2022 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Social & Influencer?

We wanted the news - “Mall of the Emirates gets vandalized” to spread like wildfire and that too only in a few hours. And exactly for this reason social media and influencers were extremely crucial to drive this. We used the famous blogging pages of Dubai and some famous influencers to spread the word since more than half of all population gets their news from online media. Adding a social element to news undoubtedly engages more people and that cultural phenomenon undoubtedly did exactly that. Bringing us desired or should we say overwhelming results.

Background

Mall of the Emirates was hosting the world’s largest Banksy Exhibition, with over 120 recreated works, at a time when (according to World Economic Forum) even the biggest and most famous museums of the world are seeing a 78% decline in the footfall. The covid restriction was just lifted, and the footfall in the Mall saw a 36% decline. Online shopping was on the rise, and that was not helping the offline retail businesses. People were still not comfortable stepping out and shopping even for the basic necessities, So getting them to the Mall in a situation like this for an art exhibition was next to impossible.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

The launch of the world’s largest Banksy Exhibition had to be grand. And to get people excited and talking about it, we borrowed a trick or two from Banksy himself. We vandalized every wall, pillar, and post of Mall of the Emirates, even the one on Instagram to surprise and shock our customers and followers just like how Banksy likes it. In Dubai, vandalism is illegal and can land you in prison for five years and a fine of 10,000 AED, so it was not easy to get away with it.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Our strategy was simple – Shock people so that they get up and take notice. We wanted to get their curiosity levels high so that they step out of their comfort zones and rush to Mall of the Emirates to see it for themselves. We vandalized every wall, pillar and post of Mall of the Emirates to shock the onlookers. We used Social media to increase the hype because the news travels fastest on Social media. We used some influencers to build the momentum and keep people glued to get more updates. They urged people to come and see it for themselves, which in turn also increased the footfall of the Mall by 58%

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We recorded videos of a guy with a spray can who looked like Banksy, breaking into Mall of the Emirates and vandalizing it. We also recorded him disappearing after being chased away by the security guards. We then leaked the news and our CCTV footage of someone breaking into the Mall and vandalizing it on social media channels. That invited a lot of eyeballs and footfall from influencers, media, customers and even the ones who were not our customers, creating a buzz and curiosity around what is happening with the Mall of the Emirates. People rushed to the Mall to see it for themselves, and they found the walls vandalized with spray paint and paintings. They took pictures to share it on social media tagging the Mall of the Emirates account only to find the Instagram wall of the mall also vandalized, which created even more curiosity.

List the results (30% of vote)

The news and the leaked footage spread like wildfire and got people talking about it and rushing to see the vandalized Mall, thus bringing back footfall to the Mall. The result was much more than what we expected. We had the show sold out for the next three months. Because of the love we got from people we had to extend the exhibition for another four months. Like Banksy said - Vandalism Sells! We earned $6M worth of Media, 36Million impressions; our Social Engagement was up by 268%, all of this in just two days and for Zero cost incurred.