ProtecTasbih marks a new chapter and transformation in the airline industry - product creation, merging innovation with religious tradition.

ProtecTasbih is centered around a health issue that world had been seeking to solve: Widespread infection at Islamic pilgrimages. With millions traveling from across the globe, infection spreads extremely easy, and these infections travel back with them.

The sanitizing prayer beads seamlessly integrate hygiene into religious practices. With every prayer said, a bead is rubbed, and hands are sanitized.

The build of the product respected religious constraints. No alcohol, synthetic fragrances, or animal products were used - only all-natural, recyclable material.

Saudia Airlines is the world’s leading carrier for pilgrimage travel to Saudi Arabia. Following its revamped brand positioning, the airlines needed to showcase its care for the wellbeing of its passengers along with its innovative, future-forward solutions.

The Islamic pilgrimages of Hajj & Umrah are the world’s largest human gatherings. With over 2 million people from around the world gathered in extremely close proximity, infection spreads easily.

According to the W.H.O., 60% of pilgrims who journey to Hajj or Umrah in Mecca fall sick due to contact, and then return home spreading the ‘Hajj Cough’. Moreover, elderly pilgrims have a 40% increased risk of death from this respiratory infection.

Every pilgrim enters the Holy Site with one item in hand: prayer beads.

After having identified this tension point and opportunity, Saudia sought to innovate solutions to place health & safety in the hands of pilgrims worldwide.

Hajj & Umrah are mandatory Islamic pilgrimages that witness millions of Muslims traveling to Mecca from around the world. With over 2 million pilgrims gathered in one place, Islamic pilgrimages are the biggest and densest human gatherings in the world.

This means disease and infection spread extremely easily. Over 60% of pilgrims fall ill due to contact, according to the WHO. And elderly pilgrims see a 40% risk of death due to infection according to the Journal of Infection & Public Health.

Dubbed the ‘Hajj Cough’, this global phenomenon is a worldwide public health challenge, and is known to be an inevitable illness if hygiene practices are not taken seriously.

Due to Islamic law, products containing alcohol, artificial fragrance, or animal products cannot be used or carried in pilgrimage, meaning there is a dire need for innovative all-natural solutions for sanitization.

Muslim pilgrims carry with them prayer beads, also known as "tasbih". They use these prayer beads to count 99 prayers - with each tasbih carrying either 33 or 99 beads.

Saudia Airlines is Saudi Arabia’s leading airlines and the world’s largest airline for pilgrimage travel to Mecca in network and in customer base.

Saudia's brand purpose is to provide the best journey to all travelers.

Now, given the challenge of pilgrims falling ill, and to help enhance the experience for its travelers, Saudi airlines had an opportunity to increase brand love globally by helping focus on improved health and safety for pilgrims.

We wanted to create a new and innovative healthcare product for all Saudia Airlines' guests to have a healthier and sanitary pilgrimage journey.

We wanted to create a new and innovative healthcare product for all Saudia Airlines' guests to have a healthier and sanitary pilgrimage journey.

And we chose to use the one thing pilgrims carry on them to Mecca - an item that is common to most pilgrims across the world: Prayer beads.

Muslim pilgrims carry with them prayer beads, also known as "tasbih". They use these prayer beads to count 99 prayers - with each tasbih carrying either 33 or 99 beads.

Every time pilgrims would flick a bead to pray, they would sanitize their hands.

We wanted to design this new product to target pilgrims from all around the world traveling to Mecca for Islamic pilgrimage. This spans from young children all the way to the elderly, knowing every demographic carries prayer beads as they journey to Mecca.

Our solution needed to seamlessly incorporate into the religious rituals of pilgrims.

ProtecTasbih is the world’s first sanitizing prayer beads.

During the development of the formulation, we came up with several challenges.

We had to create the product from scratch using a new compound. Alcohol is what’s commonly used for antibacterial and sanitizing products. But owing to religious reasons, we couldn't use anything using any alcohol. So, we had to look at natural potential solutions. Further research brought us to tea tree oil.

Tea tree oil is found to be effective against a broad spectrum of bacteria because it disrupts the cell membrane of the bacteria itself.

Once we chose tea tree oil as the sanitizing element, we had to integrate it into a semi-solid compound.

And twe developed a way of creating a solid bead, covered in this softer compound, by developing a new molding technique.

The semi-solid compound is designed to last two weeks and leaves a reusable inner shell.

The ProtecTasbih innovation witnessed global responses, with opinion leaders and religious leaders praising the breakthrough. It was hailed as a revolution in Hajj healthcare, with each bead fighting a global public health problem.

Organic social media coverage across the Middle East, Asia, and Africa highlighted the importance of using ProtecTasbih and the importance of maintaining hygiene during pilgrimage.

Saudia Airlines made the design & formulation of the beads open-source so that any organization could produce their own life-saving beads—putting the power of protection in the world’s hands.

100,000+ pilgrims positively impacted.

$2.9 million in earned media.

1.5 million pilgrims reached on-ground.

#1 trending topic in the Middle East.

Trending topic in 35 countries.

+62% brand love for Saudia Airlines.

+35% increase in pilgrimage travellers.