2018 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

The UAE's iconic Ministry of State for Happiness and their pioneering initiative , The National Programme for Happiness and Positivity awarded us their branding project. This was a unique community-based branding exercise, where over 2000 children were asked to illustrate their interpretation of happiness. No rules or boundaries were drawn to inspire fresh & authentic ideas in designing this unique logo for a government program. This was done to capture the ingenious innocence and pure perception of happiness and positivity that only a child can experience and express creatively.   We joined hands with experts to identify recurring elements and understand why these elements of the thousands drawn were specifically chosen. The resulting key sketches were converted into icons that became logo elements whereas the children’s scribbles helped us create a playful handwritten font. This in the future would be applied to various touch points across platforms in the country

Creative Execution

The brand mark and guidelines became the backbone of the communication that went to all the ministries and was released in public domain. This became the identity of National Program for Happiness and Positivity from which elements were used in different associated initiatives, further flowing on. We made brand guidelines which would help future agencies work on this. The guidelines detailed the usage of the mark. We began from internally used material including corporate stationery like business cards, letterheads, notepads and memos among others. These would engage their internal staff, then move on to all key ministries, eventually becoming a public exercise where it would be used for presentations, events, etc. We defined how it’ll be used for corporate sector and illustrated how it would manifest into gifting, giveaway ideas, direct mailers, vending machines as well as metal items such as cufflinks and lapel pins along with daily practical including phone

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The result has been a unanimous buy in and endorsement from across different ministries and the public. Its reach has been far and wide, onto buildings, vending machines, ATMs. Since the Program has government backing the impact on the public and their daily life has been substantial. The brief was to create an entity that grabs attention, is easy to understand and calls for immediate engagement, and the results have spoken for themselves. Consumers are seen interacting with the brand at various venues and through various platforms including various restaurants and popular and upcoming locations such as Box Park and City Walk, etc

The UAE government believes it is imperative to nurture an environment of happiness in order for it to percolate and extend throughout communities and places of business. This not only results in healthy and satisfied citizens but also results in increased productivity and efficiency over time. In order to achieve and harmonise with the government’s plans, various programmes, policies, and legislations were put in place to achieve happiness and positivity in society. The ultimate target audience of this exercise were the residents of the UAE, at large. The holistic and comprehensive programme targets children, adults and senior members of the society. Our approach was to tie in with the government initiatives and create a brand that was the embodiment of happiness and positivity inspiring instant engagement. We wanted to create elements which would become visual metaphors for happiness and positivity and flow freely through communities and business environments.