Consulum receives accolades for its work on the ‘Meet Saudi’ campaign in Japan
Consulum has received two accolades at this year’s Athar Festival of Creativity Awards for its work on the ‘Meet Saudi’ campaign undertaken in Japan.
The coveted awards, for best governmental campaign and best transformation campaign, were part of the Saudi Pavilion’s efforts at Expo 2025 Osaka to enhance cultural communications between the two countries and raise awareness of the Kingdom.
To that end, the ‘Meet Saudi’ campaign achieved significant success in gaining media traction and driving foot-traffic, with surveys showing that positive sentiment towards Saudi Arabia among the Japanese public has now almost doubled from just two years ago.
Saudi Arabia’s pavilion, an immersive space designed to evoke a true sense of the Kingdom and its heritage, architecture and culture, welcomed three million visitors during the six months of Expo 2025 Osaka, with 40 percent of that number attributed to the ‘Meet Saudi’ campaign. Meanwhile, favourable impressions of Saudi Arabia have soared by 37 points to 79 percent.
In fact, the campaign – the thrust of which aimed to bring attention to some surprising similarities between Saudi and Japanese culture – kicked off at the beginning of the year with a seven-city multi-sensory ‘caravan’ tour highlighting Saudi cuisine, music and customs, which served to build interest and momentum ahead of the expo and ultimately led to record social media figures.
“Thank you to our amazing team and to our client for their trust, giving us the opportunity to do this impactful work,” Consulum stated. “The campaign achieved remarkable cumulative media reach, but, most importantly, markedly changed Japanese favourability toward Saudi Arabia, all of which demonstrates Consulum’s data-led approach and determination to drive real outcomes.”
Awards in KSA
Such success has seen the Ministry of Culture and Consulum recognised with two trophies at the third annual Athar Awards, which celebrate the region’s top creative marketing and communications talent and initiatives as judged by the industry’s leading figures. The campaign won silver in the best transformation category, and bronze in the governmental category.
“Recognition at the Athar Awards marks a major achievement in advancing the Kingdom’s cultural diplomacy,” the Ministry of Culture stated in a press release. “The Kingdom will continue to support cultural dialogue leading to Expo 2030 Riyadh, building on the foundations established at Osaka and emphasising its commitment to cooperation and innovation.”
Awards in Asia too
The latest accolades follow on from the honours received at the Dragons of Asia awards held in Malaysia, where the campaign was also awarded with a Gold Dragon for best ‘brand building and/or awareness’ (along with a Blue Dragon for Best Campaign in Japan) and was praised for its ‘integration of cultural narratives’ and real-word impact through innovative storytelling.
As a neat reflection of the campaign, Consulum executive creative director Julián Hernández said the teams themselves were able to bridge any cultural differences; “We didn’t always share the same language or time zone, but we always knew what we were aiming for: a new chapter for Saudi Arabia at Expo 2025 - immersive, quietly elegant, and unforgettable for audiences.”
