2019 Winners & Shortlists

Background.

Throughout the years, Saudi Arabia has been perceived as a conservative nation; closed-off from globalization and living on traditions and cultural norms. But the Saudi Arabia of today is a new story; one that holds pride in its history and heritage, yet focuses on its future and youth. In celebration of the 88th National Day of Saudi Arabia, the film unfolds a greater tale to the world; the story of its new ‘makers, shifters and shakers.” Starring the nation’s youth and following the vibrate voice of a young-female talent, the visual narrative portrays their culturally-unconventional talents and roles. Through capturing local international-football players, entrepreneurs, photographers, cooks, designers and firefighters performing their roles, the film parades the culturally-proud youth of Saudi, succeeding in globally acclaimed professions. Making new history, shifting perception and shaking global presence, the film chants its message inquisitively by showcasing their modernized and future leaders to the world.

Describe the creative idea.

The film entrusts the metaphorical and literal meaning of the song’s lyrics to guide the design of the visual interpretation; one which sheds light on the true picture of the nation today. The film uses the youth across as they pursue being in the limelight, defining their individual significance. Using a simple spotlight, the viewer’s attention is controlled and directed to reflect on the sense of pride that it is meant to establish. Along with it being a dramatical photographic element, it also represents both the achievements and expectations from every talent represented. To complement the spotlight, the pitch-black background helps frame and highlight every element happening in the foreground. The various roles are reflected using built sets working side-by-side to identify the individual significance of each talent, creating a unified and passionate picture of a whole nation, working to portray the true vision of what Saudi Arabia is today.

Describe the strategy.

Since we are targeting the global youth we decided an english song that shows the passion of young Saudis whom we have highlighted on the account is the best way to celebrate the national day & have it promoted on our social media platforms (Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and also Snapchat ad). We pride ourselves for having very artistic approach when it comes to our content therefore our collaboration with saudi talents is based on showcasing them for the sake of showing a new face so to speak of Saudi. Our target audience are the global youth both genders Ages (16-45) Music is an international language and with the new vision that is changing the course of the country what better way to show us moving forward with passion for our country through our passion to what we do best from sports to protecting the country, artists to creative chefs

Describe the execution.

We collaborated with Saudi creatives and talents on this song to write, compose and direct the video using our Saudi heroes that were already promoted on the account the process took three months to write, get the talents together and have the video produced. We released teasers 5 days prior to the release date of the video using photos that were taken on set of all of them accompanies lyrics from the song that was placed on each visual and the video was pinned on our accounts for a month. The style we went with was minimalist because we wanted the focus to be on the youth themselves using the least amount of props and concentrating on closeups and movement. The video was uploaded and promoted on all of the SM platforms as well as TV networks like MBC group and SBC. We measured based on reach & engagement

List the results.

The countries that ranked high in reach and engagement were • United States of America • The United Kingdom • Ireland • Australia • New Zealand • Malaysia • South Africa • Hongkong • Singapore • United Arab of Emirates With total engagement on all of our SM platforms was 19,857 and 25,465,272 for impressions the campaign was acknowledged by HRH Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid when visiting our center in Riyadh, HE Adil Al Jubair and also Princess Reema bint Bandar The video was requested by different Saudi embassies around the world upon it's release