The Middle East has often been characterized by highly centralized power that favors the wealthy and powerful. With the region also characterized by the failure of governments, political instability and poor quality of life for a considerable majority, Community Social Responsibility becomes all the more important for the brands to build emotional affinity with people. Community Social Responsibility is today’s Corporate Social Responsibility. A brand doing something good for their community is one of the key drivers to win people’s share of hearts and minds, especially given the prevalent environment.

As a result, a lot of brands in the region have become more conscious about how they are perceived as enablers of community and social goodness and how they make a real positive difference. And they have engaged more actively in CSR programs to improve their community goodwill.

But CSR programs are not the most compelling nor talked about, as they have rarely gone beyond the standard ‘leave money in a box’ or ‘send money to children in Africa’.

There was a great opportunity in the market to create something immersive, entertaining yet meaningful – making the act of charitable giving empathic yet fun for the community.

The Brief:

There are over a million blue-collar workers in Dubai, building the dreams of the UAE and its people. Brick by brick, nail by nail, they are also silently working towards their own dreams of giving their children a better education and hence, a better life. But we discovered that even though some workers hammer in over 200,000 nails a month, their salaries (as low as $200-300) might never be enough for that dream.

SmartLife (an NGO for Dubai's blue-collar workers, affiliated with the Community Development Authority of Dubai) wanted to help build their dreams.

The Idea:

We used the same nails the workers hammer daily, to help build their dreams, creating SAPNA (which in Hindi or Urdu languages means "Dream"). SAPNA would become a meaningful and sustainable branded content platform for SmartLife to enable first-class education of UAE's blue-collar workers.

We brought SAPNA to the people through an Interactive Wall in the heart of Dubai during the holiday shopping season.

We then invited people, through a digital film, through a social media event, and through the sheer presence of the wall itself, to buy a nail for a minimum of 10 AED (equivalent of $3) and hammer it onto our specially designed Pointillist on the wall.

This little act of labour gave them a chance to feel a fraction of the workers’ efforts and give back one nail at a time.

The wall's location and timing (festive season) positively provoked shoppers to contribute and support the cause. And as the wall was completed, nail by nail, minute by minute the image came to life, symbolizing the fulfillment of the workers' dreams for their children's education.

SAPNA was launched at a $0 cost!

1) A Facebook event invited everyone in UAE.

2) Emotional digital films shared the workers' stories.

3) We set up the wall on a very popular street in Dubai, during a festive season that attracts huge crowds. Location cost = pro bono.

4) #sapnadubai was seeded as a hashtag with key influencers.

5) And as the nails continued to fill up the wall, SAPNA became more famous, unexpectedly featuring on leading local Radio (Virgin Radio, Radio Mirchi), Print (Khaleej Times' City Times), online and TV (Dubai One) channels, that attracted more audiences.

1) At an absolute zero cost (all materials, media space, channels, production, volunteers and filming = pro bono), the wall became a centre of attention in the region.

2) Attracted over 55 different nationalities.

3) Got organic participation and endorsement from popular Arab celebrities and local influencers, as well leading print (Khaleej times, 7 Days), radio (Radio Mirchi, Virgin Radio) and TV (Dubai One, Studio One) channels, and international websites as far as Russia, Poland, France, Japan and Thailand.

4) #sapnadubai became a trending hashtag and people's shared photos generated over 250,000 free social ads.

5) As a result of all the organic word of mouth, over $730,000 (to date) have been generated in worldwide earned media and rising for SmartLife.

6) Featured and rated very highly on top advertising websites such as Adsoftheworld, Bestadsontv, Creative Criminals, and numerous other platforms.

7) Most importantly, the money raised will help educate many children (40 and rising) through their schooling right up to graduation.

8) Because of its success, we have been invited to install the SAPNA wall in 7 other countries (including places as far from UAE such as Singapore) to build many more dreams, one nail at a time.