Go Beyond What You Think

The 'Saudi, Welcome to Arabia' brand campaign built around Lionel Messi walking through metaphorical walls of misconceptions about the country, cut against the Red Sea, Aseer, Tabuk, Jeddah and Riyadh and featuring Saudi women including DJ Cosmicat, racer Dania Akeel and astronaut Rayyanah Barnawi. It ran three months on TV, social, digital and online travel agents with the hashtags #ShareYourSaudi and #السعودية_بعيونك. CARMA later put its reach at 747 million people in 92 countries and credited it with doubling visitsaudi.com traffic in January 2024.

The brief

Travellers in Europe, India and China who still hold misconceptions about Saudi Arabia as a destination.

The idea

Lionel Messi breaks through walls of misconceptions into Riyadh, Jeddah, Tabuk, Aseer and the Red Sea; past visitors post under #ShareYourSaudi, across TV, social, digital and travel sites.

What to borrow

Stating the audience's doubts openly, then having a trusted star walk through them, lets a destination tackle its image problem directly.

Brand	Visit Saudi
Agency	Not named on the source
Talent	Lionel Messi, Dania Akeel, Cosmicat, Rayyanah Barnawi
Channels	TV, social, digital
Source	Communicate OnlineCampaign Middle East