Latest news with #SummerUnscripted
Campaign ME
2 days ago
- Campaign ME
RAKTDA's Summer Unscripted: Insights, strategy and results
Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) has taken a different approach for its latest work: RAK. Summer Unscripted, in an effort to differentiate the city from other emirates in the UAE and promote year-round tourism. Developed in partnership with Impact BBDO, the campaign is a quirky take on summer travel in RAK. Its narrative follows the creative team abandoning their posts to enjoy RAK's summer offerings, therefore leaving the 'real tourists' in charge to showcase the destination's allure. Campaign Middle East speaks with leadership at RAKTDA and Impact BBDO for more on insights, strategy, the campaign's rollout and results. The brief Impact BBDO shares that RAKTDA's core objective was to reposition summer as a desirable season to travel within the UAE. The mandate was to highlight the destination's unique mix of cooler mountain weather, diverse landscapes, and accessible adventure, in contrast to the typical perception that summer in the UAE means staying indoors. Impact BBDO further explains that the campaign's target audience was domestically focused, aiming to boost desire within those already familiar with RAK to visit for short-stays and adventure. According to the agency, high awareness of Ras Al Khaimah already existed so the execution could be more daring in its approach, rather than the stereotypical sweeping drone footage and staggering scenery shots. All in all, the brief called for a campaign that would: Drive increased domestic tourism from UAE residents during summer, Differentiate Ras Al Khaimah from other emirates by showcasing its year-round outdoor appeal, and Break through with creative that feels human, relatable and unexpected – moving away from overly polished tourism clichés. The insights behind RAKTDA's Summer Unscripted The central insight focuses on the event that UAE residents assume summer is an off-season for tourism in the country. Building on this, RAKTDA aims to challenge the perception that the UAE's hot summers is a time to retreat indoors, avoid the heat, and postpone adventures. Therefore, the campaign centres on the city's cooler mountain microclimates (e.g., Jebel Jais), sea breezes, and variety of nature-forward activities. According to Impact BBDO, this makes it one of the few places in the UAE where summer is still not just bearable but enjoyable. The campaign aims leaned into this truth with humour and heart, making the message more emotionally resonant. RAKTDA's Summer Unscripted campaign strategy RAKTDA claims that what sets its summer campaign apart is the embrace of the imperfect. To actualise this, the team designed the campaign to feature deliberately unpolished images paired with tongue-in-cheek captions. 'We're inviting people to let go of the plan,' says Alka Winter, Vice President, Destination Marketing & Communications at RAKTDA. 'This campaign is about embracing the unexpected and creating space for joy, laughter and those small, surprising moments that define a great summer. Ras Al Khaimah gives you room to live in the now; there's no script required.' Rather than showing idealised, overly curated tourism moments, the campaign leans into humour, imperfection, and relatability in an effort to deeply resonate with its audience, which targets UAE residents, young families, couples, and groups of friends looking for spontaneous, nearby getaways. 'This reflected how people actually experience trips, especially staycations: messy, funny, real, and memorable because of it,' says Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer, Impact BBDO. 'Tone, casting, visuals, and language were all deliberately casual and inclusive, reminding the audience that they don't need an itinerary, a stylist, or a drone to have a great summer. They just need to get in the car and go to Ras Al Khaimah, where the adventure will unfold on its own,' he adds. The campaign's roll out The RAK Summer Unscripted campaign includes a fully integrated multi-platform rollout across the UAE, including: outdoor billboards, radio spots, cinema advertising and influencer collaborations. Winter highlights the crucial role that influencers play in the UAE's media landscape. 'An integral component of the campaign communication is the influencer activations that continue throughout the summer,' she says. Therefore, she adds that RAKTDA 'believes in the importance of creating integrated campaigns that blends in influencer activations in an organic and authentic way.' The campaign also extends to an activation in partnership with the UAE's homegrown ice popsicle brand House of Pops which included a limited-edition 'RAK Summer Sunset' flavour. Each popsicle features a QR code on the wrapper, which consumers can scan to avail prizes such as luxury hotel stays, resort day passes and more. The pop is available across House of Pops stores and kiosks for the entire month of August, bringing the campaign to life in both flavour and experience, supported by a prize-led campaign offering the chance to win summer stays in the Emirate and more. Furthermore, the roll out also includes digital banners, paid social, and YouTube ads tailored to UAE 'staycationers'. Results of RAKTDA's Summer Unscripted In terms of results, the campaign's main objective is to drive visitation to RAK from the domestic market during the summer period. 'We have a comprehensive set of campaign metrics to track the entire funnel from awareness to consideration and bookings,' Winter says. She further shares that since the campaign is still in early stages of roll-out, a comprehensive list of success metrics haven't been formulated yet. However, initial results prove that 'the campaign has effectively created online and offline visibility for Ras Al Khaimah which in turn helps to keep the destination on top-of-mind,' she says. The results also 'show that the campaign has resonated well within the audience and has created impact with its unique approach,' Winter concludes. All in all, both Winter and Rez conclude that the campaign aims to offer a different take to summer tourism in the UAE. From brief to execution, they claim that the campaign strategically blends addressing a pain point with relatable creative strategy. Credits: Client: RAKTDA Alka Winter, Vice President, Destination Marketing & Communications Serdar Senay, Director, Destination Promotion & Digital Marketing Creative Agency – RAK Summer Unscripted: BBDO Chief Creative Officer: Ali Rez Executive Creative Officer: Hannes de Beer Creative Director: Martino Caliendo Copywriter: Tariq Vinayakan and Liam Galt Designer: Lucia Tammaro Production Company: Chop Chop Director: Joris Bosdriesz Agency – RAK Summer Sunset: Tales & Heads
Campaign ME
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Campaign ME
Ad agency's employees go MIA in new RAKTDA tourism summer campaign
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
