We were tasked with creating an unforgettable, invite-only experience to establish ourselves as the leader in electrification in the Middle East. We also had to deploy our experience during the busy EXPO 2021 event and steal attention from Nissan’s exclusive sponsorship — winning over a fossil-fuel dominated region with the promise of electric vehicle technology. Success meant cementing ourselves as the leader in electrification and future mobility in the region, getting Arabs to embrace our EV portfolio, disrupting Nissan’s sponsorship of EXPO 2021 and gaining consideration for our vehicle brands.

Many brands talk about the future. We wanted to give our audience a chance to experience that future, today. An all-electric future made possible by our innovation and creativity. So, we created one of the largest, most detailed, 1:1 installations ever and transported visitors to a huge photorealistic desert and a bustling future city with zero emissions, zero crashes and zero congestion from the year 2035. Guests could watch hundreds of characters going about their days, marvel at the architecture and literally see themselves in our world of tomorrow. Keeping with our theme of bringing the future to Arabia, we invited guests to the event via industry-first holographic drone drops at their homes, places of work, etc. It was big, bold, ambitious, and exactly what was needed to accomplish our objectives.

In a region dominated by fossil fuels, we knew we couldn’t just talk about our all-electric vision, Arabs needed to experience it themselves in a more realistic way than anything they could ever imagine. Plus, we needed key stakeholders on board before everyone would buy into our message, so we targeted key stakeholders (media, politicians, dealers, dignitaries, influencers) to influence EV adoption from the top down. We partnered with futurist, AlAnoud Al Hashmi (climate change and renewable energy leader) and created an experience informed by today’s technology and the near-future tech of tomorrow. We infused everything with regional authenticity and brought it to life on a realistic scale like nothing anyone had ever done. Our audience got to see our electric vehicle innovation and the promise of a brighter future that comes along with it. And in the process, we created a glimpse into an optimistic view of 2035, today.

We utilized a 44-meter long, 3-meter tall, 270º LED screen for our huge photorealistic experience. Everything was computer-generated in 100% 3D and every object was custom modeled for full control over lighting, art direction and look. Our scenes were filled with hundreds of characters created and animated from scratch, using an AI system, motion capture, and simulated clothing. We built automation systems for vehicle traffic and driving and cornering dynamics. Our experience was full of tiny details like animated birds, a flying hawk, fully simulated boats rocking in water and more. We created five distinct sound sounds so guests could experience the sights, sounds and splendor on an even grander scale. We deployed a massive 8100 cloud machines to render the heavy 14k resolution frames — each frame consisting of tens of layers requiring their own compositing. The final event took place at the Dubai World Trade Center over November 21st and 22nd, live streamed worldwide, with recaps on site and social. Planning and execution ran from July 2021-November 2021.

Exhibit Zero: Arabia was hugely successful. 509 different top-tier media publications picked up and covered our event. 54 different media outlets attended. More than 600,000 views were amassed on YouTube after the event along with 35,000+ viewers watching the livestream. We achieved a total reach of more than 90.26M, increased our brand’s EV buzz in the region by more than 73% and we completely blunted Nissan’s exclusive EXPO 2021 sponsorship — leading all other auto brands in EV buzz in Arabia (second only to Tesla). In the end, we crushed our KPIs, grew our reputation as a regional leader in electric vehicles, influenced adoption from the top down, and gave Arabia a vision of our all-electric future that they could truly believe in.