2022 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Integrated?

Sherihan, who reformed the entertainment industry, had concealed herself from the spotlight for over two decades due to personal struggles. Yet, she made her way back through multiple channels to showcase to everyone that through empowerment, you can overcome anything. Stirring an unbranded PR-campaign, Vodafone united the Egyptians to inspired her return. Overwhelming the region’s screens, Sherihan revived Ramadan’s soul through a thrilling performance in a 4 minute film; that was followed by Sherihan finally releasing her long anticipated play that was shot years ago but have not seen the light until Sherihan was empowered through the people.

Background

With another pandemic-Ramadan approaching, brands were preparing a heavy comeback after a quietly deficient 2020 season, most bound to saturate the media with hopeful claims; people have been feeling hopeless and were no longer able to believe any claim communicated by the brands. This campaign was during a time where all brands were losing credibility with the consumers and all messages became universally lacking relevance or truth, so Vodafone needed to be able to showcase their message in a way that makes it believable. They were changing the brand perception through the launch of their new brand strategy, and they have to make sure that it reaches everyone, overperform relative to the rest of the competitors given that Ramadan season is extremely oversaturated and most importantly to build an emotional and human connection with the customers to restore brand trust.

Describe the creative idea

Vodafone aimed to showcase to the entire nation that together we can overcome anything; and aimed to have the people feel and live their new brand promise so that they resonate to it and build an emotional connection with the brand. Through her musical riddles, Sherihan has always been the comforting soul for Ramadan’s happiness; people either grew up watching her shows or hearing about them. Unfortunately, after going through vicious struggles, Sherihan had disappeared from the screen for almost 2 decades. Vodafone, with the exact recipe needed for them to build an emotional connection with the consumers, provided Sherihan with a platform to tell a story, one that didn’t only reflect her own, but also reflected the brand and related to all consumers. Through a four-minute film, Sherihan revivified the Ramadan season once again.

Describe the strategy

Reaching a population of over 100Million is difficult, but ensuring absolute relevance is almost impossible. Unlike most brands targeting a specific audience, Vodafone’s services cater for the entire nation. Especially non-commercial brand communication as it ensures relevance to the largest demographic of the population, the middle-class youth. This year, Vodafone’s audience was broader. Irrelevant to demographics, psychographics, users or non-users, Vodafone needed to provide consumers with a reason to believe in restoring their credibility and ultimately alter the current negative brand perception. Given that it was a brand re-launch, Vodafone needed to extend its new brand story to all mobile users. Our primary target were all Egyptians, extending mainly to an older generation in the MENA region. Our story relates to everyone who finds direct relevant to Sherihan; and even more so who did not, as it reflected the state most of the world is currently experiencing.

Describe the execution

A month before the season of Ramadan, Vodafone facilitated an unbranded PR campaign that subtly resurfaced Sherihan’s name into social conversation after being silent for almost a decade. Without further efforts, her name was resurrected in the media through people’s eagerness and adoration. performed a contrasted narrative of the struggles we endure in life, with a visually choreographed routine reenacting her personal struggles, concluding that through determination and unity, she, and everyone else, can overcome anything. Overwhelming all digital platforms, a full-network outdoor and television spots, as it remains the biggest channel of reach in Egypt, not seeing it was almost impossible. Despite the usual criticism on the high production value, the ad overwhelmed emotions, overshadowing any technical issues and praising the brand’s role in her return. Conversation shifted creatively, analyzing choreography, the repeated reversed lyrics that told conflicting stories and the bravery of visualizing the heartaches.

List the results

Viewership increased by +67%, reaching a new record of 230,213,000 Views (3.5x the size of the population) on digital platforms, leading to unparalleled engagement across - On Facebook, viewership increased by 25.8% (107M), becoming the first Ramadan campaign to surpass the 100M view on the platform, in a spam of 20 days, while TikTok jumped by +146.5% reaching 175M views alone The engagement rate was unparalleled to as well. FB engagement was 6.75% while platform norm is 2% and Tiktok engagement was 320% while the average is 17%. Vodafone was the top seen ad in all of Ramadan’s advertisement and the top liked ad The Promo usership was 50% (which was 12 times of all competitors) NPS increased by 5pts by May 2021; trust increased by 4pts while honesty and credibility increased by 4pts1