ABU DHABI: KID RECOMMENDED

A DREAM ITINERARY FOR KIDS, PLANNED BY KIDS. FINALLY PUTTING PARENTS IN THE BACK SEAT

THE INSIGHT

When planning vacations, the ultimate decision has always fallen on the parents and the travel industry has, at times, spoken to children but rarely with them. We did the research and it proved that kids don’t want to be passenger princesses on family trips. They want to make the fun decisions. With Experience Abu Dhabi, we polled over 7,000 children between the ages of 5 to 12 across nine countries. The results? One universal truth. Kids wanted the freedom to step into the stories and places that they love. We found that 90% wanted holiday activities that help them make new friends. 95% wanted to try something they could proudly tell their friends about. 89% wanted their favourite worlds—games, movies, adventures—to come to life.

So, we put that to the test to see what a kid’s dream itinerary would like directly from the mind of a child.

THE IDEA

GIVE KIDS THE CHANCE TO DESIGN THEIR OWN PERFECT HOLIDAY, AND LET ABU DHABI BRING IT TO LIFE.

We gave parents a break in this campaign and handed the reins to their kids. We brought a group of children together in a social experiment to create their own seven-day dream itinerary. Our “Abu Dhabi: Kid Recommended” campaign became a summer moment designed by kids for kids, built entirely from their imaginations, passions, and wants. Their ideas shaped not just what to do in Abu Dhabi, but how they wanted to feel while doing it. We, then, turned those ideas, some simple, some weird, into real, bookable itineraries.

THE KIDS BECAME THE PLANNERS, ABU DHABI BECAME THEIR PLAYGROUND.

THE ROLLOUT

ONCE WE HAD THE ITINERARY, WE MADE IT HAPPEN.

We tapped into the nine markets we sourced our research from and brought famous “Kid-Fluencers” and their families to do the seven-day dream itinerary. From across the globe, our kid-fluencers spent the week in Abu Dhabi ticking off one destination after the other which turned into the second feature film in our campaign.

TRANSFORMING THE EXPERIENCES INTO A CONTENT SERIES.

We combined the assets of the social experiment and kid-fluencer film to create several bite-sized content on Instagram and TikTok, truly showing the journey of the kids from ideation to having fun!

A PUBLIC ACCESSIBLE DREAM ITINERARY.

Taking all the most common destinations picked by the kids, we turned their dream itineraries into a universal itinerary shared across various media platforms. Future travelers of Abu Dhabi can tap into the insights of the campaign and plan their dream vacations.