2022 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for PR?

For many years, experts would speak of the Middle East region losing its ‘demographic dividend’ and call to ‘unlock the Arab youth potential’. But there was one problem. No one knew what young Arabs really wanted! Even the most inspired policy maker or business leader found themselves hindered by the lack of critical data on young Arabs. How could they create policy or develop strategies without insight on the hopes, fears and aspirations of Arab youth? For the past 13 years, the ASDA’A BCW has tried to address this gap leveraging the power of Public Relations.

Background

What do over 200 million young Arabs have to say about their future? Every year, we set out to answer this question with the annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey. We conduct the ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey for three reasons: 1. To deliver valuable insights on what defines the region – its youthful demographic 2. To provide the key findings of the survey on www.arabyouthsurvey.com giving governments, the private sector and civil society across the world free access to key information to support policy-making and strategy development 3. To underline the importance of PR as a value-added service. To ensure the survey’s independence and credibility, we fund the survey entirely ourselves. Over the last 13 years, we have built a credible data bank on Arab youth that benefit governments, multilateral organisations, academia, media, businesses and civil society

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

We believe that to understand the Arab world, you need to understand the hearts and minds of its largest demographic, its youth. The annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey continues to be the only one-of-its-kind study that provides insight on the hopes, attitudes and aspirations of Arab youth. Every year, our creative approach for the survey is to make the findings relevant to the socio-political realities. We design the research to explore topics such as emigration, corruption, anti-government protests, religion, identity, gender rights, drug abuse, mental health, personal debt and more, which are less discussed in public in the Arab world but have a big impact on the society.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

The 13th annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey 2021 was conducted by international research firm PSB Insights to explore attitudes among Arab youth across 50 cities and territories in 17 states in the Middle East and North Africa. PSB Insights conducted 3,400 face-to-face interviews from June 6 to June 30, 2021. We explored bold themes: outlook, identity, gender rights, religion, foreign policy and climate change, among others. The survey has served as a barometer for the Arab world’s shifting socio-political trends. This was most profoundly realised in 2010, when our survey reported what many regimes didn’t want to hear: An enduring desire for democracy among youth. In some ways, for the discerning, this almost predicted the Arab Spring next year. That our survey holds up a mirror to the society, through the perspective of its youth, is reinforced every year through the key findings of the study.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

The execution covers the following elements: 1. Face-to-face surveys held from June 6 to June 30, 2021 2. Analysis of the data by dedicated teams at PSB and ASDA’A BCW to identify the top findings from July to August 3. Presenting data in a compelling story-telling format and building a story that resonates with our audience from Aug to Sept. (In 2021, the theme was ‘Hope for the Future.’) 4. We published the findings in a whitepaper, designed by our design and digital subsidiary Proof Communications. We also reached out to international experts for commentaries that provide more context to the findings. These commentaries were included in the white paper. We showcased all our work on our informative website www.arabyouthsurvey.com. 5. We launched the findings via a webinar on Oct. 11, 2021, attended by a global audience. We produced media collateral with videos, infographics, press releases and opinion pieces.

List the results (30% of vote)

The 2021 survey made a strong impact with Tier 1 media coverage in about 1,700 global outlets including 72 minutes of prime-time TV, reaching over 2.4 billion people, in just a month Top line coverage was secured in 75 countries in 18 languages (coverage provided as supporting material) On social media, the survey generated 14.89 million impressions with an engagement of 1.35 across 68 countries. Notable personalities who shared our findings with their followers included HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President & Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The survey’s findings continue to be amplified through webinars, master-classes and podcasts, as well as global media, think-tanks referring to the findings as proof points on young Arabs in MENA. Among the organisations that refer to the findings include: the International Monetary Fund, Chatham House, the Council on Foreign Relations, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, Middle East Institute, Wilson Center, The Hill, Washington DC, and The Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC, among others.

Provide evidence of how the research, insight and use of data enhanced the campaign output.

The 13th annual ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey 2021 was conducted by international research firm PSB Insights to explore attitudes among Arab youth across 50 cities and territories in 17 states in the Middle East and North Africa. PSB Insights conducted 3,400 face-to-face interviews from June 6 to June 30, 2021. The interviews were completed in Arabic and English. The margin of error is +/-1.65% for the total sample and larger for sub-groups. Every country included is equally represented in the results of this survey. The survey covers five GCC states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE), North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia), the Levant region (Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Syria) and Yemen. It attempts to represent the main population centres of each country, not only the capital cities. Such a geographic spread provides a more accurate national picture of youth attitudes when analysed.