Typically, Ramadan is not a big advertising occasion in Oman, but this year, Leo Burnett MENA has been tasked with developing a CSR platform for Omantel that would help improve brand perception.

Through their research, LB found that there is a perception that people have extra time during Ramadan, since most of them go home early from school or work. They end up spending this extra time binging Netflix and YouTube videos or sleeping. This is backed by research that shows a huge spike in content consumption during Ramadan.

The campaign is a call for people to give their extra time to do something good, by highlighting stories of real Omanis who live by this and use their “extra time” outside of their day jobs to inspire all of us to make the best of the time we have. Since time is something nobody owns, but everyone can give.

The real challenge that the agency has faced was how to get away with this riddle ‘In a market where no one spends on advertising in Ramadan, how do we create a campaign that actually inspires real change in people?’

Delving deep into the market dynamics, LB found out that people have a perception of gaining extra time during Ramadan. Data shows a spike in content consumption during the Ramadan month, which is exactly offset by the perception of having ‘gained extra time’. The strategy was to show real stories of people who volunteer their time while maintaining their regular day-to-day work to inspire others.

The result was outstanding! Omantel’s most watched campaign ever. It also inspired a conversation online for people to start donating their extra time for a good cause where people pledged their ‘extra time’ towards their cause for example re-furbishing houses for those in need.