To highlight how accustomed people have recently become to texting their loved ones, instead of phoning them during special occasions, du released a humorous Eid Greeting video on July 15 and coupled it with a social media competition, which started on the third day of Eid Al Fitr. du received 8,061 competition entries across its social media channels with 5,307 entries from Facebook, 1,485 from Twitter and 1,269 from Instagram.

The aim of the video was to encourage people of all ages to pick up the phone and talk to their loved ones during special times of the year. It received an overwhelming response of over 1.8 million views over the Eid period.

Hala Badri, Executive Vice President, Brand and Communications, du, said: “Our aim from this significant initiative was to spread the message of love and communication over the Eid period. We are always thrilled to add life to life to our valued customers by giving them more chances to win through engaging competitions across our social media platforms. As staunch supporters of the Smart City vision, we are committed to increasing the happiness levels of the UAE population by engaging them in ways that they love and appreciate.”

The current trends of greeting family and friends through new communication platforms and SMSs, rather than visiting or calling them are increasingly apparent throughout the UAE. du’s Eid Greeting video, with a comedic plot that revolves around an old couple arguing about not greeting each other with a phone call on the morning of Eid, was released on You Tube in Arabic. du released a series of seven questions about the video as part of its social media competition that followed.

The social media competition entitled #اللي_يحبني_يتصل  (call me if you love me) was leveraged across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Winners were chosen based on their responses to questions posed about the video, which had to be answered within 48 hours of each question.  

Winners of the Eid greeting video competition were: Abdullah Mubarak Saeed Al Zubaidi, Ismail Dhafar Ali Mohamad, Samar Abdul Hadi Habal, Ali Abdallah Ahmad Alhamadi, Amgad Hamouda Elsayed, Maitha Youssef Mohamad Omar and Hassan M Ghassan Aldaher who each won AED 1,000. @ASMA7__ was the winner of the grand prize of a two-night stay for two at Desert islands resort and spa by Anantara, Sir Bani Yas, Abu Dhabi, as all participants with the correct answers for the seven questions were entered into a random draw to win the grand prize.