This fun campaign by TBWA\Raad for Connect Internet in Lebanon showed people doing the Ice Bucket Challenge and the Harlem Shake long after they were popular.
The challenge
Connect Boundless wanted a fun way to promote its fast internet service in Lebanon. In 2015, Ookla Net Index found that the broadband in Lebanon faced some barriers, with the average download speed in the country at 3.2 Mbit/s in 2015, almost 7 times lower than the global average (22.3 Mbit/s) at that time. So, imagine how the Lebanese get their news, follow latest trends or get to know the best viral moments?
The ad agency TBWA\RAAD from Beirut — part of the TBWA\RAAD network which follow a philosophy to find new disruptive strategies in order to implement disruptive campaigns — together with the Internet service provider Connect Boundless, came up with a funny way to point out the issues Internet users are faced with on daily basis
The solution
Although they were popular years ago, in 2013 and 2014 respectively, the Internet phenomena Harlem Shake and The Ice Bucket Challenge“finally arrived” in Lebanon, this being the agency’s creative way to show the world how bad the Internet speed in this country is.
“Lebanon is a country that thrives on following trends, unfortunately not all areas have the right internet connection and end up being late comers to online fads. So, we tackled slow connectivity with humor and used unscripted characters from remote areas in Lebanon to recreate live versions of the Ice bucket challenge and the Harlem-Shake,” says the team of the Beirut-based agency.
The 45-second long Ice Bucket Challenge video focuses on a man named Fadi who takes on the icy challenge and thanks to Rabih for the nomination. Then, sporting just a tank top in snowy conditions continues to pour the freezing water on himself, and he even dares to provoke nature itself by threatening to “put the snow on fire and melt everything down.” To assure authenticity of the challenge he asks his friends Tarek, Amad and Aziz to do the same.
In the second video, Harlem Shake, we can see people minding their own business until the “beat drops.” Everybody starts dancing or doing other random stuff, while the well-known song can be heard in the background. Both videos end up with the message “Don’t be the last to get it. Connect faster, wherever you are.”