2019 Winners & Shortlists

3-WORD SONG

Bronze Lynx

Case Film

Presentation Image

Product/ServiceENTERTAINMENT/SELF PROMOTION
EntrantBIGFOOT FILMS Cairo, EGYPT
CategoryFan Engagement / Community Building
Idea Creation BIGFOOT FILMS Cairo, EGYPT
Production BIGFOOT FILMS Cairo, EGYPT

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

A 3-word song intended to be 2018’s summer hit; became much more. Summer season meant music season, and Egyptians love comedy; we took this truth to be our formula for entertainment. We created a music video and treated it as if it were a comedy sketch; crafting the perfect fusion of music and comedy. To keep it interesting; the more you watch, the more hidden details are revealed. Our 3-words found its way into the culture, by becoming a widespread-inside-joke between friends, as well as becoming the most requested song in any gathering, house party, prestigious event, or wedding ceremony.

Background.

Bigfoot films, a film production house, was well known in the MENA region for their exceptional work on TVCs. Yet, market dynamics changed; it was no longer about TVCs, the nation was hungry for culturally-impactful content. Bigfoot then was the pioneer in stepping in the content creation territory. One work that stood out was Raseeni; a web-series that features Tameem Youness, known and loved for being a creative/director/stand-up comedian. Hopeful to create more successful content for the talent at hand, our brief was to create a piece of content that can result in a bigger fan base for Tameem, before the release of Raseeni's new season during the Summer. That way we can guarantee the success of any of his content in the foreseen future. But in Egypt, Summer is gatherings-oriented where music is the center piece. This presented a difficult and irresistible challenge, how can we compete with music?

Describe the creative idea.

We didn't. We created 2018's catchiest song and music video; one that would appeal to the digital natives, a piece that would be appealing to different music tastes and to compete with musicians for this summer's big hit. We rode on their success. With the youngsters fast paced lifestyle, we knew they needed a short and sweet engaging piece of content. We created an entertaining piece of content with music at heart and released it in the busiest and most competitive season. The music video would appear simple and almost-improvised to the average viewer yet a lot of details and crafting would be exerted, similar to the work of a comedian. The stopping power of the creative idea was all we needed; that said the visual composition of our one shot film took this mission. Out of context, random movements were the key behind this stopping power.

Describe the strategy

Summer season meant music season, and Egyptians love comedy; we took this truth to be our formula for entertainment. We created a music video and treated it as if it were a comedy sketch; crafting the perfect fusion of music and comedy. With Tameem as our lead singer, we invited several other social media tycoons and entertainment elites to support the popularity of the music video; such as musicians, famous music composers, comedians, and social media influencers. We focused our efforts to create something completely sophisticated yet made it seem effortless and improvised.

Describe the execution

We knew that if our comedy sketch can beat those music tycoons, then we can beat anything. To make it even more challenging we decided to use only three words, an over-used tune, low budget production, one location and a one-shot film. All the while, use advertising techniques and subliminal crafting to make it the most popular piece of music. We did not compromise on our talents, we called in the most talented, top-notch and sophisticated professionals in the industry asked them to do the plainest and simplest things. Launching in August which is the peak of summer in Egypt was another key ; having Facebook as the only platform to reach masses of digital natives made the film go viral in less than 24 hours

Describe the outcome

Immediately after the release of the song Tameem was approached by various actors and production houses to write and appear in feature films. He appeared on both a local and regional TV shows and, was asked to perform live during the Gouna Film Festival in Egypt. Tameem saw an exceptional increase in followers across social media platforms; Instagram saw 185% increase, YouTube saw 128% increase and obtained the YouTube silver button, Facebook saw 167% increase, Twitter saw 190% increase. Accompanied by endless memes, countless covers and parody videos from across the region. Profiles and fan pages were created; with an exceptional rate of engagement to date. The song became a hit on Anghami; a popular Egyptian music app. In every corner and inside every home, the song was playing. Our piece of content was the center piece of every gathering; be it a house party, wedding, and even car rides.

Credits

Name Company Role
Tameem Youness Freelance Director Director
Begad Omran Bigfoot Films Executive Producer
Nada Faied Bigfoot Films Producer
Shahd Azzam Bigfoot Films Assistant Producer
Wael Alaa Byrdkill Composer
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