Ariel launched a new campaign “Mara wahda khalest ala il boaa”, roughly meaning “First time is enough to eliminate stains” for its Egypt market. Created and conceptualised by Cairo-based agency People of the Internet, the campaign focuses on the challenges that women and mothers face in their everyday life and encouraging them to be authentic – showing them that real life isn’t perfect and that’s okay.
The objectives
The agency was tasked with few key objectives as part of its brief. The main aim of the campaign was to position the brand as a partner that understands and supports modern women and mothers – its primary target audience which also includes digitally active millennials and young families who engage heavily with relatable social content.
The campaign also targeted broader household decision-makers and younger audiences who appreciate authentic, insight-driven storytelling from brands.
It was also designed to resonate with the women on a emotional level while building relevance to reinforce long-term customer loyalty. The agency was also assigned with the responsbility of increasing Ariel’s brand awareness and engagement inclusing conversations and shares across digital platforms.
The idea
The team’s research revealed that their audiences had a growing preference for brands that reflect real-life experiences. With a focus on relatibilty, it leveraged an insight, gathered from online conversations, that women deeply connect with content that acknowledges the unseen emotional and mental load they carry daily, especially the endless cycle of everyday responsibilities and moments that never truly end from the first time.
This informed a narrative that centred on three things: honesty, culturally relevance and emotionally familiarity.
“We specifically chose to highlight situations women often feel they can never fully finish, complete, or even properly enjoy from the first time in their day-to-day lives, making the storytelling feel instantly relatable and emotionally true to their reality,” said the team, sharing how they brought the authentic feel into the campaign.
To build on cultural relevance, the Ariel campaign was carefully localised through its tone, visual language and tone to allow regional households across the region to recognise themselves within the narrative.
The roll out
The campaign was rolled out through a digital-first, social-native execution alongside a main hero film. The main visuals of the campaign opted for the chaotic portrayal of familiar moments which are commonly seen in households. According the agency, it did away with highly stylised visuals to avoid the campaign from feeling too promotional and instead blending directly within audience feeds – adding to the advertisement’s overall relatability.
Ariel also brought its brand ambassador, well-known Egyptian star Nelly Karim into the film to add a greater touch of familiarity, recall and to resonate with the women better as a woman and a mother herself.
The agency’s primary media investment was focused on YouTube and TikTok. Premium placements, including TikTok Top Feed and YouTube non-skippable, skippable and bumper formats, were used to maximise reach and frequency among digitally active audiences.
The results
One of the results indicated how organically audiences connected with the campaign beyond its intended scope, with strong responses coming not just locally but across the wider MENA region.
“While the campaign was designed with this specific regional audience in mind, it also resonated strongly across the wider MENA region,” shared the team. “We saw audiences from different markets engaging with the content and sharing similar emotional reactions, which highlighted how universal the insight behind the campaign truly was.”
Post-launch results reflected strong organic engagement and conversations across the platforms and an uptick in positive audience interaction, strong ad recall and an increase in purchase intent among target consumers.
CREDITS
Client: P&G Ariel
Amina Khedr, Senior Brand Manager Fabric Care and Sarah Rizkallah – Commercial Director Fabric Care
Agency: People of the internet
Creative team
Executive Creative Director & Co-Founder — Yasser ElBahr
Associate Creative Director — Aliah Badran
Business team
Managing Director & Co-Founder — Noha Kamal
Account Director — Maya ElSadr
Senior Account Manager — Rawan Bassem
Art team
Studio Director & Co-Founder — Kareem ElMaghraby
Art Director — Reem Yasser
Senior Graphic Designer — Wafaa AbdelRazik
Demo & Animation — Hussien Ahmed
Digital team
Content Lead — Sara Mosharef
Content Manager — Salma Shehata
Director — Abdulrahman Abouzeid
Produced by — Rhino & Oxpecker Productions
