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. 

On Saudi tourism, stereotyping and reality.

Two days ago I spoke about Saudi tourism... Maybe now is the time to speak again... Please check the "Messi/Messy" thing here. OK, so the idea of the ad is to get famous football player Messi as an ambassador to debunk Saudi "stereotypes". Saudi Arabia is not "just a desert". This is correct but I also have seen paved roads with the sand which was excavated thrown on the two sides of the streets. Again, yes, Saudi Arabia is not just a desert, but to get to the other parts requires being out of the classical sedentary areas.

Now, "nothing ever happens"? Sure there are concerts and events lead by Turki Al-Sheikh (according to his wikipedia he is is a Saudi adviser at the Royal Court under the rank of Minister and the current Chairman of General Authority for Entertainment). Major A-list stars have flocked to Saudi Arabia to do concerts, many other stars have been granted Saudi nationality and on it goes. How much of this trickles down to the normal/average Saudi is however open for debate.

Is it a "closed culture"? Ok, this is where it gets tricky. Stadiums have only very recently opened a section for "families" (as everything - restaurants etc, there are places for "singles" (i.e. men) and "families"), and yes women have been granted the right to drive also not long ago. May I however remind you of the case of Loujain Al-Hathloul who was jailed for three years for campaigning for women's rights to drive and who was only released very very shortly before women obtained their right to drive? Again, perhaps a lot happened since the last time I was in the kingdom in 2004 visiting a VIP client, but once more, no - society is not open. Let us not hide behind our fingers.

"Girls can't". OK, there is Sarah Attar who competed in the London 2012 edition, and there were others as well - notably Wajdan Shahrakhani the judo player who participated in the same edition. But get this, there was someone on X (formerly twitter) who described these women as "عاهرات الاولمبياد" (literally the Olympics sluts). Kind reminder - this was only 12 years ago and barely. Now, are you going to tell me a society goes from ultra-conservative to Liberal in this short span of time?

You can watch the film here. I still think though that what was shown in the film are the exceptions that prove the rule.

Saudi tourism, between messy and Messi

So Saudi Arabia is very serious about its tourism. Every other day in whatever online publication I read I see an article about tourism in Saudi Arabia. Some hyperventilating others keeping things more real. But the fact that Saudi bagged so many stars as ambassadors is truly a sign that they are very serious.

To be clear, yes, there are many interesting places to visit in Saudi Arabia, I know so because I was there in 2002-3 and went totally off the beaten track and saw wonderful things. It does get very cold at night in the desert by the way, so you might need to layer up. But all this being said, do people want to come to Saudi Arabia? Apparently I read that a total of 77.84 Million people did visit in 2022 (here), of course how many of those in the Hajj and Omra as opposed to regular tourists. Inbound tourism according to the same source was 16.64 million people. Already in 2022, religious tourism was 37%, visiting friends and relatives was 31%, business was 10%... So "leisure" and "other" were 18% only (here).

Now, what the kingdom is doing is basically replicating the success of Dubai. The #mydubai campaign was a total smash hit, so KSA went with #ShareYourSaudi and #السعودية_بعيونك the campaign's headline is "beyond what you think". Also Saudi Arabia is opening the first alcohol shop for non-Muslim diplomats (OK, this disregards the major bootleg and black market alcohol market already present there) a first in the kingdom since the 1952 ban.

After Ronaldo, who plays football for a local club, Messi is the second major boost for the kingdom in terms of international ambassadors. And yes, the star and his family are going all out promoting places to go and things to be seen in the kingdom.

Would this entice people to come visit KSA as tourists? I feel there is something very messy (pardon the pun) in the strategy. There is a full film by the way, watch it here.

Ahla Bhal Talleh: A baffling campaign to encourage tourism in Lebanon

All right, call me baffled. Apparently there is a new campaign to encourage tourism in Lebanon - but it is plastered on Lebanese highways. What does that mean? It means - as the bumper sticker used to say - "if you read this you're too close". In other words, if you see this campaign... Then you already are in Lebanon and there's no need to seduce you to come! Tada!

Not that difficult. Now, if the aim is seduce Lebanese people to go sightseeing, please factor the price of the fuel, the price of food, the price of this, that - and if you aim for a family of four that's already like burning the budget for a full month. 

Again, call me skeptical and unrealistic. But am serious, to whom is this campaign addressed? It seems they are aiming for the expats, but as I said, if they see this - they're already here (I am trying not to mention the chaos at the airport where everyone is passing through the metal barriers to greet loved ones and where people are on top of one another it seems at the arrival section). 

As I said, I am baffled. 

A winter through my eyes - UAE is equally felt and seen.

UAE Government Media Office found a splendid way to encourage winter tourism - all thanks to Tahaab Rais (formerly of FP7 & McCann) who left them a parting gift at the door. Is the film touristic? You bet it is. But the beauty of it is that would have been pure boring cliches are viewed from a totally different angle. Do we "see" Burj Khalifa? Do we delight at the sight of dune buggies? Do we feast our eyes with the camp fire near the tent at night? Do we enjoy the (artificial) snow visually? Yes we do. But the main protagonist of the film "hears" the fireworks of the Burj Khalifa, enjoys the wind striking her face as the buggies speed through the desert, is able to feel the warmth the fire against the cold night, and eventually can touch the tenderness of the snow... Why? Because the genius of the creative idea is that she is blind.

Mark Twain said, "the coldest winter is summer in San Francisco" but the "world's coolest winter" is one in the UAE. A country that can be felt, through its traditions, values and hospitality with even being seen. In his masterpiece The Little Prince, Antoine de St Exupery said "we only see well with the heart, the essential is invisible to the eyes".

Clara, the main protagonist of the film echoes this by saying: “You know what I learnt, when you really want to feel something, we don’t need to look with our eyes. We need to look with our hearts. So, even if I cannot see, it’s everything I have felt here that has helped me see so much more.”

Please watch the film here.

Bi Jnounak B7ebbak, the corny logo and TV ad...

So I discussed this earlier... The Bi Jnounak B7ebbak slogan for Lebanon's winter tourism. Now comes the logo as seen above, and the TV ad. The logo itself brought its own controversies as the two letters B and J which were highlighted in the logo supposedly refer to Gebran Bassil (well, the heir apparent of president Michel Aoun and former minister among other things). Now, no one mentioned that the logo seems to have been a horse designed by a committee (ergo a camel). Well, whereas I can understand the idea/concept, the logo is as close to corny as possible. If the logo is however, semi-palatable the platitudes of the TV ad honestly bring the lowest-common denominator out. Filled with cliches, with your usual we-love-Lebanon-no-matter-what (yeah, try doing so with about 6 power cuts a day!), and all the regular lower-than-average images and you get the ad in question. See the "marvel" in question here.

Bi Jnounak b7ebbak is our new winter tourism slogan.

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Hold the presses, TBWA just announced that "bi jnounak b7ebbak" (I love you in your madness - a lyric from the Fairouz song "b7ebbak ya Lebnan" - up to my knowledge the song debuted in 1979 in the now iconic "Fairouz a l'Olympia" concert but I could be mistaken) is Lebanon's new winter tourism slogan. The below is from today's The Guardian newspaper:

"TBWA chief creative officer Walid Kanaan said it was “near-impossible” to find ways to market a country in the grip of multi-layered economic and political crises, but that he had found inspiration in Lebanon’s people.

“This is our country, a crazy country, crazy in its nightlife, crazy in its food and generosity. And no matter how crazy the situation in Lebanon is, we can only say, ‘we love you in your madness’,” Kanaan said, unveiling the slogan."

Now, with the Gulf nations not wanting their nationals coming to Lebanon, I am assuming the targeted audience might be Europeans. By the way, to be honest I am not aware if the slogan will be in Arabic or Latin (maybe this could define further the audience in question). Of course, perhaps - with people starting to speak about the slogan, and in extenso the country - maybe the campaign has started to show signs of strategic success, and if this translates into tactical and tangible results, so much the better.

In other news yesterday a Slovenian friend sent me this message: "I did not know things are this bad in Lebanon, Valerio and I scrapped our visit and I think we will just go to Rome."

Saudi Tourism: Islamically compliant fun

Look you have to hand it out to them - making Islamically compliant tourism fun is no mean feat, yet Saudi Tourism does exactly that in an ad which is fantastically well edited (OK, fine the technique was used to the best effect by Nike prior - look here) but still credit is due for finding perfectly matching scenes which illustrate different aspects of Saudi landscapes and activities whether you are young and single (males only in the car though) or a family (which is how usually everything in Saudi is divided). And truthfully having had a stint in Saudi prior, I can tell you there is indeed much to do.

But again, the ad is incredibly well researched and executed all while still being Islamically compliant (while at the beach, a woman has only her feet showing as the rest is in a white linen tunic, or while riding an ATV the girl is still wearing a black abaya, or as I said previously, the segregation between young single males and families). Still the ad is alluring, charming and reveals the many things to do in Saudi.

I could have a question though about its target audience, which leaves me a little confused. If non-Arabs are targeted, despite all its lovely scenes, they might be a little baffled as to the implicit restrictions. Now, if Arabs from the Gulf nations are, this is par for the course for them. Perhaps, quite simply, their target are local Saudis who are invited to discover more of their country... Still, a very well done ad.

See it in full here.