2018 Winners & Shortlists

THE CHRONICLES OF OUFA

BrandEGYPTIAN GULF BANK
Product/ServiceFINANCIAL SECTOR
EntrantINITIATIVE MENA Cairo, EGYPT
CategoryExcellence in Media Insights & Strategy
Idea Creation FP7/CAI Cairo, EGYPT
Media Placement INITIATIVE MENA Cairo, EGYPT
Production GOOD PEOPLE FILMS Cairo, EGYPT

The Campaign

Understanding that a significant growth opportunity existed in the 90% of the population that was ‘un-banked’, EGBank’s research discovered that more than 70% of this audience were young Egyptians aged from 16-26yrs old. Younger Egyptians mostly live with their parents until married. Too old for cuddles and child-like attention and too young for real responsibility and decision making authority, the youth’s place in Egyptian society is that of a second-class citizen. This is a generation that needs an ally. The target audience was clear. The problem: young Egyptians hate banks. “Deceitful”, “dreaded errand”, “confusing”, “conniving”, were just a few words this target was saying about the industry. Our audience profiling work discovered that young Egyptians are a generation that feels their opinions are not taken seriously and that they are not accounted for in Egyptian society. This is a generation waiting to be noticed, this is generation waiting to

Creative Execution

Our TV and video-based campaign came to life through a central character by the name of Raouf (otherwise known as Oufa) who helps highlight the daily struggles of young adults in Egypt in the most comical and insightful ways. Oufa is an anti-hero. He’s an average university student who lives with family. Oufa is the perfect tool through which we tell our story and engage with our audience. The campaign launched on TV and online with a series of thirteen 30sec episodes. Each episode chronicles aspects of Oufa’s daily life as he struggles through not being considered, being taken for granted and not receiving the recognition or respect he deserves. In every episode there is an insight about his generation, only to reveal that unlike everyone else around them, EGBank would be the first to take Oufa’s generation into account by helping them open their first account.

IN JUST 3 MONTHS AFTER THE CAMPAIGN, EGBANK SOLD 100% MORE ACCOUNTS THAN THEY HAD DONE IN THE ENTIRE PREVIOUS YEAR! When we saw graffiti of Oufa’s face all over Cairo, when we saw Oufa on prime time TV talk shows, when we heard Oufa being interviewed on the radio, and when Egypt’s most renowned drama critic wrote about Oufa in the newspaper*, we realized the campaign was a success. Even Amr Adeeb spoke about Oufa! EGBank had made headlines across the country. EGBank’s content generated 13,228,126 engagements at an engagement rate of 20%. 350,300 fans were recruited on our facebook page during the campaign. Our target of increasing awareness by 50% was smashed. We moved from being an unknown to a bank that achieved a top 5 ranking in a spontaneous brand recall study. Top of Mind awareness increased by 73%***. The campaign generated $680,000** in earned media.

Banking is changing its skin. It’s loosening up, taking off the tie and speaking to us in a language we understand. EGBank is one of the few banks in the region that is aggressively pushing for this move, unashamedly making traditional bankers (and their customers) uncomfortable. For its relaunch, EGBank boldly broke the norms of “banking communication” as it dared to talk to a new target, in a new approach with a truth that not everyone wanted to hear. In just 3 months after the campaign, EGBank opened 100% MORE ACCOUNTS than they had done in the entire previous year!

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

BECAUSE NO ONE TAKES THIS GENERATION INTO ACCOUNT, EGBANK IS THE BANK THAT HELPS THEM OPEN THEIR FIRST ACCOUNT! For the first time in Egypt’s history, a bank was going to take the youth audience into account by creating a relevant narrative that speaks directly to their needs and desires and then provide a product (their first bank account) that would empower and improve their lives. To capture our TA’s attention and generate maximum awareness we needed to create a public discourse which would highlight that EGBank truly empathised with their situation; that they are a generation not given respect or responsibility. The idea: polarize the two audience groups, and declare our allegiance to young Egyptians by publicly and proudly standing up for their interests. These young Egyptians are the engine that will drive Egypt’s economy into the future…and they will need a banking partner to make it happen.

Credits

Name Company Role
Adham Ayman Initiative MENA - Cairo Digital Director
Mostafa AbouHussein Initiative MENA Digital Supervisor
Sarah Khalaf Initiative MENA Senior Digital Planner
Mohamed Attia Reprise MENA Performance Manager
Ahmed Hafez Younis FP7/CAI ECD
Amr haddad FP7/CAI Creative Director
Mohamed Bary FP7/CAI Senior Copywriter
Sherif Fouad FP7/CAI Art Director
Hussein Diaa FP7/CAI Copywriter
Hisham Nagy FP7/CAI Group Account Director
Hatem El Rashidi FP7/CAI Account Supervisor
Farid Sayed FP7/CAI Senior Account Executive
Rania El Bakry FP7/CAI Head of Digital and Social Media
Yasmine Kamal FP7/CAI Senior Digital Account Executive
Naila Fattouh FP7/CAI Head of Strategic Planning
Heba Radwan FP7/CAI Head of Film Production Department
Omar Gawdat FP7/CAI Director
Ali Ali Good People Films Director
Pierre Mouarkch Good People Films DOP
Begad Omran Good People Films Executive producer
Mahmoud Derbala Good People Films Producer
Mohamed Sabry Good People Films Mohamed Sabry
Nada Faied Good People Films Line Producer
Engy Emad Good People Films Production Coordinator
Dzovig Torikian Good People Films Dzovig Torikian
Renad Tarek Good People Films 1st Assistant Director
Nada Salama Good People Films 2nd Assistant Director
Assem Ali Good People Films Art Director
Engy el Mor Good People Films Stylist
Karim Mira Good People Films Colorist
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