Al Rajhi Bank: The Woman Behind The Veil

In Saudi Arabia, advertising shows a lot of gender bias. While it is normal to feature men across print & outdoor channels (the most prevalent mass media in Saudi Arabia), showing women is forbidden, due to strict cultural regulations. So, when Al Rajhi Bank, a leading Islamic bank in Saudi Arabia, was promoting Laki - a card offering personalization for women with the promise of being unique to you – the bank didn’t create another ad hiding women behind the veil. Instead, FP7 set out to show how the card was actually unique to each woman. And created the first outdoor ad in Saudi Arabia with women on it, without breaking any rules. Mirrors were placed on MUPIs. And each MUPI had a camera linked to an NFC device, a Bluetooth beacon and a simple message: “Discover a card that’s unique to You”. 168 MUPIs were installed across popular malls in the key urban cities of Saudi Arabia. The beacon inside each MUPI sent notifications to passers-by and invited all who were women to check who we had in mind for the card. As women walked up, they saw themselves in an Al Rajhi Bank ad that was unique to each one of them. They could grant permission to get a picture taken, get it sent to their mobile and then share it with their world. Each share became an ad for the bank. Using the beacon notification, a link allowed women to contact the bank directly and start the application process. Traffic on the cards website increased 58%. And card applications increased by 17%. And just like the card, each ad turned out to be unique to each woman too.