Global brands need to earn their way into local culture.

Nivea did that by seeing how its platform of 'care' worked FOR Saudi Arabia (not IN Saudi Arabia).

By tackling a cultural gap, and helping identify and address young Saudi women's unanswered needs, we were able to create an inclusive and additive digital space and platform that connected and bonded Nivea with its young Saudi female audience.

By creating an owned digital world and by being the first mover in the category, Nivea stood versus competitors, earning attention and relationships, resulting in a successful socially, culturally and commercially effective approach.

Nivea has built its brand on scientific, functional credentials that build trust over years, but had stopped romancing its buyers; failing to make an impression on the hearts of new and future buyers (young Saudi women) lacking in emotional differentiation on key emotional indexes like “makes me feel good” and “achieving healthy beautiful skin.”

Young Saudi women are living in a completely different world to the generation before them, so Nivea’s outdated reputation, combined with a period of inactivity as the brand reinvented itself, led to a huge drop in brand performance on top-of-mind awareness among 16-to-24-year-old Saudi women.

Having just reformulated its global brand to focus on the “transformative power of the human touch,” how could Nivea urgently reintroduce itself to young Saudi women in distinctive, culturally relevant way (vs L’Oréal and Neutrogena), to achieve reach and resonance for the brand that would drive ongoing usage and penetration?

We needed to focus on a major passion point and identify a tension within that passion point that Nivea could credibly resolve.

Young Saudi women are very hard to reach. Not all brands succeed.

But gaming was a whitespace for Nivea; untapped and untouched by its competitors.

Gaming isn’t just a major passion point in Saudi Arabia. Gaming is a major industry in Saudi Arabia. According to a report published by Boston Consulting Group in 2022, there are 23.5 million gamers in Saudi Arabia, making up around 67% of the Kingdom’s overwhelmingly young population.

In 2022, the country unveiled investments worth SR142 billion ($37.8 billion) to transform the Kingdom into a global gaming hub with world-class gaming companies.

he government hopes to create 39,000 jobs, establish 250 game developers, and promote a thriving in-house talent pool for esports.

BUT only 5% of e-athletes in Saudi Arabia have been women.

Nivea needed to reach young Saudi women, aged 16-24, via social media channels to increase awareness, build a connection and drive product purchase.

In a time when Saudi women were being empowered in the real world, they were being left behind and not included in the gaming world.

With only 5% of e-athletes being women, Saudi girls stated in 1-to-1 interviews, how they were not inspired to take on careers in gaming in what they felt was a male-dominated world.

They lacked female role models and mentors in the gaming world. And couldn’t see themselves pursuing a career in gaming.

As a result:

87% of Saudi girl gamers quit gaming before they turned 18.

This was an inequality in the industry and the world of gaming that needed to be addressed by Nivea - a brand that cared for women and believed in the transformative power of that care.

"GIRLS GOT GAME": THE FIRST-EVER E-SPORTS COACHING PLATFORM FOR SAUDI GIRL GAMERS BY SAUDI GIRL GAMERS.

We enabled Nivea to become a beacon of care for Saudi girl gamers, making them feel more inspired in their gaming skins.

We did so by partnering with Saudi Arabia’s top women e-athletes, and for the first time, created an e-sports coaching platform for Saudi girls.

In doing so, showcased Saudi women e-athletes for the first time, and in turn, gave young Saudi girls new role models.

The e-athlete coaches shared their personal gaming tactics, tricks and special techniques, while importantly, encouraging young girl gamers to keep playing and keep honing their gaming skills.

They also shared their skincare routines and their preferred Nivea products, in a very organic and natural manner, while speaking about the gameplay, thereby integrating product conversations.

We sparked attention and drove a conversation that ended with witnessing cultural changes.

Nivea became the first mover in the gaming territory in a category where competitors were engaging young Saudi girls elsewhere on expected channels with expected topics.

Girls Got Game put Nivea on the minds of young female Saudi gamers. And as more female gamers emerged to take on the male dominated industry, Nivea scored wins too.

• Popular gaming forums, male gamers and media platforms supported the initiative from Nivea.

• The Saudi Government and affiliated bodies got involved and took action too.

• A reach of over 14 million impressions to the key demographic.

• 12 million livestream viewers.

• Breaking social media engagement records, exceeding engagement benchmarks by 55%.

• 85% video completion.

• Brand consideration increased +32.7%.

• Brand uplift increased +29.2%.

• Buzz (Have you heard it being talked about/talked about it) increased +24.4%.

• Intent to purchase increased +7.7%.

• Purchase volumes increased +20.8%.

About 90% of male gamers take part in esports on an amateur or semi-pro basis, while around 100 Saudi gamers are pursuing e-sports as a full-time career.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia unveiled investments worth SR142 billion ($37.8 billion) to transform the Kingdom into a global gaming hub with world-class gaming companies.

The government hopes to create 39,000 jobs, establish 250 game developers, and promote a thriving in-house talent pool for esports that will raise the sector’s contribution to the Kingdom’s economy to SR50 billion by 2030.

It was a burgeoning industry that lacked adequate female representation until 2022.