2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

#KAFU - BRAVO!

BrandMINISTRY OF EDUCATION
Product/ServiceBACK TO SCHOOL CAMPAIGN
EntrantMINISTRY OF EDUCATION Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryNot-for-profit / Charity / Government
Idea Creation MINISTRY OF EDUCATION Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Media Placement MINISTRY OF EDUCATION Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
PR MINISTRY OF EDUCATION Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production MINISTRY OF EDUCATION Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Why is this work relevant for Media?

Back to School is the Ministry of Education’s biggest and most challenging campaign. The Back to School season is not a favourite. Students need to readjust to early morning wake-ups, parents are adding traffic-filled school drives to their routine and teachers are back to teaching apathetic students. Instead of another campaign faking joy at this challenging season, we decided to go down the motivational route with “Kafu” an Emirati word that translates into “Bravo” to let our audience know that we know it’s not an easy time but we believe in them and support them every step of the way.

Background

The Back to School Season is the Ministry of Education’s New Year. It’s the one time of year that the public gives us their ears but the challenge is in what to say to an audience that is tired of being told how exciting this time of year is. Instead, we decided to focus on our vision & mission. We are building the youth of today for a better tomorrow for the country. We see our role as motivating our students, this country’s future, to rise to occasion and to thrive no matter the situation, even if it is just waking up early to go back to school. So how can we motivate our community to rise to the occasion? Objectives: - Engage with students on a real level - Build positive momentum around the season - Create buzz and excitement about going back to school Easier said than done.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

Today’s youth are very switched on. They’ve seen it all, the whole world is available at their fingertips and the standard joy-filled back-to-school campaigns are just not cutting it anymore. Actually, there’s an entire suite of videos dedicated to mocking back-to-school campaigns in the region. We needed to flip the script. We needed to let them know that we hear them, that we know this time of year is rough for them and everyone else included but we believe they are up for the challenge and we salute them for showing up with “Kafu” – an Emirati word that translates to “Bravo!” – became our rallying cry to encourage every single person connected to the school system - teachers, staff, students, parents and children of determination. It made the ‘welcome back’ message personal and united the school community in purpose.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Emiratis make up only 10% of the population in the UAE. They’re constantly exposed to Western-style messaging aimed at the expat population. Being a close-knit community, they appreciate content that addresses them individually. As the Ministry of Education, our primary audience were students and staff in public schools, but we wanted to address parents as well. To counter reluctance and change attitudes, we needed a positive message with an Emirati touch. We launched “#Kafu to the ____” and individually celebrated the different audiences. This flexible messaging helped the campaign address varied topics: The new school year, achievement, learning, friendship, students of determination innovation, Smart Learning tools, light backpack education, books recycling, facilities inspection, health and safety standards, etc. For faster deployment across 7 emirates, for the first time we created a comprehensive digital implementation toolkit for 600+ schools that allowed the schools to make the campaign their own.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The Emirati School community was pleasantly surprised with the Ministry of Education’s inspiring message. With multiple colourful executions, #Kafu disrupted typical Back-to-School campaigns. All content had a common thread: By Emiratis, For Emiratis. We launched with a video starring the Minister of State for Public Education, HE Jameela Salem Al Muhairi. We then engaged local influencers whose personas amplified our messaging. Diala Ali (437k followers) - Safety and Health Ali Al Blushi (144k followers) – Light backpack initiative Mahra Al Shehi (172k followers) – Spot the #Kafu Bus We launched Chat Stickers on Telegram, highly used by Emiratis, to spread our positive message. We took over social media with our ‘Spot the Bus’ competition. Our school interviews showed the campaign reaction and the genuinely positive attitude that people experienced. “#Kafu to the ____” motivated everyone to be more creative, engaged and successful.

List the results (30% of vote)

#Kafu really changed perspectives for our Primary Audience: UAE Public Schools with 153,000 students, supported by 26,000 teachers, administrators and technicians. Total Number of Media Impressions: 2,350K Media Coverage: 46 publications Tier 1: 2 TV Daily News Segments: Abu Dhabi TV, Sharjah TV 11 Newspaper Articles: Al Fajr, Emarat Al Youm, Al Bayan, Al Khaleej, Al Watan, Al Ittihad, Alroeya, Gulf News, Khaleej Times, 28 Online Publications: Sharjah24.ae, Tellerreport, Abu Dhabi News, Emarat Al Youm, Gulf News, Khaleej Times, WAM, Ahlan Live, Teach Middle East, 24.ae, Dubai City Guide, Fujairah News, UAE News (AR), Al Ain, Ara Al Mustaqbal 5 Radio programmes: Al Oula FM, Noor Dubai FM, Al Oula, Pearl FM Tier 2: Through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, we reached 2.6M users with 1.6M engagements in just 30 days. Instagram: 805K with 760K engagements Facebook: 1.8M with 760K engagements Twitter: 31K with 12K engagements

Credits

Name Company Role
Samr Al Marzooqi Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Media Advisor
Hazem Malkawi Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Creative Manager
Nancy Hanna Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Section Head - Media Engagement
Rana El Habr Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Section Head - Digital Media
Fadwa Al Hammadi Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Graphic Designer
Mai Ali Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Senior Executive - PR and Communications
Garo Weladian Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Production Manager
Zaina Nasser Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Senior Executive-Marketing and Events
Amer Daboub Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Multimedia Producer
Raneem Malek Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Senior Executive - Media Engagement
Ahmad Al Hassan Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Senior Executive - Digital Media
Mohannad Taha Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Executive - Digital Media
Bassam Doss Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Arabic Copywriter
Hasan Badawi Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Video Editor
Heba Ramadan Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Graphic Designer
Thawra AbuKhalaf Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Executive - Customer Care
Kanwal Fatima Ministry of Education-Education Media Centre Administration Specialist
Hamda Nasser MOE Executive - Multimedia Producer
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