2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

Millennials in Lebanon are totally disconnected from banks. They do not believe banks understand them nor they truly invest in the youth. To get their attention we needed to act as an entertainment platform and no longer as a bank. We launched the first web-series in the middle-east produced by a bank. We went further and asked millennials to write, direct and act in a story telling the needs, potentials and ambitions of their generation. A story about a driven group of young friends trying to salvage a neighborhood café they hold dear by tapping into their own potentials.

Background.

The Lebanese banking environment still hasn’t entered the 21st century. Most institutions do not provide digital banking services, our client was one of the first Lebanese banks providing digital solutions to its customers and notably the skeptical youth. As a generation, the millennials feel totally detached from banks. We needed to engage with an audience who had never listened to financial institutions, and prove that we are listening to them. We aimed at creating a platform that would allow the millennials to not only contribute to the narrative but to actually own it.

Describe the creative idea.

We created the first web series in the middle east produced by a bank. Whereby the millennials who are the main characters of the story were asked to write, direct and act in the series. Café-El-Hay is a Lebanese 6-part web-series, about the bond between a group of millennial friends who overcome obstacles together with the aid of their diverse potential and Bank Audi’s digital solutions. The story follows our hero Jad who, with his grandfather, manages a neighborhood café in Beirut. Jad is surrounded by his close and loyal friends. The Café for them is more than a just a meeting point, it holds a legacy of Beirut’s glory days. They constantly aim at growing the potential of the Café through ideas that represent their generation. The ambitions of our young crew are disrupted by an eviction order orchestrated by the land owner, and a mysterious business woman.

Describe the strategy

The millennials do not believe in wasting time of their busy schedules to go to the branch nor do they trust a bank to ever know how to communicate to them. They see banks, as well as traditional means of advertising, as belonging to a bygone era. This is why, to reach out audience, we need to act as an entertainment platform and no longer as a bank. We didn’t simply want for them to contribute to the campaign we wanted them to become co-creators of a platform that truly represents them. The bank’s digital solutions would be an integral part of the storytelling as opposed to being a branded piece of content. Hence, we provided a stage for the youth to write/direct/and act in the first ever web-series produced by a bank in the Middle East.

Describe the execution

We launched a 6-part web-series through a trailer and media interventions on national talk-shows. The 6-part show would be released over a 7 weeks period on the brand’s social-media channels. They would also appear each Sunday evening on national TV- shows in prime-time spots. Although the campaign featured mainly the millennials the show meant to open a larger conversation around the potential of the Lebanese youth. With several stakeholders at heart, the banking industry, the startup community and the tech savvy millennials. The web-series were supported by tutorials featuring all of the show’s cast simulating entertaining how-to videos on how to use the bank’s digital solutions. Also featured on multi-platforms where our audiences were. We had unique pieces of content on various media that would be communicated at key moments during the day. If someone would be stuck during rush-hour they would be serve a message tailored to that moment.

Describe the outcome

SOCIAL RESULTS: 10+ million total views. 92% positive reactions/sentiment. 28.8 million Social media impressions. DIGITAL CHANNELS USAGE INCREASE AT TIME OF THE CAMPAIGN: Bank Audi Website + Bank Audi Mobile Application: • Active users: +54% • Number of Transactions: +40% • Unique Transactors: +52% • Log-ins: +248% SMART ATM: • Cash Deposit: +400% • Check Deposit: +465%