2015 Winners & Shortlists

THE BIGGEST ART GALLERY IN THE WORLD

Bronze

Case Film

Presentation Board

BrandARABIAN CONTRACTING SERVICES (AL ARABIA)
Product/ServiceCORPORATE
EntrantJ. WALTER THOMPSON RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
CategoryUse of promotional stunts/live advertising/live shows/concerts & festivals
Entrant Company J. WALTER THOMPSON RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
Advertising Agency J. WALTER THOMPSON RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

The Brief

With the increasing pressure from mainly foreign owned competitors, Al Arabia, a Saudi outdoor media company, wanted to differentiate itself by playing up the strength of its network and as a Saudi company, its Saudi Credentials. Saudi is a country full of talented artists, but in a country where most forms of entertainment are forbidden as it is frowned upon by religious authorities, there are very few art galleries - those that do exist tend to cater for the elite. So we thought, why not use Al Arabia’s outdoor network, to champion these Saudi artists and their talent.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

On 22 December, Saudis woke up to the country's first public art show: almost overnight, Al Arabia had turned its nation-wide outdoor network into one gigantic art gallery. We had invited artists to upload their work onto a dedicated website www.alarabiaarts.com, creating what became - and still is - the biggest database for art in the kingdom. We curated it and filtered the paintings in collaboration with the Saudi ministry of culture and the selection found its way to over 5,000 outdoor sites across the 2.1 million km2 Kingdom.For two weeks, Saudi became the biggest art gallery in the world.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

For a country known more for its restrictions than its cultural endeavours,the story quickly became news around the world with coverage in over 10 TV channels,20 publications & 45 websites,with a free publicity value of close to 3 million riyals in local,regional and global media. Unknown painters, found themselves in the limelight,especially women as Al Arabia’s biggest art gallery in the world became a conversational piece, in social circles and across social media. More than just an outdoor company, Al Arabia became a Saudi cultural space,and the website became the national art gallery, demonstrating Al Arabia’s national credentials &network strength.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

With an outdoor network of over 11,000 locations, we wanted to leverage the space to bring to life the power of Al Arabia’s network in a way that would be relevant to Saudi. The campaign not only demonstrated Al Arabia’s national credentials and network strength but it also became a cultural space, and brought art to the public and hidden artists into the limelight contributing to Saudi’s culture, and thus proving the true strength of Al Arabia.

Credits

Name Company Role
Chafic Haddad J.walter Thompson Executive Creative Director
Rayyan Aoun J.walter Thompson Creative Director
Firas Ghannam J.walter Thompson Art Director
Ahmad Shanaa J.walter Thompson Junior Art Director
Daniah Al Aoudah J.walter Thompson Arabic Copywriter
Maximo Dipasupil J.walter Thompson Junior Digital Art Director
Camille Haddad J.walter Thompson Ceo Ksa
Toufic Bassil J.walter Thompson Associate Business Director
Dana Al Kutoubi J.walter Thompson Strategic Planning Director
Firas Barakat J.walter Thompson Head Of Pr Ksa
Charly Wehbe J.walter Thompson Head Of Channel/Technology Planning
Laurent Wehbe J.walter Thompson Senior User Experience Architect
Mohamed Alkhereiji Arabian Contracting Services AL Arabia) Vice President
Alanoud Alyousef Arabian Contracting Services AL Arabia) Head Of Creative