Glaucco Martines, Creative Director, Careem Creative Studio. Campaign Middle East features a Private View section with a range of insights and viewpoints from industry experts, revealing the intricate world of marketing and advertising campaigns.
This review of our ‘Works’ from January is by Glaucco Martines, Creative Director, Careem Creative Studio.
Dubai Sports Season – Dubai Sports Season
The campaign delivered on the brief and probably met all requirements. These skyscraper rooftop stunts have proven to be highly effective on social media, especially if celebrities and influencers are involved. Brands such as Red Bull and Visit Dubai have successfully mastered this format.
That said, I would’ve loved to see a community-focused approach. Great weather and eagerness to explore the outdoors allow brands to engage directly with the people. After all, Dubai Sports Season is for everyone.
KFC Arabia: Nugg It, Dip It, Crunch It.
Extra hot earworm! A visually stunning production that brings together a super fresh cast, trendy styling, cool motion graphics, and catchy music. The mix between natural, everyday, messy consumption shots and the classic, mouthwatering foodporn table tops is well-balanced and beautifully executed.
With the right digital push and social media engagement, the campaign has all the ingredients to resonate with the Gen Z audience. I’m excited to see how the campaign performs online.
Virgin Mobile KSA & BEYOND ONE: Switch
Comedy resonates well with the KSA audience, so this is definitely relatable. The storylines didn’t feel particularly fresh, but the execution did the heavy lifting – the rich dialogues, great performance and insightful jokes brought it all together.
The three-film campaign got me thinking if these scenarios could also be brought to life as brand activation, giving actual change back to people. There could also be another interesting angle to explore around food wastage, portrayed in one of the copies.
Kudos to HSBC for tackling such a timely and important topic. However, I’d challenge the creative approach, production, and choice of medium. I believe the script aimed to portray something big and impactful but, unfortunately, the execution fell flat and simply didn’t deliver on this ambition. Especially with dubbing … oh, the dubbing. Let’s just say it didn’t do the film any favours.
Aramex: Delivering Incredible Performances
Super lighthearted and relatable content. Snackable format, lovely acting, and on-point production. What a refreshing break from the usual ‘sales, sales, sales’.
Maybe I’m a bit biased here, but kudos to Aramex’s in-house creative and brand teams for a solid campaign – from the choice of locally relevant sponsorship to impeccable execution. I could watch another 10 more copies and never get bored.
By Glaucco Martines, Creative Director, Careem Creative Studio.
