Saudi Telecom has a 'content creating camel' roaming deserts

We've seen some impressive stunts by mobile companies trying to demonstrate the strength of their network coverage recently; for example, EE got a robot barber to shave "Lucifer" actor Tom Ellis on a mountain-top recently, all over a video call. 

But here's a campaign from the Middle East that takes things to even more of an extreme; Saudi Telecom now has a "content creating camel" roaming deserts to connect photographers to the country's most remote corners.The idea is to promote its coverage at a time when Saudi Arabia is opening up to tourism for the first time.

A team from agency Wunderman Thompson installed a dedicated high tech camera rig system on the hump of the camel, called Sarha, consisting of a laptop, solar panels, cam-ranger, and hotspot router connected to the internet.  The idea is to allow photographers to connect remotely to the camel while it is roaming, and to capture areas that no humans can easily access. The resulting footage will appear in online films, ads and content. Some of the pictures can be seen at the "Unveil Saudi" Instagram account.

The project was global; Wunderman Thompson Saudi Arabia initiated the idea and led the whole execution phases of the project, while Wunderman Thompson Seattle constructed and produced the technology, including a camera controlling software for the camel, as well as a website that photographers used to access the camel camera, and also designed and collected data and analysis for the animated Instagram posts.  Wunderman Thompson Costa Rica led data visualization efforts, animating the Seattle team’s designs, and connected those animations to the data sets collected.

“This is art meets technology meets culture,” said Rayyan Aoun, executive creative director, Wunderman Thompson Saudi Arabia, in a statement. "All in a creative, data-driven way. A journey of cultural discovery documenting breathtaking imagery through the lens of technology."