Monday, 13 January 2014

@ADU_Tweets Patriotism on Wheels: ADU’s Car Decoration showdown opens a Social Media highway for creativity


Winner crowned as diverse nationalities express pride for the UAE on the nation’s leading social media university platform

After attracting an overwhelming flood of stunningly creative entries, Abu Dhabi University’s Car Decoration contest has crowned its winner: Abdalla Al Sharij Al Mannaee, a Business Risk Analyst at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, whose out-of-the-box decoration stood head and shoulders above the rest. a

The competition which has attracted more than 4,000 people underlines ADU’s status as the UAE’s leading university in social media activities, having engaged approximately 3 million users through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. According to Facebook statistics, over 60% of all the social media activity among UAE universities is contributed by ADU, spreading the UAE’s blossoming reputation for academic excellence to potential students worldwide.

With more and more drivers choosing to express their patriotic pride through colorful accessories, flags and decorations on their cars, all roads led to Abu Dhabi University’s online Car Decoration showdown where car owners competed head-to-head by giving their cars patriotic makeovers and uploading photos of their creations on ADU’s social media pages, promoting users, friends and family to vote for them. As the overall winner, Al Mannaee scooped the AED5,000 Grand Prize -- as well as ‘bragging rights’ across his social networks of friends.

The contest triggered enormous buzz across ADU’s Facebook reach of almost 120,000 people, with interested participants scrambling to get their cars ready. Raising the bar of creativity even further is the fact that it was open to all car owners nationwide, which made the competitive spirit particularly intense and fierce. Contestants mobilized as many friends and family members as possible to vote for them. The pictures with the highest number of votes were then shortlisted and the winner was chosen by the competitions organizing committee.

Abu Dhabi University’s Chancellor, Dr Nabil Ibrahim described the competition as the university’s way of embracing its community and sharing its patriotism with the entire nation: “The leaders of our nation have shown through initiatives like Flag Day that they encourage creative expressions of patriotism. We have taken this a step further by using our massive online networks of loyal fans to showcase the rich imagination and diversity of the UAE. We are delighted that we attracted energetic interest from many nationalities and not just Emiratis, as this mirrors the spirit of unity in our multicultural student community.”

The proud winner, Abdalla Al Sharij Al Mannaee could barely contain his excitement: “When I remember the impressive decorations of the many cars I saw on the road, it fills me with pride that mine was chosen to be the best. I dedicate this win to all the nationalities who have embraced our nation’s culture and lifestyles over the past 42 years living together in peace and making the United Arab Emirates an enviable, international model of social harmony, multiculturalism and tolerance.


It is anticipated that in future editions, the Abu Dhabi University National Day competitions will attract an outpouring of patriotic pride that could rival famous national celebrations such as the USA’s Fourth of July celebrations in terms of creativity and multinational participation.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This is a good attempt and I am sure that it will get maximum shares in Social Media Agencies so that everyone could inspire this.

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