The music video features a bunch of old time, devout, Egyptian football fans singing in melancholic agony. Why? Because their team hasn't qualified for the World Cup in the last 28 years. Now, these senior fans, watching from intensive care units and in between popping meds, have one wish only, to see their team play in the World Cup one final time! The darkly comedic musical is a dedication to the national team; a plea and a threat all at the same time. The message: It's Now or Never!

Our music video is a dark comedy, one that clearly depicts the pathetic circumstances of Egyptian football upon entering the World Cup qualifiers. Launching on national TV a few weeks before the pivotal qualifier matches, the film managed to address a sensitive topic in an unconventional way. It said what every Egyptian football fan was dying to say. Acting as a national request, but also as a tongue in cheek threat to the national team, the music video gave an ultimatum.

An obvious contrast of mood, lighting and utter loneliness, with the quirks and subtleties of absurdity and hopelessness. It’s dark, but utterly funny in its treatment. It’s grim but desperately silly. The video helps create a fine balance between a devastated world of old fans and their lame, comic threat to the national team.

With no mega star athletes, our campaign managed to stir a controversy and hijack the conversation of Egyptian football. National papers wrote about the ad, fans' attentions were all drawn towards the content, and even our ministers were debating the position of the brand and the campaign. All of a sudden, Orange was part of Egyptian pop culture, part of the conversation, part of the heat, and part of the football passion that would ultimately lead our team to make it in the qualifiers, and for the first time in 28 years, play in Russia during the upcoming games

There are certain expectations for any big football ad; star athletes, mega productions, a certain drama to the cinematography, and often a lot of blood pulsing action! But when a single campaign takes an absurdly unexpected approach, the result can surprise audiences, making the content truly fresh and novel. This is exactly what Orange Telecom achieved with its latest World Cup Qualifier campaign. Breaking all the rules of football communication with a darkly comedic rap song and a cast of aged, senior citizens, the brand managed to produce a music video that would set an imprint on Egyptian pop culture.

Egypt hasn't qualified for the World Cup in 28 years. A very frustrating 28 years! Every 4 years our hopes rise, only to be shattered with lame excuses. We've blamed everything from referees to the weather for our team's failure. The one consolation to the nation is, "There's always a next time."

But Orange knew that excuses could only get us so far, the team needed to feel the pressure. The brand wanted the team to feel like there was no "next time". It was this time that mattered! Egypt needed a boost, Egyptians deserved one thing to be happy about, and football was always the answer.

To really strike a nerve and make the Egyptian team, its fans and the nation at large feel the urgency of the matter we needed to feature cast that actually had a real sense of urgency. One that no one could refute.

Orange Telecom is a new entrant into the Egyptian market and is perceived to be foreign and irrelevant. With the World Cup Qualifiers approaching, Orange, just like most other big brands in the country, acknowledged that the occasion is THE opportunity to strike a chord with Egyptians, seeing as Egypt hadn't qualified in the last 28 years!

The problem was the clutter. Every big brand in Egypt was signing star athletes, spending big on production and media, making our objective of standing out and truly "owning" the conversation and the relevancy around the occasion a challenge for the French brand.

Our objective was clear, rather than go flashy, we needed to be truly insightful to the country, its fans, and its football! We needed Orange to act and speak as a true Egyptian fan, to relay the sentiment on the street, even if the sentiment was somewhat controversial!