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Archive for the ‘Published journalism’ Category

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Shelfish thoughts

In Advertising, Communicate, Dubai, Marketing, Opinion, Published journalism on November 24, 2010 at 7:33 pm

As TBWA/Raad launches Integer, the region’s latest shopper marketing agency, the discipline’s big challenge will not be shifting product but keeping clients focused on their brands

Originally published in Communicate, May 2010

Everyone’s getting into shopper marketing these days. OgilvyAction has been around for a while, and Saatchi launched its shopper marketing arm, Saatchi & Saatchi X, in October 2009. Last month, TBWA/Raad joined the fray, with the launch of a MENA office for Omnicom shopper marketing agency Integer.

More shopper marketing agencies mean more buzzwords from the discipline that brought us wobblers and danglers. At March’s Dubai International Advertising Festival, Simon Hathaway, the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi X in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, waxed lyrical about “storeback thinking,” “the shopping cycle,” “destripping the store,” and “return on involvement,” before getting to the crucial question: “How will it play on-shelf?” Read the rest of this entry »

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Defining moment

In Communicate, Dubai, Marketing, Opinion, Published journalism on November 24, 2010 at 7:13 pm

The Brand Union discusses the agency’s business at its global conference in Dubai, but does branding itself need a makeover?

Originally published in Communicate, May 2010

The Brand Union last month hosted 45 of its global bosses in Dubai for the branding agency’s annual conference. No doubt if we’d asked, there would have been talk of what an important growth market the Middle East is, and how some of the most exciting brands of tomorrow will come out of this region. We suspect that cheap hotel rooms and the plush Media City offices that house Hermann Behrens and his team might have slightly more to do with it. Since we were invited – along with other journos and clients – to a round table on branding – with free food and drink – we decided not to ask. Read the rest of this entry »

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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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Must try harder

In Advertising, Communicate, Published journalism on November 24, 2010 at 3:59 pm

Everyone was talking about digital at this year’s MENA Cristal Awards, but the prizes told a different story

Originally published in Communicate, March 2010

“This to me doesn’t feel like an awards show, it feels like a big family reunion,” said John Merrifield, creative at large of TBWA/Asia Pacific, and the president of the MENA Cristal Awards jury. He was on stage at the closing ceremony of the snowbound advertising extravaganza in the mountains above Beirut.

The Cristals has always been as much – many would say more – about networking as it is about awards, and this year was no different. The Middle East’s extended family of admen and adwomen sheltered together from a blizzard, swilling Chateau Kefraya and putting the marketing world to rights in the lobby of the Faraya Intercon. Merrifield was right – it did feel like a family gathering. Read the rest of this entry »

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Iran’s user generation

In Communicate, Journalism, Published journalism, Q&A, Television on November 24, 2010 at 3:55 pm

Former head of BBC Persian Rob Beynon tells Communicate that social networks may have been pivotal in the Iranian elections, but they don’t mean news is dead

Originally published in Communicate, February 2010

Rob Beynon is CEO of DMA Media, the consultancy firm that helped Abu Dhabi Media Company set up twofour54, its media hub. DMA was also involved in launching the BBC’s Arabic and Farsi television services, and in June 2009 Beynon was the acting head of BBC Persian as the Iranian election result sparked mass protests, rioting and outbreaks of violence.
Communicate sat down with Beynon to ask him about the role user-generated content played in the channel’s coverage of events. Read the rest of this entry »

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Join the PRty

In Communicate, Public relations, Published journalism on November 24, 2010 at 3:52 pm

As a network of independent PR agencies, the APRN is a new concept for the region. Can the alliance of local consultancies face up to international giants?

Originally published in Communicate, December 2009

Last month three PR agencies – Active PR from Dubai, 4PR from Cairo, and MPR from Riyadh – came together to form the Arabian Public Relations Network (APRN). The agencies, which have worked together in the past through “a loose set of affiliations and memorandums of understanding,” according to Active PR’s joint managing director and freshly elected chairman of APRN, Louay Al Samarrai, hope that formalizing those relationships will allow their network to take root and grow. 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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Production values

In Communicate, Opinion, Published journalism, Television on November 24, 2010 at 3:45 pm

Abu Dhabi’s new studio complex doesn’t need to be No. 1 – as long as it works properly

Originally published in Communicate, November 2009

At the end of September, Abu Dhabi’s media hub twofour54 launched its production, post-production and broadcast facilities. Collectively, they are called intaj (that’s Arabic for “production”).

The new facilities are based around five studios, ranging from 60 square meters to just over 600 square meters. Giant doors (“You can literally get an elephant through those,” says a spokesman) lead to studios decked out for filming in high definition (HD), a technology tipped to become the industry’s new standard. Read the rest of this entry »