2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Integrated?

The campaign unfolded across several channels; whereby the social media channels held the teaser and the revealer. The microsite was utilized as the main platform for engagement with our audience. Tvc, supported with PR efforts extended the awareness and spread the word. Following the awareness and change perception phases, the message was carried across different events aims at introducing new channels and entry point to tackle the issue.

Background

For many years, Saudi women were overshadowed, and their actions and successes unmentioned. As cultural, traditional and religious restrictions created a negative social impact locally and a stereotypical representation internationally leading the country to face a low rank within the Global Women Empowerment and gender statistics index. 2018 is the year to rewrite the story as the country has witnessed tremendous transformations, pushing women empowerment and equality at the forefront while still holding its cultural values. We wanted to transform the icons that entrapped women in an oppressive light to icons of empowerment and freedom, as well as inspire men to rally for the cause by acknowledging their role in the change occurring. We wanted to introduce a new reality by showing the face of the new era in Saudi, depicted in equal roles for women and men.

Describe the creative idea.

The known “Behind every great man” phrase, is a great woman” saying, suggests that at the forefront of heroism is the man, while the woman comes as support. Reality is, each has their equal roles in support and heroism; equality is no fight between genders but support and empowerment that streams both ways. “Hero Next to Hero”, is an empowerment campaign by Alwaleed Philanthropies, that challenges the stereotypical idea of the Saudi society in regards of equality by placing both men and women at the forefront of empowerment. The idea sheds light on the remarkable achievements of Saudi women and acknowledges the support and role of men in realizing empowerment in society. Our message “Together we move forward” was to translate the new image of the Saudi society internationally, and to inspire the society as a unit to rally behind equality and empowerment.

Describe the strategy

Our strategy was to translate the image of the modern Saudi society; a balanced, equalized and empowered one, through driving an active social conversation locally on the topic of empowerment and its progression through the years, recognizing both the roles of men and women in its past and future to lead to our ultimate message: Together, We Move Forward. By having the local sphere rallying behind the cause, we capitalize on the image to translate it to our international audience in order to change perception and defy the stereotypical representation of the media. The core of our approach was PR driven, to set the context and appeal to a wide range of audience.

Describe the execution.

We started with the Thobe and Abaya, Saudi’s most optimal cultural icons, working closely with Saudi female fashion students to transform them into flying wingsuits. Then, launched a video-teaser film to establish context and conversation, showcasing an unusual dynamic of a Saudi female and her father. Thereafter, we launched the campaign’s film. The film challenges the stereotypical image of the Saudi male, positioning him at the center of support defying the common representation of oppressiveness depicted on Saudi males; and in parallel, it positions the Saudi female in a position of empowerment and drive. We framed our message to target perception internationally and inspire support locally, which was carried across different events around the world. Engagement activities ran on the campaign microsite and Social channels to allow our audience to support the new image of modern Saudi.

List the results.

Our message resonated with the local audience and grabbed the attention of international media. The teaser video was a trending hashtag and moment on Twitter with more than 1.2 million views in less than 6 hours. Organic news coverage drove high engagement and discussion. The campaign film received over than 12.5 million views, with 77 million impressions, and grabbed 90K+ engaged users. Global and local PR covered the story from different angles, bringing the topic to the forefront of society’s interest. Alwaleed Philanthropies was selected by UN Women to partner for “Every woman and Girl Counts” to run a project to measure the real women empowerment status in Saudi Arabia and update the Saudi gender statistics on global indices. HRH Princess Lamia, Secretary General of Alwaleed Philanthropies, assigned UN Woman Champion. “Hero Next to Hero” showed a progressive future of Saudi’s new face.