2019 Winners & Shortlists

Background.

In this evolving digital era, every brand platform makes it onto a media planners' proposal, with 72% of marketing budgets being shifted onto digital. However, given the nature of Facebook, Instagram and Youtube formats being more visual in nature, Twitter was becoming the afterthought. To counter this dynamic, Twitter launched #StartWithThem, a movement intended to highlight what makes their platform the most influential & impactful in the region. In short, it starts with their rich and engaging user base that tweets about content that matters in the now. Our challenge thus became to expose the media industry to the advantages of quality content, taking place in the moment, that only Twitter can curate.

Describe the creative idea.

Elevator Tweets. Taking the ‘elevator pitch’ to the next level. We turned elevator rides into a journey of discovery of what’s happening ‘in the now’ in the region. By micro targeting the busiest building in Dubai’s Media City, (employing 124 nationalities, and a workforce of 25000) we hijacked its elevators. Each elevator button, connected to a specific brand represented on that floor. The touch of each button activated specific hashtags to that brand and the entire elevator became a gateway to the Twitterverse of that brand in the MENA region, demonstrating on how Twitter generates instant connections with the right audience.

Describe the strategy.

B2B is never an easy job nor is it the most exciting. We wanted to take on a different approach to the usual sales pitch, that is perfectly fitting of Twitter's capabilities. And so we asked ourselves, what's the smoothest, fastest and most noteworthy way to sell something? The answer: An elevator pitch. We decided to take the basic notions of an elevator pitch (i.e.: straight to the point, does not obstruct or take away from anyone's time, and delivers only content that matters) and implement them figuratively let alone literally. Our strategy became simple: Turn an elevator ride into an elevator pitch at a touch of a button. Where do we do that? In the region’s media hub: Dubai Media City.

Describe the execution.

We developed a blend of bespoke software and hardware to bring a canvas of related tweets to life, in real time, inside an elevator. The hardware features both infrared and RFID technology to understand the journey that the elevator car is making, showcasing content that is relevant to each of the floors and its tenants. When a user enters the elevator and presses a button, a custom-fabricated overlay with infrared sensors, knows which button the user pressed. This input is then sent to a server, calling the corresponding content to the screen. If multiple floors are pressed, multiple calls are sent to the server and the content is divided across the screen display. Once a certain floor is passed, RFID cards in the elevator shaft communicate with a processor on top of the car to know that the floor has been reached. Tweets change continuously as they're refreshed in real-time.

List the results.

In less than 5 days, we received over 2,000 unique interactions and reached +100 brands. And from day 1, media and business publications picked up on the idea and started a PR wave. Finally, the success of this campaign inspired the Twitter offices in New York and London to request the same idea which will be executed in 2019.