Emirates Mars Mission’s ‘Double Moon’ campaign wins award at Cannes Lions 2021

A giant screen and two cranes were used to create the illusion of Mars’ twin moons Phobos and Deimos

The Emirates Mars Mission’s ‘Double Moon’ campaign won an Outdoor Silver Lion at the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

The Outdoor Lions award celebrates creativity experienced out of the home.

The UAE’s creative campaign was organised a few days ahead of the Hope probe’s historic entry to the Red Planet’s orbit.

As part of the campaign, parents were given baby astronaut suits for their newborns on February 9.

The Hope probe was carried to space aboard the H-IIA rocket from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre on July 20, 2020.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in communications, advertising and related sectors.

Visitors arriving in Dubai on February 9 got a Martian Ink passport stamp.

Emirates Mars Mission’s ‘Double Moon’ campaign won an Outdoor Silver Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity last month.

A 40-metre screen and two 100-metre cranes were used to create the illusion of Deimos and Phobos - Mars' twin moons - that lit up Dubai’s skies in February.

Images of the rare moons were shared on social media.

The campaign was selected from 29,000 entries submitted by 90 countries during the virtual event held from June 21 to June 25.

The UAE’s creative campaign was organised a few days ahead of the Hope probe’s historic entry to the Red Planet’s orbit.

It included Martian ink passport stamps for visitors arriving in Dubai and baby astronaut suits for newborns on February 9, the day the probe arrived to Mars.

"In our media campaigns we integrate between traditional and modern media platforms to involve different target audiences in UAE’s projects,” said Saeed Al Eter, chairman of the UAE Government Media Office.

"Through the Double Moon campaign, we aimed to spark people’s imagination and curiosity about life on Mars and provide a deeper understanding of the objectives that the Hope Probe is set to achieve," said Khaled Al Shehhi, executive director of New Media and Visual Production Sector at the UAE Government Media Office.

The Hope probe was carried to space aboard the H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan on July 20, 2020.

After a solo journey of 493 million kilometres in seven months, the spacecraft successfully entered the orbit of Mars on February 9.

Since then, fascinating images of the planet and scientific readings of the Martian atmosphere have been made public.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the advertising and creative communications industry.