A recent campaign for Saudi Tourism using footballing superstar Lionel Messi reached 747 million across 92 countries in 20 languages, according to a report by CARMA.
In total, the “Go Beyond What You Think” campaign garnered engagement of 84.3 million.
The campaign is anchored on the common misconceptions about Saudi Arabia, and invites audiences to experience the vibrant cultural transformation taking place across the country.
The CARMA research revealed a significant rise in media coverage and public interest, presenting Saudi Arabia as a premier tourist destination.
Its report, Beyond the Field: Analysing the Global Impact of Lionel Messi’s Saudi Tourism Campaign, offers a detailed evaluation of the increase in both public interest and media coverage resulting from Messi’s involvement.
The media intelligence provider’s report also highlights the overwhelmingly positive feedback from mainstream media across high-coverage countries.
The power of the ‘gram
The biggest driver for the surge in public interest came from the Instagram collaboration between Visit Saudi and Messi, which led to a reach of 48 million across different mediums on the 26th of January.
“This led to an immediate increase in global attention towards Saudi tourism, as evidenced by Google and YouTube search data, emphasising the significant impact of involving global icons in marketing initiatives such as this,” the report said.
CARMA found that the surge not only brought Saudi Arabia into the global spotlight but also significantly boosted visitsaudi.com’s web traffic by an impressive 100 per cent between the second and fourth weeks of January 2024, indicating the effectiveness of integrating media strategies with influencer and celebrity marketing.
“Our research clearly demonstrates the transformative power of strategic celebrity endorsements in reshaping the narrative around nations,” said Mazen Nahawi, Founder and CEO of CARMA.
“Lionel Messi’s involvement has not only propelled the Kingdom into the global spotlight but has also effectively communicated other key themes important to KSA as a whole such as women empowerment, cultural transformation, and tourism.”
There was significant engagement across Visit Saudi’s social media platforms, notably on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, where the posts generated views of more than 1.4 million and 379K, respectively.
“This underscores the strategic importance of utilising multiple digital channels to achieve maximum reach and engagement – once again emphasising the campaign’s effectiveness in connecting with a diverse and widespread demographic.”
CARMA analysed coverage from 598 articles across international and regional titles such as Marca and Daily Mail Online, as well as 10,754 social media posts between January 22 and February 8, 2024.
It used a combination of the latest in AI and human consulting and expertise to identify prominent conversations and sentiments on Saudi Arabia.
