2016 Winners & Shortlists

THE BIGGEST ART GALLERY IN THE WORLD

BrandARABIAN CONTRACTING SERVICES (AL ARABIA)
Product/ServiceCORPORATE
EntrantJ. WALTER THOMPSON RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
CategoryCreative Effectiveness
Entrant Company J. WALTER THOMPSON RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
Advertising Agency J. WALTER THOMPSON RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

Brief Explanation

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. 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. 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. After inviting artists to be part of the biggest art gallery, we turned Al Arabia’s outdoor network into the biggest art gallery in the world. 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 Arabia became the biggest art gallery in the world demonstrating Al Arabia’s national credentials and network strength

Credits

Name Company Role
Camille Haddad J.Walter Thompson KSA CEO KSA
Chafic Haddad J.Walter Thompson KSA Chief Creative Operations Officer
Rayyan Aoun J.Walter Thompson KSA Executive Creative Director
Firas Ghannam J.Walter Thompson KSA Art Director
Ahmad Shanaa J.Walter Thompson KSA Junior Art Director
Daniah Al Aoudah J.Walter Thompson KSA Arabic Copywriter
Maxi Dipasupil J.Walter Thompson KSA Junior Digital Art Director
Toufic Bassil J.Walter Thompson KSA Business Director
Dana Al Kutoubi J.Walter Thompson KSA Strategic Planning Director
Charly Wehbe J.Walter Thompson KSA Head Of Channel/Technology Planning
Laurent Wehbe J.Walter Thompson KSA Senior User Experience Architect
Mohamed Alkhereiji Arabian Contracting Services (AL Arabia) Vice President
Alanoud Alyousef Arabian Contracting Services (AL Arabia) Head Of Creative