2016 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

In 2015, with the rise in natural and man-made disasters, the number of lost lives reached 26,000. People worldwide were losing faith in humanity, expressing their anger and grief through social media and on-ground demonstrations. As humanitarians, we wanted to restore people’s hope and encourage active participation from international NGOs to form partnerships and initiate global projects, so we launched a campaign of hope messages under a universal platform of belief: “Amen Humanity”, and backed it up with the “Amen for a Better Life” project, giving away houses and cars to the needy.

Creative Execution

With January’s Paris attack, February’s Iraq bombings, March’s Mali shootings, April’s Nepal earthquake, and numerous disasters in between, it was the right time to associate AP with hope. Amen Humanity microsite started in May, with simultaneous social media promotion, TVC on satellite stations and online, print ads in pan-Arab and international publications throughout May and June, and pledge booths set up in May in Saudi cities. The supporting project “Amen for a Better Life” followed during mid-Ramadan, in July, the perfect time for giveaways. With the project’s microsite launched in the beginning of July to accept applications, the project’s TVC aired simultaneously on satellite channels for a month, and online, along with a two-week YouTube promotion in July, social media promotion, and print ads in Saudi and pan-Arab newspapers. Volunteer applications and NGO partnership requests soared during the coming months. In December, Amen Humanity was revived through sponsoring 10 KSA.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

Amen Humanity online activation received 25,000 pledges (participants). Online followers soared from 57,000 to 260,000, website visits during the campaign reached 3 million. The supportive “Amen for a Better Life” received 245,000 online applications. Alwaleed Philanthropies received 1200 volunteer submissions from 50 countries, 18,500 partnership requests from international organizations; and an invitation by Global Goals to be the lead MENA partner; in addition to collaborating with UNHCR to support Syrian refugees. Thousands of participants in activations and millions of visits revealed an emotional uplift and more awareness. Thousands received homes and cars, while more organizations approached Alwaleed Philanthropies’ to form partnerships for the greater good.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

The “Amen Humanity” microsite provides an online user experience, enabling visitors to upload a face photo and add their own personalized Amen prayers online, taking a pledge to participate in Alwaleed Philanthropies call for humanity. The presence of the microsite was the main channel for showing that the Amen Humanity campaign was effective in attracting enough pledges and reviving people’s hope in humanity: one of the campaign’s main objectives. The remaining offline channels, on-ground Amen Humanity activations, and social media campaign pages also directed visitors to the Amen Humanity microsite. We backed up the campaign with “Amen for a Better Life” project, giving away cars and homes to the needy, and created the project’s microsite which attracted hundreds of thousands of applicants – automatically reinforcing “Amen Humanity” locally and globally.