Saudi Arabia’s NEOM project takes the idea of sustainable living to the next level. The project aims to achieve exceptional livability that is both environmentally sustainable and free from outdated infrastructures. It was initiated in 2017 by His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Chairman of the NEOM Company Board of Directors. Like no other, NEOM plays a leading role in global development by looking at a new future. It challenges and rethinks what we know as life on Earth.
What if people could start over? What if we told you there could be a world powered solely by renewable energy? No more cars, no more carbon emissions, just simple, pure living. Cue in, THE LINE: Saudi Arabia’s 170 km-long vertical city located in NEOM, Tabuk. THE LINE plans to home nine million residents, prioritising the protection of nature and people’s well-being over transportation and infrastructure. In fact, 95% of the city’s land will be dedicated to preserving nature. Key features include that: all daily needs will be met within a five-minute walking distance and end-to-end transit will only take 20 minutes via provided high-speed transportation. THE LINE raises the bar for what future cities should look like.
To learn more about THE LINE, click here.
Destination marketing heavily relies on visual evidence – the people living there, the environment, and so on. People want to actually see and learn about other people’s experiences. Let’s say you’re booking a resort to stay at this summer, you would probably check out the resort’s socials as well as the reviews people have posted, you might even watch some vlogs from there. Seeing as THE LINE is still in its early stages of development, it can be extremely challenging to promote the city purely based on its own vision for the future. After all, what more is there to say when the conversation becomes one-sided; when it is just the destination relying solely on its own branded content?
The key question here is: How did NEOM succeed in driving a global conversation about its upcoming project “THE LINE?” Short answer: TikTok.
We all know by now how effective TikTok is in promoting businesses. Because of its unique format, users often help companies with their marketing, sometimes without them even knowing it, by posting videos about their products. User-generated content (UGC) refers to original content related to a product that is created by individuals and not the brand itself.
Embracing UGC was an incredibly smart and effective way for NEOM to show that they are open to two-way conversations. Creators on TikTok were inspired by NEOM’s vision and shared THE LINE’s story in their own style and perspective. It allowed for healthy conversations and discussions about the project among users. Take a look at the UGC below, which reached almost 50 million views and 6.8 million likes.
@dylan.page Saudi Arabia’s New City, “The Line” looks incredible!😱
Head of social media Odai M. Marie claims that “TikTok is built around community and culture, and it is more powerful than other platforms in that it cultivates deep audience engagement and endorsement through creator-led content. THE LINE is an audacious architectural and urban concept – almost hard to believe for some – therefore, Creators played an essential role in convincing a global audience that it is possible through simple, bite-sized explainer content which delivered significant earned conversations and organic engagement with NEOM.”
The TikTok campaign for #TheLine gathered the support of over 100,00 creators and over 500 million views in total. With the help of users on TikTok, NEOM effectively turned the elements of their project into “catalysts for content creation,” which resulted in a major global conversation, even though it has not been experienced by anyone yet.
