Case Study: CLA Saudi Arabia’s Campaign for Saudi National Day 95

Introduction

In the world of marketing, some industries are often labeled as “too rigid” or “too technical” for creativity. One of the most prominent examples is the accounting and financial services industry.

Traditionally, companies like CLA Saudi Arabia rely heavily on tenders, government relations, and conference sponsorships. Rarely do they invest in creative marketing campaigns or storytelling to build an emotional connection with their audience.

However, during Saudi National Day 95, we saw an opportunity to prove that even the most professional, numbers-driven industries can tell an inspiring story. This became the foundation of CLA Saudi Arabia’s storytelling campaign.

Challenges

Before creating the campaign, we faced three major challenges:

1. Audience resistant to emotion:
   Our target audience—finance and accounting executives—lives in a world of spreadsheets, balance sheets, and financial reports. Connecting emotionally with such a rational audience is notoriously difficult.
2. Limited budget for creative marketing:
   With no precedent for storytelling campaigns in the sector, the allocated budget was barely enough for a standard campaign, let alone a creative marketing initiative.
3. Industry and regulatory restrictions:
   Strict professional regulations and market norms limited the creative freedom we had, requiring every idea to be carefully framed.

The Spark: Redefining Capital Through Storytelling

One evening, over a cup of V60 coffee, a key question emerged:

• How can we create an emotional connection with a rational, numbers-focused audience?
• How can we craft an inspiring story in the middle of a season full of highly emotional campaigns?

The answer came from storytelling itself: redefine what “capital” means.

The True Capital of Saudis

It’s not money or assets. The real capital of the Saudi people is character: authenticity, generosity, solidarity, and pride in heritage.

This realization aligned perfectly with the theme of Saudi National Day 95: “Our Pride is Our Nature.”

The Creative Idea: A Father and Son Story

The campaign used storytelling to convey the message: a heartfelt dialogue between “Abu Saad,” a symbolic Saudi father, and his son. The father notices his son’s focus on money, and gently reminds him that true pride comes not from wealth, but from timeless values and character.

Through this creative marketing campaign, CLA Saudi Arabia connected with their audience on a human level, transforming a numbers-driven industry into a storyteller of Saudi values.

Results

• Emotional connection achieved: Even a rational, finance-focused audience responded positively.
• Aligned with Saudi National Day: The campaign reinforced CLA Saudi Arabia’s local identity with the theme “Our Pride is Our Nature.”
• Breaking industry stereotypes: Demonstrated that even highly technical industries can use storytelling and creative marketing to build stronger audience relationships.

Lessons Learned

Through this campaign, we discovered that:

• Creativity doesn’t require huge budgets. Constraints can spark the most innovative storytelling campaigns.
• Every industry has stories to tell. Even the most numbers-focused sectors can create meaningful emotional connections.
• National events are opportunities for brands to authentically connect with their audience and communicate their values.

Conclusion

This campaign went beyond a traditional marketing project. It showed that even the accounting and financial services industry can use storytelling to create an inspiring story and emotional impact.

We succeeded in building an emotional connection with a rational audience, proving that even highly professional industries can tell meaningful stories when they focus on the human core.

For us, this was more than a campaign—it was a lesson: creativity doesn’t need huge budgets or unlimited space, but a different vision and the ability to redefine what true capital means.