2022 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Media?

The Alternative Lebanon initiative creatively presented a serious vision of the lebanon we are acting for. 60 visionary solutions to the current crises, by 60 activists and opinion leaders, were published and distributed on different media platforms, this campaign utilized the media to spread positivity and challenge the status quo in the upcoming elections of March 2022.

Background

Due to Lebanon's political paralysis and its corrupted system collapsing at all levels, especially after the biggest non-nuclear explosion in history that hit the Beirut port, the country of 6000 years of civilizations was unfortunately lost within a failed state. The negativity has shadowed its people and the future looks dark and hopeless for a majority of Lebanese. With the parliamentary elections approaching in May 2022, our moral civil responsibility pushed us to find alternative tangible solutions and create a solid foundation for change across all sectors to avoid the return of the corrupted current candidates.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

Inspired by a popular expression in Arabic BADAL AAN DAYEH “بدل عن ضايع” which means “The Replacement of a lost valuable object by a new one”, by simply reversing the order of the letters D and L in the word BADAL, we get BALAD, which literally means country. This small twist took the expression into a different creative meaning and became BALAD AAN DAYEH which means “TO FIND AGAIN" the lost values and essence of our country”, in other terms, seeking “The Alternative Lebanon”. The concept was created by highlighting the landmarks and icons of the Golden Era of Lebanon, then we executed this idea by creating from scratch a cabinet with 60 drawers symbolizing the Lebanon that once existed, aiming to find it again by gathering distinguished experts from all sectors, to come up with alternative solutions to the current collapsing national situation.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

In order to restore the faith of the Lebanese in building a sustainable and thriving country, winning against the current corrupted system in the parliamentary elections May 2022 was crucial. To achieve that, the mass media reach had to target the largest possible audience, 7 months prior to the elections. 60 renowned activists, journalists, artists, lawyers, doctors, engineers, opinion leaders and influencers laid down tangible solutions and visionary projects, published and spread across all local media and social media platforms. Interviews were conducted to elaborate on their creative projects, increase the exposure and interaction with the audience, and initiate the positive momentum of change.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Since we lost the essence and values of our country, the first stage of the implementation was to create a cabinet from scratch, symbolizing the inspirational Golden Era and highlighting THE Lebanon that once fascinated the world. Today, this cabinet represents the Alternative Lebanon, ready to file fresh innovative projects in its drawers and bring back the pulse of our country. The second stage of implementation was launching this disruptive campaign across all possible media platforms, in order to reach the widest audience. In just few days the campaign went viral and kept organically multiplying through shares and engagement amongst the followers of the 60 activists and opinion leaders, for the 3 weeks that followed, under the hashtag (BALAD AAN DAYEH) بلد_عن_ضايع#

List the results (30% of vote)

We launched 60 ideas and solution projects presented by 60 renowned activists, journalists, artists, lawyers, doctors, engineers, opinion leaders and influencers, all at the same time, just in one day. Each of the activist's social media platform acted as a channel from which a ripple effect of hope and positivity was multiplied. This initiated interactions and debates around the innovative solutions and invited the audience to engage in these challenging discussions. BALAD AAN DAYEH, The Alternative Lebanon, created a positive momentum in just few days and became the fundamental credible base to lead the change in the parliamentary upcoming elections in May 2022.

Please tell us about the challenger brand and how the work challenged / was different from the brand's competitors

In order TO FIND AGAIN the lost values and essence of our country and challenge the Lebanese internal turmoil, a disruptive national campaign was crucial. We decided to be ahead of the game and take charge by launching in just one click, 60 revolutionary alternatives for the current Lebanese crises. We introduced 60 new solutions, presented to the people 60 new faces as potential candidates for the May parliamentary elections 2022.