Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has set a vision for the country to modernize and reform: One of the key pillars of his vision is to increase women’s role and rights within society.

On 26 September 2017, a royal decree gave women the right to drive as of the 24th June 2018. while the majority of respondents (61%) felt the change showed society progressing in the right direction, only a minority of men (44%) were willing to support the women of the family driving

As the leading and only national telco, STC is part of the future economy and at the forefront of the change happening in the kingdom. Support for 2030 was critical for the country and in turn for STC.

With the 24th June fast approaching, STC was committed to making this change accepted and encouraging the nation to be unified behind the change

We took the nation back to 1902 and reminded them of their roots with an online film and told the story of Nora’s brother (akhou Nora)- the story of King Abdulaziz, a young man who went on a quest to reclaim his grandfather’s kingdom and succeeded. All because of Nora. Consequently, he called himself the brother of Nora, as it was a man’s honour to call himself after his sister.

While many brands had started to communicate with empowering messages of “its your time”, we decided to dig deeper to really understand the fabric of Saudi Arabia, and so we went back in time – we looked at Saudi’s history and in our journey we went back as far as 1902.

We discovered the story of a young man who went on a quest to reclaim his grandfather’s kingdom and succeeded. All because of the help of his sister Noura. This young man was King Abdulaziz Bin Abulrahman the founder of Saudi arabia and he named himself after his sister, the brother of noura (akhounoura) to honor her driving force in the Kingdom’s history.

We had to remind the nation of its history, that women playing such a key role in society what not new but rather part of Saudi Arabia’s DNA.

While many brands had started to communicate empowering messages of “it’s your time” and portray women as victims we wanted to take a different angle. So, we dug deeper to really understand the fabric of Saudi, and so we went back in time – we looked at Saudi’s history and, in our journey, we went back as far as 1902.

The nation responded:Famous TV hosts, university students, and even soldiers joined the movement through customized pins and car stickers. Influencers featured the names of their sisters, daughters or wives as their profile pics. Government officials did the same with their badges, as did The Royal Family.

The film

? 5 million views

? 40 million impressions

? Our hashtag was the second trending hashtag on twitter on the day of driving

STC was the Saudi woman’s first choice

? Main brand increased from 54% to 61%

? Top of Mind awareness from 70% to 72%

We generated an earned media value of 1 million USD

More importantly STC’s commitment to the change of woman driving helped galvanise a nation behind every woman, altering the nation’s mindset. Demonstrating that change didn’t make history, but that history made the change desired in Saudi Arabia.