botim
Making money move through play
botim by Astratech is a household name in the UAE. With more than 150 million users, it is one of the region’s most trusted communication platforms; a place where people connect with family, friends and communities.
Having recently launched new AI-enhanced finance capabilities, botim needed these people to know they can now save, grow and spend their money within a platform they already know and love.
At a major global technology event like GITEX Global, exhibitors often default to technical demos and dense product screens. How could botim communicate a new financial proposition to an international audience who may only know it as a calling app? And how could it do so in a way that was memorable, joyful and unmistakably botim?
botim asked us to create an activation that would cut through, spark curiosity and tell a clear story about its finance capabilities. It had to be fun, relevant – oh, and ready in just four weeks.
It pays to play
We had to show how botim empowers people to earn, grow and manage their money in a way that felt intuitive, exciting and instantly graspable by passers-by.
We led our exploration with a simple idea: in a sea of serious screens and corporate conversations, play would stand out. Games invite participation, generate energy – and allow people to experience a product story without needing to be told.
The solution needed to bridge the worlds botim inhabits. It’s a consumer-facing brand known for personality and connection, which exists within the sophisticated technology ecosystem of G42. Our creative challenge was to strike the right balance: playful enough to reflect botim’s character, and polished enough to sit confidently within a corporate environment.
A moving response
We designed an experience that let people feel how money moves in the botim platform by playing their way through it. Money Moves is a series of fast, connected mini-games that bring botim’s finance journey to life.
Players step into a seamless three-minute experience where they earn, grow and send money in the company of Bo, botim’s AI assistant, who offers hints, reassurance and a touch of charm throughout.
The experience unfolds across five screens, with storytelling and subtle transitions that tie each game together into a single, coherent narrative:
- Earn it: Race to collect as much falling money as possible.
- Grow it: See how your money fares through a memory game.
- Send it: Quickly distribute your money before the timer runs out.
A final scoreboard summarises performance and ranks players on a leaderboard for a competitive edge.
Designed to connect
The naming devices, visual and verbal identities closely match botim’s broader marketing campaign “Money Language”, ensuring consistency with the brand work happening in parallel. A signature graphic element – the expressive Botim arm – was our connective thread. It animates between games, interacts with the money and acts as a friendly, human gesture.
Bo, the AI assistant, was inspired by a static icon; the playful character guides people through each step. This adds warmth and reinforces botim’s growing focus on AI-powered simplicity.
Simple, clear and friendly messaging keeps the experience smooth, injecting just the right amount of humour and brand flavour to stand out. The colour palette, motion style and typography all draw from botim’s digital-first brand world, creating an experience that feels fluid, vibrant and unmistakably theirs.
We refined the games over a series of days, inviting colleagues to play-test in our office to ensure every speed, timer and movement felt fun on the first try.
Instant engagement
At an event like GITEX Global, visitors have seconds to decide whether to engage – and minutes at most to play. Our games worked because they were intuitive, high-energy, short and satisfying; easy to grasp, with just enough at stake to keep people hooked.
Each game had its own rhythm, from frantic tapping to strategic choices, ensuring variety and momentum while keeping the whole experience under three minutes.
As a result, Money Moves achieved what few executions at GITEX Global managed to do: it turned a financial product story into pure human engagement. In other words, it made business fun.
It articulated botim’s shift from a VoIP app to a platform for financial empowerment not through explanation, but through participation. It bridged the gap between G42’s sophisticated technology and botim’s consumer focus. And it anchored the story in the reality of botim’s users.
Crowd-pleaser
Over five days, Money Moves drew a continuous crowd. It was visited by 1,883 players, generating 85 hours of total gameplay. With an average play time of 2m 51s, that was precious time spent focused entirely on botim.
Thousands more delegates shared photos and videos across social channels. In all, nearly 2,000 people didn’t just hear about botim’s new finance capabilities: they played with them, remembered them and talked about them.
Money Moves solved a real challenge for botim. It helped reposition botim as a financial service provider in a way that was clear, compelling and culturally resonant.
For us, it proved the power of play in a B2B environment. When we design for humans – not just “users” – we unlock imagination, understanding and engagement in a way that no static demo can beat.
Hazem Beshr, Head of Marketing & Communications at botim, commented:
“Money Moves created a new touchpoint to engage thousands of global event visitors, raising awareness of our financial offerings in a playful, relatable, and human way. The games delivered exactly the kind of experience we want people to associate with botim money – intuitive and seamless, with a touch of play.”
Rose Stewart, Design Director, says:
“This project offered us new opportunities, not just in game design but in character development too. We transformed a brand asset from a static icon to a relatable, memorable companion: ‘Bo’ was a small part of the experience but added an emotional element – reacting, teaching and celebrating with players – and was every player’s biggest champion.”
