Here are Campaign Middle East's Work picks from May
Every month, Campaign Middle East selects a collection of 'Work' to display in its monthly issue. The same selection then gets offered to industry professionals for their review in Campaign's Private View section the following month.
These are the picks from May – featuring work from Talabat and Kitopi, MG Egypt, Boutiqaat, RAM and McDonald's Saudi.
Talabat x Kitopi: See, Eat, Repeat
In partnership with Talabat, Kitopi highlighted its top 10 restaurant brands, offering best-selling items for AED 10, for 10 days. The goal? To bring Kitopi's food experiences to the masses. With Hypermedia as the campaign's media partner, Kitopi executed a full-blown out-of-home (OOH) takeover in the UAE.
Kitopi also tapped into influencer marketing to amplify messaging across different demographics. The campaign helped Kitopi acquire more than 100,000 new customers.
MG Egypt: Well Known, Even If Not Owned
To launch the automotive brand's new range, this campaign takes a humorous approach for the Egypt market, highlighting how people who don't even own MG cars, know so much about each of the cars and love them. Given that car prices in Egypt are hitting new highs, and for many people in the nation, owning a car feels out of reach, this campaign aims to make the dream of car ownership possible again.
This resonates with Egyptians, showcasing how they talk about cars – like true salespeople – as if they all know the specs, features, and prices, as if they're ready to sell the cars themselves. The campaign was carried across billboards, social media channels, digital channels and TVCs in Egypt. The campaign was brought to life by DDB Egypt, Kino Films, The Barber Shop and Keeva Casting Agency, under the direction of Amr Haddad.
Boutiqaat: Ya Hala Campaign
This campaign used unconventional Arabic humour to drive app purchases and achieved more than 1 million organic views, making it Boutiqaat's first commercial blockbuster without paid promotion. The campaign aimed to engage audiences through a humorous and engaging narrative, emphasising the festival's excitement and the opportunities available for shoppers.
With exaggerated slapstick that includes repeated visual gags, such as characters being thrown through a window, this commercial took the comedic route – a detour from the region's dependance on cultural references. The campaign, brought to life by Shareet Studios, was primarily distributed on social media platforms, including Instagram and TikTok.
RAM: RHO Airlines – The Shortest Flight
RAM Trucks took to the skies – briefly – to launch its latest performance vehicle with this bold campaign. The creative stunt turned the desert into a runway for what is being described as the world's shortest flight, lasting just 1.2 seconds. The hero film depicted an immersive airport experience in the middle of the desert, complete with check-in counters, security, ground staff, air traffic control and cabin crew.
The only thing missing was a plane. Instead, at the centre of the experience was the new RAM RHO 1500. The stunt featured Saudi Arabia's popular influencer duo, The Saudi Reporters: Abdullah and Abdulaziz.
In partnership with Publicis Middle East, the spot marks the first phase of a wider brand campaign from Stellantis' RAM in the region.
McDonald's Saudi: Menuless
The objective of this campaign was to demonstrate how consumers in Saudi Arabia know what their favourite McDonald's products are without having to look at the menu. Therefore, the brand removed its menu across all its restaurants in the Kingdom.
Created in collaboration with Leo Burnett Dubai, the campaign ran across outdoor billboards, digital channels and social media, and had an immediate impact, driving a 37 per cent increase in footfall.
Outdoor billboards outside the McDonald's drive-thrus displayed messages such as, 'You didn't drive all this way to experiment,' while the in-store menus that are usually displayed on the space behind the counter were replaced with a single line, 'You know what you want.'
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