Ramadan, the Holy Month that all Muslims wait for to “purify their souls” and bound to fast until the sunset. But on this occasion, the city is flooded with food images tempting the people while they are fasting.

The challenge was to show the Saudis that a foreign brand like McDonald’s, understands and respects their feelings in Ramadan while still being able to promote its iconic food items.

With no production budget at hand, we needed to create a big impact and spark a conversation that all Saudi’s would partake in.

In Saudi Arabia, F&B outlets dominate the media landscape in major cities turning streets into one giant menu. However, during Ramadan displaying appetizing pictures of food can be considered insensitive towards a population who is fasting during day time.

McDonalds wanted to show that it understands the local culture while creating a new way of communicating to its audience during the holy month.

All images of food were covered from dawn to dusk to avoid tempting fasting Muslims. Using beautiful Arabian calligraphy, the iconic items were created and used throughout Ramadan. By creating a full menu exclusively using traditional Arabic calligraphy, the Saudis were given a totally new perspective on a menu that had remained foreign for them after many years. A perspective that showed that if we listen carefully we can learn to talk and sound as a native.

The name of each item was Arabized, calligraphed and integrated inside the created design based on the original shape of the food item of the menu, borrowing a pure Islamic philosophy that says:

“if you can’t show it through a picture, show it with words”.

Each icon design element of the best-selling items was mainly created to be used as posters and in instore branding, but has a potential to be used in promotions.

The font used was an uplifted modernized ‘Diwani’ (a calligraphic variety of Arabic script),

now ownable by the brand, using its main brand colors.

Despite the usual sales drop in Ramadan in western food outlets and restaurants, sales went up by +10%.

On top of that, the stream of positive praise on social media proves that McDonalds, a foreign brand, can really understand the Saudi people as much as their “local” competitors.