A collaborative direct marketing campaign has impressed both the judges at the recent Dubai Lynx Awards as well as the campaign’s target audience, resulting in increased market awareness and new business opportunities for the three companies involved in the project.
The richly-textured calendar produced by brand agency HKLM Middle East, photographic studio BD Studio and Medad Printing & Packaging won a bronze award in the Direct Marketing Category at the Dubai Lynx Awards held at the Dubai Media City Amphitheatre on Monday 19 March.
The Awards, organised and presented by the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, are recognised as the leading creative advertising competition for the Middle East and North Africa. The judging panel, consisting of 25 international jurors spent four days judging nearly 1,700 creative entries for the inaugural event, which attracted nearly 1,200 VIP’s and professionals from the world of advertising and design.
HKLM Middle East managing director, Lawrence Flude, explained the strategic development of the campaign and how the partners worked together to achieve its objectives. “All partners wanted to showcase their talents and raise awareness among current and prospective clients in the UAE. The aim was to create something that was differentiated, attractive, compelling and informative, and that would also have appeal and relevance across Dubai’s diverse cultural spectrum,” he said.
The outcome was an attention-grabbing piece of graphic art. “HKLM designed a wall-hanging calendar, ‘365 Lines of Change’, based on the concept that each day of the year can change a person’s destiny,” Flude said. “As visual illustration, the ancient art of Mehndi - the painting of hands using henna – was used, which was an effective conduit for the display of vibrant colours and photography, thought-provoking copy, detailed design and textures.”
The calendar design employs a number of print and photographic techniques including embossing and debossing, foiling, die-cutting, varnishing, metallic inking and even scented pads.
“Despite tight time constraints which required rapid turnaround of the photography, design and printing, the calendar met our delivery deadlines and budget restrictions,” he said.
And it has obviously met with approval from the wider business community as each of the three partners has had extremely positive feedback from their existing customers, as well as sales enquiries from prospective new clients.
“We are proud to have gained this recognition at the Dubai Lynx Awards,” Flude added, “but the key accomplishment is that the campaign achieved what it set out to do.”
