In an unexpected plot twist at the Qatar World Cup, Saudi Arabia won its match against Argentina. What was even more surprising was the 'Where's Messi' meme that followed the game, born out of a Saudi fan who playfully mocked the eventual World Cup winner, Messi, in a post-match interview on live TV.

For Saudi Tourism Authority, we were fortunate to have Messi as our influencer—the third most followed Instagram page in the world. So, when the whole world was asking 'Where’s Messi,' we created a social video that allowed Messi answer himself: "I'm in Saudi."

Football is Saudi Arabia’s most popular sport. Despite this, the team had only qualified for two World Cup tournaments in 16 years. They faced a challenging match in the early rounds against Argentina, captained by Messi – who many consider to be the greatest player of all time.

In an unexpected turn of events, Saudi Arabia ended up defeating the mighty Argentina team. Reuters reported a study that deemed the Saudi win "statistically the biggest shock in World Cup history." Immediately after the game, a Saudi fan went viral for his conversation with a news anchor, where he said repeatedly: “Where’s Messi?”, sparking a worldwide meme making fun of Messi’s ‘no-show’ performance.

By the end of the tournament, Messi led the Argentina team to victory in the World Cup, with some even viewing the initial defeat as a wake-up call for Messi and Argentina to raise their game and ultimately emerge as eventual champions.

As Saudi Tourism Authority, we are responsible for shaping Saudi Arabia's image globally, and with the entire football world discussing the country’s win and the subsequent meme that followed, we recognized this was a golden opportunity for the brand to play a clear role to get all eyes back on Saudi.

Saudi Arabia has been facing challenges in establishing itself as a tourist destination, struggling to get itself onto travelers' bucket lists.

The opportunity, however, came with the World Cup, the biggest event in the world, watched by 1.5 billion people during the final. When Saudi Arabia achieved a historic, unexpected win against Argentina—a match reported by Reuters as the "statistically the biggest shock in World Cup history"—we seized the opportunity to capitalize on this moment. Immediately after the game, a Saudi fan jokingly asked a news anchor about Argentina striker Lionel Messi's 'no-show' performance, repeating the question, 'Where's Messi?' The interview became an internet hit and an iconic moment at the World Cup.

Our challenge was to redirect the great attention that our country's team garnered during the World Cup and channel it towards tourism, making Saudi Arabian travel part of the conversation.

I’m in Saudi

Our idea was quite simple. Given the immense global curiosity about the 'Where's Messi?' meme, we seized the opportunity to answer this burning question and position ourselves at the center of the global conversation. With Messi as our brand ambassador, we orchestrated a surprise visit to Saudi Arabia for him to declare 'I’m in Saudi' to none other than the famous fan behind the viral ‘Where’s Messi’ meme.

Simultaneously, this unexpected location update by Messi invited travelers worldwide to follow in his footsteps themselves and come to Saudi, ultimately closing the loop and placing Saudi travel at the forefront of minds and at the top of travelers’ destination bucket lists.

Our strategic approach was built on a simple yet powerful premise that everyone knows: the internet is essentially a playground. Recognizing that big events like the World Cup bring people together like nothing else, forming one giant game that the whole world decides to play, we understood that to win the game, we had to join the internet’s playground and play along with the world.

The ‘Where’s Messi’ meme became iconic for its simple, playful, surprising, and spontaneous nature, along with its impeccable timing and the celebrity power of the world’s greatest footballer. A fan from Saudi Arabia going viral for challenging the world’s biggest player after unexpectedly losing to Saudi presented a priceless opportunity for Saudi Tourism Authority. What we decided to do was harness the traction that combined both football culture and the internet’s playful nature to place Saudi travel at the heart of the conversation.

With Messi on our side as Saudi Tourism Authority brand ambassador, we recognized a golden opportunity. Given the viral nature of the ‘Where’s Messi’ meme on social media, we understood the importance of responding to the social world as soon as we could. So, following Messi’s World Cup victory, we extended an invitation for him to meet the cheeky ‘Where’s Messi’ fan in Saudi Arabia, allowing him to address his biggest critic in person with a cup-winning smile.

The campaign aimed for an organic feel, sharing a single video and picture capturing the surprise meet-up between the unexpected duo, which quickly spread across the internet like wildfire.

Recognizing the social world's thirst for feuds, we capitalized on that dynamic by simply sharing the post and allowing the online world to take over, generating incredible organic engagement.

A quick answer turned an “influencer” location update into Saudi’s most engaging social campaign leading to GOAT results. The football online community and Messi fan pages couldn’t get enough of it, sparking sharing from top social pages such as Celebs Arabic, ET Bil Arabi (Entertainment Tonight), Complex, Wealth, and many others. This widespread sharing led to:

$15M PR Value

150M Unique media impressions

+1M Interactions

200M social impressions

Leading to improving destination perception in our brand health tracker, including:

+9% YoY Destination Positivity

+4% Locals’ ‘Welcoming’ perception

The Saudi win in the World Cup was an unexpected opportunity like no other, a match reported by Reuters as "statistically the biggest shock in World Cup history". Followed by even a Saudi fan taunting the world's biggest football star, one that is partnered by Saudi Tourism Authority even. When Messi became the eventual champion of the World Cup, it was a chance we couldn't miss.

Capitalizing on it, and combining the fan with Messi in Saudi was something the whole world did not expect.