ECOM322_HALA

ECOM 322: Social Media Marketing

2nd Semester / 20252026

Discussion Report

Social Media Marketing Campaigns in Saudi Arabia: Successful and Failed Cases (20242025)

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Submission Date: 23/04/2026

Social Media Marketing Campaigns in Saudi Arabia: Successful and Failed Cases (20242025)

Introduction

One of the most effective tools of organizations in Saudi Arabia has been social media marketing. By having great internet penetration and a high daily practice of these platforms (Instagram, X, Snapchat, Tik Tok, and YouTube), businesses can establish a direct contact with consumers, achieve a certain degree of loyalty, and boost sales. Nevertheless, not all the campaigns have positive outcomes. There are campaigns that are successful due to creativity and emotional attachment and campaigns that are unsuccessful due to inadequate planning or low knowledge of what the people expect. Saudi Arabia has experienced two effective campaigns and two unsuccessful campaigns in the past two years, which are discussed in this report.

Successful Campaign 1: Riyadh Season Big Time Campaign

Company Name: Riyadh Season
Campaign Name: Big Time / Riyadh Season 2024
Platforms Used: X, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube

Riyadh Season campaign is one of the most successful campaigns in Saudi Arabia. It sponsored concerts, sporting activities, family fun in Riyadh, and worldwide experience. The campaign employed short videos, celebration of celebrities, countdown posts, and interactive posts to build excitement.

Its success was due to good visual contents, frequent updates, and extensive reach on the audience. Engagement and sharing was also enhanced as the organizers would work with well-known regional and international celebrities. Moreover, the trending topics and hashtags kept the campaign trending on the internet (Saudi Tourism Authority, 2024).

The value added to this campaign was great. It boosted tourism, hotels and restaurants, enhanced the world image of Riyadh as well as created economic activity. It has also enhanced the reputation of Saudi Arabia as a big entertainment destination.

Successful Campaign 2: Almarai Ramadan Family Values Campaign

Company Name: Almarai
Campaign Name: Ramadan 2025 Family Values Campaign
Platforms Used: Instagram, YouTube, X, Snapchat

Almarai began with an emotional Ramadan campaign, which concerns family meetings, generosity, and table. The campaign related its dairy and food products to meaningful Ramadan experiences.

The campaign has been successful as it has known local culture and emotions of consumers. Ramadan is a significant season in Saudi Arabia, and such authentic family messages are positively received by the audiences. Emotional, high-quality video stories and events people could relate to, prompted them to comment and get in touch with their personal memory (Almarai, 2025).

The value added to the company was the enhanced brand loyalty, customer trust, and boosted seasonal sales. The campaign also established Almarai as a brand, which knows the traditions of Saudi families.

Failed Campaign 1: Local Restaurant Humor Backlash

Company Name: Local Saudi Restaurant Brand
Campaign Name: Viral Joke Promotion 2024
Platforms Used: X, Instagram

One of the restaurant brands had humorous promotion content which many users did not view as respectful and considered insensitive. The campaign did not lead to the creation of entertainment; rather, it led to criticism and negative comments.

This campaign has failed as the company did not weigh the populace feeling on the timeline of posting. Marketing humor has its potential, yet it should not disregard cultural norms and conventions and be able to meet the expectations of the audience. After the criticism went viral, the firm was quick to respond thus causing more harm to the brand.

The moral of the story is that before publishing any content, brands need to test it and a crisis management plan. The response to social media is very immediate, and negative perceptions may be faster to spread than positive ones.

Failed Campaign 2: Fashion Retailer Influencer Credibility Issue

Company Name: Saudi Fashion Retailer
Campaign Name: Mega Influencer Push 2025
Platforms Used: Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok

One of the fashion retailers put a lot of money in influencers to advertise a new line. But the campaign was criticized among the users, since some influencers were poorly relevant to fashion, and had low engagement.

The campaign was unsuccessful as the firm was interested in the number of followers, but not the audience fit. Consumers are concerned with genuineness and credibility. The promotions are treated with disregard or responded negatively when they are seen as being imposed (Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2022).

The moral of the story is that influencer marketing should focus on the factors of credibility, brand fit, and actual connection to the audience, rather than on mere values like popularity only.

Criteria Used to Evaluate Campaigns

Engagement rate, the audience reach, brand sentiment, creativity, message clarity, conversion results, and long-term brand value are the most significant metrics in assessing the effectiveness of social media campaigns. Most of these areas tend to be successful with successful campaigns.

Conclusion

Marketing through social media in Saudi Arabia poses enormous opportunities to organizations, although, success hinges on strategy, and understanding the audience. Riyadh Season and Almarai were successful as they appealed to emotions, cultural relatability, and they had quality content. However, the cases of failures demonstrate that inappropriate tone and absence of authenticity may have a negative impact on brand reputation. Positive results may be achieved through thoughtful planning, innovative ideas, and customer insights by the companies.

References

Almarai. (2025). Ramadan campaign highlights and seasonal brand communication. Official social media channels.

Chaffey, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2022). Digital marketing (8th ed.). Pearson.

Saudi Tourism Authority. (2024). Riyadh Season promotional campaigns and tourism initiatives.

Statista. (2025). Social media usage in Saudi Arabia.

Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M. R. (2023). Social media marketing (4th ed.). Sage Publications.

Presentation:

• Prepare a presentation answering the previous questions and what are the criteria that guide you to evaluate the campaigns?

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