Global Ads Spotlight: How Saudia Airlines turned prayer beads into a life-saving sanitizer for pilgrims

Pilgrimage has always been about devotion, discipline, and endurance. But for billions of Muslims making the spiritual journey to Mecca each year, it has also come with an uninvited companion: illness.

Commonly known as the Hajj Cough, respiratory infections had plagued the pilgrimage circuit, especially during the crowded rituals of Hajj and Umrah.

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Enter ProtecTasbih - a quietly-radical idea that turned a centuries-old object of worship into a modern-day shield.

Saudia Airlines, the globe's leading carrier for pilgrimage travel, could have gone the expected route of ads filled with aerial serenity and hospitality platitudes.

Instead, it chose to do something that mattered. And it did so with surprising elegance and depth.

A Tiny Bead with a Big Idea

The core tension was brutally clear: over 60% of pilgrims fall ill during Hajj or Umrah. For elderly travellers, the stakes are even higher, with a 40% increased risk of death from respiratory infections. But most commercial hygiene products were off-limits under Islamic law due to alcohol, synthetic ingredients, or animal derivatives.

So instead of fighting against tradition, Saudia leaned into it.

Every pilgrim carries a tasbih - prayer beads used to recite 99 names of Allah. That's where the idea found its genius. What if the very thing in pilgrims' hands could quietly protect them, without changing anything about their rituals?

And so was born ProtecTasbih - the world's first sanitizing prayer beads, infused with tea tree oil in an all-natural, alcohol-free compound.

As pilgrims rolled the beads through their fingers, they unknowingly transferred antibacterial agents to their hands, disrupting bacteria without disrupting prayer.s

Designed to last exactly two weeks - the beads went from hygienic protectors to lifelong keepsakes, with an inner core revealed after use. Fully recyclable. Fully compliant with religious law.

Faith Meets Function

The execution wasn't just thoughtful - it was ambitious.

Saudia distributed 65,000 ProtecTasbihs onboard flights heading to Jeddah, training cabin crew to explain their use. Another 35,000 beads were handed out at metro stations across Mecca using contactless vending machines - smart placement at high-traffic touchpoints.

This wasn't a one-season stunt either. The airline aligned distribution with the full pilgrimage calendar, kicking off in January for peak Umrah and continuing through Hajj in June and July. Every detail - from the lifecycle of the compound to the cultural appropriateness of the material - was meticulously considered.

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More Than a Campaign - A Cause

Beyond the scale and science, what made ProtecTasbih truly resonate was its sensitivity. Religion is not marketing terrain for most brands. Misstep, and you offend. Overplay, and it becomes gimmickry. But this campaign balanced utility with reverence.

It didn't just show pilgrims using the beads - it served them. It didn't plaster Saudia's logo across prayer spaces - it blended in, becoming part of the journey. The result? A genuine act of care that earned widespread praise from religious leaders and global health professionals alike.

And when Saudia made the formula open-source—inviting other organizations to replicate it - it wasn’t a press release flex. It was a humble mic drop.

The Impact

The numbers, while impressive, only tell part of the story:

1.5 million pilgrims reached

100,000+ positively impacted

$2.9M in earned media

#1 trending topic across the Middle East

+62% brand love for Saudia Airlines

It also swept awards circuits, bagging a Gold Lion and three Bronze Lions at Cannes, honours at the Cresta Awards, and multiple wins at the AME Awards - a feat few health-meets-faith campaigns have ever achieved.

But more than any statue or stat, ProtecTasbih reminded the world that the best advertising doesn’t just say something - it does something. And in this case, it did something beautifully human.

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