2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Background

Shahid is an iconic brand in the Arabic world. For decades, it has been the brand of choice during Ramadan, dominating household viewing. As the broadcast landscape evolved, the Board realized that a revitalized Shahid was key to the future of MBC Group in its entirety, because the business model was rapidly evolving from broadcast and time-based viewing to online and on-demand viewing. Given the change in business strategy and the commitment to fundamental change across product and platform, our task was to create a singular brand positioning to try and redefine Shahid’s relevance in people’s changing lives, in order to establish Shahid as the regional leader in on-demand Arabic video entertainment.

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

‘The stories of our times’. Our brand idea comes to life through manifesting the power of storytelling, reflecting the times in which Arab youth currently live. Times of change, times of progress, and times of Arab pride. Since the dawn of time, all good stories have evoked emotions. These stories and emotions have lived with us for mere fleeting moments or changed the way we see the world. As an Arabic-first brand, we looked to our rich and diverse alphabet. In the first letter of Shahid (‘Sheen’ in Arabic), we found the right form to bring the universal language of emotion to life. The Sheen is composed of a baseline and three dots, and when put together they form an ellipsis (…) reflecting an ongoing conversation between people. When brought to life, the three dots form eyelids with the ability to showcase the six core emotions, using colour and form.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

A bold Arabic-first logo, it showcases attitude and confidence, without compromising visibility or legibility. The logo is responsive to different platforms, scaling from the full wordmark down to its constituent ‘sheen’. The photographic style reflects the vibrant world of Arab youth, coupled with a digitally native colour palette. The tone of voice is not just conversational but even cheeky, inspired by our nostalgia for old Arabic movies. And the design system is modular, flexible and easy to implement. Most importantly the user interface is all about ease of use, with a clear hierarchy and a well-crafted library of iconography.

List the results (20% of vote)

The new brand strategy and identity were launched with great fanfare on January 15th at the Dubai Opera, with the great and the good of the media and television industries in attendance. The new logo was projected on the Burj Khalifa, with a live simulcast onto the big screen it the opera house.