Our ultimate accomplishment was the ability to connect with over 50,000 Syrian refugees to their loved ones back home, making their displacement just a little more bearable.

The Strategy

The primary business challenge was that refugees had little or no access to an international mobile service with a low acquisition cost. Our insight was that Syrian refugees struggle to reconnect with their families and friends in Syria during the crisis, and lacked affordable telecommunication. The idea originated from there: we needed to innovate to find a way to provide a special package from touch, “Al Tawasol” to those who were in desperate need. Given the difficulty in assessing the refugees camps, we partnered with NGOs to access Syrian refugees in Lebanon’s settlements, providing them with a special mobile package.

Credits

Name Company Role
Joyce Tawil Mindshare Mena Senior Director - Head of Trading
Maya Ghanem Mindshare Mena Director - Exchange
Raphael Elias Mindshare Mena Senior Executive - Trading
Caroline Houbeiche Mindshare Mena Executive - Exchange
Sally Younes Mindshare Mena Senior Executive - Trading