2016 Winners & Shortlists

#THISISEGYPT

BrandEGYPTIAN TOURIST AUTHORITY
Product/ServiceTRAVEL/TOURISM
EntrantJ. WALTER THOMPSON CAIRO, EGYPT
CategoryMedia Relations
Entrant Company J. WALTER THOMPSON CAIRO, EGYPT
Advertising Agency J. WALTER THOMPSON CAIRO, EGYPT
Media Agency MINDSHARE Cairo, EGYPT
PR Agency HILL+KNOWLTON STRATEGIES EGYPT Cairo, EGYPT
Production Company MAGIC BEANS PRODUCTIONS Cairo, EGYPT
Production Company 2 BIGFOOT FILMS Cairo, EGYPT
Production Company 3 FILM CLINIC Cairo, EGYPT

The Campaign

The #thisisegypt campaign seeks to reshape Egypt’s image to the world and encourage consideration of the country as a tourist destination. The hashtag, #thisisegypt, originally began as a grass-roots initiative developed by Egyptian youth, and was adopted by the Egypt Tourism Authority to mobilize Egyptians, whom play a significant role in boosting tourism, to help change the country’s perception by portraying an experiential and authentic image about the country to the world. Given that negative headlines about Egypt in the news were one of the main contributors to the negative perception of Egypt, developing and implementing a strong international public relations campaign was key to both neutralizing the sentiment and promoting positive stories from Egypt to the world. And this needed to begin with an initiative from home, reaching out to Egyptians to change this global perception themselves. Mobilizing them through earned media as no budget allocated for domestic activities.

The Brief

The goal of the campaign from a public relations perspective is to utilize the same news that is reporting negatively about Egypt and - through a strategic earned media campaign - neutralize negative news coverage and close the perception gap between how Egyptians see Egypt and how the news negatively portrays Egypt.

Execution

Prior to launching the campaign, we established a team of brand advocates and partners to advocate and encourage their social media followers to show the world their perspective on Egypt. We quietly curated content on thisisegypt.com as well, which acted as a platform to curate the images. Upon publicly launching the domestic campaign in Egypt, an online video was seeded to invite the rest of Egypt to explore their country and show it to the world. This video was then pitched to and aired by national media outlets during segments and received free commercial time to maintain the momentum. Additionally, print and online publications featured stories and images with call to action messages - all without any media spend. We later launched the Arab campaign, inviting our Arab neighbors to revisit and show the international community the diversity of experiences Egypt has to offer.

- Increase in travel from Arab region by 24% since launch of campaign. - More than 150 members of media attended press event -a total value of 10,997,018 Egyptian Pounds of free airing on TV alone - Up to 120 brand advocates/social media influencers invited to share conetn - Secured six top-tier regional media interviews for social media influencers on TV (talk shows), radio within first week of launch - All social media channels exhibit more than 98% positive sentiment - Key messages portrayed in almost all earned media coverage secured - Invitation film (ad) aired multiple times every day on pan-regional media outlets, as a result of public relations teams' media relationships - YouTube video received more than 300,000 views within 48 hours from launch with no paid spend behind it - More than 200,000 total social media posts since launch; more than 95% of which are positive. -Reaching 700 million total impressions

The Strategy

Strategy: - Mobilize Egyptians to use the hashtag in their daily lives and showcase the beauty they see around them - Amplify positive news in/around Egypt and share with the world, where most applicable/relevant in various markets - Continue to demonstrate that business is as usual in Egypt, to address concerns of safety/security Target audience: - Egyptians across the world: Mobilize them to share the beautiful images of Egypt that they experience and/or remember fondly - Millennials: Utilized as key drivers of content on social media, to make #thisisegypt a household name and commodity - Arabs: Targets because of their proximity, love for the authentic Egypt

Credits

Name Company Role
Ramsey Naja J.walter Thompson Chief Creative Officer
Ben James J Walter Thompson New York Executive Creative Director
Mohamed Hammady J Walter Thompson Cairo Executive Creative Director
Riham Al Adl Hill/Knowlton Strategies Managing Director
Reem Megahed J Walter Thompson Cairo Head of production
Ibrahim Eslam J Walter Thompson Cairo Associate Creative Director
Ahmed Abdel Kader J Walter Thompson Cairo Associate Business Director
Sarah Moussa J Walter Thompson Cairo PR Account Director
Adam Mourad J Walter Thompson Cairo Senior Copywriter
Malek Sharif J Walter Thompson Cairo Art Director
Ahmed Wahid J Walter Thompson Cairo Copywriter
Sally Ezzat J Walter Thompson Cairo Account Director
Diana George J. Walter Thompson Cairo Senior Planner
Amir Adib J.Walter Thompson Cairo Senior Planner
Menna Hagrass J Walter Thompson Cairo Account Manager
Nazli Kassem J Walter Thompson Cairo Account Executive
Ahmed El Naggar J Walter Thompson Cairo Digital Strategy Manager
Karim Fanous J Walter Thompson Cairo A/V Director
Ahmed El Naggar A/V Director
Nader Nakoury A/V Director