Title	THE MIDDLE EAST EXPLAINED
Brand	THE NATIONAL NEWS
Product/Service	THE NATIONAL
Category	A04. Data Storytelling
Entrant	MRM UK London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation	MRM UK London, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
Nicky Bullard	MRM	Chairwoman & Chief Creative Officer
John Treacy	MRM UK	ECD
Andrew Pogson	MRM UK	Associate Creative Director
Michael Poole	MRM	Associate Creative Director
Magda Gosek-Kyprianou	MRM UK	Art Director
Gavin Daniel	MRM UK	Copywriter
David Hunt	MRM	Editor
Mike Krzyzanowski	MRM UK	Digital Planning Director
Chris Pearce	MRM UK	CEO
Karim Slim	MRM UK	Global Managing Partner
Charles Eddy	MRM UK	Business Director
Varsha Nursimloo	MRM UK	Business Lead
Dexter Wong	MRM UK	Senior Account Manager
Mireille Puskulian	The National News	Head of Marketing & Communications
Duaa Zietoun	The National News	Marketing Lead
Richard Anthony	MRM UK	Freelance Editor

Why is this work relevant for Creative Data?

The Shocking Percentage is a campaign with a heart of data. Not only is the work driven from a data insight, but it’s also visually executed to reflect and amplify the insights uncovered. It powerfully demonstrates how compelling a genuinely data driven insight can be when used to address a business and wider societal problem.

Background

The Western press often neglect positive Middle Eastern stories. Which means we're not getting the full picture about the region. This fuels racism and insecurity. The National, a leading Middle Eastern news source, wanted to relaunch in the UK and US – to create a clear, unbiased view of the region.

Describe the Creative idea / data solution (20% of vote)

What was so surprising about the insight we uncovered was it didn’t matter what political leaning the western media outlets had, they all failed to report positive stories from the Middle East. This meant we were building our campaign on a universal truth. So, while every other newspaper tries to sell potential readers it’s stories, we sold the stories we knew all those newspapers wouldn’t write. This was our breakthrough. The amount of the story you saw was determined exactly by how much coverage the Western press was giving it, enticing the viewer in. We used graphic, minimalist art direction for maximum stand out in feed and kept the campaign fresh by constantly updating our visualisations using live data. ‘The Shocking Percentage’ It was a campaign built on a powerful truth and delivered at the speed of news.

Describe the data driven strategy (30% of vote)

We knew the Western press often neglect positive and balanced stories from the Middle East. This means it's difficult for our audience to get the balanced view they want. So, we set up listening tools to find out just how much Middle Eastern news was being neglected. Even we found the results shocking. To quantify the scale of the problem we created a 'Ratio Engine' using base keyword analysis data sourced from a global listening platform over a rolling 30-day window. The algorithm counted all the stories written by online news brands about the Middle East - published both globally and in the Middle East. The data showed that on average only 1% of all positive news stories from the region are reported in Western media. This became our creative springboard.

Describe the creative use of data, or how the data enhanced the creative output (30% of vote)

We decided to let the data tell the story. So we created a film that gave you a glimpse of a story about the Middle East. The amount of the story you saw was determined exactly by how much coverage the Western press was giving it. For example in the case of space exploration this was just 1%. It created a striking visual presence. And of course, when something is hidden from us it makes us all the more determined to find out what it is that's going on. The campaign worked brilliantly. It drew our audience in – and created a rich, engaging, emotive story around cold hard, logical facts. Using our listening platform, meant we could use the latest statistics live in our online ads. This meant you could see in real time how much traction a Middle Eastern story was getting.

List the data driven results (20% of vote)

We reached over 16 million people in the UK alone – many of whom see the Middle East largely as a place of conflict. When in fact, it is a vibrant region, full of wonderful stories about fashion, culture and science. We highlighted the contribution that women are making in these cultures and showed that the Middle East are actively involved in positive, progressive movements like renewable energy. We got hundreds of thousands of people across the UK and US to start reading The National regularly. This means that there are more people in Western society with a clearer view of what's going on in the Middle East. Helping to make sure that more people understood this culturally diverse, historically rich region is vitally important to us all.