2022 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Social & Influencer?

Braun utilized the power of influencers to become the largest grooming brand across the region in less than a year! We connected emotionally with our customers by partnering with influencers who had relatable and authentic stories to tell. We customized and curated content with them vigilantly selecting channels that best conveyed our message. We co-created 282+ emotional content around our platform, #MomentsThatMatter, covering stories about love, parenthood, hardships turned into opportunities, and entrepreneurship. In total, we partnered up with 36 influencers from multiple tiers (micros, macros, and celebs) and took over social media!

Background

Braun has always been the go-to brand for grooming across generations. However, with the changes in consumer behavior and the rise of the ‘digital native’ generation, what Braun stood for was starting to get lost in time leading to a fading authority regionally. Millennials and Gen-Z's slowly began to associate Braun as the brand that “my grandparents use and love”. This was a result of Braun’s feeble presence on social media. This changed in 2021, on Braun’s 100-year anniversary, when the brand took social media platforms by storm via a strong communication strategy and a carefully thought-out influencer-led always-on campaign that established Braun as the biggest fan followed and engaged grooming brand in the entire MEA region. Braun went from a brand that people found hard to relate to, to one that touched the hearts of millions, paving the way brands achieve true fandom… all in less than a year!

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

To underline the brand’s leadership in the social arena, we needed to deploy a robust strategy that turns the tides our way and truly garners a connection with our audience. Our creative approach was driven directly from Braun’s century-old philosophy: “Designed for what matters”, Because “sometimes, it’s the small things that matter,” we celebrated Braun’s 100 anniversary by positioning it as a life companion that enables you to indulge in your own #MomentsThatMatter. We harnessed appreciation and emotional engagement and bridged the gap between us and our consumers by bringing Braun top of mind. We caught people’s attention and emotionally connected with them by partnering with real people, and influencers who had relatable and authentic stories to tell. We then customized and curated content with them vigilantly selecting channels that best conveyed our message. Our co-created emotional #MomentsThatMatter content covered stories about love, parenthood, hardships turned into opportunities, and entrepreneurship.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

We succeeded in doing that by actioning a strategic three-staged approach that included forging meaningful partnerships, customizing, and developing carefully curated content, and vigilantly selecting channels. Our strategy won because it was unique and because we put all our efforts into ensuring that our voice reached millions of consumers via an always-on campaign tapping on key consumption moments across many channels to maximize recall and purchase intent all year long.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Braun spoke and interacted with consumers through messages that were emotional, yet they playfully engaged our viewers. In total, we partnered up with 36 influencers from multiple tiers (micros, macros, and celebs) and from a variety of backgrounds, stories and ethnicities. They created 282+ pieces of unique co-created content across Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat split into three executional phases: hook-make connection - drive action - convert. Hook via meaningful storytelling. Drove action through engagement elements that included snackable Reels/TikToks, competitions, polls, stickers, challenges etc. Converted via IG Stories and Snapchat Stories though the concept of “gifting” via call to actions to various points of sale. Finally, we maximized results and ensured we reached our target audience through media boosting via FB Collab ads and SparkAds. These promotions were executed through the influencers profiles to overcome brand ad blindness.

List the results (30% of vote)

Grew our Braun Arabia IG page to 105,000+ fans in less than a year! Reached more people in 2021 since the brands introduction regionally almost since the Braun’s launch. In this year, Braun claimed its leadership position as the biggest, most popular grooming brand across the region surpassing ALL other competitors. Our brands engagement rate also broke records, reaching a rate of 10.7%. This translated into 14.1M consumers who interacted directly with our emotional brand messages. The stories we told with our influencers resonated so strongly with our customers that more than 37K people saved and shared their branded content with their friends online. Our videos and statics delivered more that 28M impressions with a total organic view count of 5.7M. The campaign drove 30K clicks to e-com. Overall sales grew 120 ix. Sales vs year ago in Egypt and surged to 156 ix in UAE in April, May, June.