ECOM 322 Report: Successful and Failed Social Media Campaigns

This report analyzes social media marketing campaigns in Saudi Arabia, focusing on both successful and unsuccessful examples from 2019 and 2020. It examines two successful campaigns, including the “#WelcomeToArabia” campaign, highlighting their strategies, the reasons for their success, and the added value they provided to companies, particularly in the tourism sector. The report also investigates two failed campaigns, such as the “Botched Campaign Rollout” and the Burger King's #whoppHer campaign, identifying the reasons for their failures, such as cultural insensitivity and poor planning. The analysis includes the company names, campaign names, and social media platforms used, offering insights into effective strategies, common pitfalls, and valuable lessons for social media marketers operating in the Saudi Arabian market, as well as the importance of understanding cultural nuances and proper planning for online marketing.

Running Head: E-COMMERCE 0
E-Commerce Business
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E-COMMERCE 1
In Saudi Arabia, social media marketing has the largest presence across the globe with
highest subscribers and followers on social media among the total population. Many
companies in Saudi Arabia indulge in social media marketing through campaigns for
attracting large customer-base and success across the globe majorly considering tourism
industry. One successful social media campaign was “#WelcomeToArabia” for unveiling the
new side of Saudi Arabia (Lama, 2019). It was for giving push to the country’s tourism
industry where this campaign helped in proving the sheer power of this hash-tag with new
visa system as well where this hashtags helps in managing and planning effectiveness during
such online marketing campaign on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogs,
new websites such as the Guardian, and others. This campaign helps in boosting economy
and changing perceptions internationally of an entire country. Another successful campaign
was by Skift about “Botched Campaign Rollout” for hoping the beginning of high tourism in
Saudi Arabia. The country started circulating slick filled video as a drone-footage entitling
“Where in the World” on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and
others, and on a webpage as well (Spinks, 2019).
In Saudi Arabia, there was a huge failure of rehabilitation campaign for the image of
government where people traveling to Saudi Arabia were being “shameless” influencers
posted disappointing feeds on Instagram facing backlash at the time of promoting Saudi
Arabia music festival named “MDL Beast” campaign. The criticism was based on “cultural
revolution” with no recording of human rights (Gorman, 2019). Another ad campaign failure
was #whoppHer campaign in Saudi Arabia created by Burger King for offering free
celebration for driving of women in the country where the company fails to make people
understand about what “whop” stands for which meant the act of hitting hard on social media
platforms such as Twitter. There were questions faced by the company towards the status of
women which developed a controversy that ended up with Burger King apologising for an ad
(Communicate Staff, 2019). This made a downfall in the company’s reputation where is its
essential for social media marketers to understand the way of advertising any campaign
online. It is essential to plan and take steps accordingly and to recreate it with a creative idea
for grabbing customers’ attention and build their love for brand (Machado, 2019).

E-COMMERCE 2
References
Communicate Staff. (2019, September 17). Controversial Ad Campaigns. Retrieved from
Communicate: https://www.communicateonline.me/agency/controversial-ad-
campaigns/
Gorman, A. (2019, December 23). 'Shameless' influencers face backlash for promoting Saudi
Arabia music festival. Retrieved from The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/23/shameless-influencers-face-
backlash-for-promoting-saudi-arabia-music-festival
Lama. (2019, October 16). #WelcomeToArabia: The Social Media Campaign That Unveiled
a New Side of Saudi Arabia. Retrieved from TalkWalker:
https://www.talkwalker.com/blog/welcome-to-arabia#
Machado, F. (2019, May 17). The Inside Story of the Burger King Campaign That Changed
the Brand’s Entire Outlook on Marketing. Retrieved from Adweek:
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/the-inside-story-of-the-burger-king-
campaign-that-changed-the-brands-entire-outlook-on-marketing/
Spinks, R. (2019, September 25). Saudi Arabia’s High Tourism Hopes Begin With a Botched
Campaign Rollout. Retrieved from Skift: https://skift.com/2019/09/25/saudi-arabias-
high-tourism-hopes-begin-with-a-botched-campaign-rollout/