The idea evolved over time. From the outset, we didn't want to get involved in superficial giveaways and overt sales tactics. We wanted to show real Saudi women that Nissan understood what the right to drive meant to them, and that we were there to support and empower them now and beyond June 2018. After all, this is simply the first step on the path to a brave, modern new society in Saudi Arabia.

At first, with a real-time post and follow-up films, the idea was to simply show unequivocal support of the decree and what it stood for. Then we wanted to give women the chance to drive, for real, while at the same time, encouraging men to respect the decree. Finally, to normalize this decision for all men, we wanted to men to participate in the campaign and actively show their support.

News of The Royal Decree broke at 11:30pm. An hour later, we developed the "2018-GRL" Tweet, knowing Twitter is the main social platform in Saudi Arabia for breaking news. To further cement the idea and Nissan's point of view, we posted two 6-second films on Facebook a week later: one showed the number-plate being pressed, the other a Saudi woman getting into the driver's seat. The next step was the biggest; we built a space in a private car park, where Saudi women could actually drive a car, legally, for the first time in Saudi Arabia. The twist being, unbeknown to our female learners, their first instructor would be the man from their household. The content we generated was enjoyed across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And finally, we asked all Saudi men to show their support by submitting driving tips under the #shedrives to a highlights album on Instagram.

We expected the campaign to be referenced and celebrated internationally, as was the decree. However, we really wanted to effect a change in attitude and behavior in Saudi Arabia, especially amongst more conservative men in households.

The initial post was only on Twitter, featuring the “GRL 2018” car number plate visual. It generated 562,000 impressions and 49,353 clicks, retweets, comments and likes/reactions. This is an 8.8% engagement rate, when the benchmark for excellence on Twitter is 2.5%.

For the main content film, in the first 8 days of a paid media campaign (where less than 10% of the total budget has been spent), there have been 3.7m impressions and 1,576,900 views (on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube). We have seen 9.4% engagement rate: anything above 5% is seen as excellent. And a viewer retention rate of 59% - YouTube excellence benchmark is 50% on similar content. This means the content has been viewed for 678,085 minutes in total, equivalent to 1.3 years of viewership. Furthermore, 64% of the views have been from men.

The campaign as a whole has been celebrated globally and regionally, with media coverage on TV and online, including Reuters, CNN, Al Arabiya and BBC Worldwide. Even though the campaign still has more than 3 weeks to run, earned media has been valued at over $2.1m.

"#shedrives was also highlighted by Twitter in a recent analysis of 2017 as one of the most inspiring and effective campaigns on the platform across the MENA region"

Most big brands have the budget to pay for reach and media impressions. Few have the bravery to invest in an idea that will earn it. After King Salman issued a royal decree in late September allowing women to drive in June 2018, Nissan seized the opportunity to bring to life their brand promise: to make the innovation and excitement of driving accessible to all. In this case, ‘all’ being women in Saudi Arabia who had previously never been allowed to drive legally in their own country.

The Royal Decree was met with delight from both within Saudi and across the world. It set the tone for how King Salman sees the future. Since the announcement and our own real-time tweet, we reviewed research, conducted focus groups and monitored social media to find an angle for further work. Every carmaker was jumping on the bandwagon, but we wanted to make a real difference and break through the clutter. We discovered that there was still much resistance from a loud minority of conservative Saudi men. We discovered that this negative sentiment was affecting the confidence of certain women and making them feel reluctant. Therefore, as well as showing our support to Saudi women and giving them their first real taste of driving in their home country, our core target audience was actually Saudi men. We wanted to mobilize the open-minded majority and drown out the conservative minority.

With the new car market down over 20%, the royal decree had pundits predicting a bright future for the new car market in Saudi Arabia. The opportunity was further exaggerated by national news publications partnering with research agencies to highlight how the vast majority of women wanted to drive and apply for a license.

However, our own social media listening revealed there was still much negative sentiment from a loud and conservative male minority. We decided to run focus groups to hear what Saudi women had to say about this, in their own words. It turned out this negativity was causing a reluctance and hesitation. Sure, they still wanted to drive, but they didn’t want to be the first: they wanted to wait and see. In a purely proactive initiative, we set about to give women the confidence to exercise their right, and encourage men to support their decision.