In the first 24 hours of its release, Shareet Studios’ Ramadan film for WABA racked up 1.5 million organic views – a figure that has now grown to 3.5 million, with over 140,000 shares and 260,000 likes. The reason for its standout performance? A celebration of Gulf culture in every frame.
The campaign was created to welcome Ramadan across the Gulf, while showcasing WABA’s curated range of products for the holy month. But beyond product promotion, the film’s heart lies in its storytelling: portraying the richness of Arabic culture through styling, locations, and visuals that resonate across the Gulf region.
Centering culture in every detail
“We wanted people to be excited for Ramadhan, and we wanted people to also be proud of their culture,” says Mohammed AlNashmi, Founding Partner & Director of Shareet Studios.
He adds, “That is why we focused on showing how beautiful our culture really is. The beautiful outfits were the main visual element we want to showcase in this video, and it was beautifully selected by our amazing stylist Musaed AlMutairi, who did an incredible job to find a way to stylise the cast to represent each Gulf country in the most beautiful way.”
The main goal of the campaign was to raise awareness around the WABA brand and more importantly increase sales before the Ramadan season – an important month for the brand. The main target audience were mothers of all ages, and homeowners.
View this post on Instagram
The campaign was deeply culture and Ramadan focused, with styling and locations carefully curated to celebrate Gulf heritage in harmony.
Traditional outfits represented each country, while architectural backdrops highlighted the richness of Arab design, giving WABA’s products a premium feel. Centered on the message “One Taste,” the film conveys “One Gulf, One Taste” by bringing together men and women from across the Gulf, each styled in their distinct traditional attire, creating a visual display of cultural unity.
“WABA is known for their Arabic culture products, therefore we came up with a creative to mainly focus on that and showcase their close tied roots to the Arabic design. WABA wants to be known as a Gulf brand instead of a Kuwaiti brand, that is where we said that we want to create an extremely culture focused video that showcases the beautiful Gulf culture,” says AlNashmi.
Through these carefully chosen locations and style-focused outfits, the film showcases the beauty of Arab design, underscores the Gulf as one interconnected family, and celebrates the region’s architectural heritage in detail.
Brand awareness and sales
The campaign was launched on Instagram and YouTube but quickly spread organically to LinkedIn, X, and beyond through organic shares and reposts. People worldwide, from Brazil and China to the USA, Spain, Russia, and Kenya engaged with the video, appreciating and applauding its cultural authenticity.
AlNashmi says, “Our main focus was for people in the Gulf countries to get to know WABA, but we have seen that people all around the world now know the brand WABA through this video. It was a great moment for us to see the video being shared across different parts of the world: Brazil, China, USA, Spain, Russia, Kenya, & a lot more countries around the world. We enjoyed seeing non-arab viewers being so attracted to the Arabic culture through the video. It was kind of like an introduction to the beauty of the Arab culture to our non-Arab friends around the world.”
He adds, “The video created a sense of being proud to be Arabic. People from all these countries loved how we represented each of their respected nations through clothing and loved how we showed them that we are all the same.”
Beyond virality and brand awareness, the campaign also increased sales with WABA reaching its intended Ramadan targets earlier than expected; demonstrating the influence of the campaign on consumer behaviour.
With growing numbers, the video continues to spark momentum with growing views and reposts from multiple Instagram handles such as Filmmkrs – Meet Filmmaking Community, Little Black Book recognising the film and marking a viral moment for both the agency and the brand.
Credits:
- Client – WABA
- Creative – Shareet Studios
- Production House – Shareet Studios
- Producer – Homood AlKhamis
- Director/DOP – Mohammed AlNashmi
- Editor – Mohammed AlNashmi
- Sound Design – Mohammed AlNashmi
- Production Manager – Wessam AlJabali
- Executive Director – Fawaz AlDoukhi
- 2nd AD – Nada ElSayed
- Cast Agency – Shareet Studios Cast
- Stylist – Musaed AlMutairi
- Art- Nasser Bo-Eda
- Equipment & Lighting – Gorilla Rentals
- Makeup – Abeer
- Color – Anas El Frakcha
