2019 Winners & Shortlists

FEARLESS

Brand20TH CENTURY FOX AND MAJID AL FUTTAIM DISTRIBUTION
Product/ServiceDEADPOOL 2
EntrantLIVINGROOM COMMUNICATION Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryUse of Ambient Media: Large Scale
Idea Creation LIVINGROOM COMMUNICATION Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Media Placement LIVINGROOM COMMUNICATION Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production LIVINGROOM COMMUNICATION Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

This is a brand experience, the feeling of Deadpool coming to Dubai, that made Deadpool have a cultural impact and ultimately led to ticket sales via activation on Dubai Mall and Reel Cinemas social pages.

Background

Deadpool 2 is an R-rated movie. The challenge was to launch the movie, being true to its spirit, its naughtiness and thus keeping credibility with loyal fans without offending any local sensibilities. This is after all the Middle-East. The brief and objective was simple. Do something that Ryan Reynolds would be happy sharing with his 22 million fans.

Describe the creative idea.

Deadpool was coming to Dubai. So what would be the kind of thing he would do ? We took an iconic monument in Dubai and give it that Deadpool twist. Never done before because its a piece of art- its surprising yet simple. One of the famous divers at the waterfall was turned into Deadpool. It was like wtf ? It really was a brand experience.

Describe the strategy.

The strategy was simple. Do something that was worthy of Deadpool that would create some noise. Do something good enough that Ryan Reynolds would share. Do something with a suit, the only element of the film we had.We didn't have access to the star or any footage at the time. We had nothing. Not even much money. Target audience was superhero movie fans but especially existing fans of Deadpool. Get them excited enough to see the movie at the cinema rather than wait for it on on iTunes.

Describe the execution

After getting approval to fit the suit on an iconic diver at Dubai Mall waterfall it soon became clear that the suit would not fit. The statues are in fact 7 foot tall. So with our limited budget we convinced a local tailor to make an original Deadpool suit, convincing him it was the opportunity of a lifetime. He had not heard of Deadpool but her rose to the challenge crafting a suit good enough to get the approval of 20th Century Fox. The waterfall is massive and iconic and is at the world's largest mall. A mall that gets a million visitors a week.

List the results.

The brief was to create enough cultural impact that Reynolds himself would post it. It was shared by many other media outlets and individuals as well as generating huge traffic to the mall. It had genuine cultural impact, not pretend for awards cultural impact. For a while it was the trending conversation. It lifted the whole of Dubai as it felt like Dubai could also do cool stuff not just glitzy stuff. The box office was higher than predicted- enough for an extended run and enough to have a week 2 that was very little off week 1 - which is massive in the movie world. Figures from Meltwater: 36.2 million social media reach 373 related posts. 100%positive sentiment. 1.2million likes The most liked Dubai related post ever. 576K reach in the UAE from publications. 787% ROI on media. Knocked Avengers from No 1. Spot Source: Meltwater

Credits

Name Company Role
livingroom livingroom creative
seyoan vela livingroom executive creative director
namal siddiqui livingroom account manager