A Saudi Founding Day influencer campaign is a paid creator campaign built around 22 February, the day Saudi Arabia marks the start of the first Saudi state in 1727. In 2027 the day falls on a Monday in the middle of Ramadan, so the plan is different from a normal seasonal push: content is filmed before the fasting month, posts go live in the evening, and most brands run one combined Ramadan and Founding Day brief. This guide covers the timeline week by week, what the day commemorates, the content angles that work and the ones to avoid, Saudi creators and dialect, Snapchat, the Mawthooq licence, the Ministry of Commerce discount licence, and budget ranges in SAR.
What is Saudi Founding Day and why does it matter for brands?
Founding Day commemorates the start of Imam Muhammad bin Saud's reign in Diriyah in 1727, which Saudi Arabia treats as the founding of the first Saudi state. King Salman issued the royal decree on 27 January 2022, as reported by the Saudi Press Agency and Argaam, making 22 February an official holiday every year. The first celebrations took place on 22 February 2022. The private sector also gets the day off, so it is a real holiday with real time spent online and outdoors.
For brands, Founding Day is now a fixed slot in the Saudi calendar. Arab News has described how the celebrations have grown each year since 2022. The tone is pride in history and heritage: accurate heritage content earns goodwill, a generic green sale banner gets ignored.
2027 marks 300 years since 1727, so expect bigger official programming and creator calendars that fill earlier.
How is Founding Day different from Saudi National Day?
- Founding Day, 22 February: marks 1727 and the first Saudi state in Diriyah. The theme is origins, history, heritage, traditional life, crafts, dress and architecture.
- National Day, 23 September: marks the unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. The theme is the modern Kingdom, the national flag, achievement and the future.
Saudi officials have said Founding Day complements National Day and does not replace it. Founding Day content is about where the story started, not about the flag.
Is there an official visual identity, and can brands use it?
Yes, there is an official Founding Day identity. It was announced in February 2022 and, according to Saudipedia and Asharq Al-Awsat, the logo combines the words "Founding Day" in Arabic and English with the year 1727 and a set of symbols drawn from the era, such as the palm tree, the falcon, the Arabian horse and the market. Some reporting also says the official identity sets out colours and fonts, and that National Day symbols such as the flag should not be used in Founding Day celebrations. Reports are not fully consistent on the slogan or on which symbols are included, and the identity has had yearly variations.
Our advice: do not use the official logo on products, ads or creator content unless you have permission. Use the themes (heritage, 1727, Diriyah, crafts) in your own design, check the current year's identity on official channels, and keep the national flag out of commercial content, since Saudi rules restrict its commercial use.
What changes when Founding Day falls inside Ramadan?
Ramadan 2027 is expected to start around 8 February 2027, with Eid Al Fitr around 9 or 10 March. That puts 22 February at roughly day 15 of Ramadan. Confirm once the moon sighting is announced, but plan as if Founding Day is inside the fasting month.
This already happened in 2026, the first time Founding Day fell during Ramadan. Arab News and other outlets reported that Riyadh's programmes and traditional meals moved to after iftar, and the National Museum ran its Founding Day festival alongside its Ramadan events. Use that as your model.
What it means for your campaign:
- Film before Ramadan. Creators are slower and less available during the fast, and many are already booked for Ramadan campaigns. Shoot Founding Day content in the second half of January.
- Post in the evening. Schedule posts after iftar and into the late evening, when Saudi audiences are most active during Ramadan. Avoid daytime food and drink content.
- Keep the tone calm and respectful. Heritage, family, generosity and community fit both Ramadan and Founding Day. Loud party content, heavy music and dancing during fasting hours do not.
- Write one combined brief. Most brands are already briefing Ramadan creators in December and January. Add Founding Day as a chapter of the same brief, with its own deliverables and dates, instead of sending creators two separate briefs.
- Book early. Ramadan is the busiest season for Saudi creators, so rates rise and choice shrinks.
Our Ramadan 2027 influencer marketing playbook covers the wider Ramadan plan, and the Ramadan 2027 UGC ads creative pack covers the ad creative side.
What is the week-by-week timeline for Founding Day 2027?
Work back from Monday 22 February 2027 and the Ramadan start around 8 February. This is the timeline we recommend for a combined campaign. A Founding Day only campaign can start two weeks later, with fewer creators available.
| Week | Dates (2026 to 2027) | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | 23 Nov to 6 Dec | Set goal, budget and offer. Build a shortlist of Saudi creators by city, niche and platform. Check Mawthooq licences. |
| 3 | 7 to 13 Dec | Write the combined brief: Ramadan chapter plus Founding Day chapter, deliverables, posting windows, do and do not list. |
| 4 to 5 | 14 to 27 Dec | Send outreach, agree rates, sign contracts, issue tracking links and the campaign hashtag. Apply for the discount licence if you run a sale. |
| 6 to 7 | 28 Dec to 10 Jan | Ship products, confirm concepts and scripts. Approve Saudi dialect scripts with a native reviewer. |
| 8 to 9 | 11 to 24 Jan | Creators film Founding Day content before Ramadan. Collect drafts. |
| 10 | 25 to 31 Jan | Content approval: one round of edits, final files, ad codes for any Spark or partnership ads. |
| 11 to 12 | 1 to 14 Feb | Ramadan content goes live from around 8 Feb. Founding Day assets ready and scheduled. |
| 13 | 15 to 21 Feb | Founding Day teasers in the evenings, Snapchat stories, heritage series starts. |
| Live | 22 Feb (Mon) | Main posts after iftar. Offer live if licensed. Stories through the evening. |
| Wrap | 23 Feb to 3 Mar | Repost best UGC in ads, report results by creator, rebook strong performers for Eid. |
Which content angles work for Founding Day?
The best Founding Day content shows something real about Saudi heritage and puts the product in it naturally:
- 1727 and Diriyah. Short explainers of what happened in 1727, a visit to At-Turaif and the Diriyah area, mud-brick Najdi architecture. Keep the history accurate and simple.
- Najdi culture and regional diversity. Najd is central to the story, but Saudi audiences also like seeing the other regions: Hejaz, Asir, the Eastern Province, Jazan, Al-Ahsa. A series that visits several regions travels well.
- Traditional dress. Creators wearing traditional regional dress is one of the most common and best-received Founding Day formats. Fashion, beauty and jewellery brands fit here easily.
- Local craft. Sadu weaving, pottery, palm-frond work, perfume and oud, coffee roasting. Brands can partner with a local craftsperson and let the creator tell the story.
- Family and hospitality. A grandparent telling a story, family recipes, coffee and dates served at iftar. This bridges Founding Day and Ramadan well.
What should brands avoid?
- Calling it National Day, or using 1932 instead of 1727.
- Using the national flag or the official Founding Day logo on products or ads without permission.
- Made-up or wrong history. Have a Saudi reviewer check every historical claim in scripts.
- A sale-only message with no heritage content. A discount code alone reads as opportunistic.
- Daytime eating, drinking or loud party content while people are fasting.
- Non-Saudi creators speaking for Saudi heritage. For this occasion, the voice matters.
Which creators should you book, and does dialect matter?
For Founding Day, book Saudi creators speaking about their own history, family and region. Saudi dialect beats Modern Standard Arabic for Saudi ad content, and Founding Day is the clearest case.
A native Saudi voice is harder to source and costs more, so budget for it. For volume, pair a few mid-tier Saudi creators for the main stories with nano and micro creators for reach and UGC. Our guides to Arabic UGC creators in Saudi Arabia and Arabic dialects in influencer content cover sourcing and scripts in more detail.
What role does Snapchat play?
Snapchat is the platform most brands outside Saudi Arabia underweight. Snapchat reports ad reach of around 24.7 million in Saudi Arabia in 2025 and says it reaches about 9 in 10 of the eligible age group. For Founding Day, Snapchat stories suit the day well: a creator's day in Diriyah, a family evening after iftar, a visit to a heritage market, told in a sequence of stories. In the ranges we see, a mid-tier Saudi Snapchat story sequence costs around SAR 3,000 to 15,000.
A practical split: Snapchat for daily stories, Instagram Reels for the main heritage pieces, TikTok for short explainers. Our Snapchat influencer marketing guide for Saudi Arabia and platform comparison for the GCC go further.
What licences do you need: Mawthooq and the discount licence?
Mawthooq for creators
Any creator who publishes paid or promotional content on their own account in Saudi Arabia needs a Mawthooq licence from the General Authority for Media Regulation. The licence costs SAR 15,000 for three years. Non-Saudi creators get it through a commercial register or a licensed agency. Penalties can reach SAR 5 million.
The licence attaches to publishing. UGC that a creator films and delivers to you, and that you post on your own brand accounts or in your own ads, generally does not trigger it. Spark ads and partnership ads run through the creator's handle, so treat them as publishing and check the licence. Our Mawthooq and UAE permit guide explains the rules.
The Ministry of Commerce discount licence
If your Founding Day campaign includes a discount or promotional offer, you need a licence from the Saudi Ministry of Commerce, issued through its online sales service. The Ministry has issued these licences for Founding Day sales since the holiday began, and it publishes counts for each season: for Ramadan 2026 it reported issuing 1,987 licences for discounts and offers. The licence carries a barcode that shows the discount type, percentage and dates, so shoppers can check it.
Get the licence before creators film anything that mentions a percentage, check whether one licence covers your whole Ramadan and Founding Day period, and make captions match its dates and discount. Rules and fees change, so check the Ministry's official channels.
How much should you budget in SAR?
Founding Day budgets follow normal Saudi creator rates, with a Ramadan premium because the two seasons overlap. The ranges below are typical ranges we see, built from per-creator rates: Instagram Reel nano SAR 400 to 1,500, micro SAR 1,500 to 7,000, mid-tier SAR 7,000 to 30,000, macro SAR 30,000 to 110,000, and UGC videos around SAR 375 to 2,250 each.
| Campaign size | Typical mix | Typical range (SAR) |
|---|---|---|
| Test | 8 to 15 nano and micro creators, 4 to 8 UGC videos for ads | 15,000 to 45,000 |
| Mid-size | 10 to 20 micro creators, 2 to 4 mid-tier, 1 to 2 Snapchat story sequences, 8 to 12 UGC videos | 60,000 to 180,000 |
| Large | 1 to 2 macro creators, 4 to 8 mid-tier, a micro layer, Snapchat sequences, UGC for paid ads | 200,000 and up |
Add-ons to plan for: paid ads usage rights usually add 25 to 100 percent to a creator's fee, Arabic and English versions add 40 to 60 percent, and rush bookings add 25 to 50 percent. Agencies typically charge 15 to 30 percent on top. For the full-year view, see the 2027 influencer marketing budget plan for the GCC, and for rate detail the Saudi UGC rates guide.
Which brands fit Founding Day best?
Fashion and abaya, jewellery, perfume and oud, coffee and dates, food delivery and home brands fit most naturally, as long as the content is heritage first. Home brands can show a traditional majlis or Najdi design details (see home and furniture brands), and electronics and telecom brands do better with family stories, such as a video call with grandparents about the old days (see electronics and telecom brands). Give each creator their own tracking link and code so you can compare cost per order by creator, as set out in our ROI measurement framework.
Frequently asked questions
When is Saudi Founding Day 2027?
Saudi Founding Day is on 22 February every year. In 2027 it falls on a Monday, and with Ramadan expected to start around 8 February 2027, it lands roughly in the middle of the fasting month. Confirm the Ramadan start once the moon sighting is announced.
What is the difference between Founding Day and Saudi National Day?
Founding Day on 22 February marks 1727, when Imam Muhammad bin Saud began his reign in Diriyah and the first Saudi state started. National Day on 23 September marks the unification of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Founding Day content leans on heritage and history; National Day content leans on the modern Kingdom and its flag.
Do influencers need a Mawthooq licence for a Founding Day campaign?
If a creator publishes paid or promotional content on their own account in Saudi Arabia, they need a Mawthooq licence from the General Authority for Media Regulation. UGC that a brand posts on its own accounts or ads generally does not trigger it. Check the licence for every creator who will post on their own handle, including Spark or partnership ads.
Do I need a licence to run a Founding Day sale in Saudi Arabia?
Yes. Discounts and promotional offers in Saudi Arabia need a licence from the Ministry of Commerce, issued through its online sales service. Get the licence before creators announce any discount code, and make sure the dates and percentage in their content match the licence.
How much does a Founding Day influencer campaign cost in Saudi Arabia?
In the ranges we see, a small test with nano and micro creators plus a few UGC videos runs around SAR 15,000 to 45,000. A mid-size campaign with micro and mid-tier creators and a Snapchat story sequence runs around SAR 60,000 to 180,000. Campaigns with macro creators start around SAR 200,000. Ramadan demand can push rates up.
Where to go next
- Ramadan 2027 influencer marketing playbook for the GCC
- Influencer marketing in Saudi Arabia: the full guide
- UAE National Day influencer campaign plan
- 2027 influencer marketing budget plan for the GCC
- Find verified Saudi influencers and UGC creators
Build your Saudi creator shortlist now so your combined Ramadan and Founding Day brief goes out in December. Start your 7-day free trial →
