Saudi Arabia’s Abdul Latif Jameel Motors wins third edition of the YouTube Lantern Award

YouTube Middle East and North Africa awarded Abdul Latif Jameel Motors, Saudi Arabia’s automotive distributor of Toyota and Lexus, the third edition of the Lantern award on Sunday making the brand the first Saudi organization to win the award which aims to recognize and celebrate powerful Ramadan and Eid campaigns by the region’s advertisers and agencies. 

Abdul Latif Jameel’s winning campaignis an animated series which follows Khebayyes, a young Toyota owner and Abu Hurrayas, who also owns a Toyota as they navigate everyday life during Ramadan. The series captures and reflects the values and experiences of Abdul Latif Jameel Motors guests, who have built a strong relationship with the brand since it began Toyota distribution in Saudi Arabia in 1945.

“Ramadan is a pivotal moment for advertisers in our part of the world and we’re delighted to recognize and celebrate campaigns which tap into the blank canvas YouTube as a platform presents to advertisers to experiment with new ideas and formats. Abdul Latif Jameel’swinning campaign is testimony to the growing enthusiasm with which the advertisers are embracing the award. The campaign’s format, a web-series, is in fact a departure from the past years' winners which were based on music or comedy. We are proud of the success of this campaign and the engagement it garnered on YouTube and we look forward to sharing these learnings with all advertisers in MENA,” said Alex Brunori, Head of Google’s Creative Impact Team in the Middle East and North Africa. 

Munir Khoja, Director of Marketing and Communications for Abdul Latif Jameel Motors added; “Abdul Latif Jameel is constantly looking for new and innovative ways to engage our guests and wider audiences. We were delighted by the popularity and success of the Khebbayes and Abu Hurayyes web series, and are honoured to be recognised by Google for our Ramadan campaign. We hope to bring more entertaining and award-winning content to our followers soon.” 

The campaign is the second season of a web-series Abdul Latif Jameel Motors had launched to much acclaim with the aim of promoting the company’s aftersales vehicle maintenance program in Saudi Arabia. The goal was to encourage the use of Toyota genuine parts and services rather than other independent workshops or service chains. The first season reached 1.8 million people and garnered more than 187 years worth of ‘watch time’ as well as 202,500 new subscriptions to the YouTube channel, making Toyota Service Saudithe leading Toyota channel globally. 

Egyptian telecom Orange won last year’s awardwith its “Nothing Gets Past Mohamed Henedi” campaign which featured the iconic comedian. Kuwaiti telecom Viva won the first editionof the Lantern in 2016. 

The winning campaign was determined based on engagement and views the videos received by the end of Eid Al Fitr. The Lantern is awarded to each of the creative agency, media agency, and advertiser behind the winning campaign.