2019 Winners & Shortlists

AN ODE TO ARAB FEMINISM

Short List
BrandMASHROU' LEILA
Product/ServiceIBL EL LEIL (SON OF THE NIGHT) DELUXE EDITION
EntrantFP7/BEY Beirut, LEBANON
CategoryCreative Effectiveness
Idea Creation FP7/BEY Beirut, LEBANON
Media Placement FP7/BEY Beirut, LEBANON
PR FP7/BEY Beirut, LEBANON
Production CLANDESTINO FILMS Beirut, LEBANON
Production 2 CAVIAR TV Beirut, LEBANON

Synopsis.

Mashrou’ Leila is an independent Lebanese band who compose songs against issues and inequalities affecting the Arab world. Their music deserves more attention worldwide, and with their new album’s launch, we needed to gain more exposure internationally. So, when the band tasked us with promoting their new album, we tapped into a major issue facing the Arab World: Prejudice against Arab and Muslim women based on their religious attire. Instead of a traditional campaign, we identified an unreleased song about ‘betrayal’, reframing its lyrics to address global socio-political trends against Arabs and Arab Feminism. And with an Arab woman director, we created a music video that challenged the global political and media narrative around Arab and Muslim women. The music video showed the inner power of Arab and Muslim women to a world that did not see them as empowered. It put the hijab and the abaya (religious garbs) in a new light - not presented as an oppressive tool, imposed by men or religion, as shown by Romans, the western media, but, as a symbol of grace, determination, strength and liberation, using dance as a non-violent medium that transcends language and boundaries. We disrupted the global narrative of Arab feminism and of hyper-secularized (white) feminism, that positions itself as incompatible with Islam and Arabs, impacting perceptions around Arab and Muslim women, and promoted the band's album effectively. (A) BECAME INTERNATIONALLY POPULAR. 1. Influential media platforms endorsed the music video; featured on NBC News, CNN Politics, The New York Times, NewNowNext, Voice of America, The Stable, Adweek, Scroll, Native, Egypt Today, StepFeed. 2. Travelled across 50% of the world, in multiple languages (Turkish, Slovak, Portuguese, Greek, French, Dutch and Spanish, among others). 3. Became the most trending content on feminism. 4. Ranked the most popular Arabic song worldwide on music platforms (iTunes, Anghami, Soundcloud, Earmilk and Listen on Repeat). 5. Featured on international pop culture platforms (example: Nowness Picks alongwith Madonna’s Ray of Light). 6. Influenced perceptions across foreigners: “Life-affirming and joyous rather than the timid, “oppressed” vision the West is used to from media reports.” (Alex Clifton, The Singles Jukebox). (B) POSITIVELY IMPACTED ARAB & MUSLIM WOMEN REGIONALLY. Arab and Muslim women reacted positively to a real representation, with 100,000+ shares from women who endorsed the music video as their voice against prejudice. (C) INFLUENCED SUCCESS FOR THE BAND. “Roman” features in the band’s concerts regionally and worldwide, taking the message further. Earning the band new fans, regionally as well as internationally, it has become the band’s most successful song: 1. $3.7 earned media value. 2. 580 million impressions. 3. +36% iTunes downloads vs. any other song from the band (KPI was 10%). 4. +24% album sales vs. previous albums from the band (KPI was 10%). The Saudi government used a part of Roman in their new campaign to promote their more ‘open’ view on their city with women finally driving. (Sources: Band’s Media and Social Media Monitoring, Social sentiment analyses and quantitative survey, Online and Album Performance Report)

Credits

Name Company Role
Jessy Moussallem Clandestino Films Director
Jessy Moussallem Clandestino Films Creative Director
Emile Atallah FP7 McCann Beirut Managing Director
Karim Kazan FP7 McCann Beirut Executive Creative Director
Tahaab Rais FP7 McCann MENAT Regional Head of Strategy
Wissam Smayra Clandestino Films Producer
Ray Barakat Clandestino Films Producer
Katie Dolan Caviar TV Producer
Carl Bou Abdallah FP7 McCann Beirut Regional Strategy Manager
Anna Sadykova FP7 McCann Dubai Associate Strategist
Ashraf Muhammedunny FP7 McCann Dubai Editor and Visual Artist
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