Last month, YouTube MENA awarded Maybelline New York Middle East, cosmetic brand owned by L’Oréal, the fourth edition of The Lantern Award. This is the first beauty brand to win the award which aims to recognize advertising campaigns by Middle East & North Africa (MENA) advertisers, creative and media agencies during Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr. The creative agency for the campaign is Ykone and the media agency is UM MENA.
The winning campaign ‘Maybelline X Noor Stars’ is the latest season of a web-series the company has launched three years ago titled ‘Makyaj Wa Banat’ on YouTube. Hosted by a YouTube creator, Noor Stars, special Ramadan season also featured eight popular Arab beauty content creators. The goal was to share the latest beauty trends, tips and make-up tutorials in edutainment style on YouTube.
“The beauty of Maybelline NY Middle East winning The Lantern is that they created a content series that proved extremely powerful in connecting with people. They leveraged the success of an established platform,‘Makyaj Wa Banat’, and created a ‘show within a show’ giving it a proper Ramadan angle (Ramadan with Noor Stars). It’s not a one-off-only successful in Ramadan-type of content. It’s a brand leveraging data and acting as a proper publisher, thus managing to win people’s love in a period where so many brands are trying to steal the show” said Alex Brunori, Creative Lead at Google MENA.
The Ramadan season garnered more than 44 years of ‘watch time’ and a total of 6.4M views (64% were viewed organically). This in addition to continuous audience engagement with over 254K comments across all episodes combined.
“The Maybelline New York Makyaj Wa Banat YouTube web series is a living platform that allows us to connect with our consumers in a more authentic way in order to build Maybelline New York as a relevant make-up loved brand in the GCC. It is proof that disruptive content adapted to the audience and the social platform helps a brand’s relevance and success,” said Loanna Christopoulou, General Manager, Consumer Products Division at L’Oreal GCC.
Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ) Toyota won last year’s award with its ‘Khebayyes & Abu Hurayyes’ YouTube series. Kuwaiti telecom Viva won the first edition of the Lantern in 2016, followed by Orange Egypt in 2017. The winning campaign was determined based on engagement and views the videos received by the end of Eid Al Fitr. The Lantern is awarded to each of the creative agency, media agency, and advertiser behind the winning campaign. This year’s top 10 winners included Benefit Cosmetics, TATA Motors, Banque Misr, Zain Group, Etisalat, Orange, Viva Telecom, Zain Group and Mobily.
The other top finalists of The Lantern 2019 include:
#2. Benefit Cosmetics Middle East, A VERY PINK IFTAR | إفطار وردي
Creative Agency: Diwanee
#3. TATA Motors, Ramadan Kareem #CelebratingGoodness with Tata Motors
Creative Agency: Ogilvy
Media Agency: Wavemaker
#4. Banque Misr, رمضان 2019 – بنك مصر.. ابن مصر
Creative Agency: AB and Partners
Media Agency: Wavemaker
#5. Zain Kuwait, Zain Ramadan 2019 TVC- الدين تمام الأخلاق
Creative Agency: Joy Productions
Media Agency: OMD Kuwait
#6. Etisalat Misr, إعلان اتصالات أقوى كارت في مصر مع محمد رمضان وفاندام – اللهو الخفي
Creative Agency: FP7
Media Agency: Starcom
#7. Orange Egypt, اعلان اورنچ رمضان 2019 تامر حسني ونانسي عجرم – فرق كبير
Creative Agency: Leo Burnett
Media Agency: UM Cairo
#8. VIVA Telecom, عيدكم مبارك و تقبل الله طاعتكم
Creative Agency: Doors Production
Media Agency: Starcom
#9. Zain Group, اعلان زين العيد – يا ماطور
Creative Agency: Joy Production
Media Agency: OMD Kuwait
#10. Mobily, قرقيعان مع موبايلي
Creative Agency: 8ies
Media Agency: Initiative MENA
