It’s the third day of Ramadan, and advertisers are sending out advert after advert. The annual battle for grabbing and maintaining viewership and increasing brand awareness is here. Marketers have been preparing for months, ever since the end of last year’s Ramadan.
As always, there is usually a theme that becomes abused during the holy month. Usually it is a battle between deepening relationships or who has the best musical (with Vodafone winning last year’s musical battle). This time advertisers seem to have decided on focusing on a particular coupling instead.
Amr Youssef and Kinda Alloush take over Ramadan as power couple
Egyptian heartthrob Amr Youssef and popular director and actress Kinda Alloush made all the headlines at the start of the year with their love story and wedding. Egyptians are in love with this coupling, and companies have taken notice.
Just a few months after their wedding, which was held privately with family and friends, the couple has now been making the rounds in the Ramadan advertising season.
The couple first appeared on Vodafone’s musical ad, also featuring stars Tamer Hosny and Shereen. The couple, facing their first Ramadan as husband and wife, sing about how to please Amr’s mother who “doesn’t joke” when it comes to food.
https://www.facebook.com/Vodafone.Egypt/videos/10154680074308437/
The ad, which was released on the first day of Ramadan, has reached over 5.3 million views in less than 2 days, with over 267k reactions and over 100k shares. The ad, although repetitive for Vodafone’s history, has gained many positive reactions.
Also appeared on ➤ Ramadan 2017 Campaigns; first day recap
The couple’s next venture into Ramadan advertising comes in the newly released ad from Wadi Degla Developments’ Neopolis. For this ad, the secretive couple reminisces their love story and how they got together. If they went to Neopolis.
https://www.facebook.com/wadidegladev/videos/677183709149657/
The ad, which was released yesterday on the 28th, currently has 60k views in 17 hours. Although not as popular or well-spread as Vodafone’s ad, the ad is well done.
It is only the first week of Ramadan, will we see them again in another ad? Perhaps, it is highly possible with this year being their best chance at exercising their new combined popularity.
Celebrity appearances and its abuse during Ramadan
Celebrity/Influencer branding or endorsements is a marketing technique that has been used countless of times during the annual celebration of Ramadan.
Every year, marketers around the country fight and create deals to ensure they are grabbing the most current, relevant and popular celebrities for their Ramadan ads. With Ramadan being an integral part of the year for Arab marketers, it is important to grab the correct person or people for their brand’s needs.
According to Google, 2015’s Ramadan saw user searches increase almost double during the holy month. Facebook usage increases by 5%, while the average user viewing duration on YouTube increases by 11% and comments rise an impressive 57%. It is the most important time of the year for marketers, as both Google and Facebook agree that the increased brand awareness stays throughout the rest of the year.
Also Read ➤ How to make an impact during Ramadan
Celebrities are used to breathe new life into brands by bringing new users and audiences, build brand awareness through their own social media channels, and can position the brand with the celebrity’s personal branding. There are many ways to use this marketing technique, making it very flexible and usable to almost all types of companies.
Egyptian marketers abuse this technique by overusing it on a basic level. Every year, companies such as Vodafone, Etisalat and Pepsi return with Ramadan ads filled with various celebrities. The ads simply use the star power produced by having them in the ad, rather than focusing on their powerful ability to grab possible consumers and creating strategies to keep them.
During the holy month, by simply asking celebrities to use their products or services and posting them online, marketers could open up communications with new consumers. Brands that already have established positions and associations only need to find a celebrity that fits their branding and they’ll have the perfect match.
For companies still starting out, by focusing on mid-tier influencers and celebrities, it would be a great boost to the associations and positive reactions the companies are aiming for. It is all about strategic planning.
Have tips you’d like to share about celebrity/influencer branding? Let us know in the comments.
