Saudi Tourism Authority has turned one of the FIFA World Cup’s most recognisable match-day moments into a real-time social media activation, using the tournament’s three-minute hydration breaks as the basis for a live Instagram competition promoting travel to Saudi.
Launched under the destination’s Saudi, Welcome to Arabia brand, ‘The Real Hydration Break’ ran from 11 to 19 July and asked entrants to tag the person they wanted to travel with and explain why they wanted to experience Saudi together. During each live activation, one participant was randomly selected and given three minutes — the length of a World Cup hydration break — to respond before the prize passed to the next eligible entrant.
Two live competitions were staged around key tournament moments. The first, held during the semi-finals, offered a luxury escape to The Red Sea. The second, timed to coincide with the World Cup Final, gave participants the chance to win a trip to AquArabia, the region’s largest water theme park.
The activation generated more than three million video views and over 3,000 competition entries. Beyond the headline numbers, the brand pointed to the quality of audience engagement: rather than simply tagging a friend, entrants shared personal reasons for wanting to travel together. Couples described the trip as the honeymoon they never took, graduates framed it as a milestone celebration, and others nominated parents as a thank-you for years of support.
The mechanic delivered a dramatic finale during the World Cup Final, when several selected participants missed the three-minute response window before the prize was claimed by a couple from the UK, who replied within 15 seconds of being contacted.
“I was scrolling through Instagram when I saw the message pop up and couldn’t believe it. I never expected to win,” the winner said. “Winning this trip means so much as I’ve never won anything like this before. We’re excited to experience AquArabia, learn more about Saudi culture and try local food together.”
The winners will travel to Saudi later this year to visit AquArabia alongside a wider programme of travel experiences.
For Saudi, Welcome to Arabia, the campaign demonstrated how a globally recognised sporting moment can be reworked into a participatory format — pairing the urgency of a live, time-limited mechanic with the promise of a real travel experience to turn passive viewers into active entrants.
