2022 Winners & Shortlists

THE SOCIAL DISTANCING PRAYER MAT

BrandDETTOL
Product/ServiceDETTOL
EntrantIMPACT BBDO Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryOutdoor
Idea Creation IMPACT BBDO Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Media Placement ADCOM LEO BURNETT Karachi, PAKISTAN
PR PH SOLUTIONS PK Karachi, PAKISTAN
Production BBDO PAKISTAN Lahore, PAKISTAN
Production 2 STP FILM Lahore, PAKISTAN

Cultural / Context information for the jury

As with the rest of the world, the COVID-19 situation in Pakistan was peaking yet again in 2021. In Pakistan, where education is low, and fatalism high, it was even tougher to convince the population to follow protection guidelines such as social distancing. Our objective, especially coming up to the annual Eid religious festival that draws millions of people to pray at crowded indoor mosques, was to not only spread an awareness message of social distancing, but to provide the population with a tool that would enable them to do so.

Translation. Provide a full English translation of any text.

"This distance, is a decision for betterment." (in Urdu, the words "distance" and "decision" are differentiated by only one alphabet. "Faasla" means distance, whereas "faysla" means decision. It is a highly respectful and poetic gesture to write this line in this manner).

Tell the jury about the art direction.

Traditional Islamic prayer mats are about 70cm wide, and used in mosques where Muslims pray close to each other. The prayer mat demarcates a personal space to pray within that would not be intruded upon by others. To build social distancing amongst mosque-visitors, we widened the prayer mat to 220cm with a message amongst its motif that reminds worshippers to maintain a safe distance. This was the first time in almost a thousand years that dimensions of the Islamic prayer mat had been altered. The mat design uses Islamic geometric patterns, which expanded within the space and created room for a calligraphed message: "This distance, is a decision for betterment" serving as a reminder to not only the worshipper on the mat, but as an instruction to the next person. Printed in Islamic green, the material used was sustainable and low-cost, non-tearable paper, which could be easily rolled up.

Credits

Name Company Role
Dani Richa Impact BBDO CEO and Chairman
Azeem Afzal Impact BBDO CEO
Ali Rez Impact BBDO Executive Creative Director
Marie Claire Maalouf Impact BBDO Executive Creative Director
Sebastian Roland Impact BBDO Strategy Director
Murtaza Talib Impact BBDO Resource & Operations Manager
Hassaan Aftaab Impact BBDO Art Director
Bijoy Purayil Impact BBDO Art Director
Osama Siddiq Impact BBDO Associate Creative Director
Jithesh Narayanan Impact BBDO Designer
Shabir Shahan Impact BBDO Designer
Faryal Ali Impact BBDO Associate Creative Director
Sebastian Pavone Impact BBDO Dubai 3D artist
Ali Rez Impact BBDO Writer
Sarah Tareen STP Film Director
S Izmerai Durrani STP Film Producer
Abubakar Khalil STP Film Editor
Abdur Rehman STP Film DOP Lighting Cameraman
Atiya Zaidi BBDO Pakistan Managing Director / Executive Creative Director
Haseeb Akram BBDO Pakistan Creative Director
Alize Munir BBDO Pakistan Head of Social
Raza Humayun BBDO Pakistan Creative Manager
Faseeh Abdullah BBDO Pakistan Community Manager
Saad Hussain BBDO Pakistan Associate Art Director