A SAUDI PRINCESS TO INSPIRE THE COUNTRY BEYOND TIME

Glass Lion Grand Prix winner at Dubai Lynx 2019

2018 was a transformational year for women in Saudi, a country where women had faced restrictions from voting, the ability to work in certain sectors to even entering football stadiums. All this changed. The decree allowing women to drive also came into effect in June. Women had had little representation beyond the family and the kitchen, and with these new changes taking place brands now had an opportunity to help Saudi women navigate them. However, much of the representation or endorsement to follow particularly on driving was a case of everyone jumping on a media bandwagon- in short largely cosmetic. STC wanted to lead the change in mindset, in a country where the decision to allow women to drive had divided the nation. This campaign turned to the past and Saudi’s history. There is a Saudi Arabia today because of a woman, Princess Noura, The woman who drove her brother to lay the foundations of the kingdom. In doing so, it was demonstrated that women have always had important roles to play.” It’s not by celebrating women being allowed to drive that you promote female empowerment but it’s by acknowledging their historic right to drive the country forward”, was the implicit message of the campaign. Remind those that oppose change, that influential women are part of the country’s DNA. The campaign took the nation back to 1902, and reminded people of their roots with an online film and told the story of Noura’s brother (Akhou Noura), the story of King Abdulaziz, a young man who went on a quest to reclaim his grandfather’s kingdom and succeeded. All because of a woman.