Zain Iraq’s ‘HassaEliya’ initiative awarded Best Marketing Campaign

Focused on inspiring and empowering young Iraqi talent, the judging panel was impressed by innovative methods to strengthen the relationship between Zain Iraq and the youth.

Zain Iraq, the leading mobile telecom operator in the country was named as having run the Best Marketing Campaign for 2016 in the latest edition of the CommsMEA Awards ceremony.

After some nine months of research and planning, Zain Iraq launched in March 2016 as a multi-faceted marketing campaign. The initiative was focused on inspiring and empowering young Iraqi talent by encouraging them to explore their potential and skills, and equipping them with the necessary tools to help achieve their goals.

The program’s focus on creative and ambition Iraqi youth was particularly especially that the aspirations heading towards a promising future by contributing to serving the community. "HassaEliya" campaign was able to pass the known limited is being just a highly successful marketing campaign, to be able to eventually achieve a real impact on youth in Iraq and all over the community in general, through the use of a number of innovative approaches to stimulate the long of ties between Zain Iraq and the Iraqi youth.

The idea was based on the company’s profound belief that the youths are the beating heart of Iraq and the bridge that brings the country to the rest of the world. The ultimate purpose was to encourage and support younger generations not only to recognize their own talents and pursue their dreams but to offer them a helping hand in communicating their aspirations and make their own project and dreams come true.

Commenting on the award, Zain Iraq Chief Commercial Officer Ali Al Zahid, “The “HassaEliya” campaign is particularly mains a lot to us to us considering what it means for the youth of Iraq of support and empowering and we stand side-by-side with them. We thank the judging panel of the CommsMEA Awards 2016 for recognizing our efforts in this regard as we strive to continue to support and improve the conditions of the communities in which we operate.”

Al Zahid adding “The first initiative utilized in the program was a specially created Facebook page that served as a platform for young Iraqis to voice their ambitions and which showcased a newly produced television commercial, which garnered an impressive five million views in its first 72 hours of publication. Some six months later, this viewership number had increased to 16 million with 70 million impressions, with a total engagement that exceeded 550,000 young Iraqis inside the country and from around the globe.

The unique and massively appealing television commercial was dedicated to all young people in Iraq and was developed in collaboration with three underground bands constituted of 17 Iraqi youths who until this point had never produced a song or video professionally before. The song they developed reflected Zain’s values of innovation and creativity while at the same time speaking to young people. It also showed that by offering necessary support and asking others to raise their voice, hidden talents could be brought to the surface.

As part of the “HassaEliya” initiative, Zain Iraq also has plans to build an Innovation Campus, which brings together youth, entrepreneurs, innovators, mentors, corporations and investors as a community,