DUBAI: Twitter has had an interesting year, starting with the platform banning former US President Donald Trump and ending with CEO Jack Dorsey stepping down from his role, handing over the reins to chief technology officer Parag Agrawal. According to the company’s latest earnings call, total revenue was $1.28 billion in the third quarter of the year, up 37 percent year over year, and advertising revenue reached $1.14 billion, an increase of 41 percent year over year. Earlier this year, a Twitter survey revealed that audiences on the platform are highly receptive to brands and that a 10 percent increase in conversation can increase brand sales revenue by up to 3 percent. Moreover, 91 percent of respondents said that they are looking for new brand launches on the platform. The data also showed that Twitter users are 35 percent more likely than non-users to be affluent consumers. Launching a product, service, or campaign also yields impressive results for brands, with data showing that launching on Twitter leads to an average 83 percent lift in ad recall, an 18 percent lift in brand awareness and a 15 percent lift in message association. “2021 was a year of opportunity, from reopening of borders to easing of restrictions and regulations, yet it was not without its unique challenges, including cutting through the clutter to elevate, entertain and connect,” said Carla El Maalouli, Head of Business Marketing MENA. “They (brands) have been busy launching award-winning, perception-shifting, innovative campaigns throughout the year, but as we reflect, the question remains, who are the brands that grabbed people"s attention this year?” The Best Launch with Impact Campaign: @LexusKSA For the global launch of the 2021 Lexus IS, Lexus KSA used Twitter to connect with Saudi audiences. The brand used Twitter products such as notifications, live event and trend takeover+, building anticipation for the launch of the new Lexus IS in a phased approach. In the first phase, the brand created awareness about the launch event with instructions on how to join the event through the live stream. Viewership of the event peaked at 500,000 in the first few hours. Featuring electronic duo Dish Dash, the launch event helped Lexus KSA engage with a wider audience. Following the event, the brand served people information about it and what they may have missed. Once the brand had created awareness, the next step was to turn it to action through website cards that guided prospective customers to the Lexus IS landing page. The live event had more than 60,000 total live viewers, and brand awareness among engaged audiences rose by 15 percent, brand awareness via video users increased by 11 percent, and brand favorability grew by 19 percent. The Best Connections through Space Campaign: @stc_KSA This year, the launch of Twitter Spaces, a feature based on live audio conversations on Twitter, coincided with Ramadan, creating an opportunity for Saudi telco STC. STC partnered with Rotana Music, introducing the second season of its show “Sawalef Ramadaniya” through Twitter Spaces. The campaign adopted a dual approach, with STC using Twitter Amplify to present different ways of accessing Rotana Music’s content and providing post-broadcast highlights to audiences. To create excitement around the Twitter Spaces sessions, STC included a pre-roll video campaign consisting of teaser content that previewed episodes in the 24-hour run-up to showtime. The brand then used Twitter’s brand notifications feature to remind fans to tune in ahead of the broadcast, with each subscriber receiving a notification before the Space went live. After the show had ended, STC followed up by promoting video highlights on Twitter. The campaign generated more than 78.5 million impressions and more than 8.1 million video views. The Best Change for Good Campaign: @MastercardMEA In June 2021, Twitter became the first social media platform to offer the language setting Arabic (Feminine), which better supports the feminine form of the Arabic language. Mastercard used this launch to tell its own inclusion story through a two-phased campaign. In phase one Mastercard announced its pledge to support the #FeminineArabic initiative with an animated video ad. To reach the widest possible audience, the brand launched a trend takeover in the UAE, which allowed it to take the top spot on Twitter’s Explore tab for 24 hours. In the second phase Mastercard engaged its audiences, asking them to share stories of how the women in their lives have positively influenced them. Some of the tweets generated conversation around the language itself, with users sharing their favorite Arabic words in the feminine form. The campaign launch coincided with Mastercard’s Global Community Day to champion the narrative and saw a total of 19.8 million impressions, more than 6.7 million video views, and more than 300,000 engagements across both the UAE and KSA. The Best Creative Canvas Campaign: @Expo2020Dubai After a year of delay, Expo 2020 Dubai wanted to excite and engage people ahead of its official opening to give them a glimpse of what to expect on the ground. The brand worked with Twitter’s creative technologists to create a custom emoji engine that would add a level of personalization. Whenever someone tweeted a country flag emoji alongside the official Expo hashtag (#Expo2020), they would receive a notification that included a video featuring facts about that country’s pavilion and its architecture. The Best Conversation Starter Campaign: @GMCArabia For the launch of the new Yukon, GMC wanted to steer the conversation towards the idea of legacy. To connect with Saudi Arabian poetry lovers on Twitter, it partnered with broadcast network Rotana launching the Legacy of Verse poetry competition via a series of video ads. GMC then challenged Saudi audiences to pen an original poem inspired by the Yukon campaign, which called on audiences to get involved with call-to-action buttons and video ads, amplifying engagement across the platform. The campaign drove more than 7.5 million video views and achieved more than 226,000 engagements. Moreover, the brand achieved its largest follower growth in a single month.