2017 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Football is not a unique platform. The world’s biggest brands own elements of this space. Coca-Cola owns the du Coke studio, Pepsi owns achievements and so du decided to own the du FC platform. Each brand speaks to who they could grow up to be. No brand celebrates the young players as the stars they are today. Research indicates that to be big in football, you have to be close to the scouts. Our European youth football counterparts touch glimpses of stardom by growing up with scouting networks and academies of major European clubs in their backyards. We needed to bring this touchstone and the professional feel of European leagues to our Youth league.

Creative Execution

Building on a 91% internet penetration in the region, the campaign was heavily promoted on online channels. Additionally, key offline channels were chosen to supplement and maximize reach. •The campaign was executed across mobile, desktop and video channels programmatically to maximise reach. •We leveraged partnerships with 365 scores and Goal.com (premium sports sites). We also provided additional content generated through the current games. •Videos were heavily promoted on YouTube followed by Facebook, twitter and Instagram to build awareness and cover the game highlights •Cinemas are a core medium for youth hence we were present at popular cinema venues across the UAE •Local Football Academies: We had on-ground presence as well as digital and social presence on their 3rd party site •Radio: Ran interviews of previous winners and radio competitions

Campaign Traffic – 145,535 Registration exceeded 5 K players and 450+ teams in 2 months (Objective – 5K Registrations) YouTube Results: • View rate: 18.45 % (1.2 x over the benchmark) • 2.1 Million views • CPV at $0.03 (In line with the benchmark at $0.04) • Clicks: 26K clicks Video Results: • 6.1 Million views • CPV at $0.02 (In line with the benchmark at $0.04) • View Rate: 64.32% (4.3 x over the benchmark • Clicks: 108K clicks Facebook Results: • 3.3 Million views • ER at 67% (1.6 x over the benchmark) • Clicks : 250K clicks • Reach: 5.2 M Twitter Results: • 134 K views • ER at 23% (6.7 x over the benchmark) • Clicks : 161K clicks Instagram Results: • 460 K views • ER at 45% (1.2 x over the benchmark) • Clicks : 18K clicks • Reach: 1.2 M

The du football “Believe In your Potential” campaign demonstrates a thorough media strategy and a first of a kind execution in the region by levering partnerships with premium sports sites such as 365 scores and Goal. The campaign was heavily led by digital and social platforms leveraging the power of engaging content . Through our partnerships, we created content around each big football game along with integrated fixtures and standings on their app . Those participating or watching got a flavor of what it was like to play in a big European league thereby amplifying the impact of the content.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

We needed to bring the professional feel of European leagues to our Youth league communications here in the UAE. Thereby inspiring new talent to sign up and showcase their skills. We wanted to inspire the youth to register in the program, so we built on the success stories of last year creating 3 videos talking about the experiences of the 3 finalists in European clubs and how it has changed their life. - Nawwaf targeting Emiratis , - Rami targeting Arab expats and - Lucas targeting European Expats