New City Developments launched a campaign around a competition for a free apartment (two bedrooms and fully finished) in their vibrant compound, Eco West, during Ramadan 2022. The 6th of October compound offers its residents all the facilities you’d need in a compound with the combo of overlooking the Great Giza Pyramids and being home to plenty of greenery.
It showcased robust creative direction, generated plenty of buzz online, included engaging on-ground activations with substantial digital impact, got broadcasted on a hit radio show, and was featured on many media platforms. The results were inspiring to say the least, so we did some digging to discover the marketing agencies behind it. To our surprise, it was just one Egyptian marketing agency: 5d (Fifth Dimension)!
A Facebook marketing partner and a Google premiere partner with 10 years’ experience under their belt, 5d was the brain and muscles behind it all. The services needed to actualize the campaign could all be found in-house at the full-service digital marketing agency. There was no need for any outsourcing.
Targeting young people with modest purchasing power, the campaign’s core idea is on-point. But there’s certainly a lot more to making a campaign successful than just a brilliant core idea.
From hijacking Akram Hosny’s viral hit, Setto Ana, to a game of Laser tag at Mall of Arabia’s War Zone, here’s what went down under the tagline #اللعب_على_المفتاح (or Play for the Key)…
An Overview of the Battle for a Free Apartment by Eco West
It all began with an announcement that invited users to submit to the competition by posting a video of them on their social accounts saying they accept Eco West’s challenge. They were also required to mention Eco West’s socials and the campaign’s hashtag after filling in their basic info. In turn, Eco West followed the applicants.
By doing so, they incentivized two-way communication between the brand and its target audience. More importantly, however, it meant 5d could easily monitor which applicants were following the competition’s rules, making the competition’s posts public, and fitting the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity’s regulations.
Announcing the competition took both the target audience and many marketing professionals by surprise. From the moment of the unusual announcement, it was clear we were in for a special treat.
A fully finished, two-bedroom apartment in New City Developments’ Eco West? Looking the property up online, it seemed too good to be true, especially when you find out that the unit will be delivered to the winner within only two years. But it is true and there isn’t a catch.
After the necessary filtration, eligible candidates were invited to partake in the first digital challenge.
Challenge #1: Making the Most Engaging Video to Akram Hosny’s Setto Ana
The eligible 3,200+ applicants were first required to shoot and post a fun video to Akram Hosny’s hit, Setto Ana. Judging by engagement, the top 32 participants advanced to a treasure hunt.
Challenge #2: A Treasure Hunt in a New City Developments Sales Center in 6th of October
The 32 participants who advanced to this round were invited to City Developments’ sales center in 6th of October for a treasure hunt.
They were split into two teams of 16 to search for cards hidden within the sales center itself. The winning 16 participants advanced to the next round, which took place on live radio.
Challenge #3: A Trivia Contest on Wael Mansour’s NRJ Radio Hit “Level El Wahsh” (or Boss Level)
Renowned radio host, Wael Mansour, called up the 16 qualified participants and had them compete against one another—two at a time—in a live game of trivia on NRJ.
Eight winners emerged and advanced to a game of laser tag!
Challenge #4: A Game of Laser Tag
In the Mall of Arabia’s War Zone, the eight qualified participants were split into two teams of four to compete in a game of laser tag.
The winning four then played each other in a free-for-all and the winner got his first home!
Announcing the Winner and Signing the Contract
Lo and behold, the winner of the battle, Khaled!
He met with Ramy Youssef, the CEO of New City Developments, and signed the apartment’s contract.
The Campaign’s Accomplishments
Create a substantial campaign for Newcity Developments in order to raise awareness about Eco West
Increase engagement on their digital platforms in a new and creative way
Incentivize two-way communication with their target audience
A Glance at the Results
Why Egyptian Marketing Agency 5d Pulled This Off
The rapidly increasing number of digital media and marketing agencies in Egypt falsely claiming they’re “fully-fledged” makes it challenging for brands to find the agencies that suit them best. Even excellent digital marketing agencies usually can’t create noticeable on-ground activations or provide decent creative direction without outsourcing a big chunk of the work.
This puts brands operating in Egypt in a difficult spot, where they have to shop for multiple agencies with different specialties only to get a single campaign out there. It may sound like the right thing to do given the current market climate, but it’s pretty inefficient, right?
Well, 5d’s recent campaign for New City Developments’ Eco West is proof that this doesn’t need to be the case. Let’s quickly recap the services they exhibited—while outsourcing nothing—in the aforementioned campaign:
Social media strategy
Digital content
Online activations
Media buying
Digital PR
Collaboration with third-party communication channels—such as Radio
Creative strategies
They launched back in 2012, and their decade of experience amounted to them garnering a diverse portfolio of big names in the real estate, but also in medicine, F&B, automotive, insurance, and FMCGs. And even though they may have started off as a digital agency, they successfully expanded to include all of the above services in-house. Hats off to them!
You could learn more about 5d or contact them through their Facebook, Instagram, or website.
See for Yourself!
Here are some videos covering the campaign’s highlights
