2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

In late September a historic royal decree granted women the right to drive in Saudi Arabia. It was an unprecedented opportunity for INFINITI – a brand which stands for empowering the drive in people. INFINITI Middle East seized the opportunity by creating an entertaining film that was locally relevant, reactive and share-worthy content that empowered the women of Saudi Arabia who were reluctant to get behind the wheel. The end goal was to drive engagement ultimately leading to increased brand awareness, salience, and market share for INFINITI in the years to come.

Background.

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy aims to repudiate both the nation’s dependence on oil and its support of religious fundamentalism. The first and most dramatic step was the Royal Decree announced on 26th September, which gave women the right to drive. Following the announcement, the majority of car brands flooded the market with tactical offers enticing the women of Saudi Arabia to make their first car purchase. However, INFINITI resisted the urge to engage in a tactical sales approach and instead launched a campaign that would connect with Saudi women on a deeper, more emotional level. Given Saudi Arabia is the most significant new car market in the region, and how in recent years sales and brand performance have been well under par, this was a massive opportunity for INFINITI. Our challenge was to empower Saudi female drivers giving them confidence and making them feel comfortable behind the wheel.

Describe the creative idea.

Many Saudi women living outside of the Kingdom where experienced drivers, having been granted a driver’s license in surrounding countries. Nevertheless, the announcement of the royal decree was still a momentous occasion for all women of Saudi Arabia, whether living the Kingdom or not. For many Saudi female expats, this marked the first time they were legally permitted to drive in their home country. The idea had to demonstrate beyond doubt to real Saudi women that INFINITI understood what the occasion meant to female drivers and empower them now and for years to come. To bring our idea to life, we documented the story of Rawan Hamza, a local Saudi woman living in the UAE travelling back to visit her family, and driving, for her first time, and Saudi soil.

Describe the strategy

The Royal Decree was met with mixed reactions in Saudi Arabia. While the majority of women intended to apply for a drivers license and exercise their right to drive, many women were hesitant to do so as a result of the backlash and controversy surrounding the historical decree. We decided to target the ‘Worried Women’ of Saudi Arabia – women who were excited and eager to drive, but reluctant to exercise their new-found freedom due to the surrounding controversy and their lack of confidence. Our strategy was to empower these women and encourage them to take action, regardless of the negative sentiment that was infiltrating the mainstream media. To do this, we needed an encouraging, positive, and genuine message that connected with the women of Saudi Arabia on a deep emotional level.

Describe the execution

From the outset were adamant about not pandering to women with offers. We resisted the temptation to execute any kind of tactical promotion. We needed to cement INFINITI’s perspective on the controversial topic of women driving and convey this viewpoint in a way that would connect with women who were reluctant to exercise their right to drive. To do this, we created a three-minute-long online film with specific adaptations depending on which channel it was deployed on. Social listening analysis revealed that the majority of the conversation around women driving was happening on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. With this in mind, we created different edits tailored to the specific channel it would live on. We later released the extended version of the film in cinemas where we could target our messaging to our desired audience and tell the longer story of Drive Back to an interested and engaged audience.

Describe the outcome

The goal was not to merely pay for views but to push for a high view-through rate, shares, comments and likes –amongst men and women in Saudi Arabia. Brand metrics and sales will be measured at a later stage, with the longer-term objective to have the highest market share amongst women between 2019 and 2025. Drive Engagement As measured by: Campaign Impressions – 12.7M impressions (+107% over INFINITI benchmark) Video views – 3.5M views (246% over INFINITI benchmark) Time spent with campaign film – 7,491 hours spent engaging with the content. View-through rate – 53% (96% over INFINITI benchmark) Engagements (likes, shares and comments) – 18,818 total engagements (163% over INFINITI target)