Eid in the region isn’t just a celebration; it’s a spectacular opportunity for brands to captivate a vibrant and engaged audience. This Eid, the stage is set with over 14 films premiering during the festive weekend, creating a dazzling canvas for brands looking to amplify their advertising impact.
Here’s why seizing this opportunity with cinema ads priced by admission is a strategic masterstroke.
Cost-Effective Engagement: Cineplan’s by-admission buying route offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional advertising methods. You pay only for the viewers who see your ad, ensuring a targeted investment with a potentially high return.
Targeted Reach During Peak Season: The Eid movie lineup this year spans genres and languages, catering to diverse tastes. This ensures that cinemas, whether in IMAX or luxury theaters, are packed, providing brands with effective ways to target audiences by language, genre, and demographics.
Standing Out in the Content Rush: Traditional advertising channels risk being drowned out. Cinema advertising shines here, with its large, immersive format that captivates attention and allows for creative storytelling. A well-crafted ad can become an unforgettable part of the movie-going experience.
Captive Audience, Maximum Impact: Eid brings families and friends together at the cinema, creating a captivated audience free from distractions. With this ambiance set and all eyes on the big screen, your ad has a prime opportunity to make a lasting impression.
Explore the Eid long weekend movie releases and kickstart your Eid campaign with Our Cinema Buying Platform.
In the realm of marketing terminology, one encounters familiar buzzwords such as Gen-Z, resonating strongly within industry discussions and strategies. Yet, amid this prevalent vocabulary, a lesser-known term emerges: Elusives. Uncommonly uttered in marketing circles, the concept of Elusives remains enigmatic, lacking the widespread recognition attributed to its Gen-Z counterpart.
While Gen-Z garners attention for its purchasing prowess, age dynamics, and pervasive influence, a pertinent question emerges: Are Elusives synonymous with Gen-Z? Delving into this intriguing query unveils an exploration of a demographic perhaps just as vital but hidden in mystery within the marketing landscape.
So, who are Elusives? According to the Video Advertising Bureau, Elusives are lucrative, young, diverse, and cordless audiences who are more prevalent but elusive when it comes to advertising. They tend to avoid advertisements at all costs, opting to skip ads or passively engage with unskippable advertising content. They pose a challenge for marketers to reach compared to other audiences. However, there is a platform that consistently captures these Elusives – The Cinema.
The VAB report highlights that 65% of all moviegoers belong to the adults 18-34 multicultural audience who perceive cinema as a crucial part of their social lives. They prefer watching a diverse range of genres at the cinema within its initial release week.
Furthermore, the report indicates that Elusives, from the moment they step into the cinema, become receptive to in-theater advertising. Remarkably, 89% of adults 18-34 take their seats before the start of trailers, viewing cinema as a pivotal social event. They often combine other activities, such as dining out or shopping, following the movie.
This scenario cements cinema as the ‘go to’ social activity for youngsters and offers marketers immediate opportunities to engage with these socially active and lucrative consumers through cinema advertising. It becomes an advantageous channel for immediate audience reach, such as launching new products, consumer promotions, or seasonal campaigns. Marketers stand to benefit from cinema’s proven ability to rapidly amplify the scale and reach of a campaign, all within a highly attentive environment.
Source: VAB
The Luxury & Lifestyle Lions launch recognises the significant transformation and disruption to the creative marketing of brands in the luxury space
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has introduced the Luxury & Lifestyle Lions, setting a global standard for luxury brands, with the goal of acknowledging and celebrating the most influential creative work, experiences, and business solutions within the luxury and lifestyle sector.
Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said: “When we introduce a Lion that reflects the needs of an industry sector, the Award is crafted in collaboration with the relevant industry. Our global committee of experts have advised us that this highly disrupted sector needs its own benchmark, so that we can move from driving awareness to recognising solutions that are changing business models and setting a new creative standard for a market in flux. The Luxury & Lifestyle Lions will recognise branded communications and solutions that drive business performance and brand loyalty. A multi-disciplined Jury will set a new benchmark for the luxury sector, with the Lion recognising creative work that elevates the discipline and the sector.”
Marian Brannelly, Global Director of Awards, LIONS, added: “The luxury market has faced significant disruption in recent years and post-pandemic. A shift in consumer behaviour and an accelerated shift towards e-commerce and emerging technologies are just a few of the areas the market has had to navigate and innovate in at speed. Add to this the changing values of new demographics, the evolving definition of luxury in non-Western markets and the need for a heightened focus on sustainability and conscious consumption, and you begin to see the pivotal role that world-class creativity can play in this transformation.”
This change is supported by WARC’s ‘Guide to Luxury Marketing in an Era of Change’ and Euromonitor research, which indicates that sales in the luxury category have rebounded after COVID-19 and are expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels in 2023. Additionally, research by IPSOS demonstrates that the global luxury market is evolving, presenting new opportunities and challenges. It is predicted that demographic shifts in emerging economies will create more than one billion first-time consumers, primarily concentrated in China, India, and Southeast Asia – as their purchasing power is bolstered by rapid digital adoption among a youthful, urban, and tech-savvy population.
Commenting on the Award, Charles Georges-Picot, Global CEO at Marcel and Publicis Luxe, Global Client Lead, said: “At a time where the luxury sector must constantly reinvent, transform and honour brand heritage with a keen eye on the future, the introduction of a Luxury & Lifestyle Lions will help set a new creative benchmark for this highly disrupted and exciting sector. We know that creativity has the power to push boundaries and progress sectors and disciplines. We’re excited about a new industry standard that will redefine how we look at branded communications, business models and creative transformation in this dynamic space.”
At this year’s Cannes Lions, ‘Kaguya by GUCCI’ by Dentsu Inc., Tokyo, was awarded a Bronze Lion in Film Craft. The work featured music that celebrates a mix of historical Japanese artforms with the latest technology in creativity. The creative director behind the piece, Toshihiko Tanabe, said about the launch of the Luxury & Lifestyle Lions: “Luxury campaigns aren’t just about glittering celebrities dancing in the sunset. For years, luxury marketing has served as a rare platform to exhibit visual art and pop culture in the most contemporary way.”
In other changes to the Lions, Brannelly commented: “It’s important that the Awards reflect the current landscape and pave the way forward, so as well as evolving the Lions, it’s equally important for us to retire Lions when necessary. In 2024, following consultation with our Juries, we will close the Mobile Lions. Mobile devices are embedded in work across every channel and discipline, and over the past number of years, mobile-led creativity has been expanding into almost every Lion.”
Full information on the Luxury & Lifestyle Lions, including the definition, criteria and categories, will follow, along with the Entry Kit, in November. Details of the Jury President and Jury will be announced early next year, with submissions into Cannes Lions 2024 being accepted from 18 January 2024.
Click here for further information on the Cannes Lions Awards along with the 2023 winners.
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2023 UAE Cannes Lions Awards Ceremony
UAE Secures 21 Lions at the 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity
Francine Li of Riot Games will serve as Jury President for the inaugural Entertainment Lions for Gaming.
Cannes Lions has announced the launch of the Entertainment Lions for Gaming. The new Lion will be judged and awarded for the first time in June 2023, with Francine Li, Global Head of Marketing, Riot Games, serving as the inaugural Jury President.
Speaking about the new Lion, Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said, “We’ve seen the number of Lion winners that feature gaming rise by 74% in the last five years. Based on the velocity at which this space is evolving, and the increased relevance that Gaming now holds within the creative marketing community, this feels like a natural progression. We also can’t ignore that Gaming is bigger than Hollywood and the music industry combined. I’d like to thank all the many agencies, brands, gaming experts and passionate advocates from around the world who have helped shape this new Lion. Our belief is that this award will offer a new benchmark, and shine a spotlight on creative work that sits at the intersection of brands, creativity, gaming, customer experience and communities. I’d like to thank Francine for agreeing to lead the first Entertainment Lion for Gaming jury in 2023, we are grateful for her wealth of talent and expertise.”
The Entertainment Lions for Gaming will celebrate creative work that connects people to brands through gameplay. Submissions will need to demonstrate how brands successfully tapped into complex gaming communities and seamlessly added real value to the overall gaming experience while driving commercial success.
About her role, Jury President of the Entertainment Lions for Gaming, Francine Li, said, “I’m honoured and excited to serve as the inaugural Jury President of the Entertainment Lions for Gaming. This new Lion is being introduced at a time when the gaming industry is truly reaching new heights. I believe that gaming is the future of entertainment, bringing together passionate global communities in shared immersive and interactive experiences. The creative work in gaming is community driven, deeply rooted in insight and adds value to the player experience, a true definition of modern marketing. I look forward to celebrating groundbreaking work and awarding the first ever Entertainment Lions for Gaming with a jury of my esteemed peers.”
The Entertainment Lions for Gaming, originally a part of the Entertainment Lions, is being introduced as part of a long-term plan that started when Cannes Lions separated out the Entertainment Lions for Music in 2016 and then later the Entertainment Lions for Sport in 2019.
The jury, which will be announced early next year, will be multidisciplinary and comprise creatives, brands, gaming experts, publishers, platforms and producers.
Click here for more details on the Cannes Lions awards and the changes made to other Lions. Submissions into Cannes Lions 2023 will be accepted from 19 January 2023.
Source: LIONS press release
Related Article:
Highlights from the 2022 UAE Cannes Lions Awards Ceremony
Brands have a huge role to play during these uncertain times of COVID-19.
A recent study conducted by Edelman has revealed that as well as offering new products and services that specifically target pandemic-related life challenges, brands have an important role to play as communicators.
The study also showed that what people most want to see from brands at the moment is tangible and helpful action. Transparency, empathy and compassion being paramount!
The majority of people in the study also indicated that how well a company responds to the coronavirus crisis, will have a huge impact on their likelihood of buying from it in the future. Many, too, have started using a new brand because of the innovative or compassionate way the brand has behaved since the pandemic began.
So with no manual for these uncertain times, how have brands handled this new norm of advertising? While some have withdrawn from the scene in a crisis, others have seized the opportunity to reach out to the community and stay relevant.
From heart-warming and comforting ads, to Ramadan-centric, storytelling and informative ads, here’s a list of must-watch video brand campaigns from across the Middle East:
Till We Meet Again – Visit Dubai
Abu Dhabi: Stay Home, Stay Safe, Stay Curious – Visit Abu Dhabi
Ode to Empty Roads – Nissan Middle East
Do You Remember – Emirates
We Are One – Expo 2020 Dubai
A Message From Expo 2020 Dubai – Expo 2020 Dubai
A World We Deserve – Babyshop
Proud of You – Bank Dhofar
Ramadan Lives On – stc Kuwait
Stay Home. We Deliver – Domino’s
#StayHome – Honda
#Homemade_Ramadan – du
Thank you Heroes! – Cafu
Ramadan 2020 | An Ooredoo Story – Oooredoo
Together In Spirit – MG Middle East
Our colleagues and partners…We miss you and we’ll see you soon – TECOM Group
Covid-19: Preventive Measures – Motivate Val Morgan
Source: Edelman, Campaign Middle East and YouTube
