MENA’S CREATIVE PULSE – TOP CAMPAIGNS

Getting stuck is usually the moment a game grinds to a halt. ‘Rescue Squad’, created by Publicis Middle East for Jeep Middle East, turned that frustration into the centre of the experience itself. Inspired by the real-world camaraderie of off-roading convoys, the campaign enlisted leading Saudi streamers to rescue stranded players by deploying virtual Jeep convoys in-game whenever someone became stuck. A custom in-game showroom and surprise giveaways of real-world recovery gear extended the experience beyond the screen, linking gaming culture to Jeep’s off-road identity. “Gamers are used to hitting restart when they’re stuck. Jeep players don’t restart, they regroup,” said Tuki Ghiassi, executive creative director at Publicis Middle East.

To encourage travellers to engage more deeply with Saudi Arabia’s cultural landscape, Saudia launched ‘Let It Fly’, a luggage-sticker initiative that rewards passengers for purchasing locally made products and artisanal handicrafts. The work of Saatchi & Saatchi Middle East, and inspired by the country’s cities, traditions, and regional identities, the collectable stickers were designed in collaboration with creators like Craig & Karl, Nada Sultan, and Raphaëlle Macaron. Each sticker added extra baggage allowance, allowing travellers to bring home cultural items without worrying about weight limits. “By combining travel convenience with cultural storytelling, the initiative reflects a new approach to how airlines can connect people, place and purpose,” says Essam Akhonbay, vice-president of marketing at Saudia.

Rather than warning people about screen addiction with statistics or scare tactics, IKEA approached the problem with humor. Created around miniature IKEA-inspired beds for smartphones, the ‘Phone Sleep Collection’ encouraged people to put their devices to bed before going to sleep themselves. Developed to launch IKEA’s Complete Sleep Collection, the campaign reframed digital disconnection as a natural part of the nightly routine, using familiar product language and understated Scandinavian design cues to position the smartphone as an overworked companion in need of rest. Playful yet quietly pointed, the campaign tackled growing concerns around endless scrolling and sleep deprivation without resorting to guilt, panic, or moralizing.

For visually impaired football fans, much of the live match experience remains inaccessible. stc sought to change that with ‘The Blind Seats’, an initiative developed alongside Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Sport that transformed key moments in football matches into haptic feedback and vibrations. Installed in stadiums, the specially designed seats allowed fans to physically experience the rhythm, intensity and emotion of the game as it unfolded. Reactions from participants were shared online as part of the campaign. “We believe football belongs to everyone,” said Firas Ghannam, executive creative director at VML Riyadh. “Seeing fans experience every moment, not just as spectators but as part of the action, was deeply moving.”

When a viral TikTok moment showed Saudi food lovers sprinkling Srar Hail, a spicy seasoning by local cook Om Bdr, over KFC chicken, the fried chicken chain sprang into action. Most brands would have rushed to manufacture authenticity. Not KFC and TBWA\ Raad. They decided to partner with Om Bdr, bottling her seasoning as the brand’s ‘unofficial 12th herb and spice’. As Derek Green, TBWA\Raad’s chief creative officer, explains: “After spotting Saudi TikTokers remixing KFC’s flavour, we set aside the Colonel and let a local icon rewrite the recipe, adding a 12th spice to prove local taste matters most.” Within three weeks, the limited edition menu item had sold out, as had Om Bdr’s own seasoning.

Parkin, the largest provider of paid public parking facilities and services in Dubai, turned a friction point (parking) into a direct value exchange between drivers and neighborhood businesses. Developed by FP7 McCann, with production by No Garlic No Onions and PR led by Burson, the idea behind ‘Spots for Shops’ is disarmingly simple: spend locally, get your parking back. “Dubai is a car-first city, so the parking spot became our canvas,” says Federico Fanti, FP7 McCann’s regional chief creative officer. The campaign works by enabling drivers to validate their parking fees through the Parkin app by supporting neighborhood small businesses. Fifteen businesses, including Beirut Blendz, were included in the first wave.

For most travellers, choosing a window seat is little more than a gamble. flynas transformed that uncertainty into a premium experience with ‘Seat with a View’, an AI-powered seat selection tool developed with VML Riyadh that allows passengers to preview the scenery visible from their exact seat before takeoff. Using machine learning, the system mapped more than 120 flynas flights, analysing landmarks, coastlines, mountain ranges, flight direction, altitude and timing to predict the best aerial views. “The ambition was to turn a functional choice into an emotional one by combining data, AI technology, and creativity in a way that reimagines the humble seat map,” says Firas Ghannam, executive creative director at VML

A year after launch, L’Oréal Paris’s ‘Sit Al Bait’ evolved from an advertising campaign into an educational initiative. Developed by FP7 McCann, McCann Paris, and Current Global MENAT, the idea reframed the Arabic term for ‘housewife’ by adding two letters, transforming it into ‘Woman of the House’. The revised term was later introduced into schools and Arabic-language institutions through educational materials. “It didn’t try to invent a new truth, it simply named one that already existed,” said Federico Fanti, FP7 McCann’s regional chief creative officer. The campaign has since generated more than 42 million video views and over 1,300 written responses from women across the region.

Podcast advertising has spent years being underestimated. The Capital. com campaign, executed by Next Au- dio, made a measurable case for why that should change. The campaign deployed Next Audio’s Arabic podcast AI brand safety tool to en- sure contextual relevance at the moment of listening in one of the most trust-sensitive industries: financial services. Rather than treating podcasts as an awareness-only channel, the campaign was optimized across the full consumer funnel, translating strong engagement metrics into increased website traffic, user interest, and bookings for Capital.com. The experiment became a benchmark example for how audio advertising can evolve in the GCC, proving that podcasts are a measurable and scalable media investment. 76 I Communicate I Q3 2026

Pepsi and Riyadh-based independent agency BigTime Creative Shop trans- formed football fandom into an entire fictional nation ahead of the FIFA World Cup. Headlined by David Beckham and featu- ring Mohamed Salah, Vinícius Júnior, Alexia Putellas, Florian Wirtz, Lauren James, and Gordon Ramsay, Pepsi Football Nation tap- ped into the emotional irrationality and sense of belonging that define global football culture. This fictional nation came with its own rules, such as a browser extension that replaces “soccerˮ with “footballˮ across the entire inter- net, and a Reddit debate running with digital acti- vations encouraged fans to actively participate in the narrative. The cam- paign blurred the lines between entertainment, internet culture, and immersive brand storytel- ling, earning internatio- nal recognition.

To stand out in the UAE’s crowded com- pact SUV market, Nissan and TBWA\ RAAD transformed the Magnite into the centerpiece of a live sporting spectacle. CarJitsu, staged during the region’s biggest fight week at Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena, brought the unconventional combat sport to the Middle East for the first time. The campaign merged entertainment, sport, and product storytelling by hosting real fights inside the vehicle before a crowd of more than 10,000 fans. Social content generated millions of views and engage- ments across Instagram and TikTok, while PR coverage extended reach to an audience of more than 113 million, positioning Nissan as a brand willing to challenge convention and create culture-led experiences.

Most hospital campaigns focus on expertise, technology, or medical outcomes. ‘Never Alone’, created by Saatchi & Saatchi for the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, took a different approach, exploring the emotional isolation patients often experience during serious illness. Told through the story of twin sisters, the film follows moments of tenderness, conflict and care as one sister appears to guide the other through a difficult journey. Only in the final scenes is it revealed that the companion never existed, reframing the narrative as a portrait of loneliness and inner struggle. The film relies on visual storytelling and performance to position the hospital as a source of human presence and support.

Two million Russian-speaking tourists were visiting the UAE annually, but 90 percent defaulted to Dubai. Abu Dhabi had a world-class offering but a fraction of the attention. In response, Yango Ads and the Department of Culture and Tourism–Abu Dhabi developed a highly targeted, data- driven tourism strategy designed specifi- cally for audiences across the CIS market. The campaign resulted in a 13 percent increase in flight and hotel bookings. Hotel revenues in Abu Dhabi grew a record- high 19.5 percent year-on-year in 2025. Yango’s own research confirmed that over 48 percent of tourists were influenced by targeted advertising, establishing a direct line between media investment and econo- mic impact.