2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

GHOST PEPPER TWISTER

Short List
BrandKFC
Product/ServiceKFC
EntrantTBWA\RAAD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryChallenger Brand
Idea Creation TBWA\RAAD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Media Placement HEARTS & SCIENCE Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production WONDERFUL PRODUCTIONS Beirut, LEBANON

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

Using the beauty category as our muse, we turned the spicy Ghost Pepper Twister into a makeup tool that connected directly with the intended audience: women who were unaware of spicy food’s incredible health benefits. We entered this category like any beauty product would and created a unique parody using typical beauty-world tropes. The film shows a woman go from tired to fabulous-and-red-cheeked thanks to the spicy Ghost Pepper Twister effect: Bite, Rush, Blush.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

For ages, advertising has spewed the same rhetoric about spicy food, especially in the MENA region, where food isn’t food unless it’s covered in spice and the over the top “masculine” challenge approach is the norm. This has led to spice having an intimidating reputation – especially amongst women who are less likely to be attracted to the challenge of extreme spice. Which is a shame, because when taking a deep-dive into the world of spice, we found doctors and nutritionists have a very different story to tell. According to them, spice has remarkable health benefits, from lowering blood pressure to weight loss and skincare routines. This insight helped us bridge the gap between the perception of spicey food among women in the region, and how we could break through the stereotypical macho spice ads that make spice about a “challenge” rather than a delicious, blush inducing experience.

Please tell us about the challenger brand and how your campaign challenged / was different from your competitors

Turning a spicy wrap into a beauty product to attract a new target was doing something completely unheard of. Infiltrating the beauty category and using its typical beauty-world tropes to showcase “the look” was a clever way to connect with our desired audience in a more personal way. We literally met them right where they were: inside beauty salons, next to beauty shops, inside beauty magazines, on beauty influencers’ makeup benches. This helped us change how they looked at spice … and changed how spice looked on them.

Credits

Name Company Role
Walid Kanaan TBWA\RAAD CCO
Jennifer Fischer TBWA\RAAD Chief Innovation Officer
Joe Lahham TBWA\RAAD General Manager/MD
Bruno Bomediano TBWA\RAAD ECD
Hassanayn Rauf TBWA\RAAD Creative Director
Elsa de Bruyn TBWA\RAAD Copywriting
John Abiad TBWA\RAAD Client Servicing
Rouba Asmar TBWA\RAAD Head of Production
Rozy el Beainy TBWA\RAAD Production
Hamza Khan TBWA\RAAD Social Media
Ashleigh Morgan TBWA\RAAD Client Servicing
Dina Salem TBWA\RAAD Social Media
Rodrigo Scapolan TBWA\RAAD Art Direction
Romy Abdelnour TBWA\RAAD Corporate Communications Director
Luca Caon - Director
Luca Costantini - DOP
Désirée A Wonderful Productions Executive Producer
Rytta Mezher Wonderful Productions Senior Producer