“This is a big match, but…this is nothing compared to what will happen with Vision 2030,” said Turki Al-Sheikh, chairman of the general entertainment authority in Saudi Arabia, referencing the Saudi Vision 2030. In 2016, Saudi Arabia launched its national vision aiming to diversify its economy from depending on oil. This triggered many reform efforts to improve public services, grow the digital economy and build new sectors such as tourism, sports and culture.
To promote tourism and diversify its economy, Saudi Arabia introduced Riyadh Season in 2019, an entertainment festival that occurs annually during winter in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh. Recently, Saudi Arabia executed a breakthrough strategy when hosting a friendly soccer match called “The Riyadh Season Cup” as part of Riyadh Season’s events.
Adam Brandenburger, an NYU business professor, provided “four approaches to building a breakthrough strategy” in his Harvard Business Review Article: “Strategy Needs Creativity.” The approaches were contrast, combination, constraint and context, all of which can be recognized in Saudi Arabia’s strategy for executing the Riyadh Season Cup.
The first approach, contrast, is to identify and challenge the assumptions of the status quo. One assumption challenged through this match was the question, “How can an emerging economy in the middle east position itself as a global tourism and sports hub?”
The second approach, combination, helped challenge this issue. As Brandenburger mentioned in his HBR article, he and Steve Jobs agreed that combining things results in creativity. Thus, Saudi was creative in joining a world-class soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo with the Al-Nassr Saudi team to shift everyone’s focus to Saudi players and the country’s beauty. Ronaldo and his family visited Riyadh Season and posted the festival on their social media. The posts were published on Cristiano’s and his partner Georgina’s accounts, which combined have over half a billion followers.
The Riyadh Season Cup was another combination between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and the Riyadh season club, a joint club between the Saudi clubs Al-Nassr and Al Hilal led by the captain Cristiano Ronaldo. This game was watched worldwide as many anticipated a match between the rivals Messi and Ronaldo for the first time in years. Other world cup stars were also present, such as Mbappe, Neymar and Hakimi. PSG ultimately won the thrilling match with a one-goal difference score of 5-4.
This match successfully displayed the capacity of Saudi Arabia to host top-tier global sporting events. The game was streamed globally online and in locations like Times Square and London. Many global viewers were surprised at how the execution of a friendly match was similar to the execution of a World Cup game.
The third approach is constraint, which is turning limitations into strengths. In a competitive global tourism market, with the exception of religious tourism, Saudi Arabia was not known for being a tourist destination in past decades. The Kingdom attempted to overcome this constraint by issuing easy tourist visas online. Additionally, the Kingdom showcased its unique destinations by engaging Messi as a tourism ambassador and capitalizing on Ronaldo’s social media reach, showing his life in the capital city of Riyadh.
The fourth approach, context, is achieved by reflecting on how similar problems were solved in different contexts. In Qatar, a different context, there was a similar challenge regarding attracting tourists. Yet, by hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar raised awareness of what it offers and set itself as a destination on tourists’ maps.
Thus, especially after the first gulf-hosted World Cup and the Kingdom’s victory against the World Cup champions, Saudi Arabia’s advancements within the sports and tourism industries could support diversifying the economy away from depending on oil to achieve Vision 2030.
