2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

The 'Value of Trade' campaign added creative, comprehensive brand building through the storytelling. The campaign aimed to address social, ethical and environmental issues in order to protect and/or improve DP World's reputation.

Background

DP World operates 78 marine and inland terminals in 40 countries across 6 worldwide. This global trade enabler is headquartered in Dubai and employs 45,000 people. DP World is publicly listed on the Nasdaq Dubai Stock Exchange. While they are a key contributor to the growth and development of trade and their operative local communities, no one really knew the incredible benefits that come with a successful port and even fewer appreciated the ramifications of this across a wide range of audiences. To showcase the positive human impact DP world has worldwide through its ports and trade opportunities through filmed stories for use on the DP World website and their social channels. The primary objective of this campaign was to build awareness of the work DP World does globally in individual local communities. Thus, reinforcing its reputation as a global leader in trade and opportunities to diverse audiences.

Describe the creative idea.

Ports have always been the nerve-centers for progress. Some of the most important financial centers in the world today once started off as ports: New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Cape Town, Mumbai, Dubai etc. Driven by this sheer, but impactful insight we developed ‘The Value of Trade’ campaign. This was a series of films that were aimed to be individually and uniquely designed to tell the stories of a wide range of people who had been positively affected by the Port in their city that DP World operated whether that be: (semi) government, corporates, SME’s, employees and direct/indirect third parties. The films were planned to be journalistic (unscripted) in style to give them credibility and would be an undetermined length.

Describe the strategy.

Stakeholders of DP World range from government officials, investors, employees to even the general public. As a logistics epicenter, DP World plays a vital role in almost every individual’s life in this highly-connected globalized world. Whether it’s imports, a chance to streamline your business conveyances or a visit to the supermarket, DP World has an unseen impact almost everywhere. To bring these invisible effects to light, we approached the campaign through the voices of individuals whose lives had been personally improved by DP World. By showcasing how their success was our success, we helped people connect with the company in the most human way possible. Moreover, by using the story-form video content as our canvas, we could engage people through original, true-life content which were not just testimonials but heart-touching experiences as well.

Describe the execution

We left Dubai knowing nothing except our first destination. On arriving at each port, we spent at least 2 hours with the local management discussing about their work and/or what made them different from other ports. As all investigations go, sometimes the answers came quickly. And on other occasions they needed considerable unearthing. We then spent over 24 hours running in and around cities capturing footage and conducting interviews to speak for our two chosen stories. Our visits included hospitals, orphanages, schools, businesses and government offices in addition to the time spent at the port with DP World employees. After a 12/6-week long mission, we successfully produced a rich collection of 25 short films shot in 12 countries to be ready and put to use in the campaign.

List the results.

We used the campaign content to reach governments, customers, investors and employees. And through our social channels, we were able to create a dynamic ripple effect that not only helped us strengthen our reputation as a leader in trade and ports but also drove engagement and conversations around the topic: “Why are ports important?” In all, our campaign was driven by 4 videos with a $1400 spend in total to generate 720,302 views and 2,103,641 impressions.