Ad agency's employees go MIA in new RAKTDA tourism summer campaign

Campaign ME

7 days ago

After months of work with their advertising partner Impact BBDO Dubai, the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) were ready to shoot their new summer campaign, at various locations throughout the city.
But when the stills production was scheduled to start, the only people who arrived were the RAKTDA marketing team.
It would later come to light that the agency creatives were enjoying hiking, kayaking, relaxing spa days and soaking up the sun at the beaches and luxury hotel pools in Ras Al Khaimah, when they should've been doing their jobs.
We reached out to Ali Rez, Impact BBDO Dubai's Chief Creative Officer, who responded with the following statement: 'I am currently out of the office, relaxing on some of the gorgeous beaches that Ras Al Khaimah has. A reply will therefore be delayed.'
So, instead of cancelling the shoots and risking not meeting the media deadline, the tourism team decided to step up and take the shots themselves.
Using their personal cameras, finance executive Marjorie Benito, R&D member Zoe Zuo, HR manager Sara Alzaabi, procurement manager Ian, IT expert Hari, and licensing executive Saeed went to various locations including the beach, a luxury hotel pool and the mountainside of Jebel Jais, and captured all the fun of RAK during summer.
The results are the blurry, over-exposed and questionably-framed images of an unintentionally hilarious campaign aptly renamed 'RAK Summer. Unscripted.'
And you can appreciate the amateur glory of all six images, on RAKTDA's social media, as OOH placed throughout the Dubai Mall and on numerous roadside billboards.
'This isn't your typical destination marketing campaign, because Ras Al Khaimah isn't your typical destination,' said Alka Winter, Vice President, Destination Marketing & Communications at RAKTDA. 'We wanted to do something creatively bold and refreshingly honest. RAK Summer Unscripted captures the spirit of the staycations we actually remember – the spontaneous ones that turn into stories. It's quirky, fun, and shows Ras Al Khaimah as a place you don't just visit but truly experience.'
Things got even more interesting when it came to the making of their three, short-format films. Faced with absent directors and producers, and a looming deadline, RAKTDA had no other option but to reach out to visiting tourists and ask them to capture the various locations on camera.
The wannabe cameramen and women obliged, using their phones to record each of the sites they visited. However, staying true to the spirit of the campaign, things did not go as planned.
Look out for the series of dodgy launch films online and at a cinema near you. Just remember – there were average joes behind the camera, so laughing is discouraged.
RAKTDA CEO Raki Phillips even moonlit as a voice talent in the radio spot, which is simply a voice note of him complaining about the copywriter not turning up at the studio recording.
When asked about the tumultuous production, Raki Phillips had this to say 'We know that Ras Al Khaimak is packed with amazing places and fun activities that our visitors love to take the time to explore, but we had no idea that these so called 'professionals' would enjoy them so much, that they wouldn't turn up for work? The agency has a lot of explaining to do.'
This journalist tried to get responses from the creatives in question, but very few could be gotten a hold of.
Ghassan Kassabji, CEO of ImpactBBDO Dubai shared, 'We had a great time working on this campaign. Not every client is brave enough to turn the lens on the creative process itself and laugh along the way. RAKTDA gave us that freedom to let go, embrace the imperfections, and create something that truly mirrors the joy of an unscripted summer. That kind of trust is rare, and the result is a campaign that feels as spontaneous and unfiltered as the memories people actually make.'
What sets RAKTDA's summer campaign apart is its embrace of the imperfect. Campaign visuals feature deliberately unpolished images paired with tongue-in-cheek captions.
RAK Summer Unscripted also includes short film clips where mishaps range from bad selfies obscuring mountain views, to a couples' beach vlog where the phone tips over and there's no sign of the 'blue sky and beautiful water' mentioned on their excited and detailed commentary.
The campaign is light-hearted, self-aware, and deeply relatable and its call to action says it all: 'Book your stay and let the story unfold — unscripted, unforgettable, and uniquely Ras Al Khaimah.'
CREDITS:
Client: Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA)
Agency on vacation: Impact BBDO