2017 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Selfie mania has taken over all social media feeds and du visually capitalized on this using snapchat filters and selfie visuals for the postpaid plan creative message. Consumers told us, the infamous selfie stick has become synonyms with the funny tourist and selfie addicts attempting to get the “oh so perfect” angle to capture that oh so perfect moment. We decided to execute the UAE’s biggest selfie stick structure on Dubai’s most prominent highway called Sheikh Zayed Road and with that increase awareness levels on the latest Postpaid plan whilst outshining Etisalat’s recent Postpaid plan launch. The du postpaid visual and message of the plan evolves around the latest snapchat filters. So, we simply wanted to “turn heads” and what better way to turn heads is to turn a simple postpaid plan into an ambient 3D execution on Dubai’s most prominent highway that users on the streets would not forget.

Creative Execution

We wanted to go beyond simple traditional media by connecting two independent OOH elements to each other and turning them into a 3D execution that users would talk about for days. Despite the fact that the hoarding and the wall banner were two completely different entities on Sheikh Zayed Road, we wanted to connect both elements to each other in order to expose the selfie stick structure. By partnering up with Trinet Outdoor Advertising, who own the independent sites, we agreed that we would turn the wall banner into a phone frame showcasing the selfie snapchat visual, whilst the hoarding would be delivering the actual message. We connected both elements via a selfie stick structure that would be attached to the phone and would simulate a hand coming out of the billboard holding the selfie stick. The stick itself, measured 30 Meters length.

The smartplan 1000 awareness grew by 68% overall, with the highest awareness coming from outdoor at 49%. The week following the installation, sales increased by 27% vs the 10% KPI that du aimed at achieving. Awareness levels in Dubai outperformed all other Emirates, measuring an awareness level of 70% vs all other Emirates (Ipsos Ad Tracker Study). Lastly, the Smartplan 1000 postpaid plan established 34% relevancy across the desired target audience, while the execution stood out from any other execution that Etisalat, its competitor, had ever done on Sheikh Zayed Road.

Creating a 3D execution that consumers will find humorous at an age of “selfie mania”, we decided to execute a 3D selfie stick structure to drive impact and awareness on the new postpaid plan. The idea was to create as much awareness as possible on the new postpaid plan and hence pursue consumers to subscribe to the plan, hence raise subscription levels.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Sheikh Zayed Road is prominent for being in the heart of Dubai. With a daily traffic of up to 600,000 cars, we decided to conduct our outdoor execution in this area, in order to increase awareness levels within Dubai, recognizing all UAE commuters, who get stuck on Sheikh Zayed Road traffics for hours. We knew our execution would simply “turn heads”.