For 11 years, many Saudis have confused STC’s Twitter account with the Twitter account of Chris Rowland, an American who lives in New Jersey and joined under the handle @STC after his college nickname St. Chris. Over the years, he gained thousands of Saudi followers by mistake.

In 2019, STC finally got the @STC Twitter handle from Chris and the objective was to communicate to its followers that @STC is now officially STC group’s handle and not Chris’s handle.

Using a docutainment approach, we decided to announce the transfer of the Twitter handle through a compelling short film. With real in-depth testimonials from people around him, we told Chris’s side of the story and created a film that is accessible and shareable by Saudi viewers.

The real-life story starts from the moment it all began, and how Chris immersed himself in Saudi culture, and ultimately let it affect his whole life. As the film reaches its climax, we reveal the reason behind his decision to let go of the handle.

Instead of going with a traditional campaign announcing that the @STC Twitter handle is now owned by STC, we did the exact opposite. For news to spread, sometimes all you need is compelling content that will automatically make your message go viral. Our entertaining film was released online on all STC social media channels, but focused mainly on Twitter and YouTube, knowing that Saudis are among the top active Twitter users and YouTube content viewers in the world. By pushing our film mainly on these two channels, we reached our target audience who loves entertaining content and passes it on to their friends.

Since we’re telling the true story of Chris and his journey with the @STC handle, we brought the film to life with actual characters in Chris’s life: his friends, his family, his charismatic mother, and anyone who witnessed his journey was featured in the film. Through one-on-one interviews, we gave our docutainment film the authenticity and credibility it needs to move viewers through a compelling story.

The film was released on February 29, 2020 on Twitter and YouTube. It was also promoted on STC’s different social media accounts: Instagram and Facebook.

In a few hours, the film went viral. It was watched by millions of Saudis on Twitter and shared heavily on social media, making it the most successful film STC has ever released. Most importantly, we were able to quickly spread the message that @stc now belongs to the Saudi Telecom Company.

13M Views – 20K Shares – 22M Impressions.

Official Selection Top 20 Films of 2020 – Campaign ME