INSITE OOH Media Platform

While the usual tourism marketing in the region has a tendency towards excess, a new out-of-home advertising campaign for Experience Oman in the UAE does the exact opposite; an onslaught of bright images and full-schedule fun. Installed in prime sites in the province of Sharjah through uni-pole placements, after their last OOH campaign, this marketing initiative goes for subtlety to let Oman’s landscape speak loudly.

The creative shows a profound balance of calmness with scenic imagery of the hills, mountains, greenery, and waterfronts of Oman, adding “Experience our winter”, and “Enjoy the serenity”. The dramatic horizontal lines of the coastlines, the mountains, and the open spaces are juxtaposed with a minimum amount of Arabic words, that read more like an "invitation to" and less like a "sale." There is no "hurry" teased into the words; there's no "everything all at once" that overpowers the message, all in a contrasting mood to the fast-paced world that the message will soon find itself in.

This is the power of being quietly confident, a facet of Oman’s tourism identity. In a sense, Oman is a destination that is a balance of nature, culture, and a very open emotional experience. This is what is replicated in the OOH ad. By ensuring the careful curation of the visual communication, the ad is both a reflection of, and a trigger to, completing the story in both the visual communication of the image, as well as in the real-world surroundings of Sharjah.

Placement goes a long way here. In the context of broad roads and expansive stretches, the billboards seem almost like the hallmark of a film, momentarily halting the daily commute. What the landscape does not do is compete with the urban landscape. They contrast each other. In the process, the paintings not only address a question that the urban audience might not have asked but tend towards an experience that is not necessarily about escape but arrival.

There’s a definite strategic maturity in picking a Sharjah for this launch. Sharjah itself comes with a reputation for culture, heritage, and reflection as opposed to spectacle. This is a context where Experience Oman complements its strategy. The campaign seems like nothing arbitrarily imposed. Finally, this outdoor advertising campaign isn’t here to persuade people that Oman is the exciting alternative. It assumes they already believe this. Rather, it positions their understanding of excitement differently, as something slower and more profound. 

The campaign hit Sharjah’s roads in the first week of December over uni-poles.