2019 Winners & Shortlists

Background.

Saudi women are on the front line of change. They are more educated, they are driving, and they are exposed to new possibilities… However, it was still the beginning of the journey. In fact, women were still facing many obstacles in other areas that mattered to them. As a leading brand whose purpose is to make a real difference in women’s lives, how could Maggi play an active role in supporting them? Our main goal was to deliver on our promise by listening to women, understanding their struggles and giving them the right support. Objectives: • Contribute to a real change on-ground • Become a source of advice (measured through website traffic) • Reach women at mass (despite 24% drop in media budget vs previous year) • Generate above norm engagement rate on FB and IG (category norm 4%), and a 20% view-through rate on YouTube (regional norm 14%)

Describe the creative idea.

Everyone talked about women driving, but no one talked about women wanting to join the workforce. After all, true empowerment begins with economic independence. Women in Saudi were searching for: “How can I start working?”, “How can I open a business?”. They were longing to work but were struggling and were still not getting the right support from the community and from men. It was still not socially acceptable for them to work. As MAGGI, we wanted to change that. “Food Opens Doors” was our creative idea. In fact, interest in ‘food businesses’ was on the rise, and possibilities were endless: food trucks, Insta-food businesses, restaurants etc.. We decided to go on the ground and search for real, ambitious women who were struggling, support them and help them succeed, to set the right positive example for other women and the whole community.

Describe the strategy.

How does a food brand talk business? To endorse a topic as big as women joining the workforce, we needed to use 'real' protagonists; and make the content more about 'the people' and less about 'the brand'. The solution: Partner with real influencers to tell the story and amplify the message in the most authentic and credible manner. Through pinpointed data research, we detected the top issues that women were facing: lack of know-how, failed attempts, lack of acceptance from the community, etc... and chose experts in the food business industry to support. From across the Kingdom, we identified different women - some conservative, some ultra-modern who were struggling to open their business and paired them with those influencers to share their knowledge and advice on how to succeed. The stories were amplified on digital and social media, and targeted women based on what they were searching for.

Describe the execution.

The stories were featured as episodes, showcasing how those influencers mentored and helped the women depending on the struggles they were facing. - Nihal, who wanted to open a restaurant, was paired with Hatun, one of the most recognized women of change in Saudi, who shared her learnings from her past failures and successes. - Hamama’s insta-business was not picking up: Eman, one of the top YouTube food creators, gave her recommendations on food styling, photography and growing her business. - Afaf’s food truck was losing money: Marwa advised on marketing efforts to revamp the business. On social media, we offered real-time advice through tips, articles, business plans; and gave women at mass the opportunity to have live social influencer discussions to make the experience more personal and get hands-on advice on their own businesses. The website encapsulated all content in one location for people to always go back to.

List the results.

Through effective collaborations, Maggi inspired millions of women who had the ambition but lacked the courage to start. • 218M impressions and 28.7M video views (across all platforms) • 79% reach on FB/IG • Completion rate on FB/IG @30% (3x industry norm) and 28% on YT (2x industry norm) • Active engagement rate on FB/IG of 15% (industry norm 4%) • We drove 533K sessions on site with a massive time spent of 2min 10sec • Massive engagement with influencers who interacted with thousands of women Real impact on-ground: • New businesses opened even in the most conservative parts of Saudi, defying cultural norms and inspiring many others. • Small businesses expanded • As per Eman, one of the top YouTube creators in Saudi: “When a woman goes on camera and breaks the rules, she pushes other women to do the same… and she is basically telling them it’s ok!”