Demand for increased local programming, new production technologies and potential of media zones - key focus issues

Dubai – July 4th, 2010: Research reports state that total advertising spend across local TV in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) maintained its share of four percent in 2009 but will grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of seven percent until 2013. Further, this growth will be achieved through a consistent focus on production of quality local content across the UAE, which in turn will result in larger audiences, an improved talent base and finally, stronger advertising revenues .

“The integrated co-operation between advertising and production has become highly important. In my opinion, the coming phase would be of highly studied partnerships or alliances between the two sectors. The ‘Media and Marketing Show’ remains one of the most important opportunities waiting to be seized for such partnerships and alliances,” said Abdullah Al Qeht, Director of Information & Media Documentation Center, Gulf TV & Radio and partner of the forthcoming Media and Marketing Show (MMS) 2010. 

There is a huge demand across the region for quality local content. Elaborating on this need, Fadi Ismail, General Manager, O3 Productions said: “The region needs to realize that local content is king. The UAE being a hub for the production industry within the Gulf region needs to produce more local programs. In order to facilitate better local output, the media zones across the UAE have provided a comprehensive platform for production companies.”

The emergence of media zones across the region has had significant impact on the growth of the industry. New entities such as Al Dafrah, Fayrouz Production, Gulf TV

and Radio, CMS Creative Media Solutions and O3 Productions have added significant value through new programming technologies.

Elaborating on the positive impact of media zones, Ghassan Al Asad, Partner and Managing Director, Creative Media Solutions said: “These media cities have had a great impact on the regional TV sector by serving as a single platform for any production requirement. They have also helped in procuring new investments and investors from the region and globally.”

The Media and Marketing Show will be held from December 13th – 15th, 2010 at the Sheikh Saeed Halls S1, S2, S3, Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, from 10.00 - 19.00 daily. 

Creativity has business power and boosts the efficiency of advertising.

Creativity in advertising does contribute to the bottom line as it seems to be making a substantial contribution to the efficiency of a campaign, it has been officially established in a recently released survey report.

A unique analysis of IPA Effectiveness Awards and Gunn Report reveals the business power of creativity, according to which high levels of creativity make advertising campaigns at least 11 times more efficient.

A new research study from the IPA and Thinkbox, in conjunction with The Gunn Report, has revealed the direct correlation between strong advertising creativity and business success. The study shows that the most creatively awarded advertising campaigns are 11 times more efficient at delivering business success.

The study, which builds on findings from an earlier study by the IPA – Marketing in the Era of Accountability (2007) – involved analysis of a wide range of award-winning and non-award winning campaigns, including those by Budweiser, Volkswagen, Virgin Atlantic, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk and BT. In total, 175 campaigns were analysed.

In the region, advertising agencies are often blamed for creating campaigns for the jury and refrain from showing anything out of the ordinary because of high interference by clients, conveyed an industry professional on condition of anonymity.

Describing the flip side of the coin, Rahul Nagpal, Partner and CEO of Classic Partnership Advertising believes that “the region is in ‘creative transition’ where brands are recognising that creativity builds lasting ‘brand value’ and ultimately has a positive impact on the bottomline. Egypt, Lebanon and the UAE are at the forefront of this transition competing with some of the best in the world. What we are missing is creative consistency but give it another few years, and I am sure we will have another story to tell”.

He also believes that creativity will contribute as much, if not more, to the efficiency of the campaign. “Without doubt. Ultimately every communication delivers a stimulus in the form of an emotion as human beings tend to react in similar ways to those emotions, irrespective of where one sits on the globe,” explains Nagpal.

The research, commissioned by the IPA and Thinkbox, and undertaken by independent marketing consultant Peter Field, analysed the correlation between campaigns’ performance across a wide range of the world’s most respected creative awards determined by The Gunn Report, and their performance in hard business terms recorded in the IPA Effectiveness Awards Databank between 2000 and 2008.

The Thinkbox/IPA analysis examined both the effectiveness (in terms of a campaign’s ability to drive business effects such as share, sales, profit and loyalty) and the efficiency (in terms of share growth per point of excess share of voice) of creatively awarded and non- awarded campaigns.

The report highlighted various other points, apart from the impact of creativity:

- Dollar-for-dollar, creativity makes ad campaigns more efficient; on an average, creatively awarded campaigns (ie in major awards competitions recognised by The Gunn Report) are at least 11 times more efficient.

- The vast majority of Gunn Report creative award scores (74 per cent) are for TV commercials, showing that TV creativity is at the heart of the success of these campaigns. The remaining scores cover press and online.

- The more creatively awarded a campaign, the more effective it becomes.

- Creatively awarded campaigns are much more likely to be ‘emotional’ than ‘rational’ (44 per cent versus 19 per cent). This partly explains the prevalence of TV in creatively awarded campaigns as TV creates emotion better than other media.

- Investing in creativity is a powerful way to achieve fame (ie buzz). The study shows that brands can buy awareness but not fame; fame is proven to be at the heart of the most effective advertising.

- Creatively awarded campaigns that invest strongly in excess share of voice (ESOV) perform particularly well, suggesting that many creative campaigns could further improve return on marketing investment (ROMI) by investing more in share of voice (SOV).

- Despite generally being disadvantaged by lower levels of ESOV, creatively awarded campaigns still generate more and greater business effects than non-awarded ones.

- With the same level of ESOV, creatively awarded campaigns would have driven twice as much market share growth as non-awarded ones.

- Creative awards strongly reflect consumer liking of ad campaigns. On average, 35 per cent of consumers ranked Gunn-awarded campaigns as ‘highly liked’ versus just 20 per cent for non-Gunn awarded campaigns. Liking an ad is the best predictor of business success.

Peter Field, author of the new study, comments: “It has been fascinating to do this analysis. We’ve seen a strong link in previous studies, but since Donald Gunn’s 1996 report titled “Do Award Winning Commercials Sell”, we just haven’t had an update on the numbers. The takeout from this report should be that creative campaigns are more effective when they have more, rather than less, budget put behind them; and that creativity helps drive long-term business success, providing a powerful antidote to the short-term nature of so much activity today.”

Neil Simpson, Chairman of the IPA Value of Advertising Group and CEO of Publicis, said: “Each IPA Effectiveness Award competition has long provided succour to the creative community and creatively-minded clients when its awards have gone to such critically acclaimed advertisers such as Stella Artois, Levis and Honda.

“Their multiplier effects have also been discussed and written about by a number of convenors of judges. What we have now is the weight of eight years of statistical evidence and an exciting, and very tangible, set of findings to provide food for thought for all advertisers,” he said.

For the Middle East, creating affective campaigns calls for various challenges. “All things being equal, subjectivity is a key barrier to building creative standards for any brand. If there is brand alignment between the stakeholders at the client’s side and the agency side, ‘objectivity’ should typically replace ’subjectivity’,” said Nagpal.

The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region is likely to lead the world in online advertising as industry leaders predict that regional internet advertising will grow about three times faster than the global rate.

Responding to a global survey report, which says that worldwide online advertising will continue to outpace traditional advertising revenues this year, Dimitri Metaxas, Executive Regional Director – Digital, OmnicomMediaGroup, said the Mena region will see more than 30 per cent growth in online advertising in the next three-five years.

“As per our estimates, Mena region growth would be up to three times versus the global rate,” said Dimitri.

Explaining the rational behind his estimate, he added: “Our region is still playing catch-up and is experiencing real momentum for digital investments as more advertisers and agencies are embracing these technologies. Regional talent has always been the biggest challenge for our industry and now we are witnessing the development of junior experts coupled with an influx of international talent and this is helping to drive the growth.

“Also, the recession has proved to be a big turning point for digital advertising and this has served as a catalyst in accelerating the growth rate.”

The international report from IPG’s Mediabrands’ Magna Global said that online advertising will climb 12.4 per cent in 2010 to $61 billion (Dh224bn). And it will grow 64 per cent from there to more than $100bn in five years.

Magna said online advertising will rise by 11.7 per cent in 2011, an average rate of 11 per cent through 2015. Overall, worldwide advertising estimates have been pegged at low-to-mid-single-digit gains in 2010. The company estimates that North America will see a 12.3 per cent increase in online advertising to $27.2bn in 2010, hitting $45.2bn in 2015.

For the Mena region, Metaxas forecasts more than $100 million in 2010, with more positive estimates revealing a total market of up to $140m by end of the year.

“This would represent four-five per cent of the total ad spend across the region and marks the first year where digital investments are a sizable piece of the pie. We don’t see this rate of growth slowing over the next three-five years,” said Metaxas.

Currently, the Magna report said, paid search continues to be one of the strongest components of all online advertising, roughly accounting for half of the $29.8bn in revenues worldwide. It is pacing up 16.5 per cent over 2009 results.

In North America, Magna estimated, paid search to be at $13.1bn for 2010, a 16.4 per cent gain. All other online advertising – display, e-mail, video – will grow more slowly, 8.7 per cent higher, to get to $31.2bn worldwide.

Latin America will continue to be the fastest-growing region, noted Magna – reaching $3.5bn of total supplier advertising revenue in 2015, on an average rate of 13.3 per cent growth over the next five years. The biggest specific markets – China and Russia ¬– will experience the greatest gains.

Responding to a question whether regional companies are increasing their digital investment because of aping the developed world or that companies such as Omnicom are educating the potential of this platform to their clients, he said: “I would say it is a combination of both, we cannot underestimate the hype around new technologies and how they can excite marketers to want to experiment. There has been a true inflexion point with a growing base of advertisers more willing to explore and learn what the new technologies can do for them.

“In addition to this, the growth in regional expertise [both agency and media side] is assisting these advertisers to ensure that their forays into these nascent opportunities are successful and this in turn drives further growth.”

Metaxas believes that digital is not a must-have platform for all products and brands. “I would always hesitate advocating a ‘good for all brands’ recommendation as it really depends on a host of factors.

“We still work with a number of advertisers who are successful and digital media plays only a relatively small role in the communications mix, though I would state that we now see successful brands active in the digital space representing all industries and categories [including FMCG] so long gone are the arguments that digital should play a role for specific industries.

“Most importantly, no brand can ignore this space and must realise that at some point it will represent their future, hence we always advocate a test and learn approach as the learning they gain now, will pay dividends in the future.”

Local agency O2 Branding looks to KSA as a trend setter in the regional market

Al Riyadh - KSA, June 9, 2010 – Companies across the region flocked to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) this week for the “Saudi Brand and Communications Summit 2010”—held in Riyadh from June 5 – 8, 2010.  Noting the incredible potential in the KSA market for all kinds of communication expansions, Mohammed Johmani, CEO and Founder of O2 Network, spoke at the summit about the key drivers of Saudi branding and marketing sectors. Johmani’s agency O2 Branding served as a main sponsor of the event.    

Research reports suggest that total advertising spending in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) will recover at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 10 percent from 2009-2013, with internet advertising expected to grow at nearly 32 percent.  With Saudi Arabia’s GDP being pegged as the highest in the Arab region, those in the branding and communications industry are excited to explore new innovations in the KSA media market.

“The strong foundations of the Saudi economy have encouraged companies to spend on growth during a time where most organizations are looking to cut costs, especially in marketing,” says Johmani.  “O2 Branding has definitely focused more of its energy on the Saudi market in the last few years, and this summit is the ideal platform to view the latest trends while networking with key decision makers in the region.”

O2 Branding is a perfect exemplar of the opportunities afforded to regional entrepreneurs looking to grow communication companies within KSA and the Arab world as a whole.  Part of the multi-discipline O2 Network, the agency assesses all aspects of a company’s “brand potential”, offering strategy design and development, brand-activation counseling, and company-wide workshops for brand management. 

O2 Branding grew out of the understanding that brands are organic in nature; an insight that is reflected in their mission to create ‘Living Brands’. The agency recognizes that brands look, speak, and behave according to their surroundings. In order to ensure an integrated brand culture, O2 Branding draws upon the expertise of the entire O2 Network, including interactive, PR, and advertising agencies, to offer clients integrated communication solutions.

Commenting on the ‘Living Brand’ approach, Johmani said: “To create living brands, we align brand strategies to consumer touch points.  O2 is unique in its communications approach because of its fundamental understanding that people interact with brands and experience them through multiple channels, which translate to the practices of marketing, public relations, and interactive digital media, all of which contribute to shaping certain characteristics of a brand. This approach ensures a comprehensive platform for the creation of an attuned brand culture. ”

Johmani was amongst amongst elite of regional and global figures who are speaking at the summit including Patrick Jephson, Former Private Secretary, HRH Diana, Princess of Wales; Mohamed El Fatatry, CEO, Muxlim, (Voted One of The World’s 500 Most Powerful Muslims); Werner Baumgartner, Managing Director, Swarovski Middle East; Terry Kane, Director Of Digital Strategy, Jumeirah Group; Majdi Al-Sahhaf, Director Marketing And Corporate Communications, Saudi Industrial Property Authority ‘MODON’; Shadi Bakhour, Director Sales And Marketing, Saudi Xerox; Rayan Qutub, Head Of Corporate Business Development And Investment Promotion ,Emaar, The Economic City; Cameron Walker, Director Corporate Communications, National Commercial Bank;  Siva Kumar; Global Head Of Customer Experience, HSBC; Tarik Hamou Hadi, Vice President Sales, Marketing And Innovation, Savola Foods; Mousa Obeid, Head Of Marketing KSA, Nokia;  Yasser Al-Kharobi, Head of Corporate Marketing, Rotana Media Group; Howard Belk, Co-President and CEO, Siegel+Gale.

Major topics of discussion at this year’s summit included connecting with Saudi youth, rules of branding in a post-recession environment, and the unique traits that define the Middle East communications industry within the larger, global scene. 

“Strong brands that hold credibility, reliability, durability, and integrity elements are less affected by downturns,” said Shadi Bakhour, Director Sales and Marketing, Saudi Xerox

Riyadh – June 7th, 2010: The online advertising market in the Arab world  is currently worth SAR205 million (US$ 56 million), however, it is expected to grow substantially to touch nearly SAR976 million (US$ 266 million) by 2013. This will be backed by increased broadband penetration especially driven largely in Saudi Arabia and Egypt .

Enhanced broadband penetration would result in growth in areas of online advertising, social media and mobile applications. On the social media front, Saudi Arabia boasts 2.3 million Facebook users , while Twitter recorded 11 percent users in 2009 . 

“The three successful fundamentals to build an online brand are digital operations, technical development and brand protection and growth. Localization to the market in the region is vital, therefore, multi-lingual websites, communication strategies and distribution is what will truly define success,” explains Terry Kane, Director of Digital Strategy, Jumeirah Group and speaker at the first Saudi Brand and Communications Summit 2010. 

The summit will showcase region-specific case studies while highlighting key issues such as ‘Building an Online Brand’, ‘Differentiating a Brand’, ‘Customer as Brand Advocate’ and ‘Successful Communication Channels’ among others.

Shadi Bakhour, Director Sales and Marketing, Saudi Xerox said: “Brand differentiation is a key strategy to develop a successful brand. It is imperative that companies invest in research and development of a brand. The economic crisis is a good test of how strong is your brand. Strong brands hold credibility, reliability, durability, and integrity elements and are less affected by downturns.”

Eminent speakers such as brand guru, Vahid Mehrinfar, Mohamed El Fatatry, CEO, Muxlim, Yasser Al – Kharobi, Head of Corporate Marketing, Rotana Group and Tarik Hamou Hadi, Vice President Sales, Marketing And Innovation, Savola Foods among others will deliberate on building successful brands.

The event will witness participation from over 150 key branding and communications key decision makers. The Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry is the strategic partner for the four-day Summit. The workshops will elucidate the power of branding in the Kingdom and successful implementation strategies.

The Saudi Brand and Communications Summit is held from June 5th – 8th, 2010 at Hotel Marriott, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Domus Group partners with O3 and Orient-ESJ for MMS 2010; IPSOS to present key statistics on the media industry for 2010

Dubai – May 26th, 2010: A survey of the advertising spend in media across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Pan-Arab countries by IPSOS, one of the region’s leading media research agencies, reports that television advertising will grow  by 78 percent in 2010, followed by print advertising (newspapers and magazines) that is projected to grow by 22 percent .

Taking on from these optimistic growth figures, the Domus Group, organizers of the Media and Marketing Show (MMS) 2010 announced today its partnership with O3 Productions, a subsidiary of the MBC Group and Orient-ESJ, the Arab satellite TV group and Ecole Superieure De Journalisme De Paris, the world’s oldest school of journalism. IPSOS will also elaborate on findings of the survey conducted on advertising spends within the media industry.

Jamal Al Sharif, Managing Director of Dubai Media City and Dubai Studio City, said: “Dubai Media City and Dubai Studio City are delighted to be the official patrons for the sixth edition of the Media and Marketing Show (MMS) 2010, noted for its networking and resource platforms for media and marketing professionals.

“As the leading media hubs in the region, we are committed to supporting events such as MMS that generate a positive impact on the growth of this fast-growing industry in the UAE and the region.”

The show this year focuses on production in the broadcast medium. O3 Productions will bring its expertise in video production and content creation for broadcast media to the event. Orient-ESJ will be conducting professional television training workshops to talk about the current developments and the future of the Arab media.

Fadi Ismail, General Manager, O3 Productions elaborates, “Our partnership with the Media and Marketing Show 2010 reinforces the need for a regional platform for the media production industry. The media and production industry in the region is vital to the future growth of the media and entertainment industry.”

Workshops at MMS this year will highlight key developments and future trends in broadcast production and advertising within the media industry. “Our partnership with leading companies in the media space is an effort to better the quality of the show every year,” added Ms Maysoon Abulhoul, Managing Director, Domus Group, organizers of MMS.

The Media and Marketing Show (MMS) will be held from December 13th – 15th, 2010 at the Sheikh Saeed Halls S1, S2, S3, Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, from 10.00 - 19.00 daily.

Encouraged by positive growth of the brand with improved sales, Al Ain Mineral Water Company (AAMW) has launched a new advertising campaign, ‘Refresh Your Moments’, with a first-ever television commercial for the product. “As we grow as a company and increase our market share, our product line is growing younger,” Fasahat Beg, General Manager, AAMW, told Emirates Business.

“In the past we have been conceived as a conventional company with conservative branding, but now AAMW has changed its attitude and launched a regional campaign that conveys the young and energetic approach of our branding,” said Beg.

The campaign that’s been launched across all media – electronic, print and digital – centres around an “energetic approach with bright orange shades” and is designed to focus on the special moments in people’s lives and their sharing of these with Al Ain water, explained Beg.

The same message is relayed on the digital platform through its presence on Facebook and YouTube. “The challenge was to attract the young audience of social networking sites and involve them in interactive exercises,” he added.

Al Ain Mineral Water is the 100 per cent owned and operated entity of Abu Dhabi-based food and beverage company, Agthia Group. The group’s net sales grew by eight per cent while profits continued to grow faster than sales at 43.4 per cent year-on-year reaching Dh105.5 million, as conveyed in the annual message from the Chairman of the Board, Rashed Mubarak Al Hajery.

Beg said AAMW has grown from Dh77mn to a healthy Dh206mn in 2009. It has been in a major management overhaul for the past three years and has since then, been recording almost 50 per cent year-on-year increase in turnover.

“We have hardly advertised in the past, and strategically, we wanted to improve on our range, distribution and reach and then communicate with our consumers to get their valuable feedback,” said Beg.

The campaign is characterised by bright images of people enjoying a refreshing drink of Al Ain Water amid special everyday moments in life. Beg asserted his faith in the creative agency, The Classic Partnership Advertising, that’s been servicing them for more than three years, handling their total brand communications along with the sister firm, Rae PR.

“We have worked closely with AAMW and after conducting market research, we have identified certain consumer trends and decided that we should focus on happy moments in people’s lives that are shared with others,” said John Mani, Chief Creative Officer, The Classic Partnership Advertising.

With the boom of the internet usage in the UAE, many consumers are turning to buying and selling their goods online. The competition between portal website is intensifying and now consumers have plenty of options to choose from.

One of the most popular website in the UAE is souq.com. Souq.com is a UAE based website that acts like an auction, where buyers and sellers bid for products. With a username and password, you are ready to go and start your shopping experience online with anything listed on this portal such as mobile phones, jewelry, cars, tickets, and many other products, new and used. Kristy Melia, the sales and marketing manager of souq.com, confirms the “great growth” they are experiencing in the market and how they have a customer base of more than 400,000 members.

Competition is present in this industry with another portal in the market. Dubizzle is considered a market leader in classifieds in the UAE, with items ranging from property for sale or lease, jobs, to community services such as car lifts. JC Butler, the managing partner of Dubizzle, states that they had a healthy growth in terms of revenues and customer subscription and that they play at the top of the game in the e-commerce competition.

The latest entrant in the Dubai market is the Lebanese portal Elmazad.com. Elmazad.com has its headquarters in Lebanon and has operations in Dubai with plans to expand to other nearby countries. The website invites users “buy and sell anything free on the largest online market in Lebanon and UAE”. “Anything” can be items like mobile phones, clothes, cars, accessories, and even real estate properties. The COO of elmazad.com in Lebanon, Hisham Al Ashkar, sees Dubai as a great potential for the business to grow as it is still focusing on brand awareness with its marketing campaign through SMS, Facebook and other magazines.

According to company spokespersons, all of the above websites have experienced a huge growth in their customer base. Nowadays, consumers are shifting their buying behavior to online websites or auction sites for many reasons.

One reason is the cheap prices that one can get through such websites. The exact products found in the market are being sold for a discount in dubizzle and souq.com. Unwanted gifts from jewelry to business pens are sold online for less than their original prices in store, and trust us, there are a lot!

In addition, these websites have done a lot to develop their offerings to attract more customers. Souq.com for example introduced a free shipping promotion to encourage more customers to spend online.

The recent economic downturn has also affected much of the regular shopping that is going on in the marketplace. Many people are moving in and out of the country, requiring to sell or to buy their household goods. During financial distress, consumers would turn to buying used products at a cheap price or selling their unwanted stuff to get some extra cash.

Last but not least, while the prospects of online shopping are definitely better during hard times, it is the quality of experience that is more important. Just like window shopping is fun for some of us, so is shopping online. With just a few clicks of a mouse and some searches for the item that you’re looking for, the product becomes yours! You don’t have to worry about getting stuck in a traffic jam, finding a parking space for your car, or not finding what you’re looking for in the mall. One of the many ways the internet continues to make life simpler.

The final two of the six jury presidents were announced yesterday for Spikes Asia Advertising Festival, the regional event for creative excellence in advertising and communications. Akira Kagami, Executive Advisor and Global Executive Creative Advisor of Dentsu, has been named as the craft jury president and Jon Wilkins, the Founding Partner of Naked Communications, has been appointed as the media jury president.

“With an in-depth knowledge of the region’s communications industry and work, both Akira and Jon’s experiences are paramount to leading the juries whose decision will ultimately be influential to these awards and to the business,” said Terry Savage, Chairman of Cannes Lions, which, with Haymarket, is joint organiser of the festival.

Known to many as “the big guy from Dentsu”, Akira has picked up numerous prizes, including awards at Cannes Lions, Clio, and One Show, as well as three Grand Prix at AdFest. He has served on the jury at Cannes Lions, Clio, One Show, D&AD, Spikes and many other international awards, as well as being jury chair at Cannes Lions and AdFest. This year, he will receive the New York Festivals Lifetime Achievement Award. He has spoken at numerous international award shows and seminars about Asian advertising.

Wilkin’s early career was in television, working at Granada TV, being part of the newly formed MTV Europe, and also a stint in the International marketing function at Disney.

He then crossed the divide to BMP DDB where he worked across local and global accounts, and was part of the team that started what has become Tribal DDB. At BMP he was put on the main board as media strategy director. In 1997, he left to work at PHD. Wilkin was promoted to joint Managing Director in 1999.

In August 2000, Jon started Naked Communications along with John Harlow and Will Collin.

Naked are a multiple award winning creative communications agency, with offices in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Oslo, Sydney, Tokyo, Melbourne, New York, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Auckland with plans afoot in South East Asia, China & India.

Jon Wilkins said, “It’s never been a more exciting time to work in media, the rules have fundamentally changed, and innovation and engagement are the name of the game now. If you factor into the mix Asia is the most exciting part of the world to work in, with dynamic growth across the length and breadth of the region - it all contributes to the heady cocktail that is Spikes 2010.”

Mediastow, sponsor of region’s premier digital media conference, says social media penetration in the region fueling digital marketing industry

Dubai, UAE, 16 May, 2010: In a recent survey conducted by the International Quality & Productivity Centre (IQPC), organizers of Click 4.0 conference, 51% of marketers in the Middle East say their biggest challenge was marketing in Arabic.

Mohamed Elzubeir, Head of Mediastow, sponsor of Click 4.0, the leading digital marketing conference to be held in Dubai from June 20 to 24, 2010, says: “Digital marketing is becoming increasingly common among Gulf businesses and marketers for reaching out to their stakeholders with punchy messages.”

Elzubeir revealed that these marketers have started to combine multiple channels in their digital marketing campaigns, which are yielding concrete results.

The IQPC survey sought to gauge what marketers across all industries in the region felt about critical topics, such as social media, integration of digital marketing into the traditional campaign mix and tackling transparency issues.
 
Nearly 73% of the 1,048 respondents named Saudi Arabia as the country they are most likely to focus on for their digital marketing in 2010-2011.

“In a country of almost 30 million, where 40% of the population consists of Arabic speaking natives, there has been a rapid increase in global media and consultancies competing to do business with local companies and brands in their native language,” commented Elzubeir.

Elzubeir said: “The tech-savvy nature of the people living in the Gulf is reflected in the fact that it has become a primary market for most multinational IT vendors. The Push and Pull digital marketing is well exploited in the region by marketers, thanks to factors like advanced ICT infrastructure, social media penetration and a tech-savvy target audience. Governments, businesses, schools, banks, universities and media are all putting their resources on the web in order not to miss the boat.”
 
Elizabeth Ricciardelli, Director of Click 4.0, says, “The partnership of Mediastow as a sponsor of Click 4.0 reflects mutual commitment to the digital marketing industry, this is an event of choice for learning from the best in the industry and Mediastow is the region’s key media research specialist company. This partnership underlines the need for concerted efforts by all players in the regional industry to drive digital marketing ahead and stand shoulder to shoulder with the more established world markets.”

Elzubeir said that a major problem in this part of the world is that marketers are not being shown what value the digital campaigns are providing them in reaching their customers.

He added: “We need to provide marketers with the necessary tools to gauge the success of their digital campaigns, which in turn could be the best tool to be put on the management board’s table to ask them for more money for digital marketing because simply the message is put across to customers via a cost effective channel.”

“Portraying the efficiency of digital marketing quantifiably is what is required at this stage and this is where regional agencies like Mediastow fits in,” emphasized Ricciardelli.

The new acquisitions and alliances in the region point to a robust and sustained future for the digital marketing industry in the region, added Elzubeir.

At the recent partnership launch between Facebook and Connect Ads, it was revealed that 9.7 million people in the region are part of the social networking platform, providing a great opportunity for brands to actively engage directly with this untapped consumer base.

“The Internet is a great tool for advertisers as it provides them with the tools to effectively engage with the region’s online consumers through various sophisticated targeting capabilities and innovative engagement opportunities.  Online is definitely the way forward and our region is on the right track,” Ricciardelli concluded.