2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Cultural / Context information for the jury

First Abu Dhabi bank launched in Egypt in 2019 after the merger of First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi. The bank wanted to create a marketing activity during the summer season for the Mediterranean coast summer vacationers to attract their attention and start to announce to their target audience the launch of the bank. At night, long stretches of the Mediterranean coastal road are pitch black, leading to a huge number of accidents during the summer. So we decided with FAB to place billboards that don’t just display an ad. We placed billboards in the darkest areas of the road and attached specially designed lighting fixtures to the sides of the billboards, illuminating the maximum surface areas in these dark stretches. The billboards were placed with a message on them; “This is not just an ad… this ad is designed to light your way at night.”

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

With the top 10 banks in Egypt competing together to grab the attention of the same target audience every summer, First Abu Dhabi Bank -as a new player in the market- had to disrupt the status quo. While the common practice is to book as many billboards as possible before any other brands with selling messages and to flood beaches with branded umbrellas, bean-bags, branded booths and generic giveaways, we decided to challenge the market dynamics with an idea that will give a true and tangible value.