This action is relevant for the Brand Experience & Activation category because it showcases a creative and impactful approach to connecting with the audience while addressing a significant social issue in the community.

The use of the media to convert our traditional newspaper into an immersive sports experience is what makes this idea so special, a unique execution that pushes the boundaries of the brand experiences.

According to the Global Obesity Observatory, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest obesity rates in the world with 25% of its population suffering from this condition.

Ariyadiyah, the country's leading sports newspaper noticed that more people prefer to sit down to read about sports rather than play them, in a country where around 20.000 people die yearly due to obesity-related diseases, sports are more than a hobby, it’s a requirement to increase life expectancy and quality of Saudi Citizens

On the other hand, Riyadh, a city with more than 7 million habitants, lacks public spaces designed to practice sports, so to address this situation we used this year's World Health Day to launch an initiative that turned our traditional newspaper into a place for sports and healthy habits around Saudi Arabia.

As the leading sports newspaper of Saudi Arabia we decided to take action, for the first time in 30 years we stopped using our printers for the news and instead used them to print giant courts.

We designed reglementary-sized fields and used them as the cover of a unique special edition of our newspaper, this time we removed our edition from the racks and took it to the streets for people to enjoy them.

On world health day, Saudis from all walks of life discovered 10 new courts in different parts of the city, the activation encouraged people to join the moving celebration and start playing football, basketball, and more sports.

To impact communities across Riyadh we selected different locations that covered diverse lifestyles and demographic groups, we also invited people from different origins to join the cause of fighting obesity by playing sports, individuals that tried the courts were also encouraged to share the experience and invite friends and relative to do the same.

Our team focused on delivering an inclusive sports experience, also, on the racks where our newspaper is usually found we put maps showing the court's locations so our readers could visit the nearest one.

Newspaper courts were placed in 10 locations across the Saudi capital, driving hundreds of people to turn up to enjoy a basketball or football game, and ultimately experience the healthy benefits of exercise. The courts, launched on April 7th, remain on the streets of Riyadh today encouraging people to remain active, not just on Health Day, but every day.

The campaign film, released on April 8th instantly trended on Twitter taking the number 1 spot in Saudi Arabia for several hours, opening a conversation on the importance of battling obesity and the risk it poses to Saudi society.

The campaign quickly became one of the fastest spreading and most talked about initiative of the year, capturing media attention and spreading a conversation about the need to tackle the deadly affects of obesity and diabetes. Citizens from all over the country shared their requests to implement more spaces like this in different areas. This is now becoming a reality where the Youth Sports Programme having commissioned us to create permanent courts across the country.

#1 trending topic on Twitter for +9hrs

129.1MM organic impressions

+1MM organic views

+USD1.5 earned media

+120k calories burnt in the first hours.

In the last 30 years Saudi Arabia has experienced an incredibly fast economic growth, changing the lifestyle of its habitants, this growth has produced the entrance of different fast food franchises while the habits of Saudis turned into a sedentary tendency.

These factors have resulted in the obesity epidemic hitting the country really hard, and its people suffering the consequences of diabetes and other obesity-related diseases. Now, developing initiatives that encourage sports is more important than ever.