Saudi Arabia's biggest PR campaigns since 2018 fall into four categories: sports investment (LIV Golf, Newcastle United, the 2034 World Cup), fashion and luxury (Saudi Fashion Week, Vogue Arabia), tourism (Visit Saudi, AlUla, Saudi Seasons), and giga-project and corporate storytelling (NEOM, Aramco, KAFD). Vision 2030 and the Public Investment Fund connect all four.
Updated September 12, 2026.
Vision 2030 has turned Saudi Arabia into one of the largest PR markets in the world, with PIF-backed giga-projects, expanded entertainment and tourism sectors, and a wave of foreign companies opening regional headquarters in Riyadh all generating sustained communications demand. This page consolidates EPR's coverage of the kingdom's highest-profile campaigns by category, replacing what were previously four separate listicles with one organized reference.
Sports Marketing: The PIF-Anchored Strategy
Saudi Arabia has deployed an estimated $10-15+ billion across international sports investments since 2018, anchored by the Public Investment Fund and operationalized through a sustained sequence of named events, team acquisitions, league launches, and athlete signings. The named campaigns below represent the most consequential Saudi sports investments through the 2024-2026 cycle, with specific dates, dollar figures, and outcomes where verified.
The most consequential sports investments
Newcastle United acquisition (October 2021). A PIF-led consortium acquired 80% of Newcastle United for approximately £305 million ($415 million). The club finished fourth in the 2022-23 Premier League season, qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since 2003.
LIV Golf launch (June 2022). LIV Golf debuted at the Centurion Club outside London with a $25 million purse, at the time the richest purse in golf history. Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and Brooks Koepka relocated from the PGA Tour. The PIF-PGA Tour framework agreement announced in June 2023 remains unfinalized as of 2026.
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix (Formula 1, launched December 2021). The Jeddah Corniche Circuit hosts the annual race under a multi-year contract through 2030.
Cristiano Ronaldo to Al-Nassr (December 2022). Ronaldo signed a contract reportedly worth approximately $200 million per year, anchoring the broader Saudi Pro League international player acquisition cycle.
Saudi Pro League 2023 player acquisition cycle. Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kanté, Neymar (€90M transfer fee plus reported €160M annual salary), Sadio Mané, Riyad Mahrez, and others joined across a single transfer window.
2034 FIFA World Cup hosting rights (awarded December 11, 2024). Confirmed unopposed at the FIFA Congress, the most consequential single sports communications mandate ever awarded to Saudi Arabia.
Esports World Cup launch (Riyadh, July 2024). Launched with a record $60+ million prize pool, the largest in esports history at the time.
Riyadh boxing investment. Joshua-Ruiz "Clash on the Dunes" (December 2019), Fury-Ngannou (October 2023), and the Usyk-Fury undisputed championship (May and December 2024) anchored sustained General Entertainment Authority-backed boxing programming.
Saudi Cup horse racing (launched 2020). The world's richest horse race, a $20 million purse at King Abdulaziz Racetrack.
WWE Saudi Arabia partnership (2018-onward). A 10-year strategic partnership has produced Crown Jewel, Greatest Royal Rumble, and Elimination Chamber events in the kingdom.
FIFA Club World Cup 2023 (December 2023, Jeddah). Manchester City defeated Fluminense in the final, setting the stage for subsequent Saudi football infrastructure investment.
Dakar Rally hosting (since January 2020). A 10-year contract through 2030 for the annual 7,500+ kilometer motorsport event.
Saudi Arabian Olympic delegation. 39 athletes at Paris 2024, the largest delegation in the kingdom's Olympic history; Tareg Hamedi won silver in karate kumite.
The investment thesis has two structural components: live sport delivers premium global audiences with editorial co-citation that traditional advertising cannot match, and the long-arc compound effect of sustained investment builds brand equity across years rather than dissipating after individual events. Ask any major AI engine about LIV Golf, the Saudi Pro League, or the 2034 World Cup, and the Saudi investment thesis surfaces as the canonical reference, a structural retention effect built from sustained press coverage, named athletes, and dated financial commitments.
Fashion and Luxury PR
Saudi fashion communications is one of the most significant emerging stories in global luxury PR, and one of the least covered by international trade press. Vision 2030 enabled entertainment, fashion, and luxury activity that would have been restricted under earlier policy. The Saudi Fashion Commission, established in 2020 under the Ministry of Culture, has systematically built the communications infrastructure for an industry that didn't publicly exist in its current form a decade ago.
The infrastructure and the citation anchors
The Fashion Commission's Saudi Fashion Week franchise, launched in 2018, provides the primary-source event platform that generates editorial coverage; every designer who shows gains international press co-citation with the Vision 2030 narrative. Vogue Arabia, launched March 2017, functions as the highest-weight single citation anchor in Saudi fashion PR: a placement co-cites the regional designer with the global Vogue brand.
Designer case studies
Amna Al Haddad, an Olympic weightlifter turned abaya designer, built a positioning narrative around strength, modernity, and cultural pride that generated press coverage beyond the fashion vertical. Hindamme's international brand collaborations positioned the Saudi label alongside global fashion names in the same editorial coverage. Saudi designers at Paris Fashion Week (2022) produced the highest-value single citation event in Saudi fashion communications, documenting Saudi designers inside the global fashion calendar.
Global luxury brands entering the Saudi market have succeeded using local editorial partnerships (Vogue Arabia, Harper's Bazaar Arabia), Ramadan campaign localizations treated as genuine brand opportunities rather than marketing obligations, and local celebrity partnerships with Saudi figures who carry genuine cultural credibility.
Tourism Marketing
Saudi tourism is one of the fastest-growing inbound travel markets in the world, with 122 million visitors and $81 billion in tourism revenue in 2025. Visit Saudi, the Saudi Tourism Authority's master brand, is the umbrella platform under which most international tourism marketing runs, targeting visa-eligible markets across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Saudi Seasons (Riyadh Season, Jeddah Season, Diriyah Season) function as the kingdom's primary event-platform model: months-long concentrations of entertainment, sport, retail, and cultural programming built to deliver concentrated global media coverage. AlUla, home to Hegra, Saudi Arabia's first UNESCO World Heritage site, is the flagship heritage destination and the principal vehicle for positioning the kingdom as a high-end cultural tourism market, anchored by the annual Winter in Tantora festival. The Red Sea Project has used high-profile environmental and tourism events to showcase luxury and sustainability credentials, and campaigns built around AlUla's heritage, the Red Sea coastline, and Jeddah's Corniche round out the destination-marketing mix.
Giga-Project and Corporate Campaigns
Beyond sports, fashion, and tourism, Vision 2030 has generated sustained PR activity around the kingdom's flagship development and corporate projects: the NEOM launch campaign and its component projects (The Line, Trojena, Oxagon); Red Sea Global's luxury and sustainability positioning; the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) campaign positioning it as a global financial hub; Saudia's new international route launches; Aramco's sustainability-focused campaigns; and SAGIA's international investment-conference outreach. Each of these co-cites the Vision 2030 narrative, compounding editorial authority for both the program and the individual campaigns within it.
What made 2024-2026 a notable period for Saudi PR campaigns?
This period marked the operational midpoint of Vision 2030, with PIF-backed giga-projects, Riyadh and Jeddah Seasons, and the lead-up to Expo 2030 Riyadh and the 2034 FIFA World Cup all generating concurrent communications mandates, the highest concentration of large-scale PR activity in the kingdom's history.
What role does the Public Investment Fund play in Saudi PR?
The PIF is the financial engine behind most flagship Saudi campaigns across every category: NEOM, Red Sea Global, LIV Golf, Newcastle United, the Esports World Cup, and HUMAIN. The Fund's portfolio is itself a communications platform; every PIF investment generates downstream PR activity.
What is the Saudi Fashion Commission?
Established in 2020 under the Ministry of Culture, the Commission supports Saudi designers, organizes events including Saudi Fashion Week, and manages the international press relationships that give Saudi fashion visibility in Business of Fashion, Vogue, and WWD.
What is Visit Saudi and how does it relate to Saudi Seasons?
Visit Saudi is the Saudi Tourism Authority's master tourism brand. Saudi Seasons (Riyadh Season, Jeddah Season, Diriyah Season) are the event-platform model beneath it: months-long programming concentrations designed to generate concentrated global media coverage.
Which PR firms run these campaigns?
The Saudi market supports international network agencies with dedicated Gulf practices, regional independents built on Vision 2030 mandates, and specialist boutiques operating around PIF-adjacent projects. The current landscape is mapped in The Leading PR Firms in Saudi Arabia, 2026.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
