2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

The vast majority of parents in Lebanon believe that coercive methods of education are necessary and beneficial. The first victims are the children, where beaten kids become beating parents. In order to effectively enact change we needed to make children (who suffer from abuse) and their parents the heroes of the campaign. They appeared in a real social experiment, unscripted and uncensored. Seeing the reality coming out of the experiment would help translate their experiences to our audience in order to spark the first ever national debate on the topic.

Background

Due to an almost decade-long silence in terms of communication, the brand suffered from a complete disconnect amongst the Lebanese millennials. A generation skeptical of the models of previous generations, known to resist traditional/outdated one-way advertisement. A generation who desires to be heard above all else. They have high awareness of the world around them, they are expressive, active, and are mobile first. We needed to connect with this audience that had never really heard about the brand. More importantly we needed to launch a platform whereby the alternative millennials, who suffer from the repression of conservative mainstream thinking, can foster a more inclusive environment for their generation as well as others. We had a total budget of $ 140K, which is restrictive for a brand re-launch. In order to optimize reach and connectivity we turned to music as a tool for expression.

Describe the creative idea.

We created the first ever electronic dance track exclusively made of the people for the people. A track whereby the composition is solely made with the sounds and voices of the Lebanese youth partying/socializing at night (the only time whereby they can express their differences freely and openly).

Describe the strategy.

The brand’s purpose is to help shape a more inclusive world. Globally the brand invested in Electronic Dance Music (EDM) as a medium to connect with millennials. Music for them is a tool for uncensored expression. It carries their messages, identities and interests cross-barriers faster than any other medium. In Lebanon, the voices of the alternative millennials who advocate for a more open/tolerant/diverse society are still suppressed by the conservative mainstream. Music became the obvious vehicle choice and the Lebanese nightlife became our main engagement platform. Through an inclusive and participative approach, we went to where the millennials meet at night and recorded their live voices/sounds. The content (audio and visual) exclusively featured real people, in real situations, in an uncensored and unscripted way. Resulting in a youth manifesto, in the form of a dance anthem, that could travel the airwaves and online platforms without any obstruction from mainstream institutions.

Describe the execution

Through a digitally led platform called #MySoundCounts, the brand collaborated with local artist/influencer Blu-Feifer and producer Jana Saleh to record the live sounds of the Lebanese millennials over three weekend nights in streets/bars/clubs/house parties. Prior to launching the dance-track made of the Lebanese partying at night, we released a manifesto edit establishing the idea and platform of #MySoundCounts on Facebook/YouTube/Instagram and on Anghami (the #1 regional music-streaming app). In order to substantiate our journey through the different scenes of the Lebanese nightlife (our recording studio) we created documentary style edits. These pieces of content were released a couple of days after each recording recapping the experience to viewers online. The outcome is a track which strictly contains the sounds of the people, without any synthetic or pre-fabricated sounds. We released the dance-track on Anghami and on Virgin radio, and a live club release, capturing the attention of the subculture community.

List the results.

Results post campaign: •12.4M video views on Social (Initial KPI was 1.5M video views) •Post Reach on Social of 600K (Initial KPI was 429k) •75K post engagement including likes, comments, shares & clicks •100K+ song streams •Instrumental version of the song made it to the charts as #1 in the top electronic during and after the campaign ended. •Spontaneous awareness at 20%. +11ppt from last year (highest growth amongst all vodkas)3 •Total awareness at 64%. + 6 ppt from last year while all other vodkas grew by less than 5 ppt.3 •Trial at 44%. + 15 ppt from last year. All other vodkas were in decline.3 •Below you can find the real depletions which are based on Fiscal year: F18 Vs F17 YTD à July-Aug 2018 Vs July Aug 2017: - Total Off trade channel: Smirnoff Red +21% - Total On trade channel: Smirnoff Red +6%