Almarai has revealed details about its Almarai Frontliners campaign on Fortnite, which connected with younger generations and the rapidly growing gaming community in Saudi Arabia through a platform and experience that naturally fit within their daily digital behaviours and quest for entertainment.
The initiative also aligned with Almarai’s broader ambition to remain culturally relevant by embracing modern consumer trends and engaging audiences on platforms where they are already highly active and emotionally invested.
Rather than relying on traditional advertising formats, Almarai decided to build Almarai Frontliners, an immersive branded experience that integrates natively within gaming culture and allows audiences to engage with the brand in a more authentic and entertaining manner.
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The strategy behind the Almarai Frontliners campaign
The strategy was heavily informed by the evolving digital and gaming habits of Saudi youth. The market represents one of the youngest and most digitally connected audiences globally.
Saudi Arabia is a youthful country, where 61.4 per cent of the population is below the age of 35. The nation is home to 23.5 million gaming enthusiasts, constituting a remarkable 67 per cent of the population and one of the biggest gaming community in the region.
These audiences are true digital natives who spend a large portion of their entertainment time online, particularly within gaming ecosystems and interactive social platforms. In fact, around 25 per cent of players on console and PC spend the equivalent of one full working day a week gaming.
As gaming continues to play an increasingly important role in Saudi youth culture, the campaign was also aligned with the Kingdom’s broader strategic vision of becoming a global gaming and esports hub.
Saudi Arabia had launched the National Gaming and Esports Strategy (NGES) in 2022 with the goal of becoming a global gaming and esports hub by 2030. The strategy aims to generate $13 billion in GDP, create 39,000 jobs, establish 250 gaming companies, and produce over 30 globally competitive game titles. To achieve this, it outlines 86 initiatives spanning eight focus areas including game production, esports, infrastructure, education, and talent acquisition.
It’s no surprise that gaming in Saudi Arabia has evolved far beyond a niche hobby and is now a mainstream form of entertainment and social interaction.
Fortnite specifically was identified as a highly relevant platform due to its massive global popularity and particularly strong resonance within the Saudi gaming community, especially among younger audiences who actively engage with both gameplay and creator-led content around the title.
Fortnite is played by 35 per cent of Gen Z and by 21 per cent of those aged 35 and older, making it relatively cross-generational compared to others. It also stands out as the most gender-balanced franchise, with nearly equal engagement from males (26 per cent) and females (27 per cent), making it a uniquely cross-gender platform.
Rollout of the campaign
Almarai Frontliners was brought to life in partnership with Webedia Arabia, which handled the overall strategy, campaign management, communications and ecosystem rollout.
The campaign was primarily rolled out through digital and gaming-first channels to ensure direct relevance and accessibility to the target audience.
The rollout included influencer livestream activations featuring Fortnite creators, allowing audiences to discover and engage with the experience organically through gaming content.
The campaign was also supported through Fortnite’s in-game ecosystem to drive traffic directly toward the custom map experience.
In parallel, Almarai’s owned social media platforms were utilised to amplify awareness around the activation, alongside support from Saudi Gamer, one of the region’s leading gaming media publications to drive visibility among core gaming audiences.
These channels were chosen primarily because of their ability to directly reach gaming audiences within the environments they actively engage with on a daily basis.
Unlike traditional media channels, digital gaming ecosystems allow for more immediate interaction and conversion into the experience itself.
Whether through livestreams, social content, or in-game discovery mechanisms, each touchpoint was designed to create a seamless path between awareness and participation.
The strategy also prioritised authenticity by meeting gamers in spaces that already feel native to their interests and behaviours, rather than interrupting them through conventional advertising formats.
Success of the Almarai Frontliners campaign
The campaign was primarily focused on Saudi Arabia, with additional organic reach and audience spillover across GCC markets. It primarily targeted male and female gamers between the ages of 16 and 30, with a strong focus on the Saudi market and additional spillover across GCC countries.
The experience was designed to appeal to a broad gaming spectrum ranging from casual players looking for entertainment-driven gameplay to more engaged and competitive Fortnite players who regularly interact with gaming communities and livestream content.
The success for the gaming activations was measured differently from traditional advertising campaigns, as the focus extended beyond visibility alone and placed greater importance on active participation and engagement quality within the experience itself.
For this campaign, key performance indicators (KPIs) included metrics such as game visits, unique players, average playtime, repeat visitation and player retention, all of which helped evaluate how audiences interacted with and returned to the experience over time.
Additional engagement signals such as livestream participation, creator-driven traffic, and overall social media visibility are also being monitored to assess broader campaign reach and cultural impact.
At the brand level, Almarai measured brand health metrics such as top of mind awareness and brand associations.
CREDITS:
Client: Almarai
Agency: Webedia Arabia
