2018 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

EGBANK understood that the youth in Egypt are unaccounted for, so we decided to give them their first account! We would do so with the help of a character, a representative of the youth, a young chap by the name of Raouf Abdel Raouf, aka Oufa. Through Oufa, we would reflect the reality of this generation’s struggle for independence and turn him into an icon.

Creative Execution

The campaign launched in a series of 13 short episodes, The Chronicles of Oufa, each episode unfolding a chapter and an insight into the world of Egyptian youth today. We saw a young push over get his share of comic neglect from those around him. Launching in batches across the duration of the campaign, the episodes kept the audience engaged, always wanting to see more of Oufa and his family.

When we saw graffiti of Oufa’s face all over Cairo, when we saw Oufa on prime-time talk shows, when we heard him being interviewed on the radio, and when Egypt’s most renowned drama critic wrote about Oufa in the newspaper, we realized we succeeded! Banking in a whopping $800,000 in earned media, EGBank had made it to the headlines. The research showed that the awareness we targeted was achieved with flashing colors. Spontaneously coming as one of the top 5 banks to be mentioned by our target, and increasing Top of Mind awareness by 73%***. Most importantly, our sales team were thanking us. In fact, they threw a major party! In just 3 months, EGBank witnessed a 100% increase in the number of accounts opened the entire previous year! We were in business, not just show, but real, hard numbers were starting to prove that our campaign was effective.

When a bank’s advertising is viewed by 10 million Egyptians organically, we know it’s something people WANT to watch. When memes, spoofs, comments and conversations online flood Egypt’s Facebook feeds then we know we’ve got good entertainment. When media picks it up and garners the brand up to $800,000 in earned media, we know the campaign has become a matter of public opinion. This is what happened with EGBANK’s latest campaign.

Our strategy was to dare to take sides. We couldn’t afford to be diplomatic. We were going to provoke the “traditional” banking target and instead boldly support the youth. The truth is, the youth are often sidelined, taken for granted by their parents. Their roles in society are often those of the errand runners and their opinions are taken lightly. The bank was going to bring this unspoken insight to the forefront of its conversation, and in turn glorify the generation of unsung heroes. By doing so, the bank would emerge as the only savior.