2022 Winners & Shortlists

Summary of the work

What is the background and context? February 2021: The month where UAE’s first expedition into space, the Hope Probe, would enter Mars’s orbit. Beyond a space mission, this was a cultural, geopolitical, and societal mission too, as 2021 was a critical year for the UAE to drive tourism and economic recovery. Who is our target audience? We had to connect with an extensive and diverse audience. • Global media beyond the scientific and political communities • Business leaders looking to invest in the UAE • Future tourists and visitors What was the challenge? The news risked being drowned out by space giants the US and China, who also had missions to Mars arriving more or less at the same time. The Emirates couldn’t win against their scientific or geopolitical chatter. As the world was still grappling with a global pandemic, a contentious US election, and everything else, there had to be another way to make our Hope Probe front page news. What was the insight that unlocked our strategic approach? Tapping into the mystery and wonder of space felt by ordinary people. Humans dream of space travel, and for most of the world, owning a piece of space is as close as they’ll get to the real thing. Even though The Emirates is almost as exotic as space, both destinations seem far off and mysterious. But once you arrive, you’re in for a thrilling adventure. What was the creative idea? Make visitor’s arrival in the Emirates as exciting as arriving on Mars, with a special “gift” from space. We crafted the message that we wanted to send to the world, a symbol of the UAE’s pride and hope, closely tied to the dream and wonder of Mars :”You’ve arrived in the Emirates. The Emirates is arriving at Mars on 09.02.2021.” As we searched for ways to bring together the magic of Mars with the magic of the UAE, after some research with scientific organizations, we learnt that the red volcanic rocks found on Mars, have the same properties as rocks found in the Mleiha desert UAE. Special missions were conducted by experts to collect, crush and liquidize the rock pigments into red ink. This is how we created our special “Martian Ink Stamp” and contacted authorities to roll out our stamp at Passport control for all arriving in the UAE on the day. And finally, to reach the mainstream media, we built a rich, interactive media kit. Why did this campaign succeed? News of our activation flew around the globe faster than our probe. Over 120 articles were published in multiple languages, and the story reached people across more than 60% of the countries on planet earth. The reach went far beyond just the scientific media, with many of the articles published in lifestyle, beauty, travel or general news. Overall, the UAE received 14X14 more worldwide coverage than the Chinese Mission despite the fact that the UAE is 155X smaller in size.