Your usual brand tagline doesn’t matter in your campaign much on a special occasion like Ramadan. Unless you can resonate that with the same target audience that shares a common belief for the occasion. Many firms place an Ad here and there, put up on a website or a Facebook page, and consider it done. Unfortunately, this approach is like fishing on dry land. At the end of the day, you won’t catch anything as you are not doing it right. Especially when you are doing it for a season like Ramadan. Special time demands special attention.
You can follow these steps to execute a successful Ramadan marketing campaign.
1. Understand your audience
What exactly do consumers like to watch on YouTube before, during, and after Ramadan? Through data mining and insights, Google research shows that one month before Ramadan, YouTube cooking videos increase, peaking 30% higher than average in the first week of the Holy Month.
Searches for recipes, meanwhile, spiked 50% higher than the annual average, especially at the start of the month. Check out Maggi’s marketing campaign that took advantage of key cooking video insights. During Ramadan, people continue to watch YouTube videos, with video completion rates increasing.
Cooking videos and TV drama series prove very popular, with a viewership of the latter increasing by 151% during Ramadan, likes by 447%, sharing by 228%, and subscriber sign-up by 490%. After Ramadan, air travel and hotel searches surge by 20% to 25%.
2. Get Creative
A constant challenge for advertisers is creating content that builds personal connections, excites viewers, and makes them want to tune in. This is more important during Ramadan than any other time as people watch more YouTube, perform more searches, and access the Internet on their mobile devices more often.
We often talk about authenticity on YouTube, and in a time dedicated to introspection, altruism, celebration, and togetherness. It’s an ideal moment for brands to create unique Ramadan-themed campaigns for their customers. You can get inspiration from Coca-Cola’s Remove Labels This Ramadan campaign and Vimto’s clever campaign – that invited audiences to write a customized message on a Vimto bottle on a YouTube masthead.
- Tell a story: Use the art of storytelling to connect through increasingly popular multi-part stories or web series. A good example is Makeup Forever’s all-star Ramadan YouTube series. That truly engaged their audiences.
- Create Eid-specific stories: Use Ramadan as an opportunity to build an engaging story and Eid as a chance to polish your campaign with Eid-specific content that connects with people. Viva Kuwait, our Lantern Award winner in 2017 for best Ramadan ad on YouTube, accomplished this with compelling bumper ads that lifted spirits with song and dance.
- Be inspired by brands who’ve done it well: Get an idea from the Lantern Award’s Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr creative campaigns that resonate with YouTube audiences. Take a look at submissions and winners’ campaigns on The Lantern Awards’ YouTube channel.
3. Measure Success for Video Campaign
You can easily measure the success of a video campaign by analyzing four key metrics in the WAVE framework:
- WATCH TIME: Video platforms must first reach a sizeable audience that consistently spends a significant amount of time-consuming video. YouTube viewership rises during Ramadan, whereas TV experiences an overall drop.
- AUDIBILITY: Videos work through a combination of sound and motion. A big chunk of the message and emotional impact do not happen without audio. 95% of YouTube video ads are audible.
- VIEW-ABILITY: Video ads cannot work if they are not actually viewed; YouTube ads exceed industry averages for view-ability of digital videos.
- ENGAGEMENT – To deliver impact, videos must reach users at a moment when they are paying attention, showcasing a message that is relevant to them. Users value the flexibility and convenience of YouTube over the rigidity of TV.
Take a look into 3 powerful Ramadan ad campaign we have experienced in the ’90s to now!
Alternatively, feel free to get in touch with our team for advice on creating your next great campaign.
