The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 2017–2018
Nissan #SheDrives gave Saudi women their first lesson and won the Effie MENA Grand Prix
After the decree, Nissan staged a real driving school where the learners' male relatives surprised them as instructors.
Nissan Middle East
The solution
When the royal decree granted Saudi women the right to drive, most brands raced to post celebratory content. Nissan's research found the real barrier: significant resistance from conservative men, which was shaking women's confidence. A Twitter post was not going to move that.
TBWA\RAAD built a real-world event instead: a driving school for a day in a private car park, where women could legally experience driving for the first time. The twist — the instructors were the men in their lives, surprised into the role — produced genuine, emotional content rather than branded noise.
The film made #SheDrives the unofficial hashtag of the movement and turned Nissan into an enabler rather than a spectator. The campaign took the MENA Effie Grand Prix in 2018, plus Gold in Seasonal Marketing and Silver in Automotive, and was among the most decorated work at Dubai Lynx 2018.
Why it worked
- A real event produced authentic content that no staged ad could match
- Men appeared as supporters, which directly targeted the group whose attitudes mattered most
- Nissan was first among brands to give women a real chance to drive, owning the moment
- The emotional core made the film naturally shareable, multiplying its reach
What can be applied
In a culturally loaded moment, don't sell the product; give the people whose attitudes must change a starring role, and the brand rides with the change.
Aftermath
The campaign made Nissan the most decorated brand at Dubai Lynx 2018 with ten recognitions, and it took the Grand Prix at the MENA Effie Awards that November. The hashtag became shorthand for the driving movement, and the case was cited in WARC's MENA Strategy work as an example of brand behaviour replacing brand talk; Nissan followed it with the Camelpower metric, deepening its position in Saudi Arabia's newly opened market.
Sources
- #SheDrives — 2018 Winners & Shortlists entry
- The winners of the MENA Effie Awards are here!
- Nissan: #SheDrives – Saudi women get their first driving lesson
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