SmartLife: Project Akshar (Alphabets): How redesigned alphabets and transformed rituals graduated 5,000 Dubai labourers from blue-collar to white-collar

This case study describes how SmartLife, an NGO for Dubai's labourers in UAE, created Project Akshar (Alphabets) to provide accessible English training for hard-to-reach, time-poor labourers.

SmartLife: Project Akshar (Alphabets): How redesigned alphabets and transformed rituals graduated 5,000 Dubai labourers from blue-collar to white-collar

Tahaab Rais

Campaign details

Brand owner: SmartLifeLead agency: FP7/DXB (Part of McCann Worldgroup)Contributing agencies: UM Dubai, Magna DubaiBrand: SmartLifeCountry: UAEIndustry: Charities & voluntary organisationsChannels used: Content marketing, Direct marketing, Earned media, buzz, Newspapers, Online video, Other & ambient media, Outdoor, out-of-home, Social media, Word of mouth, advocacyMedia budget: Up to $500k

Executive Summary

In Dubai, learning English will help its many poor, uneducated labourers get better jobs...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands