Building on the insight that Saudi Youth are very active online, we launched an online Hub, “LaYwagif”, which hosted entertaining Branded content in the form of sitcom series with multiple episodes and seasons. The sitcoms talk about the Broadband RTBs in a light-hearted and subliminal manner. Sure enough, the portal became an entertainment destination, and we decided to post another series that went beyond the Broadband service: “Rayi7 Rayi7” was a newly created series tackling the Roaming service, in which a group of friends travel with a Puppet character (representing a left-behind friend), and enjoy new experiences together on vacation, with no internet hiccups.

The wide variety of shows created for the Hub allowed STC to host a number of competitions designed to cast more actors and hunt for new directors. Winners have starred in the shows, others have directed episodes or even been sent to study filmmaking abroad.

We created the region’s first online branded content hub “LaYwagif”

(“Don’t let anything stand in your way”,) which hosted entertaining Branded content featuring YouTube stars in the form of sitcom series with multiple episodes and seasons. When the episode was launched on the portal, a campaign was developed to draw our audience to the content. It began with a teaser for the episode, driving attention to STC’s destination entertainment site “LaYwagif”, especially given that YouTube Saudi stars were being featured. Simultaneously, a targeted online campaign drove additional traffic and created hype around the episode. YouTube pre-rolls supported with online and social media ads, driving traffic to the episode’s on-site page. TV, print & outdoor were used to help build awareness and equity, featuring clips from the show and highlighting its key messages.

The popularity of the shows represented an unprecedented success in terms of positive results:

Views:

¥ LaYwagif shows achieved 24,492,567 views (across all episodes).

¥ Rayi7 Rayi7 shows achieved 12,803,589 views (across all episodes).

¥ That’s a grand total of 37,296,156 views.

Brand Health Tracker:

¥ STC became a consistently leading Brand in Broadband.

¥ Brand Equity for STC in Broadband continues on an upward trend, with its Brand Equity Index of 8.7 exceeding that of Mobily (STC’s closest competitor) by at least 6 points.

Market Share:

STC became market leader – with a 50% market share in 2015, compared to 40% the previous year.

The total earned publicity value for the STC Broadband is $970,000.

STC is now no longer competing with other telecoms. It has demarcated itself from the category and is now competing with the entertainment media. In doing so, it has become a broadcaster in itself.