Creative and media have equal shares in yielding a successful advertising campaign. Focusing on the creative aspects first, there are 5 key elements crucial to building powerful brand associations in consumers’ minds:
1 Be relevant to real life
Embrace the new way of life, as consumers seek brands that listen to and fulfil their needs, strengthening their sense of connection to the brand. So, adopt the new Ramadan norms in your communication, from visualising what the various parts of the ‘new Ramadan day’ look like for consumers, to focusing on the new priorities of the context. Zain did this well over Ramadan 2021, reflecting vignettes of the new reality while tapping into consumers’ emotions in supporting UNICEF’s call for vaccination to protect the more vulnerable in society:
2 Brand intrinsically, with the brand the hero of the story
As Ramadan values and celebrations become a common theme in advertising, it’s important to integrate your brand into the core of the story and leverage the strength of your distinctive brand assets that can’t be easily replaced. That’s how the Tang pack became a familiar part of consumers’ Ramadan traditions, by integrating its brand cues of the product’s orange colour and sound of a spoon tinkling against the jar, also ticking the box of becoming relevant in the new Ramadan context of simple good deeds by showing a small family celebrating a refined iftar, and charity work under the theme of intent and mindfulness:
3 Communicate your brand’s meaningful difference
Find your brand’s meaningful difference in the new Ramadan context, as true synergy and impact happen when your brand’s meaningful difference aligns with both the Ramadan values and the story. Kinder tells an emotional tale of teaching children the value of good deeds with the Kinder Ramadan calendar:
4 Create distinctive and interesting stories to engage consumers
It’s not easy to create distinctive communication. It’s even more difficult to stand out among the Ramadan advertising clutter. Distinctiveness in this sense related to the brand’s ability to be noticed and remembered, which correlates highly with involvement and grabbing the audience’s attention. Get this right in your ad’s setting, characters, engaging music and/or surprising factor.
Almarai created an intriguing and different story that lands the brand’s Ramadan-relevant message of reducing food waste, tying in with the theme of prudence and value:
5 Trigger emotions
Most Ramadan ads build emotionally resonant stories because while a rational brand story is vital, stories that tap into the audience’s emotions are essential to engaging in the Ramadan context. Emotional ads have been proven to have a higher impact on consumers and brand equity, while also driving more sales.
Vimto connected with consumers in Ramadan 2021 through a heart-warming, nostalgic story about connection through the generations, playing on the tradition and heritage Vimto brings to the celebration:
Looking at the golden rules of media and campaign planning for advertising success over Ramadan, strive to include more than one media channel to create synergy, which magnifies the impact generated from the communication. Ramadan 2021’s top-performing ads used well-integrated media channels, with impact from the synergy effect exceeding triple the exclusive impact driven from any single media channel. Multimedia especially supports brands’ growth on the pillars of TV, social media and online videos, all of which trigger consumers’ emotions and uplift in brand affinity, with social media, in particular, playing on both usage and emotional connection while outdoor and in-store point of sale (POS) communications show significant impact in uplifting brands’ short-term use.
Golden rules for creative effectiveness in your Ramadan 2022 advertising
Get a head start on your Ramadan 2022 campaign success by addressing consumers’ needs at the evolved dimensions of Ramadan – mindfulness, intention, holistic wellbeing, and conscious choice.
For truly impactful communication, the brand needs to be shown in a meaningful way, playing an integral part of the Ramadan context. Focus on the brand’s uniqueness and use online and offline media channels to boost reach and recall, while integrating content across platforms to magnify the impact.
Get in touch to learn how your Ramadan ad will fare against these golden rules with Link, the world’s most trusted ad-testing solution, through Kantar Marketplace. Watch our Ramadan advertising webinar on-demand to ensure your brand’s communication plan is ready for Ramadan 2022:
https://kantar-webinars.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KzG0TBzET0SvURLTnC0sxw
