2018 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Having been the first to react to the announcement of the decree with a post on Twitter featuring a number plate execution, we noticed there was still a loud and negative minority of men who opposed Saudi women driving. This led us to a different angle in our creative approach: sure, we wanted to empower women, but we also needed to normalize the idea of women driving for men. After two six-second videos, we followed up with a real-world event where everyday women could actually drive a car, and unbeknown to them, it would be the men in their lives who would give them their first lesson - brothers, uncles, husbands and fathers. Despite the logistical challenges, this made for a genuinely shareable and emotional film. Thereafter, we started receiving driving tips from men, which we developed into a visual driving guide for women on our Instagram page.

Creative Execution

Branded content often fails to engage. The Royal Decree encouraged most brands to jump on the bandwagon. However, we wanted to do more than get involved. Nissan wanted to be a genuine enabler and make a meaningful difference. The real-time tweet used a number plate visual, not a car. The subsequent 6-second films showed the number plate being pressed and a Saudi women getting into the driving seat of a Nissan. Next we set-up a real world stunt to give women a real chance to drive - sure, they drove Nissan Altima cars, and it was in a Nissan-branded car lot, but the focus of the content we generated is what driving means to Saudi women and how Nissan is helping make it genuinely possible. Now, Saudi men are showing their support by submitting driving tips under #shedrives to a highlights album on Instagram.

We expected the campaign to be referenced and celebrated internationally, as was the decree. However, we wanted to effect attitude and behavior change in Saudi Arabia, especially amongst more conservative men in households. The initial tweet, featuring the "GRL 2018" car number plate visual, generated 562,000 impressions and 8.8% engagement rate (benchmark for excellence is 2.5%). In its first week, with a very small paid media budget, the content film generated 7.6m impressions and 2,064,300 views (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube), with 9.4% engagement rate (> 5% is seen as excellent). The viewer retention rate is 59% - YouTube benchmark excellence as 50%. Overall, people have spent 976,487 minutes watching the content, equivalent to 1.86 years of viewership, with 64% of the views coming from men in Saudi Arabia. Earned media coverage on TV and online, including Reuters, CNN, Al Arabiya and BBC Worldwide, has been valued at over $2.1m.

After King Salman issued a royal decree in late September allowing women to drive in June 2018, carmakers have been fighting for the attention of Saudi women. Giving women the chance to get some hands-on driving experience is a territory every car brand has the right to play in. However, there's no tension in this. It doesn't make for entertaining, captivating or unskippable content. By addressing a bigger issue, the Saudi men who are still reluctant and unwilling to give their support, our stunt generated content that was highly relevant, shareable and engaging.

The Royal Decree was met with delight from both within Saudi and across the world. It set the tone for how King Salman sees the future. Since then, syndicated research data, focus groups and social media analysis revealed there was still much resistance from conservative Saudi men. This was affecting women's confidence and making them feel reluctant. Therefore, our plan was to give real women the chance to drive for the first time, but we also wanted to highlight the men who were supporting their decision, all who had different feelings about the decree initially. By promoting the content, we normalized the decision for the other millions of men to support their wives, sisters and daughters in exercising their right to drive. Finally, we drove men to participate and submit driving tips for women. This made for a meaningful campaign from a brave brand that isn't just riding the wave.