Pemo, a leading spend management platform for MENA businesses, has struck viral gold with its latest digital campaign “Technologia”, inspired by a wildly popular Saudi meme that first took off on YouTube about seven months ago.
The original clip, featuring an Arab man gleefully shouting “Technologia!”, became a cultural touchstone for the region’s playful take on innovation. Pemo’s creative spin gives the meme a business twist, showing just how easy it is to automate expenses through the Pemo app.
In conversation with Campaign Middle East, Emil Petkov, Head of Marketing, Pemo, said, “The objective was to create a fun, culturally relevant campaign that would spark high engagement while clearly showcasing how Pemo simplifies business spend. By tapping into a viral Saudi meme, the mandate was to demonstrate Pemo’s ease of use, particularly its one second receipt to record automation, and turn a well-loved moment into a celebration of smart financial management for businesses across the region.”
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The campaign was executed digitally across platforms such as Meta, Instagram and TikTok, where the Technologia meme was already thriving. The channels were chosen to maximise shareability, cultural relevance and quick virality. The ‘Technologia’ campaign was created entirely in house by Pemo’s marketing team.
The campaign ran in the UAE, with messaging tailored for MENA audiences familiar with the meme’s origin and humour.
The campaign will run for a month, focused on delivering maximum impact in a short and high intensity burst. It targeted UAE business decision makers, specifically CFOs, finance managers, team leads, and founders and business owners looking to streamline expense control.
Petkov said, “The Technologia meme originated and exploded on social media, so digital platforms were the natural environment to launch a playful reinterpretation. Pemo has a strong history of high performing, social-first content, with previous campaigns generating tens of millions of dollars in pipeline.”
He added, “By using Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, we could: meet audiences where the meme already lived; leverage existing cultural awareness to maximise engagement; use humour to make fintech feel simple, human and exciting; and reinforce Pemo’s identity as a modern and intuitive platform created for the region.”
In the advert, two friends sit at a café surrounded by paper receipts. One takes out his phone, snaps a picture of a receipt, and shouts “Technologia!” as the tagline “The Technologia of Business Spend” pops up on screen.
His excitement about the technology shows that it takes simply one second from snapping a receipt to organise expenses and close the books. The film then highlights how Pemo simplifies company finances, from paying vendors and capturing receipts to automating approvals, with a spotlight on Pemo’s smart corporate card.
The campaign’s comedic charm and cultural relevance have struck a chord online, earning strong engagement across digital platforms and quickly becoming Pemo’s most successful campaign to date.
The Pemo Technologia campaign has generated a 40 per cent increase in lead generation, with an engagement growth rate of 500 per cent. This reinforces Pemo’s reputation for turning fintech into something relatable, local and cool to be part of.
Another primary key performance indicator (KPI) was customer acquisition. The campaign helped Pemo achieve its best acquisition month to date, reaching 10,000 clients and securing a significant share of its category.
The campaign also directly supported Pemo’s objective of turning complex spend management into something instantly understood.
CREDITS:
Client: Pemo
Creative production, social and digital execution: Pemo in-house team.
