SAUDIA, the national carrier of Saudi Arabia, teamed up with shared experience agency TRO to help drive awareness and understanding of their official partnership with the innovative, fully-electric racing series – FIA Formula E.
With the season opener taking place in their home market but local lockdown putting the brakes on the planned E-Village fan festival, SAUDIA collaborated with TRO to create a premium, elevated race experience that captured attention on the ground and in the skies before, during and after the race weekend.
Ahead of the racing action, across the cities of Jeddah and Riyadh, a total of 1,000 selected fans, valued employees, loyal customers and even two passenger flights were surprised and delighted with a special “watch at home” gift box, hand-delivered by SAUDIA.
To engage the young, digitally connected local audience, it was important to make the partnership resonate online whilst staying true to the shared values of innovation and future purpose. Racing-themed photo filters, an exclusive social media Q&A with Porsche FE driver André Lotterer, chances to win a SAUDIA holiday, and behind-the-scenes reporting from trackside all came together to connect fans, brand and racing under the #Accelerate_To_The_Future hashtag.
After painting the town blue, SAUDIA were the talk of the town on social media with thousands of conversations leading to 5 million impressions & 100k engagements across Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, serving to successfully raise awareness of this key global partnership.
Rob OSiochain, Senior Client Partner at TRO commented:
“The creative bravery shown by the entire SAUDIA team including their local agency partners really helped make our collaborative concept a reality. As the situation changed on the ground only a matter of weeks out from the race, the whole team moved with incredible speed and agility to deliver a premium at-home viewing experience for fans who could no longer attend in person.”
Mr. Khalid Tash, VP Corporate Communications at SAUDIA also commented:
“SAUDIA decided to bring Formula E to the people – for those who wanted to be part of the action, taking in the intense driving spectacle and iconic night races from the comfort of their homes. SAUDIA was pleased to partner with TRO in this unique initiative where the core aim was to make the races as accessible as possible; especially as the ABB FIA FORMULA E World Championship opener kicked off in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia”.
For further information please contact Annie Mbagwu on: Tel: +44 208 232 7214 / Mob: +44 7531 096331 / Email: annie.mbagwu@tro.com
