2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

Entertainment is at the heart and soul of Arwa film. Starting from the illustration approach, animating the story and song writing the drama that the film was built around, all of this mesmerizes the viewer from start to finish.

Background.

Situation: In Saudi Arabia public schools are free nationwide but school supplies are not. In September 2018 alone, the stationery sector gained 300% revenue during the back to school season –http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/542245. In addition, with the new reforms and challenging economic situation that Saudi Arabia is currently passing through, it is becoming increasingly difficult on the public to cope with all these expenses whereas the school supplies constitute to 4% of an average monthly salary in Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, orphans are suffering even more which is leading their underprivileged education due to the increasing price toll of school supplies. In line with the above, “Arwa Orphans Program” was launched by SABB. Brief: Create a CSR initiative in line with SABB’s purpose of “realizing human ambition” Objectives: Launch the orphans’ donation program and establish an emotional link with the public.

Describe the creative idea.

The dramatic animation film tackles a story derived from the Saudi community represented by a young orphan named “Arwa”. Arwa has big aspirations one of which is going to school but her financial status as an orphan forbids her of doing so as she cannot afford the cost of school stationeries.

Describe the strategy

In 2018 one of SABB’s objective was to increase affinity to the brand and enhance its brand health index. Accordingly, the orphans’ donation program was launched. However, in Islam, showing the faces of orphans is frowned upon and since Saudi Arabia is the beacon of the Islamic world we had to be extremely cautious when presenting orphans in our communication. That is why we illustrated our story to embody the orphan’s story in a character by the name of “Arwa”. Also, as rap is a popular way to express the people’s stories in Saudi Arabia, it was our preferred method to narrate Arwa’s story and establish an emotional connection with the public at large.

Describe the execution

During the month of back school, September, the film rolled out on YouTube and Facebeook

Describe the outcome

The brand equity campaign of Arwa achieved a total number of 8,719,298 impressions with an increase in engagement rate 14X versus the banking industry average. Also, in a highly competitive banking segment, SABB’s total Brand Health Index (BHI) jumped by 2 points and its affluent Premier segment BHI index jumped by 4 points moving it from being ranked 3rd to being ranked 1st. All these were achieved while being 70% more cost efficient versus the industry norm.