High Five: Unique Engagement in the UAE
I always find creative cases that drive conversion - what we call creative commerce - to be the most inspiring work in our industry. I look for innovative, effective ideas that not only drive sales, but also engage with people in a unique way, or better yet, change the way we behave or think for the better. It’s easy to select charity work where we use advertising to promote change and good actions, but what about day-to-day briefs with real clients solving real business problems that create an impact? These are the regional cases that made me wish I had worked on them...
Twitter - 'Feminine Arabic'
Agency & Production: VMLY&R COMMERCE Dubai
Post: Truffle Film Beirut
This is a great example of leveraging the brand platform to trigger cultural and societal change that enables other brands to be more relevant and inclusive with their female target audience. Starting with their own platform, Twitter changed the way female Arabic speakers were addressed by creating a new language button, 'Feminine Arabic'. Leading by example, they encouraged hundreds of other brands to join them and adopt this innovation, leading to their business and commercial success.
Nescafé - 'The 1st Nescafé Ad without Nescafé'
Agency: FP7McCann Dubai
Production: Film Clinic Express Productions
Post: The Cell
How many times have we heard clients say: “I want to see my logo in the first five seconds of the film”? This is a beautiful bold idea that defied the five second rule and yet became very iconic for the brand. The insight of how much we miss that morning cup of coffee when fasting is such a culturally relevant and powerful one. The absence of the product in the ad made all the viewers crave it more and the humour behind it resonated well with the audience.
Clorox - 'Go Anywhere'
Agency: Horizon FCB Dubai
The insight is brilliant! How many times have you had to hold it in when you go on long road trips? Public roadside toilets are definitely the most stressful sanitary situations, and the idea of tackling them to demonstrate the actual disinfecting power of the product is spot on. Turning a billboard to a sampling display to offer a creative solution at the right time and in the right place makes it so much more relevant and effective. This is a great example of how iconic tactics, no matter how simple, can change behaviour, reminding customers to always carry Clorox On-the-Go wipes.
BMW - 'The Museum of Sound'
Agency: Serviceplan Middle East
The roar of a BMW engine is very niche to the hardcore fans. So how do you immortalise that sound to the future generations, who will only know the silent sound of electric car engines? The rising trend of NFTs has always been associated with visual art. The idea of creating a museum of sound with BMW engine sounds as NFTs is quite an innovative approach.
adidas - 'I'MPOSSIBLE'
Agency & Production: Havas Middle East
I find this campaign a beautiful continuation of adidas’ 'Impossible Is Nothing' creative platform, in the way they localised it to make it relevant to women in this region, as well as the engagement it generated. This is a great example of adding purpose to user-generated content, by featuring real women and celebrating their stories of how they made the impossible possible to inspire others. A great integrated campaign with a powerful authentic message that breaks barriers and takes it from social to outdoor.
