2019 Winners & Shortlists

#HEARITFROMME

BrandLINKEDIN
Product/ServiceLINKEDIN
EntrantEDELMAN Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryFinancial Products & Services, Commercial Public Services, B2B Products & Services
Idea Creation EDELMAN Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
PR EDELMAN Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Why is this work relevant for PR Lynx?

This campaign was founded on earning attention and trust. We tapped into a topical issue and pursued deeply understanding the target audience, in order to build relevance. We offered a point of view and solutions (rather than passive brand promotion). The value offering got audiences to care and share. Campaign traction was gained organically and offered a space for normal voices in Saudi to enter the conversation. And it Earned results – With a total campaign budget of US$6,000 paid budget, our campaign over-indexed on earned conversations to affect objectives in a remarkable way.

Background

Linkedin’s value was underestimated in Saudi Arabia. It's English-first platform was perceived as aloof and out of touch. Qualitative research showed it was perceived as a global brand, distant from Saudi Arabia, which didn’t understand the needs of the local market, and offered no noticeable contribution to the job market. This perception placed LinkedIn at a massive disadvantage compared to local and regional Arabic-first competitors. It wasn’t the first choice for either hiring or professional brand positioning in the country, and it had a slower increase in sign-ups than its competitors. It was vital to address this brand perception issue if Linkedin was going to have a chance at increasing their footprint in the marketplace. Objectives: • Increase platform sign-ups • Elevate brand perception

Describe the creative idea.

Our idea was to use LinkedIn data to rectify the subjective narrative and to tell real stories, from real professional women, thereby affirming their potential and giving them a voice via the LinkedIn platform. First, we conducted an in-depth research which exposed some fascinating contradictions relating to female employment: Using this data, we created the “Hear it from me” (#HearItFromMe) campaign, turning LinkedIn into a platform that amplified the voices of Saudi career women, making them visible to recruiters and public, via online film, social media, interview and more. We also delivered training to women and employers, giving people the tools to take action in the real world, enabling real change. The campaign encouraged companies in Saudi to re-evaluate their hiring practices and well as inspiring widespread conversation on earned, owned, social and mainstream media.

Describe the strategy.

Our strategy was to channel & align LinkedIn’s efforts with their human capital ambitions by getting professional Saudi women to sign up to LinkedIn & understand how the platform supports their careers & professional needs. We leveraged this insight: Saudi women reject the negative narrative deeming them unavailable or unready & seize every opportunity to voice their opinion and show their capabilities. The target audience was both female professionals and Saudi Arabian employers. Since female employability is a high priority on the national agenda, and controversial, we knew LinkedIn being vocal and having career women talk about their challenges would earn the media attention. Discussing the campaign research on Al Arabiya (a most viewed talk show),and feeding the story in to social media with LinkedIn’s first ever female Saudi employee, led to huge amplification.

Describe the execution.

The in-depth preliminary research study was the vital first step of the campaign activation. It afforded us a unique insight in to the REAL challenges facing women (vs. assumptions), and allowed us to design a campaign specifically targeted to approaching those issues in a practical, meaningful way. Key findings informed the following activations: • Social media data cards sparking conversation on Facebook and Twitter • LinkedIn’s first Saudi female employee as campaign spokesperson, Blogging and vlogging (Trusted local voice to help break the aloof global brand image). • Traditional media press release and media interviews with AlArabiya News Channel's PrimeTime Morning show. • Tangible tools for employers to place Saudi female Talent: - A Playbook guiding companies on using LinkedIn to place talent - 8 workshops educating 400+ Saudi women on building their professional brands and getting noticed by prospective employers (In collaboration with Ministry of Labor & Saudi universities).

List the results.

• 100K new sign ups during the campaign quarter, bringing the total Linkedin membership in Saudi to 3M • Linkedin’s platform generated over 548K impressions and over 13K clicks, which exceeded the engagement rate benchmark (0.65%) on the platform by 457% • 35% increase in perceptions associating LinkedIn with career progression among Saudi females • The campaign broke records on social media and earned more coverage than previous Linkedin campaigns in MENA. • Twitter engagement rate = 6.5% (regional benchmark is 3%) with over 60K engagements. • Facebook engagement rate = 10.6% (regional benchmark is 5%) with over 70K engagements. • 40 pieces of EARNED coverage across tier-1 dailies, broadcast and trade publications. • Total media reach of 49M impressions and an ad value of more than $160K • LinkedIn received countless collaboration requests from companies and was viewed as a partner in finding and attracting female talent

Credits

Name Company Role
Nimati Alemam Edelman Director of Strategic Planning
Bhavna Thapar Edelman MD of Brand
Rosina Casserly Edelman Senior Planner
Richard El Ayyesh, Senior Art Director, Edelman Edelman Senior Art Director
Richard El Ayyesh, Senior Art Director, Edelman Edelman Senior Art Director
Richard El Ayyesh, Senior Art Director, Edelman Edelman Senior Art Director
Richard El Ayyesh, Senior Art Director, Edelman Edelman Senior Art Director
Richard El Ayyesh, Senior Art Director, Edelman Edelman Senior Art Director
Richard El Ayyesh, Senior Art Director, Edelman Edelman Senior Art Director
Richard El Ayyesh, Senior Art Director, Edelman Edelman Senior Art Director
Richard El Ayyesh, Senior Art Director, Edelman Edelman Senior Art Director
James Mitchel Edelman Associate Director Digital
Nada Enan LinkedIn Senior Manager Marketing and PR
Reem Mohammed LinkedIn Head of Saudi Arabia Public Sector
Zeina Harmouche LinkedIn Marketing Manager
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