Saudi National Day and UAE Eid Al Etihad: respectful campaign ideas for business accounts

Every year, business accounts in Saudi Arabia and the UAE meet three national occasions that people celebrate with real enthusiasm: Saudi National Day, Saudi Founding Day and the UAE's Eid Al Etihad. Taking part is a chance to get closer to your audience and show that you belong to the place, but it is also sensitive ground. The flag, the emblem and other national symbols are governed by rules, offers come with conditions, and audiences quickly notice the difference between a sincere celebration and a business cashing in on the day.

This guide collects campaign ideas suited to Salla and Zid stores, home businesses and cafés, together with general rules on using national symbols, how to frame offers, and a timeline that helps you start preparing weeks ahead of each occasion. The examples are hypothetical; the aim is for you to pick what suits your business and your audience.

Three occasions on the calendar: what each one means

Saudi National Day: 23 September

Saudis celebrate National Day on 23 September every year ^[1], marking the unification of the Kingdom. Its content leans on green, traditional songs, family stories and the heritage of each region, from the ardah of Najd to the songs of the south and the tales of the Hijaz. It is an occasion of pride and belonging before it is a shopping season, so keep that order of priorities clear in your messaging.

Saudi Founding Day: 22 February (a short note)

A royal order issued in 2022 made 22 February of each year the anniversary of the founding of the Saudi state, under the name Founding Day, and an official holiday, tracing the state back to the start of Imam Muhammad bin Saud's rule in 1727 ^[2]. Its character is more historical than National Day: traditional dress, Najdi architecture, old crafts and the stories of Diriyah. Do not mix up the two occasions in your posts; each has its own meaning, and audiences notice the difference.

UAE Eid Al Etihad: 2 December

The UAE marks the founding of the federation on 2 December, and the government's official portal lists the National Day holiday on 2 and 3 December ^[3]. Content here has room for the stories of residents from many nationalities alongside Emiratis, which gives shops and cafés in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah space for inclusive content that celebrates a shared home.

The official yearly identity: wait for it and read its guidelines

Each year an official body releases a visual identity and slogan for the occasion. In Saudi Arabia, the General Entertainment Authority launched the identity for the 95th National Day in August 2025 under the slogan "Our pride is in our nature" (عزّنا بطبعنا) ^[4]. In the UAE, the Eid Al Etihad identity is published with usage guidelines; in 2025 Gulf News reported that the guidelines on the Eid Al Etihad website ruled out stretching, distorting, rotating or recolouring the logo, placing it on busy backgrounds, or using it as a decorative background pattern ^[5].

Do not assume last year's slogan still applies, and do not design your campaign around an identity that has not been announced yet. Plan your messages and ideas early, hold back the official visual elements until the new identity and its guidelines are out, then read the guidelines in full before your designer starts. Here is a short checklist:

• Check where the identity comes from: the organising body's official account or website, not an image circulating in group chats.
• Read the terms for commercial use in particular, because some guidelines treat personal and commercial use differently.
• Do not modify the logo or merge it with your store's logo unless the guidelines explicitly say you may.
• Save a copy of the guidelines, with the date you downloaded them, in your campaign folder so you can refer back to it if asked.

The flag and national emblem: red lines for business accounts

There is no room for guesswork here. In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Commerce has confirmed that individuals and businesses may not use the national flag, which carries the name of God and the declaration of faith, the emblem of two swords and a palm tree, or images and names of the leadership and officials in commercial dealings. That covers printed materials, goods, promotional leaflets and gifts, at all times including National Day, and the ministry also monitors online stores ^[1].

In the UAE, Gulf News summarises guidance attributed to the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs: do not use the flag for commercial purposes, as a trademark or part of one, or for advertising and publicity; do not print it on disposable items; and do not add symbols or images to it ^[6].

So what is left? Plenty. You can celebrate with colours and heritage patterns such as Sadu weaving and traditional motifs, with photos of cities and landscapes you hold the rights to, and with stories of people and places, all without putting the flag or emblem on your product or advert. If you are unsure about a particular design, check the official guidelines or ask the competent authority before you post; what is written here is general information, not legal advice.

Campaign ideas that respect the occasion and suit your business

A good national-day campaign says something about the place and its people, with the product in the background. Here are ideas you can adapt to different kinds of business:

• The story of the place: an abaya store in Riyadh tells, in a short video, how the abaya has evolved in the region, using licensed archive photos or illustrations inspired by them.
• The craft before the product: a perfume shop introduces where its oud and bukhoor come from and how they are prepared, celebrating the craftspeople rather than just the goods.
• Faces of the team: a Dubai café asks staff of different nationalities about their first Eid Al Etihad in the UAE and stitches the answers into one reel.
• A small gesture for the neighbourhood: a Jeddah bakery offers refreshments to the area's cleaning workers and documents it respectfully, without filming the faces of anyone who would rather not appear.
• A fact a day: one well-sourced historical fact each day in the week before the occasion, with the source named in the caption.
• Audience contributions: invite followers to share photos of how they are celebrating and tag your account, then repost them with permission.

Steer clear of ideas that turn national symbols into a direct sales tool, that use officials' names or images, or that compare countries in a way that could read as belittling anyone. Founding Day in particular suits heritage and educational content far better than loud discount campaigns.

Content formats: what to post, and where

Each platform has its own character, so do not paste the same post everywhere. Spread one idea across formats that suit each audience:

• TikTok and Instagram Reels: a short video with clips from the celebrations, the street and your product in context, using a sound or traditional song you have the right to use.
• Carousel posts: a series of images that tells a story, such as "Milestones from our neighbourhood's history" or "How we prepare National Day hospitality".
• Stories: polls and questions about people's memories of the occasion, and a countdown to the day.
• X (Twitter): a short, well-worded greeting, a thread with a historical fact, and sharing official bodies' posts instead of redesigning them.
• Snapchat: light, informal diaries from the shop or kitchen on the day itself.

Think about the timing of the day itself, too. The morning of the occasion suits a short greeting, accounts usually go quiet around midday, and the evening is when clips of celebrations, fireworks and gatherings on the streets and the corniche take off. If you have one main campaign video, publish it a day or two before the occasion so it has time to be watched, and keep the day itself for greetings and light diaries. Check your own analytics from last year if you have them; they are more accurate than any general rule about posting times. And remember that the holiday may change delivery times and shop hours, so announce that in your stories and bio a few days ahead.

If you are preparing a product video for your Salla or Zid store for the occasion, you will find filming and pacing ideas in our guide to short product videos for Salla and Zid stores. And if you are working with a content creator on the campaign, check the licensing and disclosure requirements in our guide to Mawthooq and the UAE advertiser permit.

National-day offers: honest, licensed and never built on the symbol

Plenty of stores tie their discount to the anniversary number or the date, and that is a nice touch as long as the discount itself is genuine and calculated from a price that was on display before the occasion. What hurts you is the cosmetic offer: a price nudged up two weeks earlier and then brought back down under a "National Day sale" banner. On the Saudi side, Okaz reported that the Ministry of Commerce asks for a licence for any sale, that the advert must carry the licence number and the actual percentage, and that it must not appear more than 15 days before the sale starts ^[7]. On the UAE side, a published legal summary explains that the federal consumer-protection law calls for approval from the competent authorities before any discount is promoted, and bans advertising that creates a misleading impression ^[8].

• Get the licence or approval before you announce the offer, not afterwards.
• State the actual discount percentage, its duration and the items it covers clearly.
• Keep the flag and national emblem out of the offer design.
• Keep your pre-offer prices documented in your store and in dated screenshots.

Requirements change from time to time, and the information here is general, not legal advice, so check with the official authority in your country before each season.

A timeline for all three campaigns

Treat this table as a starting point and adjust the dates to when the official identity is announced each year, and to whether the occasion falls at the weekend or midweek.