Ramadan Kareem from Nando's

Ramadan is less than two weeks from ending...
For those not familiar with this Islamic pillar It's a month of fasting practiced by all observant Muslims. Eating, drinking, smoking are not allowed between dawn (fajr), and sunset (maghrib). The creatives developed a nice campaign for Nando's, a South African company that serves fast-food chicken prepared the Portugeese way. A very popular brand in the ME and Africa it has a wide acceptance with both the Muslim and non-Muslim communities here in Dubai. As Ramadan is in everyone's minds it was a great move to develop this TVC idea. Most advertisers and media apply some form of Ramadan thematic, but it usually lacks any form of creativity or bigger thought. They all fall into some cliché or will just use the standard phrase of "Ramadan Kareem" over the same generic ad they use during the year.

Vincent wrote an interesting piece on this creatively lacking holy month in this coming Campaign issue.


" After reading your article last week, we too feel the frustration when seeing all the Ramadan ads in circulation at this time – the amount of media money that is spent on creative work that just becomes wallpaper is absurd especially when Ramadan can inspire so many fresh ideas. This stirred us to produce an ad in the spirit of Ramadan that would stand out amongst the clutter and an ad that would put a smile on peoples faces no matter where in the world they happen to be celebrating the holy month of Ramadan.

For once Ramadan advertising is entertaining. It’s a nice break from the clichéd formula of “crescent + stars + lantern equals a Ramadan ad”. It’s simple and will bring a smile on the face of Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Not only that but it will trigger curiosity among non-Muslims who are living outside the Middle East, such as South Africa. They will start to wonder about the idea and start asking questions about the religious practices of Muslims.

This TV commercial with it’s smart simplicity will register in the minds of those who are fasting. It will jump into their heads everyday as they wait for the sun to set in order to break their fast.

The idea came about when we were on our balcony watching the sunset and just thinking about all the people in Dubai who were about to break their fast “Iftar”. It’s an ad that was well liked by everyone who has seen it and the ad was well received by Nando’s head office in South Africa. After getting permission from Muslim organizations in South Africa, they wanted to run the commercial regionally including places like Saudi and Lebanon. The commercial will also run in South Africa which for a Dubai based agency is fantastic news. It shows we are more than capable of producing creative International campaigns in a very short period of time. This is also thanks to the quick turn around time of Tim Smythe and his fantastic crew at Filmworks who have bent over backwards to make this film happen.

We hope that this level of creativity will inspire more agencies to produce better work the next time a Ramadan brief comes their way."





Client: Nando’s
Agency: Tonic Communications
Creative Director: Vincent Raffray and Khaled Gadallah
Art Director: Peter Walker
Copywriter: Vincent Raffray
Production Company: Filmworks
Executive Producer: Tim Smythe
Producer: Rob Neuhold
DOP: Anthony Smythe
Directors: Vincent Raffray and Peter Walker