Monday, September 2, 2024

Saudi Odyssey: Comparatively this is a gem.

Visit Saudi. First the good points: BETC does a great job at making this... sort of sexy visually. The copy is incredible "this land is calling" followed by "Saudi welcome to Arabia" (akin to Malaysia truly Asia - whereby a nation encompasses a whole culture and a dig to all competitors who claim to show "Arabia" - no names, you know yourselves). This is also much much better than the Messi/messy effort (here), than the Neom brouhaha (here) even if Neom is included in this ad, or the Saudi Airlines (Saudia) ad with no arrival point (here). The minus points: I am not sure there is a cohesive thread here - never mind getting an actress who looks like a Natalie Portman (insert all Star Wars references here because the ad is called "Saudi Odyssey"), or the rather boring platitudes before the lovely line "this land is calling" (which are very ho-hum). The visuals however compensate for the lack of the strong concept I suppose.

Again, considering the oddities we were subjected to prior to this film, this one seems a gem indeed. Watch the film here