The people of Saudi Arabia break conventions. They have for decades and continue today. People like Reem Al Faisal or Assel Al-Hamad broke local conventions decades apart in art and sport respectively.
Now the kingdom celebrates pioneers in defining new Saudi ways of beating the world in every sector –diplomacy, technology, education, even quality of life. It’s not another market, but a fresh start.
Walk down Riyadh’s Tahliah Street and see its street prayer mats, set against the backdrop of gleaming Towers.
This isn’t another Singapore-in-the-sand, but one of nuance and particulars that will only work their way. Consider its character like Huxley’s Director in ‘Brave New World’ – conventional, conservative and upholding the highest standards.
Standards that demand a focus on particulars as virtue and happiness. Success in Saudi Arabia begins by thinking new. Divisional marketing with headquarters hours away in Dubai or London miss these particulars. A new contract for doing marketing is needed.
Follow no footsteps
Why? Because the rest of the world is failing. Work is cr*p, and getting worse. Sobering facts show an industry more boring and less effective than ever. Peter Field told us that FAME was the answer for driving demonstrable commercial impact. But globally creativity is less effective than ever before – why follow a failing system?
The peak of creative success is the awards it wins. But these awarded campaigns are more tactical with ever shorter life spans. Creatively awarded campaigns have become as impactful as the rest of the work churned out. Created to celebrate the people who make it, more than to impact the audiences it’s designed for.
That’s not the Saudi way. The Saudi way starts with demonstrable impact on a nation. Improving quality of life, driving change like no other country can.
‘The sun’s out, your mates keep coming into work hungover, and LinkedIn is packed with fake out-of-home ads. You know what that means? It’s awards season.
It is the most wonderful time of year when the ad industry pretends it isn’t on its knees, crippled by hourly pay and grinding procurement processes, where we all hold hands and celebrate creativity.’ Andrew Tindall; the Drum 2024
Be first place, in a digital-first world
Beyond the celebrations, a new contract can fix the value it delivers. We know digital is today’s playing field. Saudi Arabia will win by avoiding other’s mistakes.
Creative-X estimates that $700m of media investment was placed against poor quality creative (just in the 890k ads they surveyed – a sum that extrapolates to $200bn for the total industry). Creative not optimised for our audiences’ channels dies – at the cost of our clients (and eventually us).
Drop the digital vanity metrics that show rose-tinted success, and adapt. Digital campaigns need to work harder and in different ways to get attention. Digital platforms have significantly lower impact than traditional channels, but they’re our bread and butter.
While the rest of the world has to fight this tension by repurposing for digital – we don’t. A new contract means starting fresh for true digital effectiveness.
Processes that reflect progress
Finally, we need to look at the way we perform our craft. Frameworks, processes and models are the prisons of our own making.
Expertly crafted, yet completely confining. In any given week I can receive briefs to drive awareness for development projects that won’t launch for years, spark demand for brands with scarce supply, or create National Day campaigns focused on the country than the brand.
These challenges demand new ways of planning. Processes make things insurmountably simpler and quicker for many. But in Saudi Arabia, models must be malleable to our challenges. A sales funnel framework downloaded from an online finishing school might work for a multi-million-dollar Snickers campaign in the US – but not a Ramadan campaign here.
Consistency is efficient but as Oscar Wilde stated – is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
Our new contract
Following the norm is an evolutionary safety trait, it keeps us from harm. But in Saudi Arabia, we need the freedom to discover our new way to fit the nation and lead the world. Allowing the kingdom to be the future of creative marketing communications, not the accountants version.
Leave the binary box-ticking to all the accountants and consultants that flow through King Khalid Airport each week.
You are all creative problem solvers, trained to think differently, and you have the biggest opportunity to do so in Saudi Arabia.
