2017 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

On national Day -When airlines offered travellers ridiculously low fares on international trips, STC challenged them right before they boarded: to cancel their trip and stick around for their nation. Those who accepted went on a surprise trip to untapped destinations, witnessing majestic sceneries only a few Saudis have seen, and documenting their experience through STC's strong network

Creative Execution

Given that our challenge was on national day itself within the airport, our messages were spread across the airport, challenging people to cancel their trip to stay behind and stick around for their nation and STC approached travelers to live up to the challenge. Our challenge was controversial, and word quickly spread on social media, with thousands reacting our controversial question. Seven travelers accepted STC’s challenge, and were whisked away to far and untapped destinations in Saudi, witnessing majestic sceneries. Our national heroes were able to share their internal tourism experience in the remotest parts of the kingdom through STC’s far reaching network. Using STC and the traveler’s social media, the rest of Saudi could share in their experience thank to STC’s strong network and the images, also sparked a debate about celebrating national day outside of the country.

7 travelers took STC up on their challenge, resulting in 6,389 tweets (source twitter), 130 million potential impressions (Source: twitter) and $90, 000 worth of publicity value (Source: STC) The campaign grew from a trending topic online to a movement, sparking a debate about celebrating National Day outside of the country.  The spectacular images uploaded opened the eyes of Saudis to the hidden beauty of their country, and demonstrated just how far-reaching STC's coverage is. We couldn’t ask for a better national day, we celebrated Saudi’s strong nation and a network to match.

The challenge that STC set on national day generated an instant participation from people to give up their flights and stay back for national day. as we took them to discover the untapped destinations in Saudi we brought to life the power and strength of STC’s network promoting its far reach. Ultimately we created a nationwide debate, over whether people should travel or stay, and STC and its network were at the heart of this. The Stunt was a creative use of media demonstrating building on an insightful tension on the biggest non-religious holiday in Saudi.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Every national day is a public holiday in Saudi, and many Saudi choose to travel abroad. The communication landscape is inundated with congratulatory messages and promotions and Airlines offer people ridiculously low fares on international trips. As the national operator, we found an opportunity to disrupt the market: as the national operator we would challenge travelers and put their patriotism to the test. We challenged them to cancel their trip and stick around, to experience untapped destinations within Saudi Arabia through STC’s far reaching network. These travellers became our ambassadors as they shared their experience and spread the word of Saudi’s untapped beauty and the strength of STC’s network