To kick off this year’s Riyadh Season, The Battle of The Baddest brought together two of the world’s biggest fighters from two different codes in one big event—World Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury and UFC Champion Francis Ngannou—for the biggest crossover fight in history. This was bigger than the boxing and MMA communities; we needed to get the whole world excited, so we set out to reimagine the tired old boxing promo and create a cinematic hype film as big and spectacular as the fight itself.

“Rumble”, a 90-second film based on the old boxing saying of “living rent free in your opponent’s head”; something that happens in the lead up to any big fight. As we watch Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou train for the biggest fight of their careers, they don’t just sense their opponent training—they feel it—each sending psychological shockwaves back and forth between their two hometowns, and making the whole world rumble in the process. This was all set to a mandarin-language cover of the Nancy Sinatra classic Bang Bang, performed by Betty Chung.

Our objective was to make Riyadh Season, a top entertainment destination in Saudi Arabia and the world, even more appealing to fans in the US, Canada, and Europe. The festival kicks off with the fight between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou, called The Battle of the Baddest. In the US, there aren’t many boxing fans. In fact, in a recent survey, 50% of men and 60% of women surveyed said they have no interest in boxing. So, in order to generate mass market appeal and also communicate the excitement of Riyadh Season, we took two approaches: (1) Create a larger than life narrative for both of the fighters and (2) Utilize unmissable, premium media placements to ensure the work was omnipresent. The campaign captured broad attention beyond just boxing fans and was positively received across social media.

Going beyond the conventional approach to fight promotion, Rumble puts audiences into the mindsets of each fighter, immersing them in their psychological state as they train for the showdown. This film serves as evidence of how Riyadh Season transcends your ordinary travel experience by taking entertainment to new heights. In order to hold attention and build hype, we strategically partnered with icons in their own right to propel “Battle of the Baddest” into the cultural zeitgeist.

This work was part of a multi-channel campaign that accumulated a staggering 10.5 billion impressions, which translated into an earned media value of $30.7 million. The campaign engaged over 104,000 individuals in online discussions which involved a 57% positive sentiment rate, solidifying its imprint as a resonant and positively received body of work.

Sources: Netbase - Twitter, Blogs, Forums, News, Consumer Reviews (excludes Instagram, Facebook, TikTok etc.) October 6-27, 2023 (beginning of campaign until the day before the fight). Meltwater - PR Social Listening for total potential news reach, October 2023