Advanced Interactive Media Solutions (AIMS), the GCC market leader in interactive digital campaigns, has announced that its CEO Ahmed El Ridi recently participated in the panel discussion that was held as part of the inaugural OVAB (Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau) event in Dubai. This was the first event that OVAB, the group established to raise awareness and develop standards for the emerging Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) advertising industry in Europe, was organising in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.  AIMS will be a member of this bureau to support digital signage industry in the region.

During the event El Ridi emphasized the importance of educating clients and media agencies in the region about the potential of digital signage and also how the audience measurement system that this medium offers differentiates it from others forms of advertising. He also highlighted how AIMS successfully overcame specific challenges to install digital signage in some of the malls in Dubai, and shared the company’s experience in executing several high-impact projects in the UAE.    

“The digital signage market in the region is still in its infancy, and there is a definite need to create greater awareness among the media agencies and the business sector about the impact and reach of this medium,” said El Ridi. “The first OVAB event presented the perfect platform for industry peers to share best practices and discuss the opportunities and challenges of the digital out of home advertising segment

IABC’s flagship event connects over 100 communicators to share best practice

Clare Woodcraft_Deputy Director at Shell Foundation UK.jpg

Dubai - March 15th, 2011: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have long suffered from a lack of formal industry associations in the communications field. While the situa-tion has changed somewhat with the growth of Dubai as a media hub and the growing demand for communications professionals in the region – both from local and interna-tional companies – there is still huge gap in the market.

Recent research published by the International Association for Business Communicators (IABC) shows that the role of communications in ever more critical. In a recent web cast, IABC Fellow, Jim Shaffer spoke of how communications professionals need to change. Traditionally, he argued, communication professionals have been asked to communicate about change but increasingly, they need to be able to change – this, he said, would al-low them to boost both their organization’s bottom line and their own careers.

EuroComm 2011, the flagship communications forum of the IABC for the Middle East and Europe, stands to unite over 100 communications professionals from across both regions on the 150th anniversary of the founding of Turin. The forum will provide a platform to share best practice in the communications industry in a post-recession environment. Over a two day period (April 7-8), some of the top professionals in the industry will gath-er to talk about adding value to the business in difficult economic circumstances.

Events such as EuroComm 2011 provide an excellent platform for both IABC members and non-members to exchange real professional experiences across a diverse and rich geography.

Similarly in the latest CW Bulletin of the IABC, Barbara Fagan-Smith highlights the con-stant change of the business landscape that she says is transforming the way business communicators work. “We have more ways to communicate with audiences who have less time and attention to consume the messages…The need to evolve from communica-tion tactician to strategic business partner is not just desirable, it’s imperative,” she said concluding that “participating in IABC chapter meetings and attending other professional events are great ways to do this.”

Speakers this year include Stephane Dujarric, Director News and Media for United Na-tions Secretariat (former ABC producer and UN spokesperson for Kofi Annan). He will speak about his current role as Communications Director of UNDP. Clare Woodcraft will also speak about her experience of working in communications in the Middle East and of the importance of understanding social investment given the growth in this sector. Other speakers represent the International Committee of the Red Cross, Lloyds Banking Group and the European Training Foundation (which is also co-hosting the event).

Corporate Communications Conference kicks off in Dubai highlighting immense growth of social media

Dr Hamad Al Hammady

Dubai – March 1st, 2011: The communications industry has grown exponentially in the region throughout the last decade. Advertising spend increased from US$6 million (AED22 million) in 1990 to US$280 million (AED1 billion) in 2010; while spend on public relations increased from US$47 million (AED172 million) to US$1.1 billion (AED4 billion) .

Advances in technology have established new mediums of communications. Tablets, smart phones and the ever-evolving social media platforms have given the communica-tions industry a new face. A recent Deloitte report states: 70-80 percent of Fortune 500 companies will support at least one tablet variant for some portion of their work force. This demonstrates accessibility of information anywhere and reinforces the need for prompt communication. 

“Speed is of the essence in modern communications. This has given rise to a ‘nano sec-ond culture’ for most enterprises. However, speed of communications should be coupled with accuracy and transparency, the failure of which can be detrimental to a company in many ways,” asserts Donald Steel, Chief Communications Adviser, BBC UK and speaker at the Corporate Communications Conference 2011.

Social networks represent communications in the ‘nano second culture’. As the Deloitte report states: In 2011, social networks are likely to globally surpass the breathtaking mi-lestone of one billion unique members. They may also deliver over two trillion advertise-ments.

Steel is of the opinion that with the growth and significance of social media, organiza-tions need to adopt the new evolving medium. “Social networks are huge. However, many company CEOs want to see return on investment (ROI) through these mediums. The ROI and impact on a business for social media can be tracked through innovative tools such as unique impressions, clicks, fans, page views among others.”

The Corporate Communications Conference held from February 27th – March 3rd, 2011 in Dubai will highlight issues such as online communications, the impact of social media, establishing a strategic communications function and crisis communications. The Confer-ence now in its fifth year is being held at the Mövenpick Hotel JBR. The repositioned and revamped conference will feature leading corporate communications practitioners sharing techniques that have worked for them through real life case studies. The main confer-ence is taking place today and tomorrow and will close on Thursday with an online com-munications workshop.

UNI is a fun, smart, young and interactive monthly university English publication that fills a gap of what the UAE misses out in terms of powerful, appropriate and intelligent content-base, as well as related topics of concern to university students across all the prominent educational institutions in the country.

The execution of the magazine is creative, yet clear in its presentation, engaging, informative, yet light and memorable. It is tuned in to what the youth of the country want, need, and are essentially moved by. The content is varied, ranging from fun to thought-provoking articles; academia to celebrity interviews; amateur renditions to celebrated art, and most importantly, students, their surroundings, campuses, professors and everything in-between!
 
Ali Sabbagh Editor-in-Chief/Publisher commented: “UNI Magazine will serve the academic community in order to establish itself as the true voice of its generation – a crucial bracket of a population that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but one that will also not be underestimated.“

Cosmopolitan in its nature, the UAE is an umbrella that houses various nationalities and ideologies of a varied populace. To represent the youth and students, the only way to succeed - as a magazine - is to tirelessly strive to become a pedestal in its genre and fill what has so far been a major void. Keeping this in mind, UNI will uniquely serve to satisfy the thirst of knowledge, and act as a collective voice to 17-24 year-olds; as a magazine that is just as unpredictable as the demographic it mirrors.

Come March 2011, UNI will be launched and distributed within campuses across the Emirates, as well as some of the favourite places where students can be found, and its dedicated website being: www.uni,ae. Mr. Sabbagh adds: “We’ve effectively been working on UNI for two solid years to perfect both the content grid as that of design palettes; and now it’s time!”

Dubai 7th Dec. 2010: the Marketing& PR reported more recovery after the consequences of the Global Crisis influenced the economy sectors around the world, Mr. Mohammed Johmani, CEO and Founder of O2 Network , confirmed and expressed his optimism that the economy sector will regain the role shortly, whereas the U.A.E economy running ahead as a pioneering state economy in the area.

Mr. Johmani addressed the 5th Annual O2 Network Gathering held in Dubai and noted that the O2 Network hit 15% increasing in the fields of Marketing, Advertising, PR,Trade Marks, E Services, as more than 100 staff members from Dubai. Abu Dhabi, K.S.A, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar attended the forum, and partnerships were approached with many organizations in both sectors of Private and Public around the G.C.C.
   
The expenses of advertising field around the Gulf hit approximately 5 billion US $ in the 1st half of 2010 reported remarkable increase of 20% compared to the same period of 2009 according to concerned Research& Survey Centers indicating obviously to recover from the Global Crisis, the growth average will returned as before the crisis while it is expected the ad spending will exceed the limits of 10 Billion US $ at the end of 2010, he added.

The U.A.E engaged pioneering with a portion of 31%, while K.S.A portion hit 27%, Kuwait 21.7%, Qatar 10.2%, Bahrain 3% and Oman6%.

At the time O2 Network Marketing Communications gained a portion of the market as many grand projects in the U.A.E, Qatar& Oman represented in privileged Marketing campaigns for Dubai Chamber of Commerce, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashed Business Award, and DED, Seha Company and National Documentation Center  in Abu Dhabi whereas around the Gulf States O2 Network achieved success by running the Marketing Campaign of  Asian Cup,  to be held in Qatar on 2011,  Qatar Energy City and Qatar Star League, and the Marketing Campaign of  Nawras Telecommunications in Omani, Mr. Johmani explained while those projects were gained as for the privileged reputation of O2 and achievements done supported by the well experienced staff in the field of Marketing Communications, he noted.

Mr. Johmani, the O2 CEO, highlighted the Marketing Communication Strategy in 2011 depends on enhancing efficiency& liability in K.S.A& Qatar to deliver unique and innovative services for clients in the G.C.C in all the fields of  Marketing Consultancies, PR, Trade Marks, Research& Survey Centers and e services considering the edge technologies and feasibility of markets with more success and performance, at the time many logos laid by O2 were adapted by a lot of Public Organizations in the region, and honored by many authorities in the U.A.E, Bahrain and other countries. 

He added that customers of O2 increases day after day as many organizations, Public Departments and Private Companies show interest to claim services from O2 Marketing Communications, as various and comprehensive services delivered by O2 became the most favorite demand for many organizations in the area to run marketing campaigns with various consultancies which enhanced relationship to customers and gain profits for both parties, and promoted the customers image for the decision makers and public as a precious target of organizations around the world.

It is noted that O2 for Marketing Communications won Sheikh Mohamad Bin Rashed Youth Projects Support Award, three Awards from CNBC Arabic at 2007& 2008 as for remarkable leading campaigns of Bahrain Investment Anchor Project, Aswaq Company Campaign in U.A.E and Website design for Wasel of the U.A.E.

O2 Network deliver privileged services for customers around Abu Dhabi, Dubai and many Companies in the G.C.C and other states in the region.

O2 well experienced staff with various cultural backgrounds led to perform uniquely with high quality services.

Total_Marketing

Sector expertise, capability of an individual advisor and local presence - key criteria in a PR campaign

Dubai – November 1st, 2010: The Finsbury Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Corporate Communications Sentiment Survey  states that 74 percent of companies in the region rarely adhere to international best practices in communications. There are some compa-nies that communicate well but many that do not because of a lack of understanding of the value of public relations (PR).

The report states that effective communications can help an organization emerge from economic challenges ahead of the rest. There are two major factors that will shape the landscape of global public relations – the rapid development of the PR field and the de-mocratization of information worldwide.

Addressing the issue, Soha Nassif, Regional Director of PR and Communication, Concorde El Salam Hotels, Egypt said: “The strategic role of PR for consumer brands is critical to extending the impact and credibility of advertising. It is an essential component of the marketing mix and vital in building credibility and lasting relationships. PR reaches seg-mented audiences while marketing public relations is one of the most cost-effective ap-proaches to sales success.”

The survey further states that sector expertise, the capability of PR professionals to act as brand advisors and local presence are key criteria for PR success. As per the report, some agencies have a long way to go in terms of competency, efficiency and sector

knowledge. However, the dividing line between good and bad is usually drawn by the

adherence or not to international best practices.

These issues will be discussed at the Total Marketing Summit, to be held in Dubai from November 1st to 3rd, 2010. Public Relations, which is one of the five verticals of market-ing, will be discussed and debated by eminent speakers that include J C Butler, Co-Founder and El Capitan, Dubizzle, Yasser Al Kharobi, Head of Corporate Marketing, Ro-tana Media Group, Ahmed Nassef, Vice President and Managing Director Middle East, Ya-hoo! Middle East and Isam Bayazidi, Chief Executive Officer at Ikoo among others. Held over three days, the summit boasts over 35 speakers from the five disciplines and six in-teractive workshops.

AFC_Creative

Ahead of next year’s Asian Cup Qatar 2011, the Organizing Committee of the event has announced a formal partnership with local group O2 Network to execute its marketing communications campaigns across the region.  O2 Network will bring to the table diverse experience in the fields of advertising, interactive and branding in order to achieve the targets and objectives planned for the tournament.

O2 Network has so far assisted the committee in launching the ad campaign for the ticket purchasing as well as a new web portal.  The portal alone is expected to sell over half a million tickets to the fans before the start of the Asian Cup, according to company sources.  Current projects also include putting the final touches on the launch of the official mascot and the mega countdown clock, which will start counting 100 days before the start of the finals. Organizers have said that a large share of the marketing campaign will promote local interest in the tournament and enhance the image of Qatar within the GCC as a country capable of hosting sporting events of the highest international caliber. 

Mohammed Johmani, CEO and Founder of O2 Network, believes that the event will be an outstanding opportunity to reinforce Qatar’s position as a leading destination within the global sporting arena. “We are now looking at the larger marketing strategies based on recent studies of the target market, ensuring that the project as a whole fits in with the country’s long-term ambitions in this area,” comments Johmani. “The sports sector is growing across the region, and we are looking forward to this project as an opportunity to bring fresh new ideas to a sector that is itself quite young in Qatar.”

The total scope of work for O2 Network involves 360-degree management of the creative work, media buying, digital promotions and guerilla marketing in local hotels and public transportation.  Creative work can already be seen on the streets of Doha, with an imaginative color scheme outlining how fans can find their way to the games, which will be located at five different stadiums across the city. 

The finals of the Asian Cup Qatar 2011 will be from January 7 – 29, 2011, with participation from 16 international teams. It is the second time Qatar has hosted the finals after welcoming the ninth edition in 1988.  Participants in this edition of the Cup include Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Australia, China, and the UAE, among others.

Dubai, September 5, 2010- Celebrating the spirit of Ramadan with partners from across the region, O2 Network recently held its annual Ramadan Networking Event at the Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai, UAE.  Welcoming regional business personalities as well as the agency’s 80 plus employees, the evening was marked as an occasion to honour the Holy Month of Ramadan while commemorating the strong relationships that the agency has maintained during the past year.  Having opened offices in Qatar and Oman earlier in 2010, the event was also an opportunity for O2 Network senior management to interact with client servicing teams from different geographic markets.  Others in attendance included top marketing brass from a range of industries, including partners form the manufacturing, healthcare, and retail sectors.

Mohammed Johmani, CEO and Founder of O2 Network, was pleased to congratulate everyone on another successful year having navigated the challenges posed to many local companies and economies.  “They say it takes a village to build something truly exceptional, and this year I felt especially privileged to be able to work with so many exceptional people in moving projects forward.  Our mutual perseverance and determination has brought us to where we are today, and what better time to reflect upon those accomplishments than during Ramadan.”

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.