J. Walter Thompson Saudi Arabia has won two prestigious WARC Media Awards: a Gold in Channel Integration for Saudi Telecom Company’s “The campaign that never saw the light”, and a Silver in Partnerships and Sponsorships for Saudi Telecom Company’s “Unveil Saudi” campaign. WARC Media Awards is a global competition that rewards communication planning which has made a positive impact on business results. In the 2019 awards, no other agency in MENA netted two wins.
Gold in Channel Integration for Saudi Telecom Company’s “The campaign that never saw the light”:
The Channel Integration category specifically looks at how sophisticated communications architecture helped boost campaign effectiveness. When STC wanted to support its customers’ needs, even after normal business hours, JWT saw a huge opportunity. Rather than spend valuable time and money constructing new service centres around the country, JWT looked to make STC’s existing, full service app, MySTC, work much harder for the brand. People in Saudi Arabia are notorious night owls, so the campaign’s entire communications architecture only came alive at night, and would shut down early in the morning when normal business hours resumed. The night time only campaign’s message was a big hit with Saudis, who downloaded the MySTC app by the thousands, leading to a massive increase in customer satisfaction and fewer people relying on Call Centres for help.
Silver in Partnerships and Sponsorships for Saudi Telecom Company’s “Unveil Saudi” campaign:
The Partnerships and Sponsorships category specifically looks at how third parties, including native advertising and sponsorships, have helped brands meet business goals. Promoting STC’s broadband qualities, JWT partnered with local photographers, bloggers and vloggers, to explore the most beautiful yet remote parts of the country and report on what they experienced. Uploading their content to the dedicated website whilst out on location, an incredible picture of the country was being unveiled from their stories – images, sights, sounds, colours, adventures and heritage points many Saudis had forgotten even existed. From demonstrating the depth and breadth of STC’s coverage across the nation in a fundamentally new way, “Unveil Saudi” grew to become a modern-day ambassador.
Ahmad al Sahhaf, Marketing Communications General Manager at STC said, “At STC we believe in the effectiveness of a truly creative campaign. Talking to people about our offerings and services in a brave new way provides avenues and experiences they actually want to engage with. We are delighted that the innovative conversations we develop with our communications partner, J. Walter Thompson KSA, are being recognised on the global stage, just as they are setting entirely new benchmarks for the marcoms industry in the region.”
Camille Haddad, CEO of J. Walter Thompson Saudi Arabia and Levant, added “STC is changing the consumer perspective in this market and we are proud to be a part of that inspiring journey with them.”
