2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

Saudi Arabia's financial category is filled with product-first and offer-heavy advertising across channels, especially films. So, for Emirates NBD, a relatively new bank in Saudi Arabia, to promote its credit card, we didn't do yet another ad. Instead, we created a short film featuring a fictional character; a generous (albeit peculiar) man in a thankless and loveless world (a symbolism of how Saudi banks often treat customers). And through earning their time and attention, we earned acquisitions.

Background

Emirates NBD is a leading bank in the UAE. But it was a relatively new bank in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s advertising landscape, particularly films, tend to be packed with generic credit card offers, from banks and financial institutions, that flood the market. Emirates NBD was launching its new cashback credit card called ‘Mazeed’ in Saudi Arabia. As a challenger brand in the market, Emirates NBD needed to do something banks don’t do to stand out and earn attention and awareness, and drive acquisitions.

Describe the creative idea

The Man Who Never Got Anything Back", is a short film, set in Saudi Arabia, that follows the life in yet another day of a fictional character from Saudi Arabia, as he gives or tries to give to others around him, but gets nothing back; until the end when he uses his Emirates NBD Mazeeed Credit Card, remembers what it's like to smile and breaks the fourth wall!

Describe the strategy

There are many times in life that you give to someone else, but never quite get something back. The same goes for the money you spend with banks, as you never quite get anything back. So, we wanted to show the joy of Emirates NBD’s cashback offer by showing the joy of getting something back after a life without getting anything back. And we wanted to dramatize that archetype through our short film.

Describe the execution

We created a fictional character in Saudi Arabia to break through the credit card advertising clutter. He’s a peculiar yet well-meaning man in a cold and thankless world that ignores him; symbolically representing life… and banks. The film’s cold look aims to embody his world’s reality. In the most “un-Saudi” banking film, we go through his life in yet another day, observing the many instances when he, generously, gives something to someone else… Helping hold the elevator door open for an elderly woman. Doing the midnight shift to help his boss with urgent work that the latter needed. Stopping on the highway back home to feed a lost goat. Cooking pasta (albeit an absolutely bland one) for his wife. Putting money into a vending machine to get a snack, as he wanders alone at the mall. Across all those instances, we see him get nothing back. Until one transformational moment…

Describe the outcome

The film engaged thousands actively and increased acquisitions (see confidential information for more).