A new international language for creativity
The Jordan office of global advertising agency Leo Burnett has brought Arabic to the world, with a campaign that showcases this language on the international stage.
Leo Burnett has long championed the Arabic language for its beauty and nuance. The creative team at Leo Burnett Jordan have brought this language to international audiences for global brand Samsung with a series of award-winning executions over the past year.
In late 2014, in collaboration with our strategic partner Samsung, Leo Burnett launched the #بكتب_بالعربي (I Write in Arabic) initiative.
#بكتب_بالعربي (I Write in Arabic) revealed the size of the Arabic-speaking market and the readiness for an initiative to celebrate this language: more than a billion views, and a reach of 177 million people globally. Engagement was also incredibly strong: nearly 177 thousand shares, and a total of 39 thousand participants drawn from across the world.
#بكتب_بالعربي (I Write in Arabic) won a Silver and a Bronze award (Promo and Activation; Media) at the Dubai Lynx International Advertising Festival in March 2015 at Madinat Jumeirah Dubai. These wins were a turning point, and offered a launch pad to present Leo Burnett’s Jordanian talent on the global stage.
The bar was pushed higher in France, at Le Cristal Festival in December 2015, when Leo Burnett Jordan received the grand prize in the Influential category. #بكتب_بالعربي (I Write in Arabic) won this highly competitive category in a field stacked with strong contenders, making Leo Burnett Jordan the first Arab country office to be awarded such a prestigious prize.
The twin success stories of Leo Burnett Jordan and #بكتب_بالعربي (I Write in Arabic) were further enriched in December 2015 with three more awards at the Le Cristal Festival: a Gold, a Silver and a Bronze. With six Le Cristal awards won and a growing, dynamic team tackling an ever-broader and more diverse range of creative challenges, Leo Burnett Jordan has never been better placed to excel on the world stage.
Leo Burnett Jordan colleagues say they aim to build on the success of #بكتب_بالعربي (I Write in Arabic) in 2016 with further developments on this campaign, and with a growing body of Arabic-language creative work.
Leo Burnett Jordan’s next related project is www.ketabatona.com, a new, interactive hub that brings together some of the best and most exciting Arabic-language ideas. The site hosts fresh, original content and commentary in 20 different categories, all of it uploaded by subject specialists around the globe.
