Mashreq, the UAE’s oldest private bank, faced fierce competition from local and global giants. Brand awareness was high, but nobody could’ve told you what we stood for. We had created innovative digital solutions to help people wherever they were on their journey... but they didn’t know or have the emotional connection to drive partnership with us. Before we could talk product, we had to redefine the brand. We wanted to create a more valuable brand without diluting our heritage equity, and embrace challenger status in a way that would make people see a legacy bank in a completely new light. The strategy had to cover a ‘purpose’ territory, but we didn’t want to distract or misdirect people the way many banks do with performatory CSR. We wanted a purpose that was core to our role in society, and that we could credibly back.

Rise Every Day – a bold campaign platform that we activated on digital, social, out of home, with a dedicated website, an influencer campaign, and more. The platform came to life thanks to a strategic platform we called Grit & Glory. The framework had two components that must be represented in every creative interpretation of the strategy: GRIT - empowering the mindset it takes to defeat any challenge. GLORY - enabling and inspiring people to dream on their terms. It was a balance between the two that saw us create interactive AR filters featuring a music video by a top regional artist, contests and radio activations, live activations in public areas like JBR where influencer hosts gave the public fun challenges for instant rewards, and more, all designed to start a conversation around what it means to ‘Rise’.

Our approach was based on three communications goals:

1) to raise public awareness about the new Mashreq brand positioning and increase consideration of the bank and its products/services

2) to showcase Mashreq as an innovative market leader and a challenger bank

3) to promote Mashreq’s vision of becoming the region’s most progressive and aspirational bank.

The project kicked off with brand strategy and messaging development to form a clear narrative: that Mashreq is a clear challenger to the status quo, unafraid to rise every day, lead by example, and innovate.

In tandem, we created a tactical strategy to engage with media on an emotional level with symbolic visuals and sounds through personalized exclusive media invitations and announcements. We aimed to cement Mashreq’s reputation as a visionary, progressive, and aspirational bank that delivers on its promise and equips its customers with the tools they need to succeed.

INTEGRATED OMNICHANNEL EXECUTIONS including:

Brand relaunch

- Inspiring launch event

- Powerful content films

- Innovative AR activation

- Impactful outdoor

- Cinema advertising

- Radio ads

- Activation + contests

- Stunning ‘reveal’ drone show

- Sub-brand relaunches, targeted campaigns

- ... even a music video by a top artist!

Holistic transformation

- Internal events + culture refresh

- Full CX + UX overhaul

- Employer brand revamp

- New product development

- Partnership strategy revamp

- Rise Every Day became a genuine part of the bank culture,

- Grit & Glory strategically cascaded, adapted, and incorporated.

Ambassador Program

- 4 debut ‘Rise’ ambassadors - unlikely success stories at the edge of possibility, proving that any glory is achievable with grit, and the Rise mindset.

Digital-first brand refresh

- Custom typography + colors + design elements

- Sonar branding

- Better digital visibility + impact

- Authentic handwritten touches

Results:

- We became the UAE’s fastest growing banking brand, a stunning change of fortunes that

unlocked real and perceived value for the brand.

- $263million USD in brand value increase – a huge accomplishment far beyond our stated

KPIs.

- 108% brand value growth in just two years – with growth spurred by the fact that we adopted

a transitionary strategy from old brand to new brand values, ensuring we didn’t lose time but

also didn’t contradict ourselves as we established the campaign.

- Brand Relaunch reached 213 million + people across the world.

- 400+ global and local press clippings.

- 100% positive-to-neutral sentiment, highly unusual in the finance category which I soften

plagued by bad reviews and social commentary.