Charlotte Eland has been named a winner of Campaign Middle East’s Marketing Game Changers Awards for 2025.
The awards recognise client-side marketers whose work delivered excellence across six criteria: Leadership & Talent Development, Creativity & Innovation, Performance & Business Impact, Brand Building, Social Impact and Industry Contribution.
The Marketing Game Changers Awards were launched this year to recognise marketers driving meaningful impact for their brands and the wider industry. The programme introduces a structured and transparent approach to spotlighting standout talent, with defined criteria, formal submissions and independent evaluation.
Open to brand-side marketers across MENA and free to enter, the 2025 edition of the Marketing Game Changers Awards named ten winners in total with the Marketer of the Year leading the inaugural cohort.
CHARLOTTE ELAND
Marketing Director, Royal Commission for AlUla
Years in the company: 6
Years in the region: 11
Charlotte Eland is a brand marketing leader with 18 years of experience driving cultural and commercial impact through content, campaigns and strategic storytelling. Currently Marketing Director at the Royal Commission for AlUla, she oversees brand strategy, event marketing and global sponsorships for one of Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious tourism and
heritage destinations.
Her work has played a central role in positioning AlUla on the global stage, leading award-winning campaigns like Journey Through Time and The World’s Masterpiece and securing multi-million-dollar brand partnerships across the luxury, wellness and entertainment sectors.
Previously, Eland spearheaded international communications for Dubai Tourism and led entertainment and hospitality portfolios at Edelman and leading UK agencies.
Eland is passionate about the power of place branding, the art of building trust through content, and finding fresh ways to connect with audiences in an oversaturated world.
RAPID FIRE WITH ELAND
A classic marketing trick that never gets old?
Scarcity. Make people feel like they are missing out, and they will lean in.
Most overrated buzzword in marketing?
Disruption. Often just noise dressed up as a strategy.
Favourite nostalgic ad from your childhood?
Good way to age everyone! Guinness ‘The Surfer’ – those waves and the drumbeat, etched in my memory.
One marketing principle you’ll never compromise on?
Every claim must be substantiated. If you can’t prove it, don’t say it.
Book, podcast or show you recommend to everyone?
David Attenborough’s shows. They teach humility, patience and the art of letting the subject shine brighter than the storyteller.
Biggest lesson you’ve learnt in your career?
That great marketing is about subtraction, not addition. Strip it back until the idea sings.
What you’d be doing if not marketing?
F1 pit crew.
One thing your colleagues would be surprised to know about you?
That I started in this industry with no tourism experience myself. I’ve learnt it all on the job.
The future of marketing in one word?
Human.
What is the top challenge the marketing and advertising industry needs to address on priority?
Eland: Today’s audiences don’t give brands time – they give them a glance. The biggest challenge is earning trust and cutting through in that moment.
What do you consider your top achievement over the past 12 months?
Eland: Proving that AlUla isn’t just a place on the map, but also a brand that shifts behaviours, from summer travel patterns to global perceptions.
What is your advice to the next generation of marketers?
Eland: Marketing is a privilege. You’re telling stories that shape how people see places, products and even themselves. Take that responsibility seriously.
