Emirates NBD Group has always been digital-first. Being a premier partner of the Expo 2020 Dubai, the venue is the perfect stage to communicate the banks’ digital edge. And the Group partnered with Liwa for this prestigious project.
The banks showcased scenarios from the future and tied them to banking through virtual exhibits which were displayed in their branch at the Expo.
“The communication strategy revolved around the objective of driving traffic to the branch,” says Rohit Arora, General Manager & Head of Strategy at Liwa. “This called for creating intrigue about the exhibits which were in the realm of the futuristic. The question remained: How to connect with an eclectic audience that throngs the Expo with the exhibits?”
Sagar Rege, Director says: “Liwa’s deep dive into these concepts and in-depth research led to the creation of several mini-stories, which were then manifested as a whole new, evolved design language.”
“This design evolution took us from the very basic to the very intricate,” according to Vijay Kumar, Executive Creative Director. “In an exciting interplay between the present and the future, we juxtaposed live-action video with animated graphics and evolved a layered design approach.”
The final design language was both engaging and scalable and apt for the branch as well as the giant screens all across the Expo venue.
In an elaborate exercise in co-creation, Liwa and senior teams from Emirates NBD and Emirates Islamic worked closely for several months to get the communication right. “For us, the challenge was to crack the design lingo for banking products and services that don’t exist yet. And the right solution was arrived at after several iterations in both design and animation,” according to Sagar Rege.
The result is a visual treat that’s engaging, entertaining and educational. The videos have been playing all across the Expo venue.
Credits
Head of Strategy: Rohit Arora
Account Management: Sagar Rege, Puja Chatterjee, Nisha Pillai
Executive Creative Director: Vijay Kumar
Head of Art: Abhijit ChaubalSenior
Art Director: John Hahnemanne and Anas Ramzan
Head of Animation: Arsalan Ahmed
Chief Animators: Shoaib Ischtiyak, Nikhil Soman, Talal Dakkak
