What a Ramadan ad in Egypt has to do
Ramadan advertising in Egypt is emotional and large: families, the iftar table, the street at maghrib, generosity, nostalgia, a song. Those are exactly the films that cost the most to shoot, because they need crowds, several locations, children, night exteriors and a cast that is also fasting. Generating the film changes the maths: a crowd, a street in the 1980s and a rooftop at maghrib are scenes on a storyboard, not line items on a shoot budget, and every one of them is approved before it is made.
What we make for Ramadan
- The 30 or 60 second TV commercial, with cutdowns for YouTube pre roll and Reels.
- The long brand film for YouTube and Facebook, two to four minutes, with the song.
- A Reels and TikTok series for the whole month: thirty short pieces from one storyboard system, delivered as a batch before day one.
- Iftar and suhoor product films for food, drinks, dairy, dates and delivery brands.
- Real estate Ramadan offers and compound films.
- Telecom, banking and fintech brand films, and Ramadan idents and greetings for channels and brands.
The Ramadan 2027 timeline
| November | Concept | Idea, tone and the list of films: the TVC, the long brand film, the Reels series, the product films. We send a one page treatment per film. |
|---|---|---|
| December | Scripts and storyboards | Every film is written and drawn frame by frame. This is where the campaign is approved, on paper, before anything is generated. |
| January | Production and approvals | Films are generated, edited, graded and voiced. You review final cuts; one round of changes per film is included. |
| Before the first day | Delivery | Broadcast masters, Reels and TikTok versions, feed cuts and stills. Daily Reels for the month are delivered as a batch, scheduled by you. |
Why skip the shoot in Ramadan
| Shooting a Ramadan ad | Generating it with dotMD | |
|---|---|---|
| Crew and talent | Booked months ahead, premium rates in season | None |
| Shooting days | Short fasting days, night exteriors, iftar breaks | None |
| Locations | Old Cairo streets, villas, rooftops, each with permits | Written into the storyboard |
| Cast size | Every extra is a cost | A family of five and a street of five hundred cost the same scene |
| Changes after the client sees it | A reshoot, if the location is still available | The scene is regenerated |
| Gulf version | A second shoot or a dub | Same storyboard, Gulf dialect, local references |
Ramadan Reels, not only the TVC
Most Ramadan budgets still go to one film that runs for a month. The accounts that win the month post every day. We build the Reels series from the same storyboard system as the commercial, so day one and day thirty look like the same brand, and deliver the batch before Ramadan starts.
Egypt and the Gulf from one campaign
The Egyptian film is written in Egyptian Arabic. The Saudi and UAE versions are not dubs: the same storyboard is regenerated with Gulf dress, interiors and references, and voiced in Gulf Arabic. One campaign, two markets, no second shoot.
