Mashreq enters Oman with ‘humility of an old friend, ambition of a partner'

Campaign ME

06-02-2025

Mashreq has revealed details of its Oman Launch campaign, which set out to position it as a bank entering Oman with the humility of an old trusted friend and the ambition of a forward-thinking partner.
The campaign was created in partnership with brand experience agency Sweetwater MEA, with Assembly Global handling the offline and digital ads distribution and campaign orchestration, Tactical overseeing the film production, and Identity Global providing PR and event management services.
The aim of the campaign was to create awareness of Mashreq's origin as 'Bank of Oman' and its entry as a 'legacy reunited' and to build trust by showcasing the bank's legacy, cultural understanding, global footprint, technological prowess, as well as its breadth and depth of expertise and foresight – an international digital leader that is well-equipped to act as a catalyst in elevating Oman's position in the global financial landscape.
Suad Merchant, Senior Vice President, Head – Brand & Corporate Communications, Mashreq, said, 'We undertook an in-depth analysis of Oman's current generations – their culture, aspirations and vision – both offline and online. This analysis formed the basis of our narrative and video treatment – one that showcased both a strong cultural heritage and a bold vision for tomorrow.'
Merchant added, 'Since we entered Oman with our corporate banking suite of products that include treasury, global transaction banking, and sustainable finance, the film showcased the bank's innovation legacy, robust operational structure and sectoral expertise relevant to Oman's corporate and government entities and the nation's economic objectives.'
Rollout of the Mashreq Oman Launch campaign
The omnichannel campaign was rolled out digitally across social media channels, well-established newspapers in the region, online news portals, as well as billboards and other out-of-home (OOH) ads. The campaign is running for 12 weeks for OOH, and 90 days on digital assets, including platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X and YouTube.
More specifically, the digital promotion of the Oman Launch campaign was planned across various media, including social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and YouTube to create wide and repeat visuals for awareness and recall.
Mashreq also leveraged coverage in newspapers such as Al Watan and Muscat Daily, and online news portals such as Al Wisal, Oman News, Arabian Stories, Times of Oman, Arabian Business and Zawya for visibility and in-depth messaging.
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As part of its OOH campaign, Mashreq used a network of lamp posts and airport to ensure its launch was announced strategically in premium spots across the city of Muscat. The brand is also partnering with billboard providers in Muscat for 12 weeks, selecting premium locations that will be visible for various audiences.
Commenting on the media planning strategy, Merchant said, 'We conducted a deep-dive into the target audience's preferences in use of languages, internet, social media, news consumption, online amd offline behavioural patterns, among other aspects. With OOH, the target was to ensure maximum visibility across audience groups – to create a general awareness of our entry into Oman. With news and digital PR platforms and print, we opted for publications that are popular among the business communities to ensure targeting among corporate and government entities.'
'For other social and digital platforms, we selected our audience segments for precision targeting. For instance, for Facebook the target audience is people aged from 25 to 65, interested in trade, business, management, finance, investments, personal finance, wealth management, investment banking, stocks etc.,' Merchant added.
إنه من دواعي فخرنا واعتزازنا أن نعلن عن تواجد المشرق رسمياً في عُمان، حيث سنحرص على تعزيز مسيرة الابتكار والتنمية وإحداث ذاك الأثر الإيجابي الهادف بما يتماشى مع رؤية عُمان 2040.
دعونا نعمل سوياً لمواجهة التحديات (cont) https://t.co/5wSapqpUcu pic.twitter.com/Q6qb6e5JvK
— Mashreq (@MashreqTweets) January 20, 2025
To measure the success of the campaign, Mashreq will be looking at:
Various metrics that will measure engagement of the audience such as likes, shares or reposts of the promoted posts for digital campaigns.
The number of views for videos and the number of unique people reached in Oman for YouTube promoted videos , which has been estimated to 2.9 million people within just 90 days.
CREDITS:
Client: Mashreq
Creative strategy: Sweetwater
Offline and digital ads distribution and campaign orchestration: Assembly Global
PR and event management: Identity Global
Film production: Tactical