#SheDrives
Nissan Saudi Arabia
Issue 46 | March 2018
Agency
TBWA\RAAD, Dubai
Creative Team
Creative Chief Creative Officer Walid Kanaan Executive Creative Director Fouad Abdel Malak Creative Director Manuel Borde Senior Copywriter Alberto Triana Art Director Federico Mariani
Production Team
Production Head of Production Rouba Asmar Production House Made in Saudi Executive Producer Aboud Ayyach Producer Yara Bdeir Director Jack Elliot Editor Anthony Chamoun Sound Mixing Mohammad Hamdan
Other Credits
Other Managing Director Ghassan Kassabji Account Manager Fadi Awada, Elizabeth Arroyan Digital Account Director Benjamin Schwartz Senior Strategic Planner Vishal Badiani
Date
January 2018
Background
Last September, Saudi Arabia surprised everyone by lifting the Women Driving ban, a historic ruling that will take effect by June 2018. But while the rest of the world celebrated the decision, a big chunk of the Saudi male population showed resistance to it. This has made many Saudi women hesitant about applying for a licence when the time comes, fearing their closest male relatives will disapprove. They were in need of confidence and support.
Idea
Nissan Saudi Arabia decided to invite a group of Saudi women to their first-ever driving lesson. But not just any driving lesson, this one was taught, to the women's surprise, by the very people they thought would most disapprove of them getting behind the wheel of a car: their fathers, brothers and husbands.
To encourage and empower women across all Saudi Arabia, a film of the women learning to drive a Nissan was made and posted online. The supportive message from the men in the film was clear. When the time comes, the decision whether or not to learn to drive will be entirely up to the women.
Using #SheDrives, men and women were invited by Nissan to show and share their support.
Results
At the time of submission, the campaign had only run for one week. In that time, however, there were 1.6M impressions on Facebook, 75,000 views on Instagram and 63,000 impressions (with 10,000 engagement) on Twitter in Saudi alone.
There were 35,000 views on YouTube, a number expected to grow rapidly.
Our Thoughts
This is another example of a brand getting involved in politics. It may look uncontentious to western eyes, a car brand supporting women car-drivers, but in Saudi, where women's rights are limited, it could easily look like yet another challenge to the traditional authority of men. Since women were given the vote in 2011, it is probably less risky than it might have been. Nevertheless, research in the UK by brandingmag.com indicated that 61% of respondents felt "brands should stay out of politics altogether". That rose to 64% among women only.
In other words, having a conscience can hurt brands. In this instance, one sincerely hopes not.