• Situation

The Middle East is globally known as a conservative region characterized by censorship. In a region where approximately 65% of the population are under 30, young people are frustrated at not being represented. Traditional media outlets and channels either ignore them or speak down to them.

• Brief

Launch VICE MENA and demonstrate it is a platform made for, by, and about Arab youth.

• Objectives

Capture the authentic voice of young Arabs across the Middle East and prove to the potential audience and the region that VICE is here to be a change agent. VICE is here to maintain its purpose-driven approach to content, but in a way that reflects the culture its sits within.

• Timeline

In its entirety the movie took five months to make. VICE prides itself on its contributors and authenticity, so scouting and using fixers in the relevant cities was paramount to the success of this project..We shot across 14 cities over five weeks. And we ran the digital Voice message service alongside user-generated social ads. Editing all the co-created content and making the film took 6 weeks. The campaign went live on 22nd November.

• Placement

Bil Arabi was used to launch VICE.com, so we only had two placements, one on YouTube and the primary placement on vice.com/ar

• Scale

Dozens of contributors, multiple countries and hundreds of moving parts – this was a huge undertaking co-ordinated by a small core team, inspired by purpose.