2022 Winners & Shortlists

THE KING OF INTERNET

Short List
BrandCONNECT
Product/ServiceCONNECT INTERNET SERVICES
EntrantTBWA\RAAD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryBreakthrough on a Budget
Idea Creation TBWA\RAAD Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production VIP FILMS Beirut, LEBANON

Summary of the work

CONTEXT: The upcoming internet provider in the world’s worst internet nation. Lebanon ranks last, at 169th place, in global internet rankings, among the world’s worst. Average download speed is 2.34 Mbps (vs. 28.33 Mbps in UAE, 10x faster). Even browsing memes, let alone video viewing, is never glitch-free. Facing the dominant duopoly of Alfa and Touch, Connect is a small independent provider, offering internet solutions with an actual reliable broadband at a much lower price. However, its marketing budgets are deeply smaller. TARGET AUDIENCE: Skeptical and cynical rural Lebanese folks. The big opportunity lied in rural Lebanon, where the main providers had big gaps: bad reach and worst speed. Rural Lebanese couldn’t count on them. They live from ancestral crafts, but also from the rising ecotourism. When their internet dropped, life would get even tougher. Despite all challenges they faced, these folks maintained a good sense of humor and could turn bad situations into sarcasm. As Lebanese Comedian Nour Hajjar puts: "We have to be able to laugh at everything.” CHALLENGE: An enormous amount of disbelief blocked experimentation. The Lebanese were sick of the unreliable infrastructure and skeptical towards anyone claiming to sell a miracle solution. How could we get the jaded Lebanese to engage with Connect and honestly consider the brand? STRATEGIC INSIGHT: Let’s have a laugh at how bad competitors’ internet services are. Was there something funny about the slow Internet that we could turn into an authentic way to tease the rural Lebanese? Well, yes. Get this: Lebanon internet is so slow that people still buy and watch DVDs. DVD are essentially the Lebanese’ antidote to the painfully slow internet when it comes to entertainment. CREATIVE IDEA: Buy your meme-DVD here, at the “King of The Internet”. In hacking the Lebanese’ DVD consumption habits, and their love for humor and memes, an experiential DVD pop-up shop was created in one of Lebanon’s remote villages: “The King of the Internet”. However, instead of selling movies and series, the store sold DVDs of… internet content! Cat videos. Harlem Shakes Compilations. Kardashian parodies. And memes: “Tiger King”, “Grumpy Cat”, “Sad Keanu”, “Distracted Boyfriend”, “Chuck Norris Facts”. The store displayed over 100 different DVDs of the most popular content. The surprise was that the DVDs were not for sale, but actual giveaway coupons. Shop goers could just present them at any Connect P.O.S. to get a wireless broadband installed for free and with a 20% off their first month. Just like that, they could watch all the viral content and so much more online. THE RESULTS: For every $1 invested in the campaign, we got $31 back in revenue. Do the math: for a total spend of $14,000, we unlocked over $436,828 of direct sales. Over 30% of the participants took home coupons, and 80% exchanged their DVD for a subscription. Our initial goal of 500 new users turned into 1,219 new subscribers, a 77% increase from average monthly subscribers. Now, tell me if that’s not a cost-effective campaign.

Credits

Name Company Role
Walid Kanaan TBWA\RAAD Chief Creative Officer
Manuel Bordé TBWA\RAAD Executive Creative Director
Bruno Bomediano TBWA\RAAD Executive Creative Director
Jennifer Fischer TBWA\RAAD Chief Innovation Officer
Krix Berberian TBWA\RAAD Creative Director
Rafael Lavor TBWA\RAAD Head of Strategy
Alberto Triana TBWA\RAAD Associate Creative Director
Federico Mariani TBWA\RAAD Senior Art Director
Felipe Menezes TBWA\RAAD Art direction
Camilo Rojas TBWA\RAAD Motion Design
Sabine Haddad TBWA\RAAD Copywriter
Rouba Asmar TBWA\RAAD Production
Rozy El Beainy TBWA\RAAD Production
Romy Abdelnour TBWA\RAAD PR & Communications
Remie Abdo TBWA\RAAD Strategy
Roy Khachan TBWA\RAAD Strategy
Martha Nassar VIP Films Production
Pedros Temizian - Film Director
Jad Beyrouthy VIP Films DOP
Zeina Nawwar VIP Films Production
Jad Nehmeh VIP Films Production Manager
Joelle Nassar VIP Films Casting Director
Anthony Zwein VIP Films Location Manager
Sherine Khoury VIP Films Film Editing
Karim Khneisser VIP Films Music Production
Ezzat Habra TBWA\RAAD Traffic
Naveen Madurakariyan TBWA\RAAD Traffic