2017 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Traditional Arabic coffee is time consuming and not easy to perfect. NESCAFÉ Arabiana tastes just as good, and has the added advantage of being quicker and easier to prepare. In short, NESCAFÉ Arabiana is a good idea. But lots of good ideas tend to get rejected at first… especially by the stubborn. And by their own admission, Saudis have their own brand of stubbornness. They like things done a certain way. The men have a set of three or four dishes that they MUST have week in, week out. And, (while they like to have all the latest gadgets), they resist changing their traditional routines and rituals – of which Arabic coffee is a part. The idea for “Why say ‘NO’?” came from Saudis’ running joke about their own stubbornness. It demonstrates, with humour, the folly in resisting a great idea when you really should be embracing it.

Creative Execution

TV: “Why Say no?” was launched trough 2 humorous films, that dramatize rejection of good ideas: The “Selfie stick” and the “Football penalty foam spray”. Our protagonists are well-known Youtube Saudi actors from Telfaaz11, which helped create instant engagement and proximity with our audience. DIGITAL & SOCIAL MEDIA: We created a family of Talking Cups as caricatures of a typical Saudi family. Coming alive in animated videos and GIFS, they dramatized stubbornness and started online conversations about being open to new ideas. IN-STORE: To create engagement, our quirky Talking Cups were at the heart of the in-store promo, with a box with 2 (of 6) free collectible cups. PAID MEDIA (display/pre-rolls/promoted posts) drove traffic to the videos. Re-targeting increased engagement and video views. Our films were re-designed to ensure our protagonists (Saudi actors, popular with our audience) appeared in the first 5 seconds (on TV they appear later).

• Sales increased by 24% (Ramadan 2016 vs. Ramadan 2015) • Brand awareness increased from 31% to 67% (2015 to Jan-Jun 2106) • People finally stopped saying “NO” to NESCAFÉ Arabiana: Trial increased from 11 to 23%, and consideration from 36% to 68% (Feb 2016 v. July 2016) • NESCAFÉ Arabiana was enjoyed in more homes: Ramadan household penetration increased by 128% (Ramadan 2016 versus Ramadan 2015). That’s the equivalent of an additional 755,000 cups of Arabiana • The campaign was awarded a Gold Effie in the Food & Beverage category in 2016. Sources: 1. 2016 Update of Coffee Brand Health Tracker, Ipsos, 2016 2. NESTLÉ internal data

Desmond Tutu said, “Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument”. The work is relevant for integrated because rather than raising our voice, so to speak, we played to each relevant touchpoint’s strengths to encourage, tease, coax, and (finally!) convince Saudis who are very much attached to their traditional Arabic coffee, to try NESCAFÉ Arabiana (which tastes just as good as traditional Arabic coffee, and can be prepared in a fraction of the time).

Target: Young Saudi millennials, who are attached to Arabic coffee, but don’t always get its preparation right. We knew that perceived taste was the #1 barrier. They believed that, being instant, Arabiana couldn’t taste as good as traditional. But once they tried it, they liked it (initial trial was low, 7%, but repurchase was very high -- 45%), so we needed to grow the user base. The approach had to be persuasive, but couldn’t come off as disparaging of Saudi traditions. Lightheartedly, and with a quirky Saudi humor, “Why say ‘NO’?” reveals the “tragedy” in stubbornly resisting new ideas: you might miss out on something great. The campaign needed to (1) inform and (2) engage. We started conversations about being open to new ideas, while creating awareness for NESCAFE Arabiana. This is where an integrated approach became critical to ensure each media played a different role.