We waited through June and July to be called back for the decision-making meeting. This seemed quite unusual, to the extent that TBWA\Worldwide, Lee Clow and John Hunt began doubting the seriousness of Qatar Foundation and the reality of the entire project. From my side, I kept chasing Haya Al Nasr and Mawahib Baker, only to be told that Sheikha Moza was still out of Qatar.
Then in mid-August, I received a call requesting us to reassemble the SWAT team and to communicate to Qatar Foundation a date when we could all visit and present to Sheikha Moza. This caused a stir at TBWA as it was not easy to get 13 people to travel back at the same time. Somehow, we managed to secure an agreement for a smaller team, and we flew back to Doha carrying our submission. The first campaign was called “Word”, as it featured verbs that focused on the role and power of thinking. This campaign would be launched via an outdoor teaser blast across the foundation’s campus. Gradually, the entirety of Doha would wake up to see verbs such as “Think”, “Discover”, “Learn”, “Innovate” and “Grow” appearing strategically in highly visible locations.
The same campaign would also be published as full-page print ads leading up to the launch celebration, where the campaign manifesto would be unveiled, and the TV commercial screened for the first time prior to its regional and international launch. A PR campaign would run in parallel to increase the intrigue around these challenging statements.
The second campaign was called “Celebrate” and introduced achievers who had overcome all the odds by unlocking their own potential. This campaign was meant to integrate the individual entities that constituted Qatar Foundation into the overall brand campaign.
The third campaign, “Outcome”, was meant to demonstrate the positive impact of people unlocking their potential. In fact, this campaign was designed to show how certain people changed the world around them through the power of ideas.
Before travelling to Doha, I was asked to prepare the profiles of TBWA’s smaller presentation team, including their photos and professional biographies, which I sent to Haya prior to our departure. When we arrived, we were called into a meeting with Qatar State Security. Three senior officers in national dress briefed us in a very serious tone on how we should behave in the presence of the First Lady. Although the most senior of the three continued to address us in his English Sandhurst accent, he kept turning towards me and stressing some of his statements in Arabic. Obviously, he wanted me to affirm these to the team after he and his two colleagues had left the meeting. To me it was clear that someone had warned them that creative people could be erratic and suddenly become very animated when presenting their work. I sensed this because he kept warning me that the colorfully dressed and strange-looking members of the TBWA team should be reminded not to jump in their seats, raise their voice or move around the room when presenting.
Then came a team from the Ruler’s Palace Protocol Office, who seemed better equipped on how to deal with foreign visitors. They instructed us to stand when Sheikha Moza walked into the boardroom and to remain standing until she took her seat. We were not to attempt to get close to her unless she did, were not to speak in a high-pitched voice, and were to address her as ‘Your Highness’ throughout the presentation. We were also not to interrupt her when she was addressing us and were to always ensure the highest level of respect.
We waited and waited in the new state-of-the-art boardroom while the meeting time that had been communicated to us was ignored and seemingly forgotten. Our murmuring questions and frustrated facial expressions had become the general atmosphere of the room.
After more than an hour of waiting, the chief of protocol walked into the room and announced the arrival of Her Highness Sheikha Moza, and we all jumped up. The moment she walked into the room we were awestruck and all the frustration we had experienced since May was instantly forgotten. This elegant, tall lady greeted us all with a warm smile. The long awaited First Lady was the perfect picture of Arab beauty, with big black eyes and charcoal black hair under a turban that matched her chic light beige haute couture ensemble. She carried a magical, welcoming expression as she walked towards John Hunt with an outstretched hand saying: “Mr. Hunt, thank you for flying all the way from South Africa to present to me what I’ve been told is brilliant work.” After shaking hands with Hunt, she turned to me to offer a personal welcome and moved to every member of the presentation team, welcoming each by name and referencing their agency and its iconic creative work. She apologized for the delay, explaining that she had to remain next to her husband, the Ruler of Qatar, as he welcomed an official delegation at the palace, blaming the delay on the fact that the French visitors seemed to have enjoyed the Qatari hospitality and overstayed.
Then she gave us the signal to present and sat listening with great interest. When Hunt concluded with “Your Excellency, these are our suggested three creative routes for you to choose the one you would like to use”, she instantly responded, saying “I like the three and I want to use them all. Please take it back and make it all share the same look and feel. Then let us know in which order you will be running it over the coming three years.”
As we sat in the coffee shop of the Sheraton for a bite to eat after the meeting, I thanked Hunt and the rest of the team for helping TBWA\RAAD get a two-year extension on the one-year contract, which had been our goal since the start of the project.