KSA’s low-cost carrier flynas had a big ambition and an even bigger challenge. The company wanted to launch three new summer destinations in Europe, with influencer-led content. Due to logistics, the timeline was too tight to get visas for influencers. In addition, there were no permits to shoot in the target cities, and obviously Pre-Production Meetings went missing due to no time to prepare. To be clear, in Saudi Arabia’s market, where trust is paramount, they needed content that looked real, local, and shareable. The problem was obviously, there was no way to physically be on location.
Yet, it was figured out, that the audience did not care as to how the influencers portrayed in the ad got there, what was important was seeing them there. If Influencer marketing works because it’s personal. People don’t buy “destinations.” They buy the dream they were delivered via someone they trust, and whose opinions they value. Indeed, if the influencers could not travel, how to portray them as travelers anyhow? So it dawned on us, that what mattered was the emotionality of the act rather than the physicality of it.
So, living in today’s world, we figured “if we can’t beat them, join them” and by this we meant the possibilities AI is presenting us with. So with this, Saudi influencers became AI-powered travelers, without the need of visas, or flights, or bureaucracy, or even airports.
Real influencers were recruited who were willing to license their likeness. Then eventually they were captured high-quality profile shots, followed obviously by real interiors of flynas planes to anchor the content. This is where Veo3 came in handy because, with little or no effort, and a bit of a prompt, influencers were now in iconic European locations. Authentically, as well, though truth be told, not realistically, they were all over the new summer destinations flynas offers.
The influencers were so impressed, they posted these videos on their own social media accounts, implying they were indeed there, and we paid them ethically their standard fees though probably they were enjoying a gelato in their own homes rather than on a summery European city.
The audiences eventually saw familiar faces exploring new destinations, feeding wanderlust and excitement for summer travel.
The comments and shares showed genuine engagement. People were inspired to plan their own trips. Of course, the campaign subverted expectations about what’s “real,” proving that travel dreams can be sold even when the trip is AI.
Yet ethically, since advertising sells dreams as opposed to products, the campaign was not too far off.
By being first in-market to use AI-generated influencer travel at scale, flynas positioned itself as bold, modern, and flexible. Yet, one of the assets of the campaigns was that it tackled a real problem because it solved a real barrier familiar to many Saudis: visa delays and travel bureaucracy.
Behind this campaign were INFLO Influencer Curators, XTRND Content Hub and Regional Strategy Director Moey Shawash.
