2018 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

The campaign turned this massive obstacle into an advantage. It made the mystery of the show into a mythology, like all the world’s great stories, one built around the pearl fishers who founded the city of Dubai. A myth brought to life by a media strategy that would touch everyone in the city supported by programmatic media buying leading directly to ticket sales. With no visuals of the show available, the copy itself had to carry the message and build the myth.

Creative Execution

Launching with a teaser campaign in early 2017, the campaign built momentum right up until opening night in September. From outdoor domination along Dubai’s main highway and press in Dubai’s lifestyle, entertainments and listings titles, the headlines established that something big was on its way. The call to action led people directly to booking and the buzz began. Integrating poster and print with online video, social media, SEM, SEO and programmatic re-targeting, over 500,000 unique online users visited the site with 120,000 seeing the show in the first 4 months.

The overall campaign achieved a conversion rate 123% higher than the category average and a 700% return on investment. The show is now planned to run for ten more years.

Reaching a mass target audience across multiple channels, the campaign brought together traditional elements such as outdoor, poster and print elements with online video, social media, SEM, SEO and programmatic re-targeting to drive interest and ticket sales for Dubai's first ever permanent Cirque Du Soleil-esque aqua-theatre spectacular.

With a target market of 'everyone, aged 10 -100', the campaign required both target bespoke messaging that would appeal to specific groups, as well as mass-market communications that would capture a vast range of potential theatre goers. By building a mythos around the show - at a time where no visual assets were yet available - we were able to use the lack of substantial assets to our advantage. The integrated communications all presented an air of 'mysterious yet spectacular' that heightened interest and intrigue.