WORK
HSBC — GLOBAL TRANSFERS
PROBLEM
Time zone clocks. Bundles of cash. Flags. Financial services generate heaps of advertising clichés. How can HSBC promote 24-hour international transfers and stand out in a cluttered and competitive market?
SOLUTION
Play on expectations by showing a 24-hour cycle with a selection of international flags that have sun, star or moon designs cropped and arranged from sunrise to sunset and back again.
Coming up with the idea was one thing. Finding the right flags and cropping them just right was a nightmare—proving that genius is 99% perspiration and 1% hell yes, the sunrise flag of Kiribati will do beautifully.
IMPACT
What was a throwaway piece to fill media space during a gap between campaigns became HSBC’s go-to visual for Global Transfers. The client loved it, and D&AD gave us a pencil for it.
MEDIA
Press, outdoor, homepage banner
ROLE
Concept and copy
NIKE — RUN CLUB
PROBLEM
Nike+ combines the best of social media and productivity apps to create the most engaging and active running clubs in the world. With it, Nike launched the We Run marathon series in 19 cities. How do you get people running in a city where hardly anyone walks?
SOLUTION
What appears to be a one-week running craze for the uninitiated was a constant drip of ads, training sessions, midnight runs, and real community management.
IMPACT
In 2012 we had a few hundred registered Nike+ runners. By 2014, we reached a few thousand runners. In 2015 the annual marathon became a city-wide event. Last I checked in 2018, Nike+ had over 17,000 subscribers.
MEDIA
Nike+, web, outdoor, social, press
ROLE
Copywriting 2012-2015 Creative lead 2015-2018
KENWOOD — KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
PROBLEM
How do you reach young expats when you don’t have a social media presence?
SOLUTION
Show up where they do and make it about them. What’s the one thing you want out of ironing? Confidence.
Mum didn’t teach me how to iron for nothing.
IMPACT
Top of mind awareness and a bump in sales.
MEDIA
Press, outdoor
ROLE
Copy, creative lead
LISTERINE — GOOD INTENTIONS
PROBLEM
Listerine campaigns often seesaw between functional and emotional benefits. If an execution leads with an emotional benefit, you have to sign off with the functional bit. When we identified a gap in its marketing calendar, we jumped at the chance to prove you can seamlessly blend the two.
SOLUTION
We all draw back from people who have bad breath. And we’re all awkward about it. It’s embarrassing. So, what if we took that to its logical extreme? That’s when bad breath kills good intentions. To make it happen, we used clay models and storytelling with detailed photography.
IMPACT
Top of mind awareness. Opened the door for the agency to do more local work, leading to several regional campaigns originating from the Middle East.
MEDIA
Press
ROLE
Concept and copy
KINOKUNIYA — THE N0-PROMO PROMOTION
PROBLEM
Kinokuniya is Japan’s answer to Barnes and Noble. Except it’s actually doing great without turning into a department store like Indigo. What wasn’t working for Kinokuniya was the month-long Dubai Shopping Festival. And that’s because they have a strict no discount policy.
SOLUTION
Books are priceless. At least that’s a sentiment most of us have. So we decided to adopt the look and tone of discount signs to promote what Kinokuniya really has to offer. A collection of books for every interest.
IMPACT
The stunt increased sales over the previous festival period and regular sales figures.
Puns are easy, tacky, stupid. Sometimes they’re just the thing. The judges at LIA agreed (awarding gold in design for best use of copywriting).
ROLE
Concept, copy and art direction
KITKAT — BREAKERS
PROBLEM
Sales can’t justify much of KitKat’s ad spend in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. It had to run a campaign that would work across all markets. The problem? Brand recognition and our target audience vary wildly.
SOLUTION
Instead of focusing on a single break (as KitKat ads typically do) we celebrated different types of break takers. This opened up creative possibilities to address different market needs by featuring different break takers.
IMPACT
The ad ran in the UAE, Egypt, KSA, South Africa, India, Lebanon and Malaysia. As a campaign platform it was adopted in the UK, Brazil and Australia—making it KitKat’s first global campaign.
MEDIA
TV, social, shopper
ROLE
Concept, copy and oversaw market adoption for creative consistency
NIKE — SOLE DXB EXHIBIT
PROBLEM
Sole DXB is Dubai's annual sneaker-head summit. When we finally convinced Nike to join in, competitors had already established themselves at the event. We needed to make an impact and impress the most demanding audience a sneaker brand can have.
SOLUTION
A massive shoebox installation and a branded basketball court took centre stage. Then with Scottie Pippen, custom shoes, limited edition shoebox designs by local influencers took Sole DXB by storm.
It took several agencies and designers to make this happen. Goes to show that great work is defined by collaboration.
IMPACT
Nike was the most talked about brand during the event and sales convinced Nike to sponsor Sole DXB annually.
MEDIA
Social, press, posters and activation
ROLE
Creative lead
JORDAN BRAND — STORE LAUNCH
PROBLEM
Nike wanted to launch the first Jordan Brand store in the Middle East, but they didn’t have much of a budget to make the splash the store deserved.
SOLUTION
A few feet away from the store inside Dubai Mall, there’s a massive waterfall with statues of divers in mid-jump. It’s one of the most Instagrammed spots in Dubai. Simply replacing one of the divers with Jordan’s Jumpman would generate all the buzz we’d need to kick start the launch of the store. We also created localized symbols that blended Dubai with Jordan Brand iconography for custom shoe designs to keep the buzz going.
IMPACT
While the Jumpman stunt didn’t make the cut, the work convinced Nike to remain with JWT. I won’t take credit for the successful store launch. It’s gotta be the shoes.
MEDIA
Press, in-store posters
ROLE
Creative lead, concept
NATIONAL BONDS — PRESTIGE PITCH
PROBLEM
National Bonds is a government-affiliated savings and investments brand in the UAE. Prestige is a service targeting high-net-worth individuals. The problem was their target audience couldn’t tell the services apart. They needed ads to differentiate the two.
SOLUTION
We gave Prestige a distinct, timeless luxury feel. The copy highlights the long term investment strategy of Prestige with relatable reasons for investing.
IMPACT
This was part of a long and layered pitch won in late 2017. The ads triggered a massive rebranding effort that’s ongoing today. The client loved the work so much that the ads are now a permanent fixture in their offices.
MEDIA
Press, in-store posters
ROLE
Creative lead, copy
DUBAI CARES — I CAN TEACH YOU TOO
PROBLEM
Competing charities are as fierce as brands in the private sector. In Dubai, donor fatigue and social media slacktivism caused a slump in donations. We had to sidestep the gloom and doom in advertising for charities and make better use of social to turn things around.
SOLUTION
Show that no matter where they’re from, no matter how bad it gets, children have a lot to give back if we give them the tools to learn.
This was over two years of pro bono work from Tanzania, Sri Lanka to Dubai.
IMPACT
The campaign doubled the previous year’s donations and broke all donation records for Dubai Cares. It picked up the Grand-Prix for good at the Dubai Lynx and bronze at Cannes Lions.
MEDIA
Press, social, TV, outdoor
ROLE
Copywriting, case and creative oversight
HEINEKEN — SOCIAL GLASS
PROBLEM
You can’t advertise alcohol in Dubai.
SOLUTION
Get expats to advertise for us over social media with a bit of tech (Facebook-connected chips at the base of every glass) and a lotta hiccups.
MEDIA
Bars, social
ROLE
Concept and copywriting
NIKE — LVL UP
PROBLEM
Nike was launching 3 football boots, each designed for a different surface. While Dubai is crazy about the sport, it doesn’t have the space and weather to allow for it for most of the year.
SOLUTION
The one thing Dubai has is a lot of empty skyscrapers. So, we took over three floors for three different types of surface play. Court. Turf. Street. Can you three-peat to make it to the top?
IMPACT
Facebook 700% over subscriber reach, Twitter 24% increase in followers, YouTube 155% increase in subscribers, 9% increase in sales
MEDIA
Social
ROLE
Copywriting
FOCP — FEEL FOR THE SIGNS
PROBLEM
How do you talk about breast cancer in one of the more conservative countries in the world?
SOLUTION
We created a sleeve that strapped around seatbelts and placed them in women-only taxis. When you fastened your seatbelt, you felt the lump in the sleeve. Copy on the sleeve encouraged women to find out more about breast cancer detection.
IMPACT
64K passengers, 30% traffic spike, 15% increase in social media subscribers
MEDIA
Social, ambient
ROLE
Concept and copy
ATLANTIS — CHECK INTO ANOTHER WORLD
PROBLEM
Atlantis is not your typical seaside resort. It’s colossal. It’s on a man-made island shaped like a palm. It has several pools, a waterpark, restaurants, a nightclub, a shopping district, a massive aquarium, and hosts major events like Sandance. Occupancy was still high, but it was no longer the only resort on the Palm. How can it stay ahead of increasing competition?
SOLUTION
To re-brand Atlantis, we didn’t brag. We didn’t need to. The pitch-winning campaign proved Atlantis to be more than a resort, it’s a world-class theme park.
IMPACT
9% increase in average daily rate, 7% increase in bookings
MEDIA
TV, social, outdoor, radio, SEM, press, ambient
ROLE
Concept and copy
NIKE — FIRST BATCH
PROBLEM
With a budget that only stretched to point of sale, how could we motivate football-obsessed teens to talk about the launch of Hypervenom?
SOLUTION
Just like a monster out of a sci-fi film, the first batch arrived in a secure container. Fans followed the container over social media to the Nike store. There, we placed a countdown timer to hype up the release date. The container was finally opened by local football star Ammoory.
IMPACT
143 shoes sold a day, 2,200 shoes sold in 2 weeks
+100K Like on Facebook, 55.4k engagement, 1.3 million reach
MEDIA
Outdoor, social, POS, press
ROLE
Concept and copy
RADIO — VARIOUS BRANDS
People assume radio is the copywriter’s domain. That’s all kinds of wrong. There’s an art director behind every spot I write.
VARIOUS BRANDS — MANIFESTOS
I’m always asked to write brand manifestos. Here are some of them.
EGYPT TOURISM — I'M EGYPT
When the Egyptian revolution began, we proactively put together content in solidarity with the demonstrators. This piece became the curtain-raiser for content published by activist artists. Black and white anime inspired the style to make every act of resistance look heroic.
JUST MAGAZINE — CO-FOUNDER
Back in 2003, I started a magazine on a whim that grew beyond my wildest expectations. We curated major and obscure events. Covered fashion. Interviewed just about anyone. Pulled stunts like creating a hockey-fan union during the 2004–05 NHL lockout. I had a blast.
ABOUT
AWARDS
D&AD
Cannes Lions
Effie
LIA
Cristal Festival
Dubai Lynx
EXPERIENCE
Freelance
Y&R Canada
JWT Dubai
JWT Experience
Digital Factory
Touché Montreal
THANKS
