RAKTDA's Summer Unscripted: Insights, strategy and results

Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) has taken a different approach for its latest work: RAK. Summer Unscripted, in an effort to differentiate the city from other emirates in the UAE and promote year-round tourism.

Developed in partnership with Impact BBDO, the campaign is a quirky take on summer travel in RAK. Its narrative follows the creative team abandoning their posts to enjoy RAK’s summer offerings, therefore leaving the ‘real tourists’ in charge to showcase the destination’s allure.

Campaign Middle East speaks with leadership at RAKTDA and Impact BBDO for more on insights, strategy, the campaign’s rollout and results.

The brief

Impact BBDO shares that RAKTDA’s core objective was to reposition summer as a desirable season to travel within the UAE.

The mandate was to highlight the destination’s unique mix of cooler mountain weather, diverse landscapes, and accessible adventure, in contrast to the typical perception that summer in the UAE means staying indoors.

Impact BBDO further explains that the campaign’s target audience was domestically focused, aiming to boost desire within those already familiar with RAK to visit for short-stays and adventure.

According to the agency, high awareness of Ras Al Khaimah already existed so the execution could be more daring in its approach, rather than the stereotypical sweeping drone footage and staggering scenery shots.

All in all, the brief called for a campaign that would:

Drive increased domestic tourism from UAE residents during summer,
Differentiate Ras Al Khaimah from other emirates by showcasing its year-round outdoor appeal, and
Break through with creative that feels human, relatable and unexpected – moving away from overly polished tourism clichés.

The insights behind RAKTDA’s Summer Unscripted

The central insight focuses on the event that UAE residents assume summer is an off-season for tourism in the country. Building on this, RAKTDA aims to challenge the perception that the UAE’s hot summers is a time to retreat indoors, avoid the heat, and postpone adventures.

Therefore, the campaign centres on the city’s cooler mountain microclimates (e.g., Jebel Jais), sea breezes, and variety of nature-forward activities.

According to Impact BBDO, this makes it one of the few places in the UAE where summer is still not just bearable but enjoyable.

The campaign aims leaned into this truth with humour and heart, making the message more emotionally resonant.

RAKTDA’s Summer Unscripted campaign strategy

RAKTDA claims that what sets its summer campaign apart is the embrace of the imperfect. To actualise this, the team designed the campaign to feature deliberately unpolished images paired with tongue-in-cheek captions.

“We’re inviting people to let go of the plan,” says Alka Winter, Vice President, Destination Marketing & Communications at RAKTDA. “This campaign is about embracing the unexpected and creating space for joy, laughter and those small, surprising moments that define a great summer. Ras Al Khaimah gives you room to live in the now; there’s no script required.”

Rather than showing idealised, overly curated tourism moments, the campaign leans into humour, imperfection, and relatability in an effort to deeply resonate with its audience, which targets UAE residents, young families, couples, and groups of friends looking for spontaneous, nearby getaways.

“This reflected how people actually experience trips, especially staycations: messy, funny, real, and memorable because of it,” says Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer, Impact BBDO.

“Tone, casting, visuals, and language were all deliberately casual and inclusive, reminding the audience that they don’t need an itinerary, a stylist, or a drone to have a great summer. They just need to get in the car and go to Ras Al Khaimah, where the adventure will unfold on its own,” he adds.

Summer Unscripted

The campaign’s roll out

The RAK Summer Unscripted campaign includes a fully integrated multi-platform rollout across the UAE, including: outdoor billboards, radio spots, cinema advertising and influencer collaborations.

Winter highlights the crucial role that influencers play in the UAE’s media landscape. “An integral component of the campaign communication is the influencer activations that continue throughout the summer,” she says.

Therefore, she adds that RAKTDA “believes in the importance of creating integrated campaigns that blends in influencer activations in an organic and authentic way.”

The campaign also extends to an activation in partnership with the UAE’s homegrown ice popsicle brand House of Pops which included a limited-edition ‘RAK Summer Sunset’ flavour. Each popsicle features a QR code on the wrapper, which consumers can scan to avail prizes such as luxury hotel stays, resort day passes and more.

The pop is available across House of Pops stores and kiosks for the entire month of August, bringing the campaign to life in both flavour and experience, supported by a prize-led campaign offering the chance to win summer stays in the Emirate and more.

Furthermore, the roll out also includes digital banners, paid social, and YouTube ads tailored to UAE ‘staycationers’.

Summer Unscripted

Results of RAKTDA’s Summer Unscripted

In terms of results, the campaign’s main objective is to drive visitation to RAK from the domestic market during the summer period.

“We have a comprehensive set of campaign metrics to track the entire funnel from awareness to consideration and bookings,” Winter says.

She further shares that since the campaign is still in early stages of roll-out, a comprehensive list of success metrics haven’t been formulated yet.

However, initial results prove that “the campaign has effectively created online and offline visibility for Ras Al Khaimah which in turn helps to keep the destination on top-of-mind,” she says.

The results also “show that the campaign has resonated well within the audience and has created impact with its unique approach,” Winter concludes.

All in all, both Winter and Rez conclude that the campaign aims to offer a different take to summer tourism in the UAE. From brief to execution, they claim that the campaign strategically blends addressing a pain point with relatable creative strategy.

Credits:

Client: RAKTDA