The main goal of the project is to raise awareness about Ukraine among the audience in the Gulf countries, foster a positive attitude towards the country and Ukrainians, and encourage further cooperation.

The full-scale invasion put Ukraine on the world map for the region, making Ukraine more recognisable there. It's important to note that people in Arab countries do not view Ukraine with hostility. The political "neutrality" of the region regarding the war in Ukraine may give the impression of a negative attitude towards Ukraine among the local population. However, the data of the Report on Ukraine's Perceptions in the Middle East and North Africa shows the opposite.

An analysis of associations with Ukraine among people in different parts of the world has shown that not only regional characteristics but also a range of other factors—such as socio-cultural, political, and economic ties between countries, or the level of awareness about Ukraine—affect how people perceive it. While the primary association with Ukraine remains the war, for the UAE, for example, Ukraine is also seen through the lens of progress, technology, history, culture, tourism, nature, people, and personal connections.

To utilise the existing positive associations with Ukraine among audiences in the Gulf countries and reinforce the image of Ukrainians as winners — not in the context of war (as content about war tends to evoke negative associations with other conflicts in the region rather than garner support for Ukraine), but in business, technology, and sports.

This idea allowed us to highlight Ukraine's achievements in various fields, building an association in the region with Ukraine as a nation of winners.

Ukraine is a country of innovation: it is home to mobile apps and innovative popular services far beyond its borders. Ukrainian footballers, boxers, tennis players, and gymnasts achieve global and international victories. According to the analysis of associations and search queries about Ukraine in these countries, it is innovations and sports achievements of Ukraine that interest the audience and already have quite strong positive associations. Therefore, we decided to focus on these two areas, building an association with Ukraine as a nation of winners in the region. 

"Inspired by Winners" was chosen as the project's slogan.

The digital campaign consisted of several elements:

🔵 Development of content and visual style for this project. This included video formats and static visuals highlighting Ukraine's achievements in sports and innovations, as well as two in-depth articles for ukraine.ua website;

🔵 Publishing materials on Ukraine.ua Arabic social media pages on Facebook and Instagram and creating landing pages with in-depth articles on Ukraine.ua website (in English and Arabic): “A nation of champions: Ukrainian’s finest sports achievements and figures to learn about” on Ukrainian sportsmen and sportswomen and “A nation of inventors: top Ukrainian businesses and initiatives to learn about” on Ukrainians companies and start-ups;

🔵 Targeted Arabic-language campaigns on social media (Facebook and Instagram). The campaign's aim was engagement and outreach, as well as driving traffic to the landing pages on ukraine.ua website. The campaigns targeted audiences in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar;

🔵 An advocacy tour to Dubai (UAE) and Doha (Qatar) carried out to strengthen cultural and informational exchange between Ukraine and the Gulf countries;

🔵 Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the campaign results and developing recommendations for further communications.

The digital campaign reached 2 mln contacts and garnered 7.1 mln impressions. Audience interaction with the campaign amounted to 653,935 actions (comments, likes, shares, video views).

We also analysed all user comments, which helped us gain a more accurate understanding of the perception of the Ukrainian brand in these countries and will influence future projects targeting this audience.

🔵 Most of the comments (77%) under the campaign posts and videos were written in Arabic. This indicates that users in the region are willing to engage with content about Ukraine and its brand in their native language.

🔵 15% of the comments were dedicated to supporting Palestine, indicating that this topic resonates more with regional users.

🔵 Users in the region show interest in the topic of Ukraine's relations with NATO and its potential accession to the alliance.

🔵 Only a few Arabic-speaking users wish Ukraine's victory, so it's necessary to convey more information about our fight and our proud achievements;

🔵 Most of the comments showed that their authors do not understand the nature of the war and sometimes believe that Ukraine and Russia have always been one country. Therefore, it's important to portray Ukraine as an independent and powerful state with a long history. Additionally, it's crucial to explain more about the reasons for Russia's war against Ukraine and the real historical context of Ukraine's relations with Russia. Users are also not following news about Ukraine and are unsure whether the fighting is still ongoing or not;

🔵 Arab users often mentioned the participation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Iraq War, which led to continued negative perceptions. This fact is often manipulated by Russian propaganda, equating Ukraine with the USA and sending messages about the potential negative influence of Ukraine and the USA on the countries of the Gulf;

🔵 The insight of the advocacy tour was the realisation that Ukraine must not only talk about itself, but also emphasise that the experiences of the Gulf countries are significant and beneficial for Ukraine. We want to learn, cooperate, and exchange experiences. Additionally, it is essential to highlight Ukraine's potential for these countries.

This project was funded by the European Union.

Marina Dadinova
Tim Makarov
Tamara Novoselska
Alona Vendel
Veronika Lutska
Yuliia Rodionova
Oleh Hnatiuk
Iryna Hadetska
Alina Dmytrenko
Oleksii Kryvosheia
Artem Yasynskyi