Objective
Moms loved NIDO powdered milk throughout the Middle East in the 80s and 90s. But since then, fresh milk had become freely available and the powdered milk category had stagnated. Brand love was gone.
Our objective: Deliver positive brand sentiment with moms (Females 20-45 w/Kids) of 80%
Insight
If you grew up in the Middle East, you probably grew up drinking NIDO (powdered milk). NIDO was loved by moms in the 80s and 90s, not only as a trusted ally to nurture their children, but also for the truly iconic song from the TV ad called “Graduation Song”. This song had resonated for decades. All you need to do is sing the first few words, and moms (and everyone else) immediately sing along!
But something had changed. Our new generation of moms didn’t have this same brand love.
We traced the issue to a new category entrant: fresh milk. Fresh milk is a relatively new trend in the Middle East and was hard to come by even as recently as 20 years ago. The whole Middle East was a predominantly powder milk market. More recently, there has been a rise in dairy farms, mainly driven by local powerhouses from the Gulf countries (KSA & UAE). Therefore, fresh milk had become easily accessible and preferred by moms.
While today’s mothers grew up drinking NIDO, times had changed, perceptions had changed and they had a lot more options at their disposal than their mothers did. While their mothers had loved the NIDO proposition, this didn’t automatically mean they would.
Strategy
We needed to create something that would re-ignite the NIDO childhood memories, but would also resonate with them as new moms themselves. We would recognise the new complexities and challenges they face now versus in the 80s. Something that was powerful enough to compete with fresh milk.
We decided to go back to our roots: create a new song, for a new generation of moms. Something that would trigger nostalgia, but also touch hearts in a new way.
But creating a music hit is no easy task. Especially for a brand. We had great success in the 80s, but could NIDO successfully do this again?
We needed a great song. One that was catchy and memorable. With this in mind, we collaborated with Jean-Marie Riachi, a famous musician and music producer, and Nizar Francis an equally renowned poet and songwriter to create the song, “Protector of Dreams.” A modern message thanking moms for empowering their children to grow up in such a complex and difficult world.
We also needed performers that would catch Moms’ attention, so we put kids front and center. We collaborated with talents from “The Voice Kids” (a TV show dedicated to finding amateur singing talent ages 7-14). To represent the full cultural tapestry of the Middle East, we selected children representing different countries, singing in their own dialects. We wanted to resonate and touch the hearts of moms across the entire region.
What better way to truly demonstrate our appreciation for moms than to center our activity around Mother’s Day.
Execution
Mother’s Day. A day to celebrate moms. However, a day where many brands are vying for a mother’s attention. From dramatic to humorous content, to rational and emotional, everyone’s got a story to tell.
How did we get our voice heard with so many talking? By SINGING.
Distribution is the name of the game in music, so we focused our song on music and social apps, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
We collaborated up with Anghami (Middle East’s largest streaming platform) and created a dedicated page for “Protector of Dreams.” We launched audio ads, snackable videos and banners across the platform to drive users to the song.
On Social, we promoted content of the Voice Kids singing snippet “teasers” of the song and then used these short edits to engage with moms by asking them to “click” or “swipe up” to watch (YouTube) or listen to the song (Anghami).
To encourage moms and their kids to share a special moment with NIDO, we created an AR Karaoke Lens with Snapchat that had the music and lyrics of the song built into it. It was a fun way for mom and her kids to learn the full song together. Even schools learned the full song to sing to moms!
To “own Mother’s Day” and dedicate the song to mothers, we booked a Twitter Masthead on the day and sent eight gift hampers to “momfluencers,” which they shared on Instagram Stories.
Results
By keeping true to our heritage of celebrating moms, and keeping true to what matters most to moms (their kids!), we were able to remind these new moms why THEIR moms had loved NIDO.
- 5% volume sale increase
- 8% increase in market share across Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait
- Overwhelmingly positive brand sentiment of 97% (Facebook Social Listening)
And the song was a MAJOR hit!
- It reached #3 on the Arabic Song Charts (Anghami) within the first week of release
- Had 7.2 millions views on Facebook, a 250% increase over the 2018 Mother’s Day Campaign
- Had 2.5 million views on YouTube
- Video was highly loved- with over 3,500 likes and only 309 dislikes!
- Increased our Twitter followers by 43% in just one day
- Snapchat AR lens had 44″ Playtime (12″-15″ benchmark) and 4% share rate VS (1% – 5% benchmark)
Moms were signing NIDO’s praises – and our song! – all across the Middle East!
