2016 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Our client, Dahr El Bacheck Government University Hospital (DGUH) wanted to address the drug abuse problem escalating among Lebanese youth, while shedding light on their detox facility that provides health care to a large number of Lebanese patients applying premium quality standards and technologies at minimal cost. An awareness campaign was created revolving around one of the most commonly used words in the daily Lebanese dialect: #Ou3a that holds a double meaning: “Watch Out” and “Wake-up”, turning this simple word into a movement. The campaign started with a teaser imitating a vandalism act. Stickers with the #Ou3a hashtag were placed on caution signs, danger zones, traffic areas, universities, pubs and restaurants. In less than 2 weeks, the campaign generated extensive conversation on social media reaching celebrities, media and bloggers. The #Ou3a hashtag was also debated by Adel Karam, on his popular entertainment talk show on MTV, Hayda Haké The reveal of the campaign was adopted by prime time TV show on LBCI, Kalam EL Nas, where Marcel Ghanem hosted DGUH CGM, to discuss the campaign, its aims and the methods underwent by the hospital to fight addiction. More than 2 million in a country of 4 million were exposed to our campaign through a TVC that the agency produced for the campaign and that was broadcasted, pro-bono, on all local TV channels during peak times. The campaign also generated 1.2 million USD in earned media and more than 8 million impressions on social media in Lebanon only.

The Brief

The campaign’s objectives include increasing awareness of DGUH’s presence in Lebanon and altering the misperception people have of governmental hospitals, while emphasizing the availability of a state-of-the-art treatment for drug addicts at DGUH . During the past year, the number of admitted patients to DGUH’s detox facility has increased from 6 in 2012 to nearly 400 in 2015 calling for an expansion in order to accommodate as many patients as possible. This expansion requires funding that the hospital wanted to collect through donations from individuals, businesses, associations or governmental agencies; but there was a major challenge: low awareness of the hospital and its services in Lebanon and a misperception of governmental hospitals as below standards.

Execution

The campaign started with a stunt in Mar Mkhael, one of Beirut’s major hangout places. Simultaneously, Agency launched the teasing campaign that imitated a vandalism act, by hanging stickers with #Ou3a hashtag everywhere. The campaign generated extensive conversation on social media and its momentum reached celebrities, and bloggers. Fashion bloggers styled #Ou3a t-shirts and shared the posts with their followers. The #Ou3a hashtag was also picked up by Adel Karam, host of a popular talk show on MTV, Hayda Haké, who joked about it during his show. The reveal of the campaign was adopted by prime time TV show on LBC, Kalam EL Nas, where host interviewed DGUH's CGM to discuss the campaign. In line with the revealer interview, agency also worked on a TVC that was broadcasted on all local TV stations. Following the reveal, DGUH started engaging with followers through the hospital’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

- Over the period of 2 weeks, the campaign generated a total of 130 online mentions by bloggers and influencers with more than 8 million impressions on social media in Lebanon only. - 35 interviews and features across TV, radio, online and printed press, with 1.2 million USD in earned media. - More than 2 million in a country of 4 million were exposed to our campaign through our TVC aired on all local channels during peak times.

The Strategy

The target audience is divided into 2 groups: - Primary target audience: potential donors, mainly businessmen, companies, governmental entities and affluent individuals - Secondary target audience: the public, anyone suffering from or who is prone to addiction, youth aged 15–21 years who are at risk of using drugs, and parents of teens aged 13-17 years Agency put together a 3-phased communication strategy. The teaser phase included a guerilla marketing activation, the revealer phase was a combination of PR, social media and TV Ads while the post revealer phase was based on PR and social media. The awareness campaign revolved around one of the most commonly used words in the daily Lebanese dialect: Ou3a. The word Ou3a was adopted due to its relevance to the cause. Looking closely at the word, Ou3a holds a double meaning: “Watch Out” and “Wake Up”.