Liwa for Emirates NBD at Expo 2020:

Giving a new dimension to ‘banking of the future’ – and winning accolades for it


When the region’s major banking group wants to make an impact in the ‘greatest show on earth’, what does it do? Come up with a unique ‘banking of the future’ concept and co-create pathbreaking communication for it.

Precisely what the ubiquitous Emirates NBD Group accomplished, with the help of Liwa, the leading video marketing agency based in Dubai. As the Expo 2020 concluded, the Group honoured Liwa with an award in recognition of its efforts.

For Expo 2020, Emirates NBD and Emirates Islamic partnered with global technology providers and created exhibits to showcase scenarios from the future. These were tied to banking products and services and displayed at their Expo branch. The exhibits included Urban Farming, Quantum Computing, Data Monetization, Green Citizenship, and the Future of Investing in digital art.

Liwa developed an elaborate communication strategy revolving around the objective of driving traffic to the branch. Through carefully crafted creative, a sense of intrigue was generated. The agency deep dived into the concepts, researching, and developing several mini stories. A whole new design language was evolved, bespoke for the purpose.

Liwa’s design evolution culminated in an exciting interplay between the present and the future, juxtaposing footage with graphics. It was further enhanced through animation that unfolded on footage carefully chosen to represent the world of the future. The final design language was both engaging and scalable, played across screens in the Expo branch as well as giant screens across the venue. In an elaborate exercise in co-creation, Liwa and senior teams from Emirates NBD and Emirates Islamic worked closely for months to get the communication right. The result: A visual treat that’s at once engaging, entertaining and educational.

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