In recent years, #SaudiNationalDay has been a key conversation topic on Twitter. In fact, the Saudi flag emoji was tweeted 27 million times globally in the past year (1 Sept 2019 – 1 Sept 2020, Twitter Internal). With more audiences turning to the platform – marking the highest ever quarterly year-over-year mDAU (monetizable daily active Twitter users) growth rate – brands have recently leaned into this moment by connecting with the conversation around #SaudiNationalDay2020. Here are some examples of how marketers leaned into this key cultural moment on Twitter.
Visit Saudi (@VisitSaudiAR)
The Saudi tourism authority’s Visit Saudi account (@VisitSaudiAR) launched a video under the hashtag حظنا_بالسعودية# (translated as Lucky Saudis), which triggered a custom branded emoji. The promoted video included user-generated content that was compiled from its “Tanafas” (‘breathe’ in Arabic) summer campaign, which had highlighted safe domestic travel during the current pandemic. The tweet encouraged people to share their experiences with the world, by showcasing the beauty of the kingdom. The authority partnered with a number of influencers who tweeted the video in multiple languages.
لأن وطني السعودیة، أخذت من الحظ أجمله#حظنا_بالسعودية
في #اليوم_الوطني90 – شارك #السعودية مع العالمhttps://t.co/pmwXtaFgyD pic.twitter.com/v6VVgXll0U
— روح السعودية (@VisitSaudiAR) September 19, 2020
The @VisitSaudiAR account used Twitter’s new conversation settings to invite other accounts within the kingdom to post about the beautiful destinations of Saudi Arabia. By using these settings, only accounts that it follows could reply to the tweet, whereas the public could retweet and like it. Among the accounts that replied included @NEOM – who tweeted a photo of the landscape, @TheRedSeaSA – who tweeted a photo of The Red Sea Project’s beaches, and @DGDA_SA – who tweeted a picture highlighting the ancient heritage of Diriyah Gate.
من بين كل بقاع العالم #حظنا_بالسعودية pic.twitter.com/LnxD5bQWSj
— روح السعودية (@VisitSaudiAR) September 18, 2020
The authority also used Twitter’s conversational ads feature to prompt people to tweet and spread the #LuckySaudis message to their followers. Once people tapped on one of the two buttons in the tweet, a tweet compose box appeared with a pre-populated message.
#حظنا_بالسعودية – أخذنا من الحظ أجمله
شارك #السعودية مع العالم— روح السعودية (@VisitSaudiAR) September 22, 2020
The Promoted Trend Spotlight generated more than 31 million impressions in combination with Twitter’s First View Product, and the promoted video generated more than eight million views.
Mobily (@Mobily)
Mobily (@Mobily) partnered with multiple influential Saudi musicians; including Saudi rapper Slow Moe, to launch an original song for #SaudiNationalDay2020. Named انطلق_يالاخضر# (roughly translated as “#GreenIsGo”), the song’s lyrics centered around people’s determination to “Go”, inspired by Saudis making and embracing change from across the kingdom.
As part of the teaser campaign, Mobily created excitement around the upcoming song release by leveraging Twitter’s custom “Like to Remind” auto-reply functionality. It encouraged audiences to like a tweet to be the first to listen to the song when it was released:
جاهزين لليوم الوطني؟ لا يفوتكم الفيديو يوم ٢٣ سبتمبر!
اضغط لايك ? عشان نرسله لك مع منشن أول ما ينزل ?
#انطلق_يالأخضر ?? pic.twitter.com/QpshB3GxBy— موبايلي (@Mobily) September 14, 2020
Those who opted into the campaign received an instant auto-reply confirmation tweet:
تم اشتراكك بنجاح! ?
تابعنا على #انطلق_يالأخضر ??رد بـ #STOP لإيقاف الاشتراك في أي وقت.. pic.twitter.com/E1LNjurDhv
— موبايلي (@Mobily) September 15, 2020
As part of the reveal phase of the campaign, they received a video of the song within their notifications tab a few hours before it went live publicly. This gave them a sense of exclusivity and delivered a memorable interaction on the platform.
The campaign generated more than 1.9 million video views to date.
Riyad Bank (@RiyadBank)
Staying on theme with the spirit of music, Riyad Bank (@RiyadBank) leveraged Twitter’s Promoted Trend Spotlight to launch its own #SaudiNationalDay2020 song titled كلنا_بعزك_وقفنا# (translated as “We all stand in your glory”). The Promoted Trend Spotlight is a takeover ad product that places promoted videos in Twitter’s Explore tab, where people go to see the latest trending topics and hashtags. The bank combined this format with First View, an ad product that gives brands exclusive ownership of Twitter’s top ad slot for 24 hours using video.
The song’s video, which aimed to enhance the emotional spirit among citizens with a prominent Covid-19 theme, was sung by Saudi musician Rashed Almajid and generated more than 34 million impressions. It’s worth noting that Riyad Bank is the first bank to deploy Twitter’s Promoted Trend Spotlight during #SaudiNationalDay.
لا هان راسك يا وطنّا ??
وما تهزك أي ريح.. #كلنا_بعزك_وقفنا ?
فوق ذم.. أو مديح#اليوم_الوطني_السعودي90 pic.twitter.com/JHtBcX4pWt— بنك الرياض (@RiyadBank) September 21, 2020
Saudi Aramco (@Saudi_Aramco)
Saudi Aramco (@Saudi_Aramco) launched a 10-day region-wide campaign for #SaudiNationalDay by leveraging a number of ad formats on Twitter. The campaign, titled انسى_توقفنا# (translated as ‘Unstoppable’), kicked off with a tweet using Twitter’s Conversational Ads format. It encouraged people to thank the various national sectors within Saudi Arabia by tapping on any of the four buttons within the tweet. Once people tapped on one of the options, a tweet compose box appeared with a pre-populated message, prompting them to further spread the message by posting it.
رغم التحدّيات.. تكاتفت مختلف الكوادر الوطنية في كافة القطاعات بجهودٍ استثنائية مكّنتنا من تخطّي الصعاب بهمةٍ وعزيمة لنحافظ على اقتصاد وطننا وسلامة شعبه.
ساهم معنا في شكرهم ?#انسى_توقفنا#اليوم_الوطني90 ??— أرامكو (@Saudi_Aramco) September 13, 2020
The hero video – which generated more than 16 million views – highlighted how the people of Saudi have overcome challenges that they have faced. This was followed by a video tweet of the yearly Saudi flag-raising tradition, which generated more than 71,000 viewers.
