Jordan relies heavily on its tourism sector, which accounts for 19.4% of its GDP. In 2019, an unprecedented influx of tourists led to the highest visitor number at 4.49 million visitors. However, the rise was followed by the blow of the coronavirus pandemic, severely impacting Jordan's tourism sector. Tourist visits plummeted in 2020 to the lowest level since 1997, with only 1.24 million visitors. This resulted in Jordan's GDP sinking to an all-time historical low of 4.0%.

In a bid to revive the sector, the Jordan Tourism Board approached us with a request to focus on promoting Jordan to GCC countries—the main source of touristic visitors for Jordan, constituting about 42% of total annual visits. Our objectives were to position Jordan as the top-of-mind destination for GCC visitors post-pandemic and spark back the eagerness to visit Jordan through a culturally relevant campaign that resonates with GCC visitors and beyond.

Our context analysis focused on our 4C’s approach (category, consumer, country, and culture); understanding the travel and tourism industry and trends post-pandemic, understanding our target audience and their motivations beyond the surface offering, the hidden gems we could capitalize on, as well as an overview on the culture.

Based on Twitter’s Insights Survey 2023 and Marriott Bonvoy’s 2023 Travel Trends research, we then mapped and segmented our target audience into four main categories: Wellbeing warriors, Cultural Explorers, Premium Seekers, and Sustainable Champions. Armed with this knowledge, we had to find the common ground between culture, trends, and consumer needs versus what Jordan as a country has to offer. Beyond its rich history, we identified the country’s most charming locations that are yet to be discovered by tourists.

Over four days, we traveled across the country’s hidden gems and engaged with the locals to show the true “Jordan experience”. We focused on areas identified in our strategy that would appeal to our target audience and composed signature music with tunes that blend the country’s rich heritage with a modern flare. This was done using one word only.

Once we were ready to launch, our group of influencers all posted a visual with the word “المعزب – Al Mo’azeb” and had their audiences wonder who this person may be, and why this ancient word is being used. We went live across all social media channels and curated and launched a feature article on the significance of “Al Mo’azeb”, which was published in Pan-Arab publications. Our campaign ran throughout Ramadan, when travel planning was at an all-time high, enticing our GCC audience to view Jordan as an optimal destination.

The results exceeded expectations, and not just from a qualitative and quantitative point of view, but in terms of impact. The phrase “Al Mo’azeb” resonated with our target audiences in ways it wouldn't elsewhere and is a great example of how a campaign performs with cultural relevance at its core. In the first hour, the campaign logged millions of views, with the media riding the wave shortly after. So much so that we made the decision, collectively with the client, to optimize with a paid approach. The visitation rates post-campaign did not fail with a 90.7% increase in visitation, which stood at 73.5% before the launch, 1.4M unprecedented total visitors in the first quarter, and a 19.7% increase in GCC visitors following the launch.

EARNED REACH: 43.4M+

EARNED IMPRESSIONS: 95.4M

PAID IMPRESSIONS: 385M+

TOTAL ENGAGEMENT: 95.4M+

TOTAL IMPRESSIONS: 480M+

NEW SOCIAL FOLLOWERS: 35k+

TOTAL OTS: 1.3M

PR VALUE: AED 1M+