What does Heinz ketchup and Saudi thobe have in common?

They created the first stainproof thobe to invite Saudi’s to “Eat fearlessly” for these messy moments, created by Wunderman Thompson. 

How to break through the clutter of a commoditized item like ketchup, you dig deep into KSA culture and its no doubt KSA is a HIGE markti for F&B items like Heinz Ketchup and others. 

They even partnered with Criminal (Tiktok influencer with 2M followers) to further drive this message. 

 

Criminal will create a video showing the struggles of eating while wearing a regular thobe and demonstrating how Heinz’s Unstainable Thobe solves this issue. He will also launch a competition inviting his followers to share videos of their real-life struggles around food. The followers behind the winning submissions will be rewarded with limited-edition thobes.

Pretty genius? I think so! 

When brands localize they become culturally relevant

It reminds me of the BurGher Kinj approach that highlighted that Saudis don’t have the letter G in their dictionary so mispronunciations happened a lot! 

A whole campaign on Twitter took place on how to pronounce it, (it was hilarious!) 

They had polls, debates and it went VIRAL quickly. They changed the menu and updated even the keyboards with the letter. They further amplified it with infeluncers and footballers tweeting about it and its sparked a debate. 

When Coke launched the share a coke campaign, they knew names like Aoife or Steven weren’t going to fly in countries like KSA , so they localized names (Share a coke with Omar!) definitely works better than AOIFE! Makes you wonder who would name their child AOIFE (?)

Let’s have a look at Lego Middle East social, it’s pretty on point with localization, use of cultural references, puns and memes make it pretty awesome! 

In other news, Nike Middle East has launched ‘Sport is Never Done’, a campaign that aims to highlight the lifelong benefits of physical play for kids. The campaign is set to roll out across the region and will feature a series of engaging activities to educate and empower parents, motivate children, and help them unleash their full potential through the power of play. 

I thougt it was pretty spot on especially when the mom calls out her daughter “AIIIIIIIISHAAAAAAAAA!” who is getting messy and playing football out on the streets or the professional skateboarder or swimmer that dives in to the pool with the msessage “if my friends are jumping, I am jumping too!”  

Things brands should consider to be culturally relevant

 

  • Dig deep to consumer insights, how they dress & what they eat 
  • Understand the region, how they speak what dialects etc. 
  • Do your research.
  • Amplify your campaign with relevant influencers.
  • Unleash full creativity and potential.
  • Break barriers with creativity.
  • Don’t stick to one size fits all approach.
  • Tell stories like the Rise of sports example with Nike