Sham El-Nessim, or “Smelling/Taking In of the Zephyrs,” is an Egyptian national holiday marking the beginning of spring. It always falls on the day after the Eastern Christian ‘Easter’. Despite the Christian-related date, the holiday is celebrated by Egyptians regardless of religion, over time the holiday was settled on Easter Monday.
Egyptians used to celebrate Sham El-Nessim by visiting parks and zoos, going on picnics, eating certain foods (Salted and smoked Herrings, Fermented fish “Fesikh”), coloring and eating eggs.
Brands in Egypt used to take the opportunity to celebrate with Egyptians by presenting special promotions. After social media, almost all brands are building on the happy & fun atmosphere that Sham El-Nessim creates, it also became one of the country’s yearly competition between brands in different industries.
This year, we scanned the online scene in Egypt and came up with the following top engaging activities done on social media celebrating the Egyptian holiday Sham El-Nessim.
TODO Wins It All With Engaging Replies
https://www.facebook.com/todohatozbot/photos/a.317098558351964.73970.159120180816470/875041269224354/?type=1
TODO team followed their advertisements line by making fun of TODO character being colored by his TODO friends because he forgot to bring the eggs for Sham El-Nessim occasion, however that wasn’t the most engaging part, but the way they managed fan’s comments were the most engaging one, they understand their fans and know well how to engage them positively.
Coca Cola Egypt 100 FARHA Music Video
Coca Cola around the world is celebrating 100 years since the first bottle was produced, and there’s no better occasion than Sham El-Nessim to to start celebrating 100 Farha campaign. Coca Cola decided to take this activation exclusively online, as they didn’t broadcast the music video in any TV channel up till, Coca Cola also uploaded a music version of Soundcloud to let fans download the song and enjoy Sham El-Nessim.
Clorets Egypt Smart & Simple
https://www.facebook.com/CloretsEgypt/photos/a.10150523586851941.397600.15293076940/10153217835751941/?type=1&theater
Sham El-Nessim is known by traditional food eaten on this day consists mainly of Feseekh (a salted Grey Mullet), smoked herrings, lettuce, scallions or green onions, tirmis or Lupini Beans, and colored boiled eggs, which cause mouth unwanted smell.
Clorets team in Egypt made it smart in language “Feseekh Terminator”, simple & attractive in the creative design, which makes a winning combination on social media.
Etisalat Misr Funny Meme
https://www.facebook.com/etisalatmisr/photos/a.149674009666.112537.141606109666/10152990018859667/?type=1&theater
Etisalat Misr decided to engage their fans with a funny meme, capitalizing on their latest ADSL TV ad featuring two fishes who are discussing what’s around in a funny way. This time, the female fish said: “I’m so happy that Sham El-Nessim is coming on Monday this year”, the male fish replied ironically: “Sham El-Nessim is always on Monday, foolish!”.
SeaStar Egypt Simplifying Their Smoked Herrings “Ringa” with a Complex Video
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=928600100513529&set=vb.332839903422888&type=2&theater
Seastar is the leading salmon and herring processor in the Middle East and Africa. This year they decided to create a video on Facebook, positioning their smoked herrings as the most easier, safer, and delicious vs other Ringa suppliers in Egypt.
Viewers found it difficult to understand, that’s why they started to comment in a negative and questionary way, stating that the video is too short to understand the message, wasn’t funny and asking what is it about?
SeaStar Could Win It All:
The video got a high number of views and shares on Facebook, which means that it succeeded to find its way to people in a way or another, however, it missed two things to make it almost a winning case:
1- Add something to the caption to summarize the video main message, that could make it much easier for people to understand and spread the needed message.
2- Leaving people to assume on Facebook wasn’t a good reaction, Facebook community managers have to reply fans’ comments, and check shares if people have negative comments on shares to clarify and simplify the message if they couldn’t get it.
This way SeaStar can deliver the message clearly, and increase the positive shares. In social media, you should educate your advocates, if you didn’t they will turn against you or influence others to mock you.
We tried our best to collect the most unique and useful activations from different industries, but we believe that this’s not everything, there’re many other brilliant ideas in Egypt and would appreciate if you share anything you might find useful with us. Thank you!
Happy Sham El-Nessim everyone 🙂
