To announce their exciting event calendar for the winter of 2022, the Abu Dhabi Department of Tourism and Culture recruited famed NBA legend Shaqille O’Neal. Shaq is famously known for his love of Abu Dhabi, and the series of ads featuring him as a news anchor borrows from Shaq’s quirky online personality, while the events are the true star of the show.

The agency wanted to create the gravitas around each experience in next year's calendar, and the concept of merging Shaq as the new anchor to announce the upcoming lineup of events felt like a perfect match, the team said in a statement, adding that it also helps that Shaq has followers across age groups and varied interests, because Abu Dhabi has something for everyone as well.

The spots were directed by Nalle Sjöblad with production company DejaVu.

Akhilesh Bagri, CCO at Serviceplan Middle East, said, “It’s a busy time for tourism around the world, with COVID restrictions all but gone. The idea of taking a humorous approach to this campaign was a no-brainer, considering the comedy chops of Shaq. The challenge was to make sure that the content becomes a tthumb-stopperon people’s scrolls. If bitesize content is king, we thought why not super-size it. This approach gives us a chance to post fresh content all through winter. We thank DejaVu and DCT for giving us this opportunity.”

Manasvi Gosalia, Executive Producer at DejaVu, added, “As exciting as it is to shoot with legends like Shaq, the logistics involved in a run-up to it is always like walking a tightrope We had less than half a day of shoot time with Shaq, understandably considering his packed schedule and travel. We found a way to find him mid-commitments and maximize that time to get the results we were looking for. Of course, Shaq is simply flawless when the camera starts rolling, so that made things easier. The only downside to his perfect take after take would be that now we don’t have a bloopers reel.”

Credits:

Title: Big News with Shaq

Clients: Nouf Alboushelaib/ Director Of Strategic Marketing & Communications Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, Imane Zebrini/ Brand Unit Head – Strategic Marketing & Communications · Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi

Agency: Serviceplan Middle East

Chief Creative Officer: Akhilesh Bagri

Creative Director: Andre Couto

Managing Director: Natalie Shardan

Worldwide Executive Creative Director: Jason Romeyko

International Communications Officer: Lee Sharrock

Production Company: Dejavu

Director: Nalle Sjöblad

Director of Photography: Max Smeds

Executive Producer: Manasvi Gosalia

Producer: Sampada Harkara

Executive Producer Authentic Brands: Jeremy Castro

Rolling Pictures USA Producers: Mark Maxey, Stephanie Holland

UPM/ Line Producer: Mark Maxey

Production Manager: Jimmy Ray

1st Assistant Director: Scott Carter

Script Supervisor: Ramona Taylor

Creative Director: Michael Fitzgerald

Production Designer: Rodrigo Cabral

Art Director: Katherine Thorpe

Big News Desk design & fabrication: Jenny de Jaager

Key Grip: Tomo Sasaki

Gaffer: Mike Wilson

Production Sound Mixer: Doug Horvat

Shaq Stylist: Renee Brown

Shaq double: Elijah Everett

ABG – Shaq Associates: Cara Parks, Melissa Bergson

Post Production: Dejavu

Post Producer: Rafic Sawaya

Editor: Rizwan Maple

Grade: Faisel Merheb

Online: Dejavu