Brooke Bond Red Label Tea (Unilever)’s new campaign by Wunderman MENA addresses the bold subject of divorce in Arab Society. Often considered a taboo conversation in Middle Eastern cultures, the campaign showcases a real-life conversation between a daughter and her father about her unsuccessful marriage and its challenges.
The video and behind-the-scenes interview feature Ohoud, an entrepreneur and a mother, as she seeks her father’s support and acceptance for this difficult move. However, her father isn’t aware that the woman speaking behind the curtain is his own daughter – at least not until the very end.
Piotr Chrobot, Executive Creative Director, Wunderman MENA told DIVERGE more:
Where did the idea for this campaign come from?
Qualitative research, focus groups and scientific research helped unearth the consumer insight that would help us. Tea is a social enabler, the act of sharing a pot of tea brings people together and creates conversation. We asked ourselves: what kind of meaningful conversations are important for the Arab region?
Women are the biggest buyers of tea, but men are often the highest consumers. The state of women in the region, despite having evolved, is far behind that of Western countries. Women in the region don’t tend to talk and open up about feelings, especially to close family, as they fear ‘rocking the boat’. As one testimony shows: “When you think of marriage you think of masks… that is what my relationship with my husband is – constantly showing feelings that you don’t feel in your heart”. We needed our audience to speak their heart and make change possible.
Why is it significant?
Intense conversations are being bottled up because of fear and taboos. We took these conversations waiting to happen to mass media and different touch-points to spark an opinion with our audience giving them a chance to speak their heart, regardless of whether the opinion was positive or negative. Because, everybody has the right to speak.
Why did BBRL and Unilever want to address this?
Unilever is known as a socially responsible brand and with BBRL, we wanted to support our audience to start honest conversations.
What do you hope the audience gets from this campaign?
Our aim was to bring both sides to the table and let them share their different views and give support to those who are still waiting to speak their heart.
Credits:
Agency: Wunderman MENA
Piotr Chrobot: Executive Creative Director
Louis Moghabghab: Creative Group Head
Hassan Bilgrami: Senior Copywriter
Nabila Zaidi: Copywriter
Shimaa Nabil: Copywriter
Nidheesh Jose: Artworker
Alvaro Bretel: Strategy Director
Carla Louis: Creative Services Manager
Georges Kallab: Group Account Director
Pooja Sookur: Junior Account Director
Anjali Makhija: Senior Account Executive
Production House: Monda
Raja Zgheib: Producer
Myrna Maakaron: Director
DOP: Anne Misslewitz
