Insight
Mainstream media is widely censored and controlled by the governments in the Gulf region. As a result, TV programming tends to be regressive and safe. So, for the 28 million Gulf national youths, who represent 65% of the population, it is a struggle to find content that speaks their language and feels relevant to them.
Underneath the conservative society lies a youth sub-culture which has been quietly but steadily fermenting. These young Arabs crave alternative humour – they seek a voice that is dark, edgy and ironic.
The draconian censorship laws have propelled the usage of platforms like YouTube to the highest in the world (Saudi Arabia & UAE respectively are ranked first and second in terms of daily viewership)
The significance of YouTube is revolutionary; it has become a window of free expression, a place where Arab youth are experiencing their own kind of uprising - a cultural revolution driven by satire - fuelling the appetite for locally produced content led by young Arab talent who are using humour to challenge the status quo by making fun of issues considered taboo by the mainstream.
Strategy
The Arab Youth were now seeking out and rewarding those brands who understood the wind of change that was sweeping across their region.
Blackberry wanted to tap into this undercurrent and reinvigorate the brand by being part of their revolution so the strategy was to be an enabler of their satire movement and to help create spaces for youth to openly express themselves in a unique way.
Meet Omar Hussein, the Jon Stewart of the Arab world and creator of the satire YouTube-based show ‘Al Tayer’ (‘On The Fly’ in English). Calling the show a “socially responsible comedy”, Hussein challenges the establishment and tackles sensitive issues through his witty and outspoken commentary. This has made him an overnight success amongst youth with his show attracting over 43 million views and 470,000 subscribers (http://www.youtube.com/3al6ayer).
Execution
For the first time in the Middle East, the Arab youth was invited to be part of a YouTube show – weaving BlackBerry into a 1.5 minute segment of Omar Hussein’s 7-minute show called “HaroBnaro” (‘Hot from the Oven’).
Using the fans’ input, Hussein brought his coveted sense of humour and satire to create his most memorable segment to date. BlackBerry partnered with the show to offer youth a unique opportunity to co-create the content of the show with Omar himself.
For 12 episodes, Hussein engaged with fan’s messages from his own BlackBerry device and responded in his own inimitable sarcastic style.
Blackberry built a mobile app that allowed fans to submit topics, messages, requests, questions and ideas for the show. They could also access exclusive content, fan video replies, behind the scenes footage and watch the show. While the focal point of the campaign was the app and the co-created content on Al Tayer, Blackberry amplified its reach and exposure across all paid and owned platforms.
A buzz was generated about the segments and app through BlackBerry and Al Tayer’s Facebook page (680,000 fans) and Twitter pages (270,000 followers). They used mobile banners targeting only BlackBerry handsets to promote the app and added the app to BlackBerry’s carousel in app world. Moreover, within the segments, Blackberry used QR codes and URLs to push content downloads.
Results
BlackBerry segment “HaroBnaro” was an immediate hit, receiving 13.4 million views – 79% of the views reaching the target audience. Fans’ participation increased to record levels, posting 63,000 comments and 354,000 likes on YouTube and Al Tayer’s YouTube subscriber base grew by 65%.
BlackBerry’s brand preference increased by 5% and its consideration by 4% (Ref: GFK Brand Tracker Dec 2012). Prior to the campaign only 7% of total mobile access to the Al Tayer channel came from BlackBerry devices. This statistic jumped to 30% following the campaign, reinforcing apps to build device loyalty.
The app became the number one local app on AppWorld with more than 100,000 downloads so far (Ref: BlackBerry AppWorld stats).