2018 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Cadillac moving its headquarters from Detroit to New York in an effort to become engrained in this innovative and multicultural city, was the perfect opportunity to associate the brand with New York, knowing that it has a positive perception vs. the rest of the US. New York is known for its diversity, tolerance, and creativity. We wanted to bring 'Dare Greatly' to life by tapping into one of the most controversial subjects relevant to the Arab region at a time where brands in the region were shying away from the conversation. 'Arabs of New York' shined our headlights on the Arabs that moved to New York City celebrating what it truly means to dare greatly and thrive in one of the world’s toughest cities. We wanted to show that despite stereotyping of Arabs in the media, the majority of them play an integral part in the city that never sleeps.

Creative Execution

The campaign lived on social from September to December 2017. The assets were designed in a way that allowed us to optimize the message depending on the platform they lived on. The main film's objective was to shed light on these individuals who left their home to pursue their dreams. It was used across all platforms as part of the awareness phase. On Twitter, the assets were designed to drive a conversation. We used conversational ads that prompted users to give their opinions on topics related to stereotyping & immigration. On Instagram, the cutdowns were short edits with powerful messages used as supers, like 'The best of a city, isn't always born in that city' to get the message across in an impactful way. Finally, Snapchat ads & Instagram stories were powerful portrait shots of the faces, serving to trigger curiosity and prompt users to swipe up.

Despite a low media budget we had great results: •The brand has increased 12 points on brand measure of positive opinion after witnessing a steady decline for the past 2 years. •14.2 Million users reached across Facebook, Twitter & Instagram •Over 2.8K tweets have been posted by the users, expressing their opinion •3.5 Million engagements achieved on Facebook & Instagram despite the buying models being reach & views •On Twitter, CPE is 30% lower than the benchmark •Overall sentiment for this campaign was positive on all platforms, and managed to create a discussion within the community & creating the association between the brand and NY

When buying a car people are influenced by social pressure, hence we needed to reach not only our buying audience but the public. We selected social to drive both awareness as well as conversation knowing the topic could trigger emotional reactions and opinions. Social Media was used to engage consumers and start a conversation about immigration & the stories of these Arab individuals who left their homes to pursue their dreams in the Big Apple. We selected different faces who each came from different backgrounds: From Mohammad Feirouz, an Emirati amongst the most regularly accredited composers known, to Alaa Balkhy, a Saudi Fashion designer – these different personalities allowed us to appeal to different types of audiences. The strategies per platform were as follows: Twitter = Engagement & conversation Facebook = Reach & engagement Instagram = Reach Snapchat = Reach Vice = Conversation & credibility