Mashreq has revealed details behind the success of its latest SMASHREQ campaign, which was rolled out in the form of an augmented reality (AR) game on TikTok, connecting Mashreq with the padel community. Reportedly, the first-ever padel game on TikTok, SMASHREQ has officially claimed the title of TikTok’s top AR sensation, outperforming more than 40 other games released during the last two years.
The campaign was launched to raise awareness about of Mashreq’s long-standing association with padel and to reinforce the bank’s involvement in sport and wellness. In addition to connecting with youth through digital engagement and padel gamification, the brand also aimed to establish relevance, strengthen Mashreq’s positioning as a ‘premier brand associated with padel’.
Using creative, entertaining content, Mashreq reflected padel as a dynamic, social sport that resonates with both existing followers and new audiences, thus, creating a community and establishing a network of Padel enthusiasts. Mashreq also created a hook advertising film to aggressively promote the trending game.
Rollout of the SMASHREQ campaign
The game went live on TikTok from 25 March 2025 to leverage from Ramadan’s social traffic.
The game has already been on the platform for 30 days, as of 25 April 2025, and will remain on the platform for another 30 days.
Mashreq has ensured relevance and reach through a programmatic push combined with digital PR.
Additionally, through this period, Mashreq had influencers endorsing the game, paid social content to promote the game, and even incentivised the game itself to increase engagement.
TikTok also noticed that content creators have organically picked up the game, played it, and promoted it on their channels.
The campaign was supported by collaborations with some of the UAE’s top padel players who promoted challenges around the game such as goading people on to beat their high scores.
Top players from the UAE Padel Association (UAEPA) and the Egyptian Padel Federation (EPF) advocated for the game.
@ali_hustler مستعد للتحدي ؟ العب بادل مع @Mashreq دلوقتي وحقق الفوز علشان تكسب جوائز مش هتتعوض! @mashreq #SMASHREQ
Success of the SMASHREQ campaign
While most TikTok content garners attention for approximately 70-90 seconds, Mashreq, quite literally, smashed it with a commendable dwell time of 200 seconds, which is a whopping 143 per cent above the norm.
“Players can’t get enough. With an average of 2-3 returns for another round, it’s clear that SMASHREQ is the game everyone’s talking about,” said Suad Merchant, Global Head of Brand, Partnerships, and Corporate Communications at Mashreq.
The campaign, which was the brainchild of Mashreq’s Manager of Brand and Partnerships, Saba Oomer, witnessed incredible success, highlighted in its performance metrics:
UAE brand campaign performance (Within 10 days)
- Impressions: 10.20 million
- Reach: 6.09 million
- Views: 9.75 million
- Clicks: 278,000
Egypt brand campaign Performance (Within 10 days)
- Impressions: 15 million
- Reach: 10.36 million
- Views: 14.5 million
- Clicks: 860,000
If the numbers are anything to go by, SMASHREQ has not only captivated gamers and Gen Z social media scrollers, it has also become something of a cultural phenomenon.
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