Saudi Tourism cast a lone woman traveler in a Dune-scale film to open the country

The Saudi Tourism Authority had appointed BETC as its new strategic agency and wanted a campaign for a world that 'has seen it all, done it all', paying tribute to the changes under way in Saudi Arabia.

More than three weeks of shooting across more than seven locations with director Antoine Bardou-Jacquet (Partizan) and a score by composer Guillaume Roussel; BETC president Bertille Toledano framed it as walking through the door Saudi Tourism had opened a few months earlier.

No campaign metrics were reported at launch; the film was revealed on 28 August 2024 as the authority's new global platform.

In August 2024 the Saudi Tourism Authority and its new strategic agency BETC revealed 'Saudi Odyssey', a global campaign directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet of Partizan with a score by Guillaume Roussel. The film addresses a world that has 'seen it all, done it all' with the one untouched land left: Saudi Arabia, discovered by explorers 'as if they had landed on a different planet'.

The central choice is who discovers it. 'To pay tribute to this momentum, to all those changes taking place in Saudi Arabia, we chose to portray a woman, who travels alone throughout the country, discovering the beauty of its landscapes, the strong cultural heritage, and the amazing hospitality of its people', the agency wrote. 'She has been the first, but she will not be the last as, now, This Land is Calling.'

The production treated the brief as cinema: more than three weeks of shooting across more than seven locations in what BETC called one of its most ambitious productions, made with the authority's marketing team under CEO Fahd Hamidaddin. BETC president Bertille Toledano: 'A few months ago, Saudi Tourism opened the door of its country and we decided to walk through it. We discovered more than a destination, we discovered l'Arabie.'

The solo woman traveler does the persuasive work — the film lets the image argue the social change instead of narrating it.

Blockbuster craft — weeks of shooting, seven-plus locations, a composed orchestral score — treats a tourism brief at feature-film scale.

It answers 'seen it all' travel marketing with the one destination the audience has not yet seen.

For a place the audience thinks it already knows, the casting is the message: one woman alone in the frame says more about change than any montage of attractions.

Revealed 28 August 2024 as the Saudi Tourism Authority's new global campaign with BETC; no results were reported at launch.