In Saudi, where grooms are expected to pay the bride’s family a dowry for her hand in marriage, many young men are asked to bear financial burdens they cannot hope to shoulder. Saco Hardware, in collaboration with JWT, created a social media promotion that spotlights the financial challenges facing young people and positions the retailer as a tool for helping them.
We came up with a simple concept/story: A video clip shows young Mousaed making the traditional visit to his future father-in-law, who demands 28 items from Saco as a dowry. Returning home, Mousead finds the catalogue is ripped to shreds, and the young man is left to guess the names of the items he needs to buy. Photos of torn pages were posted to the Saco Facebook page, and people were encouraged to identify the products to help Mousaed get one more item toward his marriage. Correct guesses won items.
The campaign is doing well with minimal support, and the hope is to evolve the effort into a commitment to sponsor newlyweds who need to furnish their apartments. For more social media case studies, see our Social Media Checklist.
Photo Credit: http://www.facebook.com/sacoksa?v=app_7146470109#!/sacoksa?v=app_7146470109
Importantly, the advertorials also help to assuage anxiety around home loans and help people understand that a home is likely within their reach. Recent AnxietyIndex research by JWT found that Saudis are anxious about making major purchases in the near future and that as many as 64 percent are not confident about their ability to get a home loan, making this one of the biggest worries among Saudis. AnxietyIndex has 
Two recent examples of this are 
In Saudi Arabia, people freak out about their phone bills. Some consumers must choose between going out and paying their phone bill, which is possibly the most complained about financial obligation in the country.
Ordinarily, a legal struggle within a family business wouldn’t have much impact on consumer confidence in general. But in the case of the 
Brands here are learning to be more in tune with the consumers’ anxieties and responding with offers that motivate them. Recently, Toyota has been grabbing attention by addressing consumers’ price-consciousness and cautious approach to spending.
Recently, fast food purveyors such as KFC and a local chicken fast food chain called Al-Tazaj (which translates as “fresh”) have been offering budget meals. This is notable because it represents a change in approach; normally, these companies run all-you-can-eat promotions, rather than discounted price offers.
The usual response for banks during a recession is to become tight-fisted and cautious about giving loans, which in turn frustrates customers. The Saudi stock market was hit particularly hard, and banks have been having trouble acquiring loans. So we brainstormed with HSBC (locally known as SABB) to create an ad campaign that targets governmental employees, whose jobs are considered to be the most stable in the country.
