Lenovo, well known in the region for its ThinkPad line of computers, was trying to establish brand and product presence in the highly competitive smartphone market. Currently, its competitors (Samsung, Apple and Huawei) dominate most categories and outspend Lenovo, who only have 3% share of spend in the category. So they needed to think smart.

We realised that on one hand, people in the UAE spent hours on their mobile phones every day, whilst on the other, there was a huge percentage of migrant workers that didn’t have enough airtime to speak to their families back home, they decided to use Ramadan to start a legacy of CSR in the region, build brand awareness and generate positive sentiment for the brand.

This was always going to be a challenge with their conservative media spend, especially during Ramadan, a time where marketing spend rises significantly and the advertising landscape is cluttered.

People are predisposed to donating during Ramadan. So we developed Hadia Time, a mobile app that was in keeping with the spirit of Ramadan.

Lenovo is aware of both the virtues and the vices associated with its product. But turning the vices into virtue meant giving people an opportunity to spend less time on their phone and donate that time into data for workers who really needed it.

The app was promoted on popular sites, was easy to download in English or Arabic, and ran for the month of Ramadan. Hadia Time translates into English as (Gift of Time) so the name of the app itself encouraged uptake.

It allowed people to give generously but effortlessly, because none of their own data was actually used. Whilst it required a small sacrifice of online time by users, Lenovo actually donated data based on the number of minutes saved.