Campaigns from the Middle East: When Insight, Culture, and Social Movements Take the StageFor many years, multinational agencies based in the Middle East have demonstrated great work in the region. There’s something fascinating about the advertising executives and creatives who...

Campaigns from the Middle East: When Insight, Culture, and Social Movements Take the Stage

For many years, multinational agencies based in the Middle East have demonstrated great work in the region. There’s something fascinating about the advertising executives and creatives who work in this unique location, particularly the Levant, Gulf, and North African regions.
While they share a language and culture, several Arab countries have multi-faceted, global outlooks, particularly with respect to the executions of ad campaigns.

Dubai Lynx is one of the largest and most successful ad industry festivals in the region, giving all these regional agencies the opportunity to showcase their work. We’ve been baffled by the extravagance of the EFFIEs, the Clios, and Cannes, but now we feel it’s time to shine the spotlight on this unique market and showcase the creative ambitions of these Arab countries and their impact at an international level. If there’s one thing that these campaigns have in common, it would be the power of insight.

And if you thought that diversity only exists at US-based festivals and award presentations, then you must go to Dubai Lynx. The award ceremony convenes top creatives, the world’s smartest brands, the sharpest marketers, fledgling start-ups, and everyone in between in a sparkling setting where they can learn, network, and celebrate creativity in communications. There you will witness a spectrum of creatives from around the world, converging on this global mecca of technology, advertising, and media.

Let’s take a look at the Grand Prix winners.

Truck Art Childfinder

Design, Outdoor, Print & Outdoor Craft, and Direct Grand Prix

Saddened by the fact that thousands of children go missing in Pakistan every year, Berger Paints teamed up with BBDO Lahore to utilize local trucks?—?common vehicles that pass by on the road on an average day in the streets of Lahore?—?and truck art, a big admiration from an arts perspective. BBDO took advantage of this popular cultural art form and used it to benefit an important cause. In a fascinating usage of outdoor media, instead of going for the typical billboards, the agency thought of a more cost-efficient and visually appealing medium that would send the message effectively. Only a week after the campaign launched, three children were recovered because people responded to the phone number painted on a truck.

The Blank Edition

PR Integrated, Print & Publishing

For over six months in 2018, Lebanon was without a president and government officials were in constant conflict, leaving the country with no political stability. Lebanon has always been known for its hospitable atmosphere, historical culture, and ethnic and religious diversity. Beautiful elements were rarely portrayed in the media, due to the major political hype being constantly represented in the media. An-Nahar, the country’s premier newspaper, decided to take a stand and put an end to negative press and the constant conflict published by political parties in print, social, and broadcast outlets. Instead, they decided to publish an edition of purely blank pages. They kept their social media platforms blank as well. The result: people started writing their own thoughts on the blank pages, reinforcing the message that they were “not going to work if we are not getting a president or political stability.” Given the Lebanese people’s innate rebellious and activist souls, they did not waste a moment in speaking up and applauding An-Nahar’s support of the cause and role in encouraging the Lebanese people to speak their minds.

Hailstorm in Istanbul

Interactive Grand Prix

One of the most astonishing things about certain Middle Eastern countries is their cultural behavior and reactions to certain events. In this case, when a major hailstorm hit Istanbul, Turkey in June 2017 and damaged many cars, citizens learned to take precautions. The following year, when news reports announced the onset of another similar storm, the people of Istanbul started putting rugs and carpets all over their cars to avoid damage, a culturally specific behavior of the Turkish people that you wouldn’t expect of US or UK citizens. Ikea took clever advantage of that insight by promoting their own carpets, draped on parked cars, a movement that spurred great hype on Instagram?—?over 2M engagements. This campaign naturally deserves the Interactive Prize, given its culturally insightful approach.

Zero tolerance ribbon

Grand Prix for Good

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been a common practice in many Middle Eastern countries, particularly Egypt, constituting major abuse. Over 200 million girls have been affected by this harsh tradition without their consent. Combining awareness of the reprehensible practice with the idea of consent and saying NO to such practices, the Zero Tolerance Ribbon has been created as a movement to stand against FGM. It started as a simple symbol of the word “NO” in Arabic and then evolved into a practice introduced in hospitals and other organizations that encourages and supports parents to sign a form with their commitment that their daughters will not receive the FGM procedure. The result: over 500 pledges for the movement and 7 countries using the ribbon that have presented at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women 2019.

RX prescription stickers

Healthcare Grand Prix

Dubai has over 750,000 blue collar workers from many different South Asian countries. Many of these workers are illiterate and cannot read basic English instructions, specifically when it comes to taking the daily medications that are pivotal to their health. Dubai Health Authority devised an effective and simple strategy to introduce in pharmacies and health care centers?—?RX prescription stickers: simple instructions with visual directions that indicate when and how many pills to take on a weekly basis, as directed by the patient’s pharmacist or doctor. With the addition of these stickers, patients can understand the instructions and maintain their health in a good state.

AL UMOBUWAH: Putting “Mum” into “Parenthood”

Media Grand Prix

Touching the Arabic language and changing words to support a cause in the region is a challenging and risky step. One of the things that we really admire about the creatives in Arab-based agencies is their boldness about stepping up, taking on this challenge, and acknowledging the consequences. FP7 Dubai partnered with Babyshop to re-consider the Arabic word “parenting”?—?“Obuwah”?—?which actually translates as “fatherhood.” This is just one example of many Arabic words where the masculine adjective or pronoun takes precedence and dominance. In this campaign, the agency defied the norm by inventing a word that represents equality between the sexes: “Umobuwah,” a combination of fatherhood and motherhood. This statement that that Arabic should be a gender-neutral language that supports equality represents a social movement that has been growing in the Middle East for the past few years. This challenge was a risk, but the new word got the praise it deserved: many news and schools promoted it, with 200 million people reached and over 2.3 million media impressions earned, not only in Dubai but throughout the Middle East.

The beauty of this campaign is the cause itself, which reflects unity among people from different Arab regions, who are fighting a cultural battle based on enduring values that they share and cherish.

The Spotlight Team

The Spotlight

Campaigns from the Middle East: When Insight, Culture, and Social Movements Take the Stage was originally published in The Spotlight Team on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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