2022 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

The work is relevant for the direct category because it was a mailing campaign that consisted of the seeding/sending out of space suits to parents to get inspire them and their kids to achieve whatever they want, driving the UAE government's "Impossible is Possible" concept forward.

Background

As a part of its space exploration agenda, the United Arab Emirates launched a probe to Mars that was set to arrive on the Red Planet on the 9th of February, 2021. And this made the UAE the first Arab nation (and the fifth nation worldwide) to arrive on Mars. With this amazing milestone, the UAE government wanted to send a message to the next generations: everything is possible.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

One of the main objectives of the Mars Mission was to inspire future Arab generations to pursue a career in space science and innovation and prove to the country that the impossible is possible. So, to mark the UAE’s successful mission and create some inspiration for the future generation, we gifted the babies born in the same day as the arrival with their first space suit ever. Tailor-made for newborn babies, the space suits were designed and crafted with a soft and non-allergenic fabric and with the same details of the uniforms used by the Emirati astronauts.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Since our target was to inspire the UAE and take the government's "Impossible is Possible" concept further, we had the luxury of doing something broad. So, we decided to create an idea that would melt the hearts of parents, who make up a huge part of the UAE citizen base, and inspire them to educate their kids on achieving whatever they want.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The idea started off with the confection of the spacesuits. We partnered with an expert kids' tailor/clothing designer and designed a suit that would be perfect for newborns. This involved using anti-allergenic materials and being careful with the knitting and tightness of the small pieces of clothing. Once the suits were done, we scoured the biggest hospitals in the UAE and partnered with them to deliver the surprise to parents on the big day. The hospitals supplied us with an approximate number of babies expected and we prepared the suits for delivery. In total, we delivered around 350-500 suits in the 5 biggest hospitals in Dubai and the region, making the idea reach quite a few parents. Then, we had a PR strategy to seed our promotional video to the media and make the idea reach other parents and citizens who could be impacted by the idea.

List the results (30% of vote)

The baby space suits made it to the headlines with significant national coverage in the most important news channels in the UAE. It was a hit on social networks with thousands of comments, tweets and posts and a stunning 98% positive mentions online.