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Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

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Jingle all the way

In Advertising, Communicate, Marketing, Published journalism on November 24, 2010 at 7:09 pm

Commercials for Cairo, ads for Alexandria; Egypt has become a major marketing playground. Communicate speaks to the agencies behind the ubiquitous jingles

Originally published in Communicate, April 2010

In 1968 Egyptian television viewers found themselves humming a new tune. It was the jingle from an animated ad for Al Misr Dairy, composed by Ahmed Kamal Awad. Egyptians liked the jingle, and the notion of tying a brand to a catchy melody had arrived in North Africa; the fate of Egyptian advertising for the next forty years was sealed. Read the rest of this entry »

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Engaging Egypt

In Communicate, Marketing, Media, Published journalism, Television on November 24, 2010 at 7:03 pm

Newspapers are gaining traction in Egypt, but Communicate finds that television is still number one for both the marketing industry and the audience

Originally covered in Communicate, April 2010

Dubai Press Club’s Middle East Media Outlook report cites Zenith Optimedia/Value Partners data saying that advertising spend in Egypt is focused on print, with 55 percent of the country’s advertising money going to newspapers. But those on the ground beg to differ. Read the rest of this entry »

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View from the top

In Advertising, Communicate, Dubai, Marketing, Published journalism, Q&A on November 24, 2010 at 3:49 pm

OMG boss Elie Khouri says there’s a war shaping up in the media world

Originally published in Communicate, November 2009

As regional managing director of planning and buying agency Omnicom Media Group, Elie Khouri has his finger on the pulse of the region’s media industry. He sat down with Communicate recently to tell us how media looks today, and what we can expect to see tomorrow. Read the rest of this entry »

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Super TED

In Dubai, Marketing, Opinion, Published journalism on November 24, 2010 at 3:47 pm

TEDx Dubai’s mixed bag of speakers might have spouted the odd cliché, but they knew how to hold an audience

Originally published in Communicate, November 2009

Last month saw the first TEDx Dubai, a regional spin off of the globally renowned ideas conference, in which key speakers and big thinkers can share ideas across a limitless range of topics with each other – and a local audience. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tickets to the gun show

In Communicate, Marketing, Opinion, Published journalism on November 23, 2010 at 5:55 pm

Communicate takes cover as the public lays siege to the Idex defense exhibition

Originally published in Communicate, April 2009

People like guns apparently. And bullets. And armor to protect them from guns and bullets.  And Tasers for when their guns run out of bullets. The scary part of Abu Dhabi’s Idex defense exhibition was ultimately not the hardware on display, but the sheer appetite of visitors for all things deadly or free. Read the rest of this entry »

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The legend of Spamalot

In Communicate, Dubai, Journalism, Marketing, Public relations, Published journalism on November 23, 2010 at 5:43 pm

We look at the unsolicited mail in our inboxes, and see who’s jamming our computers with junk

Originally published in Communicate, September 2008

As journalists, we thrive on information, and a lot of this comes via our inboxes.

Unfortunately, to get to that information, we have to dig through piles of irrelevant rubbish, much of it sent by PR professionals.
So we fired a warning shot last month, when we warned we would name and shame the worst offenders. (See Letter from the editor, page 3, July-August 2008.) Read the rest of this entry »

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Press conference saves babies

In Communicate, Dubai, Journalism, Marketing, Public relations, Published journalism on November 23, 2010 at 1:40 pm

P&G vaccinates 100 newborns for everyone who attends campaign launch

Originally published in Communicate, July 2008

Communicate (and some other journos) saved some babies yesterday. By going to a press conference.

We were intrigued by a press release from IPN, on behalf of P&G’s Pampers diaper brand, inviting us to attend the launch of their “1 large pack = 1 tetanus vaccine” campaign, run in partnership with UNICEF. It promised that, “P&G has pledged to donate 100 additional vaccines towards the campaign for every person who attends the press conference.” Journalists were encouraged to bring family and friends to further boost numbers at the presser. Read the rest of this entry »

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Production pragmatism

In Advertising, Communicate, Dubai, Marketing, Published journalism, Television on November 23, 2010 at 10:34 am

It’s an unlikely deviation from the usual plot, but Dubai Studio City is trying to give the industry what it requires, rather than telling it what it wants

Originally published in Communicate, February 2008

During the Dubai International Film Festival in December, Dubai Studio City (DSC) announced full occupancy of its 18 boutique studios. The project’s aim of bringing production to Dubai, it seems, is being achieved.

Dr. Amina Al Rustamani, executive director of media at Tecom Investments, the parent company of Dubai’s free zones, says there are four main reasons to attract the film and production industry to the emirate: tourism, the economic benefits of having a big budget industry in town, “building the knowledge economy,” and the creation of jobs. Read the rest of this entry »

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X Games excels at X-selling

In Communicate, Dubai, Marketing, Published journalism on November 23, 2010 at 10:22 am

Dubai is full of bored middle-class kids with a thirst for rebellion and Mountain Dew. The X Games brings both, with branding to boot

Originally published in Communicate, January 2008

Not content with importing replicas of the pyramids, faux Taj Mahals and inoffensive clones of famous art galleries, the UAE has been striving to import subculture in the form of the X Games.

After being dropped off in 4x4s, thousands of surly youths last month trudged to a makeshift skate park at the back of Festival City. Checking their bikes, boards and inlines at the gate, the nobody-understands-mes of Dubai scowled from beneath Korn hoodies at the likes of Garrett Reynolds in the BMX freestyle street event (who was “psyched to have won”), Tyler Hendry (skateboard street, “It was very close and I’m so stoked”), and Greg Hartman, who – according to a press release – pulled a switchblade no-footed can flip to win his Moto X best trick medal. Awesome. Read the rest of this entry »

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Son of a Fitch

In Advertising, Communicate, Dubai, Marketing, Published journalism, Q&A on November 23, 2010 at 10:19 am

Design guru Rodney Fitch talks to Communicate about his new business in Dubai and plans for further expansion in the Middle East

Originally published in Communicate, January 2008

In September, international design consultancy Fitch became the majority partner in Dubai-based independent branding and design consultancy GSCS – now renamed GS Fitch.

Communicate met with Fitch founder and CEO Rodney Fitch, and his new business partner, Gregg Sedgwick, when Fitch came to Dubai recently to meet the GS Fitch team. Read the rest of this entry »