2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

STORIES OF MECCA

Bronze Lynx

Case Film

Presentation Image

BrandALMOSAFER
Product/ServiceRAMADAN 2020
EntrantFP7 McCANN RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
CategoryCo-Creation & User Generated Content
Idea Creation FP7 McCANN RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
Media Placement FP7 McCANN RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
PR FP7 McCANN RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
Production DÈJÁVU Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Background

Mecca, Saudi Arabia, welcomes 2.5 million pilgrims, worldwide, in Ramadan and Eid. But, in 2020, due to the debilitating global health crisis owing to COVID-19, Saudi Arabia’s health minister warned of a spike of up to 200,000 cases within weeks. Consequently, Mecca was put under an absolute lockdown, during Ramadan and Eid. It was the first time in recorded history that Mecca was locked down for travellers from both Saudi Arabia and the world. Almosafer is a popular travel platform from Saudi Arabia (think Booking.com’s equivalent in Saudi Arabia). Almosafer wanted to be top of mind when the skies opened. But, with airplanes grounded and the travel industry coming to a halt, Almosafer, just like other brands in the industry, had a freeze on marketing spends and high-budget film productions. And with no pilgrims nor shoots with people allowed in Mecca, due to the lockdowns, conventional productions were not possible.

Describe the strategy

When we surveyed people in Saudi Arabia about the first place they’d travel to when the lockdown ends, 84% said it’d be Mecca. From a business perspective, to win affinity with travellers once lock downs ended, we needed to ensure a strong association between Mecca and Almosafer. With restrictions on what we could do, our strategy had to be executional. Now, we did not want to do a generic COVID-19 washing film in Ramadan. And we did not want to pick library videos or stock images to create a generic Mecca film. We wanted to tap into people’s personal libraries – their personal memories and stories of Mecca when they could travel to Mecca. We wanted to make Muslims around Saudi Arabia and around the world be a part of the experience, because if people could not travel to Mecca, their stories of Mecca could travel the world.

Describe the execution

We created the “STORIES OF MECCA”: The world’s first crowdsourced film for Mecca. In Ramadan, in the buildup to Eid (when most pilgrims usually gathered in Mecca), we launched a crowdsourcing campaign using Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram. A film was put together through contributions from people in Saudi Arabia and the world (across 52 countries), who shared their memories of Mecca. We wanted the film to replicate the journey of a pilgrim – from arriving in Saudi Arabia, driving to Mecca, conducting the initial part of their pilgrimage at the Holy Mosque and then, proceeding to other rituals. So, we mapped the entire journey of Mecca. And then, mapped the footages we received on that journey. Finally, from 12 hours of footages, came one connected story - a vertical format social media ‘story’, showing a journey to Mecca and the pilgrimage itself, through people’s eyes.

List the results

Costing only $4,000 for production, the Stories of Mecca earned advocacy from Muslims. The campaign was ranked #1 for Direction on AdForum in June 2020. It was picked up and featured by Creative Vertical Storytellers as an example of a crowdsourced vertical format film. It has also featured on leading platforms like LBB Online, TRT World, Mosques of Dubai, Arabian Marketer, Tourism Authority, The Stable, Campaign and travelled across 70 countries worldwide, generating an earned media value of $1.5 million. Brand relevance during Ramadan & Eid: +224% vs nearest competitor. Preference for bookings to Mecca post-lockdown: +33% vs nearest competitor. Purchase intent for travel post-lockdown: +16% vs same period in 2019. Post-lockdown flight bookings: +42% vs same period in 2019. Post-lockdown hotel bookings: +18% vs same period in 2019.

Credits

Name Company Role
Mohamed Qanati Almosafer Head of Marketing
Dany Azzi FP7 McCann Riyadh Executive Creative Director
Tahaab Rais FP7 McCann MENAT Creative Director, Writer, Art Director
Hosam Mbarak FP7 McCann Riyadh Head of Arabic Copywriting
Ounsy Nassar FP7 McCann Riyadh Art Director
Tahaab Rais FP7 McCann MENAT Regional Head of Strategy
Manasvi Gosalia Dejavu Executive Producer
Tahaab Rais FP7 McCann MENAT Film Director
Aeyaz Hassan Dejavu DOP and Cinematography
Ayas Hassan Dejavu Editor, Grading and Colourist
Ashraf Muhammedunny FP7 McCann Riyadh Motion Artist, Grading and Colourist
Brittin Lane Brittin Lane Music Vocalist
Joe Dickinson Joe Dickinson Music Composer
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