Brand | WHSMITH |
Product/Service | CHILDRENS LITERATURE |
Entrant | FP7 McCANN Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES |
Category | Social Behaviour & Cultural Insight |
Idea Creation
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FP7 McCANN Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
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Media Placement
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ADCOLONY Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
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Media Placement 2
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UNITY / PROMO FIX Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
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Why is this work relevant for Media?
When the lack of a reading habit was the reason for declining book sales, a typical media plan wouldn’t work. Especially when our target audience was children.
We had to connect with them in a world where they spend most of their time i.e. mobile gaming. We took an existing ad space within these games and used it in a way like never before. We hijacked the channel to change its purpose, by turning annoying pop up ads into rewarding Pop Up Books. Resulting in a positive change in not just their habits, but also in brand love and sales.
Background
All bookstores in the UAE have been seeing declining sales, year after year. It has led to the closure of big brand stores, leaving everyone wondering if books had entered their final chapter. WH Smith was facing its biggest decline in the children’s category, and to reverse that, they wanted to promote their new editions of children’s books that were introduced in their stores across the UAE.
Through research, we found a statistic that changed the brief’s objective i.e. An Arab child reads for an average of 6 minutes a year. (Source: Arab Thought Foundation survey). From simply promoting books, our objective changed to promoting the love of reading itself.
If we could get kids to love reading with WH Smith, we could get them (and their parents) to find the books they love with WH Smith.
Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)
To increase their love of reading, we decided to enter the world they love to spend time in. Up to two-thirds of children in the UAE (between the ages 7-11) spend hours playing games on their (or their parents’) mobile phones.
These games have frequent pop-up ads that cannot be closed. So we hijacked that space with our ‘Pop Up books’ that they could read to close the ad. We identified the most popular kids’ games in the UAE, and redesigned famous children’s books as short stories to appear in place of the Pop Up ad. The child could read the story and answer a follow-up question to close the ad. Which got them rewards in the game, like coins, extra lives, boosts, and more.
These gamified stories interested them and made the interaction feel rewarding. Forging a positive association with the reading habit, as well as with WH Smith.
Describe the strategy (20% of vote)
We couldn’t simply promote books or force kids to unlearn existing habits. So in terms of channel strategy, we had to go where they currently are – mobile games.
The strategy for the idea was based on what child psychologists say is the best way to inculcate new habits - repetition and reward. We looked for the games where they spent most of their time in, so we could repeatedly engage them with the habit of reading stories.
Through gamification, we made each interaction, a positive and rewarding one.
We wanted to associate that positive interaction with WH Smith and then direct them to our microsite where they could buy the discounted book related to our 30 second story.
Describe the execution (20% of vote)
Instead of putting the books as is, we redesigned them to fit within their world of gaming to feel immersive. The stories were made shorter, with intriguing endings and the colours were playful and vibrant to suit that environment. The digital drawings had simpler shapes and the animation was gently-paced, allowing the child to focus on reading the stories at their natural speed.
The stories were gamified with a quiz that the child could answer to close the ad and get rewards in the game like coins, boosts, extra lives and more.
We released a range of stories across the top 50 gaming apps over four weeks and designed the stories to match the style of those games. This way we were able to make the interaction as engaging as possible.
List the results (30% of vote)
By going beyond promoting books and promoting a habit instead, we achieved returns on culture, brand and business.
We engaged with 29% of children in the UAE (from ages 7-11). In a medium where few ads are watched completely, 98% of our stories were interacted with till the end, accumulating 1.1 million views.
We received enquiries from parents at our stores across the UAE. And local and international authors at the Emirates Literature Festival contributed stories as well.
From an average of 6 minutes a year, the unique reading time of children interacting with this was nearly 6 minutes a day.
Increased interest in our catalogue and footfall in stores led to an increase in sales too, with a pickup of 11% in the first three weeks.
With the Ministry of Youth, this experimental campaign will now be expanded to a wider audience.
Please tell us about the social behaviour and / or cultural insights that inspired your campaign
There is a widespread lack of interest in reading in the Arab culture.
87% of the youth have never had a chance to read or discuss a book together as a family. The problem is that the kids are not taught to read for the love of it.
All of this underpins a shocking statistic – the average Arab child reads only 6 minutes a year, compared to 12,000 minutes spent by its Western counterpart. That is less than 4 words a day.
When we compared their 6 minutes a day, with the 2-3 hours a day spent in the world of mobile games, the answer became clear for us. We couldn’t change their routine, or cultural upbringing, and couldn’t force the reading habit on them. But we could go where they spend most of their time, and help spark their interest and love for reading in that world itself.
Credits
Fouad Abdel Malak |
FP7McCann |
Creative Lead |
Oliver Robinson |
FP7McCann |
Creative Lead |
Josephine Younes |
FP7McCann, Dubai |
Creation |
Nayaab Rais |
FP7McCann |
Creation |
Tahaab Rais |
FP7 McCann MENAT |
Strategy |
Prabs Iyer |
FP7McCann, Dubai |
Planning |
Jimmy Cobos |
FP7McCann, Dubai |
Design |
Aliza Siddiqi |
FP7McCann |
Creation |
Luan De Almeida |
FP7McCann |
Creation |
Lucas Fuse |
FP7McCann |
Motion Design & Editing |
Deydson Rocha |
FP7McCann |
Editing |
Gosia Wajchert |
MCN Media Brands |
Media Coordination |
Karien Mulder |
FP7McCann, Dubai |
Videographer |
Tala Chalabi |
FP7McCann, Dubai |
Videographer |
Links
Video URL