The United Arab Emirates has won 21 Lions across multiple categories at the 70th edition of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2023.
The haul consisted of 1 Grand Prix, 1 Gold, 6 Silver and 13 Bronze, including first-time wins in the categories of Glass: The Lion For Change, Entertainment For Music and Creative Data. The country also collected a count of 89 shortlists on the global stage.
Winning agencies from the UAE included Impact BBDO Dubai, FP7 McCann, Leo Burnett, and us, VMLY&R, Saatchi & Saatchi ME and Havas Middle East.
Philip Thomas, Chairman of LIONS, said, “The body of Lion-winning work that emerged from the Jury rooms points the way forward, and demonstrates the power of the industry to drive change, build businesses and shape society.”
The Cannes Lions Festival also marked a significant milestone for the UAE, as it boasted the largest group of jurors over a single festival. Notably, Ali Rez from Impact BBDO became the first-ever Jury President from the MENA region, while Sandro Gelashvili from Google contributed as a jury member for the inaugural Entertainment Lions for the Gaming category.
Symon Medeiros and Jonathan Cruz, Creative Directors from and us, along with Chloe Salloum, a student from the American University in Dubai and member of SheSays, represented the country in two events as part of the festival: the International Young Lions Digital Competition and the Roger Hatchuel Academy.
“This year, the Young Lions competition centred
around Rocket Learning, a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping young children prepare for school. We were given 24 hours to develop a digital solution for their brief. It was rewarding for us to use the power of creativity to help them solve real-world
language of mental health.
won’t talk to peers about mental health. To facilitate the mental health conversation,
matches 26 letters with 26 words related to mental health.
problems,” added Cruz.
Student Chloe Salloum said: “I was thrilled to learn that 80 per cent of the academy members were women. That is a testament to the talent of women in this industry, and I was excited to be a part of it.”
SRMG hosted SRMG Beach
Experience at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, as the first-ever official festival representative of Saudi Arabia. The week-long experience included talks and performances.
Speakers included Brut Co-founder and CEO Guillaume Lacroix, VaynerMedia’s Gary Vaynerchuck, OMG MENA’s Elda Choucair, Anghami’s Elie Habib, standup comedian and TV star Mo Amer, Impact BBDO’s Ali Rez, and Good People’s Ali Ali.
There were concerts by Saudi artist Mishaal and regional Khaleeji hip-hop artists, including DJ Outlaw, Moayad, Jeed and Flipperachi. Naïka, Elyanna and DJ Rodge also performed.
SRMG CEO Jomana Al-Rashid and Billboard President Mike Van launched Billboard Arabia, a new music platform for Arab artists, which will bring charts, music awards and live events soon.
Since he took over, Twitter has been in the spotlight for staff layoffs, a big drop in advertising revenue, charging for blue ticks and most recently, the launch of Threads, Meta’s response to Twitter.
Threads said it won’t start accepting advertising until it reaches critical mass. Currently it has more than 100 million users, most of them signing up in the first five days since it launched.
Twitter’s Chief Executive Officer, Linda Yaccarino, tweeted: “It’s an exceptionally rare thing – in life or in business – that you get a second chance to make another big impression. Twitter made one massive impression and changed the way we communicate. Now, X will go further, transforming the global town square.”
She added that X would be “centred in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking” and would be a “global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities”. She added: “X will be the platform that can deliver, well … everything.”
Elon Musk has replaced the famous blue bird of Twitter with an X, in a move that signals a new era for his social media platform, which he bought for $44 billion.
Since the billionaire’s takeover of Twitter last October, Musk has hinted at big changes for the platform, turning it into a super app like China’s WeChat or Careem in the Middle East.
The new logo has sparked mixed reactions from users and confusion about what tweets would now be called. Advertisers have said the rebranding to X could throw away years of Twitter’s name recognition.
Some have said they miss the bird already and #GoodbyeTwitter was trending on the platform when the news was announced.
Ahead of the rebrand, Musk tweeted that “soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds”.
In response to a tweet asking what tweets will be called under X, Musk replied “x’s”.
The X is not new for Musk and he has used the symbol/letter across his previous companies, including an online bank x.com, which later became PayPal. Musk officially changed Twitter’s name to X Holdings Corp in April.
Soon after Musk took over the company, several advertisers deserted the site out of concern for the damage the early upheaval would have to their brands.
They reduced ad spending in part as a result of worries that the new owner has made adjustments that have encouraged the growth of more offensive content.
Yaccarino’s hiring as a respected advertising executive was primarily motivated by the desire to win back advertisers who had either stopped using the platform or dramatically reduced their expenditure there.
TikTok recently announced plans for text-only posts on its app as a direct rival to X.
Egyptian malt beverage Fayrouz unerwent its biggest redesign since 2011. The new design was created keeping the brand’s history and nostaligic appeal in mind. The goal of the design was to keep the diehard Fayrouz fans happy while evolving the brand enough to appeal to the new generation.
Saudi Arabia won its first-ever Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.
The winning agency, Wunderman Thompson Riyadh, took home the Grand Prix in Creative Commerce for the ‘Subconscious Order’ campaign for HungerStation.
Wunderman Thompson Riyadh’s Executive Creative Director, Rayyan Aoun, said that this was a “groundbreaking achievement for Saudi Arabia”.
He also added: “This is a truly historic win for both Cannes Lions and Saudi Arabia, as it is the first time a campaign from the Kingdom has won a Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious awards for creativity in the world.”
Created in collaboration with Wunderman Thompson’s global creative data team, the campaign combines consumer insights and technology to bring together an experience to improve consumer experience.
‘Subconscious Order’ is an app which aims to tap into the subconscious mind by tracking users’ eyes to help the user decide what food they’re most in the mood for.
Wunderman Thompson says the campaign was aimed at “eliminating the frustrations of decision fatigue” that consumers face while choosing
their food.
Commenting on the work, Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, Jury President of the Creative Commerce Lions said the campaign “turns transactional into emotional, and solves a pain point about choice overload which drives discoverability of new foods and places to order”.
She continued, “In today’s world, brands have to apply meaningful value in order for people to offer use of their facial data, and ‘Subconscious Order’ did this beautifully. It’s a
Blue Apple Advertising has won the creative communication project for the launch of Snow Abu Dhabi, an indoor snow park in Abu Dhabi’s Reem Mall. The win for the launch project was the result of a multiagency pitch.
As a part of the launch project, Blue Apple will be responsible for the launch of the brand across digital, social media, radio, outdoor and other branding touchpoints.
Philippa Kevan, Marketing Head, Snow Abu Dhabi, said, “We are delighted to welcome Blue Apple Advertising as our creative partner to launch our brand. Snow Abu Dhabi is on a mission to redefine entertainment for the whole family by offering unique experiences. With Blue Apple’s strong creative and strategic capabilities, we aim to start a journey to make it Abu Dhabi’s most preferred entertainment destination.”
wonderful example of AI being applied to commerce and is a bold, brave way to change the user experience, which is no mean feat.”
Wunderman Thompson’s Grand Prix is one of two Grands Prix won by the region. The other one was bagged by Impact BBDO in the Print & Publishing category, making it the agency’s third Grand Prix win at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.
Both agencies also won Grand Prix awards at the Dubai Lynx Festival of Creativity earlier this year.
Vishhal JN Anand, Founder and CEO, Blue Apple Advertising, said: “Our objective is to focus on making Snow Abu Dhabi the place of choice for all young-at-heart entertainment seekers in Abu Dhabi and bring families together. We want to position Snow Abu Dhabi as a new experience unlike anything else the capital has to offer.”
Snow Abu Dhabi is the latest winter-themed park from Majid Al Futtaim, similar to the group’s Ski Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates.
Telecommunications
with one another. To emphasise the significance of two-way communication during the political limbo period in Lebanon, the ministry provided politicians with free sim cards as part of the campaign.
Agency TBWA\RAAD
In its latest campaign, Puma celebrates everyday athletes’ commitment to bettering themselves. It aimed to help individuals to tackle their fitness obstacles, pushing them to reach new milestones in sports and personal growth. As part of the campaign, it collaborated with renowned athletes such as Ramona Khalife, a Lebanese triathlete, Mahdi Khamassi, yoga practitioner, and Aziza Sbaity, the fastest female Lebanese sprinter in history.
Agency Sticky Ginger
On World Conversation Day, the Lebanese Ministry of
and Information revealed the numbers of the country’s politicians on billboards throughout the country, urging them to engage in dialogue
The concept of extracting valuable insights from consumer behaviour in marketing did not receive much attention until 1974. This eventually paved the way for the emergence of the all-encompassing discipline of ‘consumer research’.
With the arrival of technology, theorists shifted their focus from randomised experiments to a more consumer-oriented and financially informed perspective. To remain relevant in the face of constantly evolving consumer behaviour, and effectively tap into what works, brands are tasked with the daunting challenge of detailed research.
They must analyse vast numbers of surveys, customer support emails, social media mentions, feedback and data from pretty much every customer touchpoint they set up. AI and digital-native marketers are leveraging advanced and selflearning AI models and algorithms to analyse massive amounts of unstructured data. Yet, despite the abundance of available data, many brands utilise only a small fraction due to unclear goals and limited familiarity with relevant technology and AI, leading to a dependence on manual processes.
To address this issue, numerous enterprises are developing full-stack
marketing product suites that incorporate a diverse range of AI-driven tools, meticulously tailored to leverage the potential of consumer insights in record time. These suites enable marketers to achieve their goals swiftly and efficiently, completing tasks in one-third of the time it would take with traditional methods. These AI-driven tools are poised to witness innovative advancements catalyzing a revolution in the marketing landscape as we hurtle towards the halfway mark of this decade.
Here’s a bird’s-eye view from my perspective.
Large language models (LLMs) will distill voluminous amounts of consumer insights into condensed synopses.
The sheer number of brand mentions, which can be in the millions, makes manual analysis impossible. This is where LLMs step in as an alternative to help summarise the sentiments of these mentions and provide consumer insights. It takes on the tedious task of reading through millions of surveys, feedback emails, reviews and more.
All the vital information is gathered and an overall summary is provided in the form of compact reports or crucial takeaways for marketers to act on. These reports and insights will enable brands and marketers to take action faster.
Low code/no code development will provide the necessary boost to brands’ to gauge consumer intelligence
Brands are increasingly adopting low/no code automation systems to automate manual work or data collection.This facilitates a head start for multiple forthcoming and novel brands to establish channels for gauging consumer intelligence, encompassing evaluations, feedback, customer support emails and an array of other measures.
A formidable amount of data is collected through enabling brands to develop resources such as help centres, FAQ pages and community forums. This helps customers to discover solutions and answers on their own. Also, brands will be able to utilise the gathered consumer intelligence to improve their products and services, and ensure that customer support agents are mapped to more high-level matters.
Adaptive AI will potentially improve retail operational efficiencies by analysing real-time shopping behaviour.
In the near future with the aid of Adaptive AI, retailers will possess the capability to provide highly personalised recommendations and seamless customer experiences. These will be made possible through real-time insights acquired via video analytics, which will be powered by
cutting-edge on-prem infrastructure. In-store analytics will intelligently process customers’ dwell times in various sections of the store, generating invaluable insights.
Consumer data, such as past shopping history across multiple channels, demographic profiles, reviews and feedback can be recorded and stored in data banks. By harnessing these multi-dimensional insights, retailers will have the means to create an enriched and immersive shopping experience.
Conversational AI will provide a multi-dimensional mode in gathering consumer insights. Customers want to be able to engage with brands by being allowed a flexibility to switch modes and channels for a more immersive experience.
Brands must develop a strategy capable of automating across various modalities, be it voice or chat across web or social or other channels, like WhatsApp or Instagram. By adding a layer of data analytics to these channels or modalities, they can be used as seamless touchpoints to generate consumer insights for enabling a seamless touchpoint. This can be achieved by leveraging conversational AI solutions to deliver differentiated Dynamic AI agentinitiated conversations through these channels. This helps brands to reach out to customers on their preferred channels at the ideal time and with their desired communication.
But there is still a significant awareness gap among the masses in understanding the real potential of AI. One of the reasons for this is the technical aspect of adoption, requiring a significant investment of time to comprehend before implementation. It’s crucial for businesses to recognise that AI is an asset for revenue generation, with limitless capabilities that can provide a competitive advantage.
By Vrushali Prasade, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Pixis
‘‘THE SHEER NUMBER OF BRAND MENTIONS, WHICH CAN BE IN THE MILLIONS, MAKES MANUAL ANALYSIS IMPOSSIBLE’’
In the ever-evolving world of marketing, one thing remains constant: understanding your customers is the key to success. Customer personas have emerged as an essential tool for marketers across various industries, helping to shape the customer journey and purchasing experience. By leveraging customer personas in performance marketing strategies, companies can drive growth and success.
Research has shown that organisations using customer personas in their marketing efforts have a 73 per cent higher conversion rate than those that do not. A study by the Aberdeen Group found that companies using personas experienced a 56 per cent increase in revenue and a 24 per cent increase in marketing leads. These statistics highlight the potential impact of customer personas on a company’s bottom line.
Customer personas are based on data and insights from various sources, such as the Global Web Index (GWI), which helps companies understand the interests, key behaviours, and needs of each group. By using these personas, businesses can develop targeted messaging and creative content that caters to the interests and habits of their key customer segments. The shift from a demographic to a psychographic approach, incorporating data from sources like the GWI, demonstrates a commitment to understanding the emotional needs and wants of customers, as well as their functional requirements. This shift from demographic to psychographic approaches in marketing is not just a trend, but a necessity for businesses looking to thrive in the digital age, as it allows them to better understand and cater to the unique needs and desires of their customers.
Media agencies play a significant role in this process, as they use tools like GWI to identify and quantify target audiences based on customer personas. This helps businesses target potential customers based on their interests, behaviours, and needs, and quantify the number of prospects in each segment.
Customer experience is another critical factor in identifying personas, as it provides insights into customers’ behaviours and preferences. By understanding how customers interact with a brand and its products, companies can refine their personas and ensure they remain relevant and effective.
Customer personas are the backbone of any successful performance marketing campaign, as they enable businesses to create highly targeted messaging and content that resonates with their audience, driving higher conversion rates and revenue
growth. In today’s fiercely competitive market, businesses that fail to embrace customer personas in their performance marketing strategies risk being left behind, as they miss the opportunity to connect with their audience on a deeper, more meaningful level.
As businesses look to the future, they must aim to improve their use of personas in performance marketing. This includes moving from a demographic to a psychographic approach, which will enable more targeted and effective messaging. This shift will also help companies stay in sync with the current environment, as personas need to be regularly updated and evolved to remain effective.
In marketing strategies, personas are most relevant in the awareness and consideration stages of the customer journey. By understanding the specific needs and wants of each persona, businesses can create tailored content and messaging that resonates with their target audience.
The use of customer personas in performance marketing has proven to be a powerful tool for businesses across various industries. By understanding their customers on a deeper level, companies can create targeted messaging and content that speaks to the emotional needs and wants of their audience, as well as their functional requirements.
For the Nissan X-Trail, the “Everyday Explorer” persona was targeted for an active lifestyle, spending weekends outdoors with loved ones. Performance marketing should include these interests, leveraging creative that resonates with the persona’s consideration set and potentially pushes them lower in the purchase funnel. Lifestyle photography and imagery with families will demonstrate the X-Trail’s versatility, while messages that speak to the persona’s emotional and functional needs will be used across each model. This approach is specific and relevant, ensuring the persona is at the heart of the targeting and creative messaging.
As the marketing landscape continues to evolve, companies must adapt and innovate to stay ahead of the curve. Embracing customer personas and leveraging data-driven insights will be crucial for businesses to maintain their competitive edge and deliver exceptional customer experiences. By prioritizing the development and implementation of customer personas, businesses are not only investing in their marketing success, but also in building lasting relationships with their customers, fostering brand loyalty and long-term growth.
By Ameen Jaber, Head of Marketing, Al Masaood Automobiles
Al Masaood Automobiles’ Ameen Jaber explains a winning strategy for the digital age
“Customer experience is another critical factor in identifying personas, as it provides insights into customers’ behaviours and preferences”
Veering away from traditional revenue management early on, Nisthar identified the potential of effective brand marketing in achieving revenue maximisation. Working closely under the leadership of Kabir Mulchandani, Chairman and Founder, FIVE and Aloki Batra, CEO, FIVE Hospitality, Nisthar has helped redefined the playbook of the hospitality brand. He has supported building the strength of the brand, which has directly resulted in lower costs and higher profitability margins. This has led to $5 million in savings per year, ultimately leading to higher direct brand revenues.
FIVE has an acutely CX-lead ethos, backed by a keen sense of revenue generation. Our homegrown, unique customer experiences such as Skyline Friday at the Penthouse and Bohemia at Beach by FIVE at FIVE Palm Jumeirah are one-of-a-kind 360 degree extravaganzas that are created, and curated, from a CXforemost perspective.
Team FIVE’s CX efforts have resulted in a room revenue increase of 10 per cent in 2022 with brand share in total room revenue generation being an average of 54 per cent average for both hotels in Dubai. In 2022, FIVE Palm Jumeirah and FIVE Jumeirah Village have consistently maintained an impressive average occupancy rate of 93 per cent which was 36 per cent higher than its competitors and FIVE Hotels and Resorts is currently performing 3 times higher than its comp-set in terms of Total Revenue Per Available Room.
Absolutely. A remarkable customer experience is critical to the perpetual growth of any business. An exceptional customer experience fosters loyalty, helps retain customers and stimulates brand advocacy.
According to research by Accenture, 72 per cent of consumers say that external factors, such as inflation, social movements and climate change are impacting their lives more than in the past. Amid so much upheaval, people are revaluating what’s important to them: 61 per cent of consumers say their priorities keep changing as a result of everything going on in the world. As a result, the way they interact with brands is evolving, and so too is the idea of customer experience.
At FIVE, we understand that ‘social
proof’ sells – therefore our social media content is user-generated in order to showcase an authentic FIVE journey. The process involves pre-purchase social media marketing of the ‘Vibe at FIVE’ followed by ensuring the purchase process is seamless. Once on-ground, the goal is to elicit positive emotions from incomparable experiences that align with customers in a more original and dynamic manner.
Performance marketing and behavioural targeting are powerful strategies for reaching and engaging with specific audiences. Here are some creative approaches we have considered for each:
Performance marketing Influencer partnerships: FIVE collaborates with relevant influencers
who align with our brand and target audience. They create content and promotions that drive performancebased actions, such as clicks, sign-ups or purchases.
User-generated content campaigns: We encourage our audience to create and share content related to our brand or products.
Micro-moments advertising: We identify key moments in a customer’s journey and create targeted ads that address their specific needs or challenges at each stage. This approach helps deliver highly relevant content that drives action. Dynamic remarketing: We use personalised ads that showcase our hotels based on a user’s previous interactions with our website. This tailored approach reminds users of hotels they showed interest in, and increases the chances of conversion.
Predictive analytics: FIVE leverages data and predictive models to anticipate user behaviour and tailors our digital marketing efforts accordingly.
Contextual targeting: We serves ads or content that align with the context of the user’s current online activity.
Geo-targeting: FIVE tailors our marketing messages based on the user’s location. We deliver locationspecific offers, promotions, or recommendations to increase relevancy and drive conversions. Cross-device targeting: FIVE follows users across multiple devices and delivers consistent messaging and experiences. This approach ensures that our marketing efforts are cohesive and coordinated, regardless of the device a user is using.
Psychographic segmentation: FIVE goes beyond demographic information and analyses user interests, values, and behaviours.
Working in tandem with our thriving e-commerce team at FIVE, I am able to efficiently supported the brand’s digital growth. FIVE Hotels and Resorts is 218 per cent more searched for on Google than other comparative luxury hotels. As confirmed by Boston Consulting Group’s survey, FIVE was ranked 3.7 out of 4 while the industry stood at 1.7 for digital maturity, and enjoys a widespread engaged community of more than 931,000 followers across all of its social media platforms with 137 million views of FIVE’s hashtags on Tik Tok.
By Mushal Nisthar, Group Director of Revenue at FIVE Hotels and ResortsFIVE Hotels and Resorts’ Mushal Nisthar explains the importance of CX
‘‘WE IDENTIFY KEY MOMENTS IN A CUSTOMER’S JOURNEY AND CREATE TARGETED ADS THAT ADDRESS THEIR SPECIFIC NEEDS’’
enhance content discoverability, encourage engagement and add expressive communication options.
Branded Content and Partner Tags: This will open up opportunities for brands to run influencer campaigns on the app while adhering to evolving disclosure rules.
Following Feed: This will enable users to view threads from accounts they follow, not algorithmic ones.
Advertising: As of now, Threads has no plans to introduce ads until its user base reaches a critical mass.
Rate Limit: In an aim to address spam attacks, Threads will be implementing rate limits on daily post viewing —a strategy akin to Twitter’s recent implementation, which faced backlash.
As data enthusiasts, we conducted a social listening exercise on Threads to gauge its online buzz since launch. The graph represents the global public online conversation volume about Threads.
As expected, the timeline shows an impressive spike in conversations about Threads when it launched on July 6th, remaining high until July 10th. After that, the volume fluctuated, with varying levels of interest tied to news about upcoming features.
Meta’s adventure into the Twitterverse has never been more intriguing. From Snapchat’s Stories to TikTok’s Reels, they’ve dipped their toes into every pool of inspiration since 2016. Now, they’ve turned their attention to Twitter with Threads, their latest text-based platform.
Threads stormed into the limelight at its launch, boasting a jaw-dropping 100 million users in a mere 5 days—a milestone that took Twitter 5 years to reach! And all that without even launching in the EU yet due to privacy concerns. This rapid success is tied to the platform’s sign-up process, where you can create an account by simply logging in with your Instagram credentials, avoiding the need to start from scratch. This move seamlessly transfers your existing Instagram circles to Threads, sparing you the effort of rebuilding a community or finding your mutuals on a new platform – a stroke of genius that fueled its rapid rise to fame.
While Threads gathered a massive audience base at lightning speed, it is still in the race to the starting line in terms of available features. Right now, users can post 500-character ‘threads’, images, videos and GIFs - up to 10 media items at once. However, there’s a long list of ‘oops, we’re missing these’ at the moment: No long videos, direct messages, live audio rooms, alt image text, hashtags, full web version support (it’s read-only), the muchdebated edit button, post search, or a ‘following’ feed. The home feed is currently an algorithmic mix of content from accounts a user follows and others deemed interesting. But don’t worry, changes are on the horizon.
Here are the features that are currently on the Thread’s development team to-do list:
Edit Option: Users will have the ability to make changes to their posts without reuploading their Thread, ensuring hassle-free editing.
Enhanced Post Search: This will enable users to find specific content and discover relevant conversations on trending topics effortlessly.
Account Deactivation: Users will be able to deactivate their Thread account while keeping their entire Instagram profile intact, eliminating the need for a complete deletion.
Hashtags, Voice Notes, and Tagging: These upcoming features aim to
The themes of conversation varied, but one thing stood out: users had a ‘love it or leave it’ affair with the platform. Some hopped back and forth between Instagram and Twitter, while others found themselves sprinting back to Twitter, feeling a bit let down by Threads’ initial hype. Memes, being users’ preferred social media language, flooded the conversation, with users joking about Elon Musk’s huge investments in Twitter and Meta’s uncanny success in the replication game. Additionally, an Arabic poll hashtag, #TwitterOrThreads further ignited the conversation, as users compared both platforms, with many rooting for the former and disliking Meta’s history of cloning successful features instead of innovating.
The initial buzz might have quieted down a bit, but let’s not forget that they’ve already attracted over 100 million users. That’s pretty impressive in itself. As is outpacing Twitter’s sign-ups in just one day. But they’re definitely not done yet. With new features still in the pipeline, we’re eagerly waiting to see Instagram’s next moves. The key is to keep the momentum going and surprise us with fresh updates. Especially features
that aren’t available on Twitter. So, while the hype might have cooled off a bit, we’re excited to see what Threads has in store for us next.
At Netizency, we’re diving headfirst into the Threads adventure. We are working with most of our clients to ‘test and learn’ on the platform. We have started creating original content exclusively for the platform; and so far it has been getting great traction. We’re using Threads to spark conversations, ask questions, and share joke snippets to keep people entertained. Plus, we’re constantly A/B testing to discover what works best. If you’re curious about what we’re up to, make sure to join us on Threads and be a part of the fun.
https://www.threads.net/@mosseri/post/CuhPRxzgzBT
“WE HAVE STARTED CREATING ORIGINAL CONTENT EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE PLATFORM”
In today’s fiercely competitive business landscape, organisations in Saudi Arabia are constantly seeking innovative ways to maximise the impact of their marketing strategies. One approach that has emerged as a game-changer is the integration of customer experience (CX) into performance marketing efforts. As a Senior Digital Performance Executive at Hashtag Social Media Agency, I understand the transformative potential of CX in driving business success. I want to delve into the intricacies of leveraging CX to enhance performance marketing strategies specifically tailored for the Saudi Arabian market.
In a rapidly evolving market like Saudi Arabia, creating customer-centric experiences is crucial for businesses aiming to achieve sustainable growth. We need to emphasise that a deep understanding of customers’ needs and preferences lays the foundation for crafting compelling experiences. By aligning marketing strategies with these insights, companies can foster stronger connections, nurture brand loyalty, and ultimately drive revenue growth.
While marketing sets the stage by capturing customers’ attention and setting expectations, it is CX that delivers on those promises. In the context of Saudi Arabia, a seamless and delightful customer experience across various touchpoints is instrumental in shaping positive brand perceptions and generating word-of-mouth recommendations. The marriage of marketing and CX is indispensable, as it determines whether customers become loyal advocates or disillusioned detractors.
In the era of data-driven decision-making, we should underscore the importance of leveraging CX data to fuel performance marketing strategies. By harnessing robust analytics and customer insights, marketers gain invaluable knowledge about patterns, preferences, and pain points. This wealth of information empowers them to tailor campaigns, messages and
offers that genuinely resonate with the Saudi Arabian audience. Data-driven marketing decisions enable us to optimize our efforts, drive personalization, and deliver experiences that truly engage and convert.
In the dynamic landscape of performance marketing, CX serves as the catalyst for staying ahead of the competition in Saudi Arabia. A well-executed CX strategy can be the differentiating factor, leading to increased customer satisfaction loyalty, and repeat purchases. By investing in customer experience initiatives, organisations can cultivate long-term relationships with their Saudi Arabian customers, foster brand advocacy and create a sustainable competitive advantage.
To excel in the Saudi Arabian market, businesses must focus on three pivotal aspects: personalisation, convenience and excellent customer service.
Personalisation: Tailoring marketing messages and experiences to individual customer preferences is paramount. By utilising data-driven insights, businesses can create hyper-targeted campaigns, personalised recommendations, and bespoke offerings that resonate deeply with Saudi Arabian consumers. Go beyond generic messages and demonstrate a genuine understanding of your customers’ unique needs and aspirations. Convenience: In a rapidly digitising Saudi Arabian landscape, customers expect seamless and convenient experiences. I suggest investing in user-friendly interfaces, streamlining purchase processes and optimising mobile responsiveness. Moreover, integrating emerging technologies such as chatbots and voice assistants can further enhance convenience and engagement. Excellent customer service: Exceptional customer service plays a pivotal role in building trust and loyalty. In the Saudi Arabian context, ensuring timely and personalised support across multiple channels is crucial. We need to emphasise the significance of prompt issue resolution and proactive communication. Be available attentive, and empathetic, treating each customer interaction as an opportunity to exceed expectations.
In the Saudi Arabian market, the integration of CX into performance marketing strategies has become a prerequisite for businesses aiming to thrive and outshine competitors. The significance of creating customer-centric experiences to drive business success is crucial. By leveraging CX data, focusing on personalisation, convenience and excellent customer service, organisations can elevate their performance marketing efforts and achieve remarkable results in the highly competitive Saudi Arabian marketplace. When marketing and customer experience align seamlessly, brands can unlock their true potential and forge meaningful connections with their Saudi Arabian customers, setting the stage for sustainable growth and long-term success.
By Rana Romoh, Senior Digital Performance Executive at Hashtag Social Media Agency
Data-driven strategies prioritising customer experience are the driving force behind marketing success, says Hashtag’s Rana Romoh
“By harnessing robust analytics and customer insights, marketers gain invaluable knowledge about patterns, preferences, and pain points”
We are currently in a transition phase and it is an exciting time to be in our industry. Within less than 18 months third-party cookies will fully sunset. We are facing one of the biggest shifts in the digital marketing space since the introduction of programmatic trading. If we want to get ahead of it, the time to start changing is now.
The first wave of data personalisation, delivered by programmatic advertising, transformed the digital media industry. The increased use of data and technology led to the ability to execute complex, connected campaigns and personalisation across audiences. While message and user experience delivered success across all stages of the marketing funnel, with advanced measurement capabilities enabling realtime optimisation and deeper insights to adjust and fine tune future strategies.
Across this ecosystem, over time, the consumers data became the product. Eventually, this was met with a rise in ad-blockers, regulation over privacy, consent, and data usage and a need to rethink how we approach the future.
Cookie data sits at the centre of the web ecosystem. With the end of the traditional model, all stages of programmatic ecosystem are impacted: Audience targeting and Insights, Data Enrichment, Media Inventory selection, Campaign management, Optimisation, Measurement, Analytics & Attribution. In the short term, reduced-ad effectiveness is likely, but I am confident of a positive long-term impact.
The reduction of hyper-targeting through behavioural data isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the programmatic industry. We’ll see a reduction in the negative by-products of programmatic: Fraudulent activity, spoofing, bots, cookie stuffing and the chasing of view-based conversions should decrease due to demand and tracking changes.
Google’s Topic API provides an option for interest targeting; on a broader level, it is powered by the browser and refreshes every three weeks. With some cookie data expirations previously set for over a year, it will provide greater accuracy to current consumer top of mind. Combining this targeting approach with AI-driven conversational ads can go some way to filling the personalisation gap.
Contextual has seen greater advancements across the previous few years, while natural language processing has driven greater ability to identify and understand sentiment, mindset and motivations based on the content being consumed. We can currently define consumer interest based on what they are reading, but the greater opportunity is intercepting across intent. With the internet a key source of consumer research, it provides us with a way to get more advanced
at intercepting across the evaluation phase of purchase funnel and shift traditional DCO triggers from audience interest to mindset, and advance matching relevancy on active consumption.
In other words, while deeper audience targeting is going away, there is something substantial and more holistic in the wings to take its place.
At Mindshare, we foresee positive adjustments in the setup of campaigns; quality of media inventory becoming more focused; publisher data partnerships would have an even greater importance. Modern structures and usage of AI to make decisions will continue to rise. The integration of offline data sets and 1st party data sources will be key to make best usage of advanced strategies.
Of course, there are larger challenges and barriers ahead. Many attribution models have become redundant in the new landscape. Website user experience will be crucial to gain opt-in. The difficulties across targeting and measurement underline the need to adopt new strategies.
Audio and ConnectedTV continue to
Cookie-less environments like DOOH, Audio and Connected TV continue to mature; all are currently under-utilised and ripe to form integrated media strategies, as well as for us to reassess how we construct and measure performance.
Collaboration between agencies and client businesses will determine how successful we are in this next phase. Delivering success in the long-term will need alignment and a shift in thinking, big data modelling and econometric analysis. Using predictive analytics and simulation, we can understand what happened in the past and calculate what could happen in future.
alignment and a shift in
Didn’t I say it’s an exciting time?
By Sco Spurgeon Leadership Director at Mindshare UAE
, Client
Should brands disclose if they’re using AI in social media campaigns?
Brands should disclose their use of AI in social media campaigns for the sake of transparency and to build trust with consumers. By providing this information, brands empower consumers to make informed decisions about their engagement with AI-driven content. Disclosure also acknowledges the ethical implications of AI and fosters dialogue around responsible practices. Additionally, disclosing AI usage allows brands to differentiate themselves, showcase innovation, and attract tech-savvy consumers who appreciate and seek out AI-driven experiences. Overall, disclosure promotes transparency, trust, ethical considerations, and consumer appeal. This is written by ChatGPT. Guess it’s smart enough to speak for itself.
Transparency and honesty are crucial in establishing trust with customers. By openly acknowledging the use of AI, brands establish credibility and honesty, enhancing their reputation. AI is still a developing technology that currently lacks clear guidelines and regulations. Therefore, it is important for brands to consider the potential risks and ethical implications that come with it. Three simple things to keep in mind are fact-checking for accuracy, monitoring for bias and staying up to date with AI-related regulations. Let’s explore the benefits of AI while adhering to the highest ethical standards in our campaigns.
The use of AI in campaigns is likely to become more prevalent and if brands are aiming to be transparent with their users and wider stakeholders about their operations - this can be highlighted as an example of how businesses can bring on board new tools and technologies to be able to better connect with target communities. This will still be conducted in tandem with the human talent driving the brand activity, therefore offering space for great studies on how developing technology can be used to elevate the creativity we see within the industry.
Marwa Kaabour Group Head of Marketing and Corporate Communication, Al Masaood
YESFirstly, transparency is essential to consumers, who have the right to know whether the content they engage with is created by humans or AI. Misleading audiences into believing that AI-generated content is human-created undermines trust and authenticity. Secondly, disclosing AI-generated content establishes a foundation of trust between brands and consumers. By openly acknowledging the role of AI, brands demonstrate confidence in the quality of their content and show they are not attempting to deceive their audience. This transparency fosters trust and credibility, potentially leading to increased brand loyalty.
Moreover, disclosing AI-generated content helps brands mitigate legal liability. In several markets – including this region - distributing false or misleading content is prohibited by law. Failure to disclose the use of AI could leave brands susceptible to legal consequences if their content is found to be deceptive or misleading.
Undoubtedly, GenAI is a powerful tool, but as brands, we must hold ourselves to a greater truth as expected by all stakeholders, or, to use a common comic-derived moniker “with great GenAI, comes great responsibility.” So, let’s all take this responsibility seriously.
Leandra Meintjes Chief Marketing Officer at PROVEN 360
We are witnessing a paradigm shift in social media campaigns with the use of AI, which is transforming the way brands communicate with their consumers. Companies, today, are experimenting with generative AI images and sounds, AI influencers to name some in various social platforms to reach out to their audience.
While AI can be a game changer, companies must be aware of the potential risks associated with any new technology. It is necessary that brands strike a balance between the use of technology to enhance their social campaigns and maintain the human touch that truly resonates with customers. Transparency is crucial for fostering trust and for this, brands must consider ethical and legal implications when publishing content.
Brands should definitely consider disclosing their use of AI in social media campaigns. This will demonstrate honesty, change people’s perception of technology, and show that brands are serious about promoting responsible and ethical AI implementation, which will help strengthen the credibility of the brand with their consumers.
NOAdvertising is content made to engage with consumers. Most of it is make-believe. Consumers know this, and brands have never disclosed the tools they use to make their content. Whether it be extensive Photoshop retouching of beauty models or fake materials to make food props, they have never bared it all to their audience. So why should they start being transparent now?
If brands do choose to be honest, they should be fully committed to it. There is no need for selective transparency. However, agencies have to be transparent to the clients about the tools (including AI) used to make content.
Orson Baz Associate Business Director, Content, Publicis GroupeNOOnce we’re past the ongoing hype phase of AI wherein advertisers basically just want to announce that they harnessed a new technology, using AI will become so natural that disclosing that you used an AI tool will be kind of like disclosing that you used Photoshop to edit your KV.
The main issue will not be whether you used AI at all, but whether the tool was trained on content that is fair to original artists. A commercial royalty system will need to be worked out to remunerate the artists that built the foundations of our LLMs, diffusion models etc.
Karim Mroueh Strategy and Innovation Lead, Serviceplan Group Middle East
It is ultimately up to the brands whether or not they choose to reveal their use of AI on social media. What matters most is whether AI is used to improve message delivery and produce engaging content. Think of it as a chef baking a pizza in an oven. Customers may not care about the technical details of the oven, but they do care about the tasty outcome. Similarly, disclosure becomes less important as long as brands employ AI lawfully and benefit their audience. Instead of worrying about openly disclosing AI’s presence, the emphasis should continue to be on using it to improve experiences.
Dina Salem Executive Social Media Director at TBWA\RAADNOIt’s not mandatory, but brands can choose to disclose their use of AI. Nowadays, most target audiences can recognize when AI is employed to generate visual content. They are also aware of algorithms that analyze and learn their online behaviour for personalized experiences like online shopping and music streaming, which they can opt out of at any time. Brands and agencies use AI to enhance user experiences and support content creation. AI serves as a tool to make these processes more efficient internally. Therefore, it is up to brands whether they want to disclose their use of AI in social media campaigns.
Yogesh Khanchandani Co-Founder & Chief Business Strategy Officer at PivotRoots (A Havas Company)
Disclosures allow consumers to make informed decisions and better understand the nature of the content and its potential implications on engaging with it. Transparency builds trust between brands and consumers. By being open with its consumers, brands strengthen their relationships with their audience.
It can also help brands create an opportunity to educate their consumers on AI and its role in their campaigns. The use of AI technologies can also have significant implications on privacy and data usage, and hence full disclosures, help brands promote accountability for their content.
Since the use of AI in communication is rapidly changing and constantly growing, its laws, guidelines, implications, and restrictions are also constantly being updated.
YESBrands should disclose if they’re using AI in social media campaigns. This disclosure promotes transparency, a vital aspect of today’s digital landscape. By being upfront about the use of AI, brands build trust with consumers, addressing concerns over data privacy and ethical issues. Additionally, in some jurisdictions, legal requirements may mandate such transparency. Overall, while it could initially seem off-putting to some consumers, clear communication about AI use sets the stage for an open, honest relationship between brands and their audience, fostering long-term loyalty and trust.
Alessandro Candotti
YESCreating day-to-day content with AI will soon be standard, but as the real and digital worlds become increasingly indistinguishable, users will mistrust fake stories and crave real experiences on social. Especially when investing in purposedriven, emotional content, brands need to disclose AI in a way that improves the idea, or face backlash. Knowing that AI content is inevitable, perhaps social platforms themselves will flag it if brands choose not to. Trust is already a key battleground, so leaning into transparency with AI will help legitimise brands in front of an increasingly savvy audience.
Michael Maksoudian Managing Partner, Netizency
NODo brands disclose whether they are creating content themselves or via their agency? or whether the agency is using stock image/video, phone photography or outsourced professionals? The answer is no, as well as it is not relevant. These are all methods and tools to achieve the objective of developing a campaign. The more interesting question is ‘Should agencies disclose if they’re using AI in their work to their clients?’.
Marcelo Zylberberg Associate Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson
NOUnless they see value in it. An AI tool is part of the creative process. We don’t see brands disclosing which photographers, directors, animation studios, or freelancers they worked with on their “regular” posts – except if it makes the work seem more interesting. The same goes for AI. Revealing it to followers only makes sense if it strengthens the idea and brand. Other than that, it becomes noise. Remember: people don’t want to look at a restaurant’s kitchen; they just want the food to be great.
When brands openly acknowledge their use of AI, they demonstrate transparency, ethical commitment, and authenticity, which ultimately strengthens our consumer relationships. This transparency eliminates misconceptions, distinguishing artistry from reality. Embracing AI's untapped potential also fosters industry acceptance and normalises its usage, while overcoming the uncertainties that accompany AI. By doing so, brands begin to pave the way for transformative progress. This cohesive approach harnesses the power of AI, driving meaningful advancements in the industry. By embracing a transparent approach to the use of AI, we forge stronger connections, inspire innovation, and shape a future seamlessly integrating AI into creative endeavours.
NOAI will contribute to our social media marketing
mix in increasing proportions on multiple fronts - key messages, last-mile content adaptations, virtual models, intelligent targeting and many more to come. Hence, the exercise of disclosetagging AI usage is not practical to be tracked as technology is growing exponentially and organically by the day, if not by the hour. As long as it is used to enhance the customer experience on social media, it should not be mandatory to disclose the AI hand in action. The code of social media ethics and boundaries of possibility should be measured on the same scale, whether it is a result of human efforts or AI creation.
The metaverse’s immense growth and limitless possibilities have sparked people’s creativity and encouraged businesses to explore new horizons of digital experiences. Brands now have a unique unprecedented opportunity to connect with their audiences in more immersive and meaningful ways than ever before and build brand identity in new, innovative ways. They can introduce products to trade with digital assets, create amazing works of art and design, and engage with others in new and exciting ways.
But businesses need to have a well-defined marketing strategy that considers the immersive potential of this environment and adapts to the evolving digital behaviour of their customers. Research suggests that global metaverse will rise to $82 billion in 2023, underscoring the substantial potential of the metaverse as it transitions from a ‘futuristic concept’ to our new normal.
DEVELOP A UNIQUE BRAND PRESENCE:
The metaverse offers businesses the opportunity to create a unique brand presence that stands out in a crowded marketplace. Brands should focus on creating immersive experiences that align with their brand identity and values. Nowadays, customers crave unique and innovative experiences that are unconventional. When given a choice between a brand that uses traditional marketing techniques and one that provides virtual experiences, most consumers tend to choose the latter. According to the Future of Marketing Institute, the majority of consumers (62%) feel more connected with brands that sponsor virtual reality experiences. One of the easiest ways to do so is by creating custom avatars, virtual storefronts, and branded content.
valuable for brands to tailor their metaverse presence to meet their target audience’s needs and expectations and maximize engagement. This can be easily done by launching interactive games, product demos, and social experiences that allow users to connect with each other and the brand.
The metaverse also offers unique opportunities for product launches,
where customers can interact with This creates a sense of community achieve through traditional marketing channels. Another benefit from anywhere in the world, meaning that businesses can connect with the need for physical infrastructure.
The metaverse also offers unique opportunities for product launches, events and experiential marketing. A business can create a virtual event that takes place in the metaverse, where customers can interact with the brand and each other in real-time. This creates a sense of community and engagement that is difficult to achieve through traditional marketing channels. Another benefit is the ability to reach a global audience. The metaverse is accessible from anywhere in the world, meaning that businesses can connect with customers in new markets without the need for physical infrastructure.
Building a metaverse marketing
willingness to experiment and try
Building a metaverse marketing strategy requires a deep understanding of the technology and its potential. It also requires a willingness to experiment and try new things. Here are a few strategic tactics:
within the metaverse is crucial for
Brands should focus on creating that engage users and encourage them to explore.
FOCUS ON USER EXPERIENCE: The metaverse is a new and unfamiliar environment for many users, so it is essential to prioritise user experience in any metaverse marketing strategy. Collecting and analysing user data within the metaverse is crucial for brands to understand customer behaviour, and engagement patterns. Brands should focus on creating intuitive and easy-to-use experiences that engage users and encourage them to explore.
LEVERAGE INFLUENCERS: Influencers can be a powerful tool for brands looking to build a metaverse strategy. By partnering with influential users in the metaverse, brands can reach new audiences and build credibility in the space. For example, retailers can offer more personalized and adaptive experiences to fashion influencers, thanks to increased 3D definition and immersive interfaces. Similarly, businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors can promote their offerings through travel influencers virtually walking through famous destinations and hotspots, enabling customers to plan their journey from the comfort of home.
EMBRACE INTERACTIVITY: metaverse is all about interactivity, and brands should embrace this to
with users. According to a June 2022 survey by McKinsey & Company, using the metaverse are interested in transitioning to the virtual world to digital realms. Also, a February 2022 global survey by the Capgemini Research Institute, found that Gen Z and Millennials are typically the most
EMBRACE INTERACTIVITY: The metaverse is all about interactivity, and brands should embrace this to build engagement and connection with users. According to a June 2022 survey by McKinsey & Company, nearly 60 per cent of consumers using the metaverse are interested in transitioning to the virtual world to connect with other and explore digital realms. Also, a February 2022 global survey by the Capgemini Research Institute, found that Gen Z and Millennials are typically the most interested in metaverse for gaming and entertainment purposes, such as virtual concerts. This information is
MEASURE RESULTS: As with any marketing strategy, it is essential to measure the results of metaverse campaigns. Brands should track key metrics such as engagement, conversion rates, and ROI to optimize their metaverse strategy over time. Ultimately, there are limitless possibilities that brands can explore to stay ahead of their rivals and grow with the metaverse. According to estimates, the global market size for the metaverse is projected to reach $5 trillion by 2030, indicating significant potential for metaverse-based activities. Rightly said, the metaverse is a new frontier for businesses to explore, and it offers endless possibilities for building brand identity and engagement.
By Alfred Manasseh, Co-Fo under and Chief Metaverse Officer of Shaffra‘‘A METAVERSE MARKETING STRATEGY REQUIRES A DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF TECHNOLOGY AND ITS POTENTIAL’’
The virtual space offers unique opportunities for product launches, events and experiential marketing, says Shaffra’s Alfred Manasseh
The modern era has brought forth the expectation of a superior customer experience, which has become a necessary component of business success in today’s hyperconnected world. This demand extends beyond mere satisfaction and requires meeting the needs of a tech-savvy clientele through seamless interactions across all touchpoints. However, ensuring the achievement of this ideal customer experience is not without its challenges, and those who neglect to prioritise it may face negative repercussions. These can include increased customer churn, negative reviews and feedback, and ultimately, a decrease in revenue that can threaten the very existence of the business.
Investing in customer insights and feedback mechanisms is a vital part of developing a successful CX strategy. Only by putting in the effort to monitor customer feedback and interactions can companies identify and resolve pain points in a proactive and efficient way. Prioritising CX is more than just good public relations; it can be a significant driver of revenue growth. By gaining an understanding of customers’ needs and preferences, businesses can tailor their experiences and gain the competitive edge they need to succeed.
MULTIPLE CHANNELS
An additional element of a successful CX strategy is a seamless omnichannel approach. Omnichannel transactions allow customers to use multiple channels, including social media, email, phone, chatbots and in-store interactions to interact with brands. However, creating an effective omnichannel strategy requires a deep understanding of customers’ preferred communication channels. Companies that wish to provide a seamless experience across all touchpoints need to have the capabilities to execute the strategy. For instance, when a customer initiates a transaction on social media but completes it in-store, their information and purchase history need to sync across all touchpoints. Such an approach can help businesses deliver tailored experiences that resonate with their customers and create customer loyalty that can last for years.
Integrating technology offers limitless possibilities, ranging from chatbots to virtual assistants, AI and machine learning. Simple customer inquiries can be handled by chatbots, freeing up employee time to focus on more complex issues, such as product recommendations or personalised services.
However, integrating technology without careful consideration can be counterproductive. The CX strategy must strive to strike a balance between automated and human interactions to ensure seamless experiences. Staff members must be trained to work alongside technology to improve customer interaction, rather than detract from it. The integration of technology in a CX strategy holds tremendous potential for companies seeking to deliver a seamless customer experience. Another key strategy is building a community within your relevant customer base, which is an essential component of ensuring a positive customer experience. By engaging with your customers and creating a sense of community, you can build trust, strengthen relationships and gather invaluable feedback and insights. Building a community can take many forms, from creating a dedicated social media presence to hosting events or webinars. By providing a platform for your customers to interact, share ideas, and ask questions, you can foster a sense of belonging and create a loyal customer base.
A loyal customer base can be incredibly valuable, not only in terms of repeat business but also as brand ambassadors who refer new customers. By providing exceptional customer service and creating personalised experiences, you can create advocates for your brand and drive word-of-mouth marketing. Developing loyalty among existing customers and attracting new customers can create a platform for engagement, build trust and strengthen relationships. This, in turn, leads to a loyal customer base that acts as brand ambassadors and provides valuable feedback and insights. This information can then be used to improve the customer experience, fine-tune your CX strategy, and develop new products or services that better meet customer needs.
Finally, businesses must cultivate a customer-centric culture. CX shouldn’t be the sole responsibility of the CX department but must be the responsibility of the entire organisation. Every employee must understand the importance of CX and the role they play in delivering a seamless experience. From front-line employees to management, everyone must be aligned with the CX strategy and committed to delivering exceptional experiences to customers.
CX has become a primary factor in
today’s hyperconnected world, and businesses must prioritise it to remain competitive. By understanding your customers’ needs and expectations, implementing an omnichannel strategy, integrating technology and cultivating a customer-centric culture, businesses can ensure they are meeting the new demands and expectations of a hyperconnected world. The benefits of prioritising CX are numerous, including increased customer loyalty, positive reviews and feedback, and ultimately, increased revenue.
By Adeline Chew, Head of Brand Experience at Cheil
‘‘A LOYAL CUSTOMER BASE CAN BE INCREDIBLY VALUABLE IN TERMS OF REPEAT BUSINESS AND BRAND AMBASSADORS’’
Cheil’s Adeline Chew explains the critical role of customer experience in today’s hyperconnected world
Behavioural targeting has been around for years, fuelled by data from web and app tracking, digital footprints, browsing behaviour and even offline activities. Unlike attitudinal targeting, this selects consumers based on what they do, not why they say they do it. It allows marketers and advertisers to reach the closest-to-action and highest-value segments with personalised recommendations.
But why are we talking about this again? What’s changed in the last few years? And what’s on the horizon?
You would be aware that privacy regulations such as CCPA, GDPR and cookie deprecation have reduced the volume and granularity of identifiable data available to marketers. The further you are from end-users in the marketing supply chain, the less likely you’ll be to get your hands on personal log-level data.
Despite advancements in Artificial intelligence (AI), metaverse and machine learning that have taken programmatic and real-time to unseen-before levels, we still face issues with accurately defining the right audiences with this loss of cookie-level data.
However, there are options to achieve marketing goals without infringing on consumer privacy or violating regulations.
Even with a lack of individual-level data, these technologies can process copious amounts in record time. With the number of tools available, we can enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of what we do with the limited data we have. If we can’t observe in real-time, we can simulate and predict what they could be doing. For instance, the right AI tool can help analyse the website’s user base and place your ad only if it matches certain criteria.
When faced with a shortage of useful data from one source, combine multiple owned sources and build stronger datasets for a more comprehensive user profile. This could mean gathering customer sales data that may be stored in CRMs. Or advertising/media data about the anonymised user. Or survey data from your customer feedback team. Or loyalty rewards data from customer experience teams. Investing in platforms you don’t feel entirely ready for may also be necessary - the likes of data clean rooms and customer data platforms. Strong advertising and media partners can make this process less overwhelming. At essencemediacom, we leverage the power of GroupM to provide consultancy and tools to fill gaps within your martech ecosystem with valuable behavioural data (such as dynamic creative optimisation results which indicate your audience’s drivers through relevance metrics or paid search queries that show innate intent).
Use cohort-level data to understand which genres and content resonate with your best-performing users. Advertise in
meaningful and relevant contexts, and stay on top of experimental audiences and campaigns to minimise wastage and improve your ROI. Some examples of contextual advertising are playlist, channel and account take-overs, ads on category-relevant websites and in-aisle or on-shelf placements.
Pick those that protect end-users, while also enabling advertisers. Some examples are:
Federated learning and On-Device Processing - the training dataset remains on the device it was collected from, avoiding centralized storage and cloud-based data warehouses
Differential privacy - reveals cohort behavioural patterns while withholding those of the individuals within them
FIND BEHAVIOURAL PROXIES IN OTHER DATA SOURCES
You don’t want to understand only your current consumers, right? Exploring sources of future demand using proxies such as emotion and sentiment are also important. Can you think of other behavioural predictors for both current and future consumers?
WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON?
As the world adapts to the new normal, the challenges in advertising targeting also present the best opportunities. Solutions for identity resolution, privacy preservation and returning data control to end-users can also enhance targeting effectiveness.
Google’s Privacy Sandbox- an initiative to facilitate online advertising without reliance on 3rd-party cookies. Early testing in Q1 2023 of privacy-preserving behavioural and interestbased signals for audience targeting showed no major decline in performance, with room for improvement.
Programmatic advancements - eg: The Trade Desk’s Unified ID which anonymises data used for targeting
Using data from syndicated survey providers that link with social listening tools can help us build segments from attitudinal and intent signals to further explore and activate.
At essencemediacom, we embrace Breakthrough Planning with our proprietary Action-Based Advertising, emAffinites, emStreamSync as well as GroupM’s Audience Origin Consumer Surveys, Audience Translator and Architect (that sync with and allow recreation of behavioural targets in-platform).
The key is to have the right skillset to understand the audience problem, nuances and context and then use existing tools and technologies to define, resolve, and optimise audience targets. It’s time to embrace the challenge!
By Kim Mascarenhas, Head of Strategic Insights – MENA at essencemediacom
Technology helps us to accurately define the right audiences but there are challenges, explains essencemediacom’s Kim Mascarenhas
“Solutions for identity resolution and privacy preservation can also be used to enhance targeting effectiveness”
WHERE MARCOMMS MEET STRATEGISTS, COPYWRITERS, GRAPHIC DESIGNERS, MEDIA PLANNERS, DIGITAL MARKETERS, CONTENT CREATORS, STORY-TELLERS, DATA ANALYSTS, WEB UX, FRONT-END AND BACK-END DEVELOPERS, TROUBLE-SHOOTERS, PR EXPERTS, EVENTS DESIGNERS AND ORGANISERS, MEDIA BUYERS, SEO GURUS, CRISIS MANAGERS, CONSULTANTS, AV PRODUCERS, EDITORS, SOCIAL MEDIA SPECIALISTS, WORDSMITHS, SALES MANAGERS, TRANSLATORS, INDUSTRY DISRUPTERS … AND MORE
In a competitive business landscape, companies have to constantly work on how to stand out from the crowd and attract new customers. With the proliferation of social networks and digitalisation, marcomms has become the most crucial tool for organisations to communicate brand messages and reach their target audience.
Amidst all the noise and clutter of this exponential evolution, and despite the fact that keeping the customer satisfied has been a significant component of the industry since day one, the customer experience is now emerging as the key differentiator and vital element of successful marketing and communication strategies, guiding the overall perception a customer has of a brand or company based on their interactions and engagements throughout the customer journey… and that of the customer’s customer!
Every customer experience is different, and of course, it should be, because every customer is different, and objectivity will vary throughout all the contact points in a relationship. To develop a meaningful and productive experience for customers, it’s vital to understand that positive customer experiences are built on trust and loyalty, and across the universe of Viola’s integrated business units, our teams work hard to fully develop that understanding, adding a personal touch to a professional relationship.
Which is why a 360° agency like Viola Communications has a distinct
advantage, having matured over 20 years in Abu Dhabi, cultivating personal, professional and authentic customer-centric relationships across the entire supply-chain of our industry and creating a sustainable business model for the long-term which can be leveraged on behalf of our clients.
By directing Viola’s integrated workflow to focus on enhancing seamless customer experiences, we are implicitly encouraging every client to concentrate on their own strategies, helping them understand their customers' needs, preferences, and challenges, tailoring their marcomms campaigns accordingly and ensuring that our customers, and by extension, their end users, feel understood, listened to, and valued… in other words, empowering customer performance.
It is this full-service integration that enables Viola to provide genuinely effective marketing solutions, creative campaigns and compelling messaging, but is that enough?
Customer satisfaction demands more than just automated processes and box-ticking exercises, it requires a degree of emotional intelligence, it deserves a personal rapport that enhances the overall experience by instinctively scaling up perception, empathy and nuance to have those expectations met or exceeded, cementing the bonds of mutual trust and loyalty.
In a world where customers have more choices than ever, delivering consistently exceptional customer experiences has become the crucial factor in achieving measurable marketing success.
Over the past seven years, Erdogan Can Kabakci has played a pivotal role in transforming the social media presence of Rixos Hotels.
He has spearheaded the growth of the hotel group’s six properties, and cultivated a loyal following, with around 2 million engaged users and more than 1 billion views.
One of his notable achievements is the success of one of Rixos Marina Abu Dhabi hotel’s videos, which garnered an impressive 80 million views on Instagram and TikTok alone. He says this is testament to his strategic approach, captivating storytelling and ability to resonate with the target audience, who are spread across 7 social media accounts.
Kabakci, a former lifeguard, has drawn on his customer-facing experiences in his current role. “This understanding and empathy enabled me to create content that resonates with our guests and enhances their experiences.”
As country content manager of Rixos Hotels UAE he has helped transform social media at Rixos. He did this by shifting the focus from just content to a discovery platform. “Through destination and brand-oriented content, along with engaging user-generated content, we helped users envision themselves experiencing the property.”
the platforms’ focus on discovery. This deep understanding of our offerings and dynamic activities at our properties allows us to create material that truly resonates with our audience.”
Karthik Priyadarshan is the Digital Director at Rixos Hotels UAE & ALL Inclusive Collection, with a passion for e-commerce and digital innovation in the hospitality industry. One of Priyadarshan’s notable achievements was the creation of a WhatsApp chatbot, enabling prospective guests to interact with the properties directly and obtain information about the hotels. Under Priyadarshan’s leadership, Rixos Hotels UAE expanded its digital channels from two to 10. The digital strategy encompasses search, social media, extended social networks, display advertising, video, affiliates, chatbots and email marketing.
In his role, he is responsible for generating revenue for the group’s 45 hotels by using digital marketing strategies to reach its target audience. The team also manages booking channels to ensure a smooth and user-friendly booking experience. And through data analysis, it shapes campaigns and commercial strategies for different regions.
He is a strong believer in the power of e-commerce and digital on travellers, shifting from textual to visual content and inspiring millions on social apps. “Converting engagement into effective communication with the right audience drives action.”
The hotel’s regional direct segment grew from $18m in 2018 to $50m in 2022, while its digitalinspired business now stands at $81m, compared to $35m in 2018.
“The transformative power of e-commerce lies in controlling communication from inspiration to action and leveraging data for optimisation. Exciting times also await with Generative AI advancements in website operations, creative operations, and advertising strategies,” he added.
He is most active on Instagram and TikTok, creating diverse content that showcases the unique offerings and experiences at Rixos Hotels. “While we maintain a consistent brand voice and messaging across all properties, we do have tailored social media strategies for each property.”
The engagement numbers are impressive, although high-end resorts and hotels do enjoy higher social media traffic. “The secret behind our numerous views and users lies in our commitment to producing informative and engaging content. Our in-house team combines technicality and trends, catering to
For Priyadarshan, customer experience (CX) is crucial in the hospitality industry due to its customer-centric nature and emphasis on delivering exceptional guest experiences. “It is the primary focus in this industry.” But Standards vary among brands and hotels based on their training, knowledge transfer, and values. Each brand defines its unique service experiences through standardisations, making them incomparable to others. “The online CX is also vital, with every touchpoint carefully curated to convey the brand’s communication, values, offerings, and points of differentiation from competitors.”
‘‘THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF E-COMMERCE LIES IN CONTROLLING COMMUNICATION FROM INSPIRATION TO ACTION AND LEVERAGING DATA’’Erdogan Can Kabakci is the Country Content Manager at Rixos Hotels UAE and Karthik Priyadarshan is the Digital Director, Rixos Hotels & ALL Inclusive Collection. Karthik Priyadarshan Erdogan Can Kabakci
Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation have sparked excitement in the advertising industry but AI is far from new. AI has been used in Smart Bidding by Google since 2016 and META in auctions since 2018. GroupM Nexus’ Xaxis launched Copilot in 2020, an AI technology for real-time investment optimization. As a Performance Agency, we discuss the impact on our role as marketers. Here’s a snippet of a conversation between Hicham Auajjar, MD of Keyade, and Laura Gleadhill, Head of Performance.
Laura: Hey Hicham! We’ve been using AI-based campaigns, such as Performance max (Pmax) and Advantage plus (Adv+) for some time now, what are your thoughts on these formats?
Hicham: Both Adv+ and Pmax are great campaign types, the initial results for our clients are good. However, these campaigns created an important shift in what we do: it significantly reduces the time and effort needed to create campaigns and more importantly has shifted the mindset and how practitioners approach performance marketing. Practitioners are now obliged to think outcome first and need a better understanding of their clients’ businesses and overall strategy. Historically performance marketers were wrongly considered as behind-the-scenes, tech-wizards, but with this change they’re now at the forefront of marketing and business conversations. What do you think?
Laura: I agree, the changes have made performance marketers closer to business objectives and require them to act as
consultants. Having said that, it did not diminish the need for superior technical and analytical expertise.
Hicham: Exactly. What’s needed to succeed in this new era of digital advertising in your opinion?
Laura: Well, what you feed the algorithm is a defining element to its success so the better the data and insights used to fuel the campaign, the better it performs. The first thing that comes to mind, and one of the most important inputs is first party data (1PD), clients need a comprehensive data infrastructure and data collection strategy to fuel campaigns.
Hicham: Yes agreed! 1PD is fundamental to succeeding with these new campaign types. Additionally, measurement, and specifically privacy-first measurement (enhanced conversions, conversion APIs etc.), are vital to success. Future-proof measurement means better targeting, better optimization, and increased ad relevancy which in turn drives improved performance.
Laura: Yes, and advanced measurement allows us to optimise & bid for advanced outcomes more in line with businesses objectives. For example, we can now optimise to lifetime value and new customer acquisition, or feed in profit data and complex business KPIs. This elevates the marketing conversations to a financial level, as we can now speak a language that the finance community understands and sees the value of investing in. It is easier to talk to a CFO about lifetime value than click-through-rate.
Hicham: Funny Laura! In my opinion, it also helps to elevate budget conversations too. With many clients, we now aren’t constrained by budget provided we meet specific business KPI’s. For these clients, we don’t risk missing opportunities as AI allows us to be confident that when we alter our investment, we will achieve the set objectives.
Laura: In order for AI based campaigns to work, we also need to make sure the creative we’re reaching consumers with is engaging and relevant. It’s so important to ensure that we have the maximum number of assets and formats possible, the ideal scenario sees creative and performance teams working closely together, which will continue to break the siloes of performance marketing.
Hicham: Yes, and AI should help our clients create more assets, better variations and more video formats. However, it’s important for performance agencies to give guidance on what creatives are driving results, for example,
generic vs product-based. For the most advanced approach, we should be using audience insights to further personalize creative. How are we currently using the insights available to us through AI campaigns?
Laura: Great question! One way we currently use insights from AI campaigns is to expand on our audience targeting. When we use AI-based campaign types, we can then analyze the campaigns for segments with the highest propensity to convert. For example, for one of our travel clients we recently discovered a high index for cooking enthusiasts and used that for our prospecting campaigns showing local food of the destination.
Hicham: Fascinating stuff! You can use insights like that as a starting point for AI-based campaigns, as well as data to better understand your audiences and how to target them. We’ve also been testing predictive audiences a lot across our clients, how have they been doing?
Laura: Predictive audiences perform well, they give us real time predictive analysis which when combined with value-based bidding is powerful. Speaking of testing, it’s been a great way to showcase the value of AI-based campaigns to our clients who may be hesitant. With recent updates to the Pmax A/B testing capabilities, we’re able to test, learn and reiterate to understand more this new campaign.
Hicham: I couldn’t agree more. To continue delivering value, we must simplify the latest technologies for our clients and make their adoption seamless within the changing ecosystem. Testing is crucial for us to learn more and understand how to make the AI-based campaigns work for us. Human judgment will always remain crucial behind AI, and our expertise allows us to be that judgement.
In conclusion, the rapid advancements in AI and automation have significantly impacted the advertising industry, transforming the role of performance marketers. By leveraging AI for bidding, audience strategies, and creative generation, marketers can drive stronger results and provide valuable business insights. However, striking the right balance between AI adoption and retaining control remains a challenge for agencies of the future. With ongoing learning and collaboration, performance agencies can continue to thrive and deliver value in this evolving landscape.
By Laura Gleadhill (Head of Performance) & Hicham Auajjar (CPO at GroupM, MD of Keyade), Keyade Middle East a Division of GroupM Nexus
For the MENA region, it’s been a year of firsts at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. From the first MENA jury president to Saudi Arabia taking home its first Grand Prix, we’ve seen rapid progress. Here’s a round of all the 18 winning entries from the Middle East.
Client: Hungerstation
Agency: Wunderman Thompson, Riyadh Grand Prix: Creative Commerce
The judges said: “The campaign turns transactional into emotional and solves a pain point about choice overload which drives discoverability of new foods and places to order. In today’s world, brands have to apply meaningful value in order for people to offer use of their facial data, and ‘Subconscious Order’ did this beautifully. It’s a wonderful example of AI being applied to commerce and is a bold, brave way to change the user experience, which is no mean feat.”
Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, Chief Creative Officer, FCB Canada and Creative Commerce Jury PresidentClient: An Nahar Newspaper
Agency: Impact BBDO, Dubai Grand Prix: Print & Publishing
The judges said: “The Grand Prix was awarded to a brave piece of work that put into action a publication-based idea to defend the sanctity of a free press, and did it in a way that we hope sends a signal to the industry on how eternally innovative the future of publishing can be.”
Print & Publishing Jury
Client: ABAAD Resource Center For Gender Equality
Agency: Leo Burnett, Beirut Gold Lion: Entertainment
Other Lions: Silver Lion – PR
Client: EBM
Agency: Impact BBDO, Dubai Gold Lion: Glass: The Lion for Change
Client: Heinz
Agency: FP7 McCann, Dubai Silver Lion: Outdoor
Other Lions: 2 x Bronze Lions – Brand Experience, and Activation and Outdoor
Client: K-Lynn
Agency: Leo Burnett, Dubai Silver Lions: Creative Commerce and Creative Strategy
Client: Testicular Cancer Society
Agency: FP7 McCann, Dubai / McCann Health, Dubai Silver Lion: Creative Data
Other Lions: Bronze Lion – Direct
SOLE MUSIC
Client: Sole Music
Agency: And Us, Dubai Silver Lion: Health & Wellness
I SEE COKE
Client: The Coca-Cola Company
Agency: VMLY&R Commerce, New York / VMLY&R, Dubai Silver Lion: Radio and Audio
Client: Babyshop
Agency: FP7 McCann, Dubai
Lions: Entertainment Lions For Music, Radio & Audio, Media
Client: Kinokuniya Bookstore
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi ME, Dubai
Lions: Creative Commerce
Client: An Nahar Newspaper
Agency: Impact BBDO, Dubai
Lions: Creative Strategy
Client: Deliveroo
Agency: And Us, Dubai
Lions: Design
Client: United24, Nova Ukraine, Voices Of Children, Boctok Sos
Agency: And Us, Dubai
Lions: Design
Client: UAE Government Media Office
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi ME, Dubai
Lions: Health & Wellness
Client: Heinz
Agency: FP7 McCann, Dubai
Lions: Industry Craft
Client: Transparency International Lebanon - No Corruption (TI-LB)
Agency: Leo Burne , Beirut / Leo Burne , Jeddah
Lions: Media
Client: Adidas
Agency: Havas Middle East, Dubai/Red
Havas Middle East, Dubai
Lions: PR
The 70th edition of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity saw a number of firsts. It also saw a lot more campaigns using artificial intelligence (AI). And a handful of them scooped top honours at this year’s awards. As always, social causes domninated the main winners, covering topics such as climate change and domestic abuse.
Apple “Relax, it’s iPhone – R.I.P. Leon” by Apple, Cupertino Apple was one of two Grand Prix winners in this category. Its 30-second film spotlights the brand’s features that allow users to edit and unsend messages by capturing the sad death of a lizard called Leon. The man taking care of the lizard informs the owner but when Leon springs back to life he promptly unsends the message.
ITV and Campaign Against Living Miserably “The last photo” Adam & Eve/ DDB, London ITV and Campaign Against Living Miserably won a Grand Prix for “The last photo”. The 90-second film shows a montage of the last footage taken of people before taking their own lives, illustrating how suicidal doesn’t always look suicidal.
Korean National Police Agency “Knock knock” by Cheil Worldwide, Seoul The Korean National Police Agency created a new way for victims of domestic violence to call the police. “Knock knock” allows victims to stay silent when alerting the authorities to prevent their abuser from realising.
The “Where to settle” website presented information on the cost of living crisis and where to find jobs and housing in parts of Poland. It advised that there was more opportunity in the smaller cities and carried messages from local governments inviting refugees to come.
The island of Tuvalu created a digital twin of the nation in a pledge to preserve its history, culture and government services in the metaverse. The work followed claims that rising sea levels are likely to submerge the island in a matter of decades.
Hungerstation “The subconscious order” by Wunderman Thompson, Riyadh Delivery app Hungerstation tracked people’s eye movements as they looked at different cuisines to order. The app would then provide the user with data on what sort of food their “subconscious” wanted to eat, before their “conscious” realised.
Mondelez “Shah Rukh Khan-my-ad” by Ogilvy, Mumbai
Cadbury enlisted the help of actor Shah Rukh Khan to advertise for small businesses, due to many not being able to afford movie stars to advertise their services. Since Khan could not advertise every small business, machine learning was used to face map Khan and make it appear as if he were saying the name of small firms.
CREATIVE B2B LIONS
To get business leaders to take urgent action on the United Nations’ goals, B3 Stock Exchange and UN Global Compact turned Earth into a company. It was even launched as an IPO on the stock exchange, exposing its performance in areas such as climate change and poverty.
INNOVATION LIONS
Augmental developed a tongue-driven device designed for quadriplegics unable to use their hands or feet. It enabled users to control other Bluetooth-connected devices, like a phone or gaming system, by sweeping their tongue over its surface. Wunderman Thompson provided brand support and brand experience for the product.
MOBILE LIONS
Users of the food delivery company Pedidos Ya’s app were sent push notifications, not of the progress of their takeaways, but of the journey of the World Cup trophy from Qatar to Argentina.
BRAND EXPERIENCE & ACTIVATION LIONS
The “FIFA 23 x Ted Lasso” partnership between EA Sports and Apple brought the fictional football club AFC Richmond, from the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso, and its titular character to FIFA 23.
CREATIVE STRATEGY LIONS
With France failing to keep up with the demand of public charging stations for electric cars, Renault developed an app that connected users to 680,000 home charging stations across the country.
CREATIVE DATA LIONS
its own historical data with art history data to determine the probability of Stella Artois appearing in paintings throughout
DIRECT LIONS
Adidas “Runner 321” by FCB Toronto Adidas spotlights Chris Nikic, the brand’s first sponsored athlete with Down Syndrome, in a film that shows them reflecting on thier experience with sport and the lack of neurodivergent athletes. Adidas used its sponsorship of the Boston Marathon to create the Runner321 bib, (referring to the medical term for Down Syndrome – trisomy 21), to ensure neurodivergent athletes always have a place in the marathon.
MEDIA LIONS
Dove “#TurnYourBack” by Ogilvy, London and David, Madrid
Dove asked people to turn their backs on a popular beauty filter on TikTok that airbrushes its user’s skin while also changing their bone structure and applying a make-up look. “#TurnYourBack” involved influencers like Alex Light, Louise May and Millie Mclay explaining why the “Bold Glamour” filter is damaging – urging their followers to ditch the filter.
Samsung “Flipvertising” by Chep Network, Sydney Samsung challenged Gen Z to discover free phones that the brand had hidden in YouTube ads by “[engineering] the algorithm”. People were asked to search the right keywords about the Galaxy Z Flip4 in order to get these targeted ads to specifically target them.
FILM CRAFT LIONS
“We cry together – a short film” by PgLang, Los Angeles Kendrick Lamar’s short film for his song We Cry Together portrays a fight between an emotionally abusive couple, eventually ending in physical reconciliation. The song combines jazz rap and spoken word, featuring American actor Taylour Paige, known for Zola, who also stars in the film.
Nike “Never done evolving feat Serena” by AKQA, Sao Paulo / AKQA, Portland / AKQA, Melbourne
Following Serena Williams’ retirement in 2022, Nike released a year-long study in the form of avatars diving into what it takes to maintain such a high level of performance for so long. The data collected from the study is being used to improve Nike products as well as their athletes’ performance.
JR Group “My Japan railway” by Dentsu Inc, Tokyo JR Group connected people to railways by searching historical archives and social media for stories about stations throughout Japan. The push involved the creation of wood-cut style stamps for each railway station and an app for collecting the stamps, encouraging more people to visit different stations and discover new sights.
DESIGN LIONS AND CREATIVE BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION LIONS
Microsoft “Adlam – an alphabet to preserve culture” by McCann, New York Microsoft helped the nomadic Fulani people of West Africa preserve a dying language. The brand worked in partnership with two Fulani brothers, who composed the first alphabet for the previously spoken-only language, Pulaar. Microsoft helped make revisions to the alphabet to improve its performance and then made it more accessible by making it available on computers around the globe.
ENTERTAINMENT LIONS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Clash
For mobile game Clash of Clans’ 10th anniversary, it released a full-length documentary film diving into the history of the game. But instead of 10 years of history, it reimagined the game as if it was its 40th anniversary. The film documented the game as if it had been created in 1982, depicting era-specific renderings of the game, including mock arcade and 8-bit versions.
ENTERTAINMENT LIONS FOR MUSIC
There were two Grand Prix winners in this category. The first went to British singer-songwriter Kiwanuka and the video for his track Beautiful Life. It was was created by UK-based production company Smuggler London and directed by American filmmaker Phillip Youmans.
The second Grand Prix went to Apple for its film “The greatest”. The brand spotlighted its accessibility features in this two-minute film to mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December. It shows seven differently-abled people and how they use Apple devices in their everyday lives. Features including Sound Recognition and Detection Mode appear in the film.
ENTERTAINMENT LIONS FOR SPORT
HEALTH & WELLNESS LIONS
Partners Life “The last performance” by Special, Auckland Partners Life teamed up with murder mystery show The Brokenwood Mysteries to highlight how New Zealand is one of the most underinsured locations in the world when it comes to life insurance. Partners Life brought murdered characters back to life at the end of every episode, so they could express their surprise at their deaths and stress the importance of life insurance.
HEALTH GRAND PRIX FOR GOOD
The initiative, inspired by Publicis Groupe chief executive Arthur Sadoun’s experience of the disease, aims to erase the stigma of cancer in the workplace. It strives to guarantee jobs for staff living with cancer.
PRINT & PUBLISHING LIONS
The Lebanese publication called out press suppression and honoured the anniversary of the death of its editor, Gebran Tueni, by reviving six newspapers that had been forcefully terminated since 2011.
more transparent option.
RADIO & AUDIO LIONS PR LIONS
Ads for the telecoms company Skinny entitled “Lawyer” and “Ad agency” feature a lawyer, an advertiser reading out the Skinny ads “for free” after they see the scripts pasted on a wall near their location “saving Skinny thousands in recording costs”, according to the script.
self love on Valentine’s
encouraged people to order themselves a self love bouquet.
Regional creatives share their experiences and takeaways from this year’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity
The importance of engaging the audience at every point in the storytelling process. Utilising strong creative platforms to explore new and wonderful spaces. Emphasising innovation as a driver for creativity and growth.
Drawing from my experience at Cannes Lions 2023, I predict that the creative industry will continue to grow stronger. It will undergo shape-shifting and further evolution with increased cross-disciplinary collaboration, talent coming from new places, and the expansion of the creative canvas. Additionally, the industry will be influenced and shaped by the everevolving consumption habits of our audience.
Noah Khan Regional President of Digital & Innovation - CEE, Middle East and Africa, TBWA\ RAAD
It was an interesting year. Cannes Lions 2023 showcased an immense body of work with a few truly stand-out pieces. I observed a real drive to develop diverse and innovative work. Compared to previous years, it felt like the industry is pushing boundaries and exploring new avenues of creativity.
One prominent trend at the festival this year was the use of AI. A lot of work tapped into this – unfortunately, not all of it was good and the ones that truly stood out had a significant human co-creation element to them.
During the festival, I was deeply impressed by the impact of creativity, not only on businesses but also on communities and cultures. One presentation that stood out was by Tor Myhren, Vice President of Marketing Communications at Apple.
Here are some of my takeaways and lessons from the festival:
The power of creativity and its impact, especially through agencies.
Khaled Al Shehhi Executive Director
One standout feature was the festival’s unprecedented diversity, celebrating talent from all corners of the world. Countries like Armenia and Nigeria secured their first-ever Lions, while Saudi Arabia’s Subconscious Order campaign earned a historic Grand Prix.
AI emerged as a dominant theme, with major companies highlighting their partnerships with leading AI firms. The future of this technology remains uncertain, but its potential impact on the industry is undeniable.
The importance of effective creativity was a recurring theme, with marketers recognising the value of brand building in driving long-term business growth. Amid the allure of short-term performance marketing, Cannes Lions emphasised the enduring power of brand.
Overall, Cannes Lions 2023 left a profound impression, inspiring the industry to embrace diversity, explore AI’s potential, and focus on impactful creativity. The future appears promising, with innovation and inclusivity on the horizon.
Cannes Lions 2023 marked its 70th anniversary on the French Riviera with an impressive showcase of creativity in the advertising industry. Despite initial concerns over the pandemic’s impact, the festival witnessed a 6 per cent increase in awards entries compared to the previous year, reaffirming the industry’s unwavering enthusiasm. The MENA region took centre stage with a substantial increase in representation and attendance, underlining its growing influence and creative prowess in the advertising world.
With much of the talk at Cannes Lions focused on the rise of AI, it would have been easy to overlook how the power of impactful creative content remains an important factor behind brands connecting with their audiences. The rise of generative AI will continue to change how companies ideate, operate and create.
But it will be the companies that stop looking at these tools as good or bad, and start exploring the different ways to enhance their creativity that will continue to lead innovation and drive new trends. Technology alone cannot push the boundaries. It will also require creatives who understand their communities to deliver relatable, thoughtprovoking content and unique experiences.
That’s what Cannes Lions is all about. It brings together the most creative minds and innovative thinkers to exchange ideas and examine how we can navigate a rapidly evolving industry.
‘‘AI WORK THAT STOOD OUT HAD A HUMAN CO-CREATION ELEMENT TO THEM”
‘‘CANNES LIONS EMPHASISED THE ENDURING POWER OF BRAND”
‘‘TECHNOLOGY ALONE CANNOT PUSH THE BOUNDARIES OF INNOVATION”Thomas Nicolae Gheorghiu Senior Copywriter, Horizon FCB
The first impression that hit me was the festival’s energy – it was buzzing with creativity and collaboration like never before. 2023 really brought back the essence of the festival – a celebration of creativity.
Sustainability and social impact were prominent themes discussed throughout. Brands are not just considering these as an afterthought, but they’re weaving them into their core narratives. We also saw a lot of campaigns leveraging advanced technology such as AI and augmented reality. They went beyond traditional storytelling and engaged audiences in immersive, interactive experiences. It’s clear that the industry has been rapidly adapting to the ever-evolving digital landscape.
One presentation that stood out to me was the “Creativity in the Age of AI” panel. It discussed creativity and AI focusing on how AI, rather than replacing human creatives, can enhance and amplify our creative capacities.
I truly believe that with this synergy between us humans and AI, we have the power to create advertising campaigns that are more data-driven, personalised and impactful.
Key takeaways? One, creativity thrives on diversity. The best ideas came from teams with a diverse mix of backgrounds, cultures and perspectives. Two, authenticity is vital. The most successful campaigns were the ones that felt genuine and resonated deeply with audiences. And three, sustainability isn’t just a trend—it’s a necessity. As an industry, we must commit to creating work that not only sells but also makes a positive impact on the world.
This year at Cannes we saw that, despite being physically apart, we are still a tightly connected creative community. With technology removing geographic barriers, the future of our industry is set to be more diverse, more inclusive, and more collaborative than ever before.
Alok Gadkar
CEO & CCO, Tuesday Communications
I first visited Cannes Lions in 2003. So, it has been two decades since I visited the festival, and I see that it has only grown to be more inclusive. What I also find amazing is that the festival keeps re-inventing itself and because of that it keeps getting more relevant and innovative every year. I recommend everyone to use Cannes Lions as a marker for our industry— unlearn everything from the last year, and soak in as much as you can for the year to come.
Most sessions at Cannes Lions are a gold mine of insights, knowledge, culture and creativity. But, over the years, I have developed a liking for these two sessions, and I never miss them.
First, Saatchi & Saatchi’s ‘The New Directors’ Showcase’, which is now called ‘The Saatchi & Saatchi New Creators’ Showcase’. This hour-long session at the Lumiere Theatre is an absolute crowd favourite. It’s always packed.
The second is the Lion of St. Mark. Its features inspiring stories of our industry’s leaders and the impact they have had on the business as well as this generation of creatives. This year, it was Susan Hoffman who joined W+K as employee No. 8. She spent 40 years defining W+K’s culture and setting the bar for truly unforgettable and groundbreaking work.
It’s also interesting to note that people today trust their favourite brands more than they trust their government. So, we have a great opportunity to leverage that trust and make an impact across industries such as energy, healthcare and retail. We can effectively deliver key messages that can solve real humanitarian problems with ideas that now have the ability to reach more people than ever.
Cannes Lions is big on trends. Every year we see people talking about this one particular thing and then it quickly becomes a global obsession. In the past, we’ve seen trends like data, metaverse, TikTok, 6 seconders, etc. This year, there’s hardly any guessing, AI was the talk of the town—literally. There has been a lot of talk within the industry about creatives losing their jobs to a machine. Let me assure you, creativity and great minds are here to stay. Deploy these tools to sharpen your delivery and move on. In a couple of years, there will be another new trend. Creativity is a by-product of curiosity, not fear.
Oh by the way, I didn’t hear the word metaverse even once at Cannes Lions this year.
Razan Karim Senior Communications Director –Consumer
Gone are the days of greenwashing and vague communication on key environmental issues. Judging entries at the Cannes Lions this year, and listening to peers and insightful talks reinforced my observation that brands are becoming increasingly involved with environmental causes through long-term commitment and measurable changes.
With creativity at the core of industry change, most successful campaigns resulted in impressive quantitative results that also inspired competitors to adopt new industry benchmarks and practices within specific sectors, creating a snowball effect on brands. It was inspiring to see brands move away from ‘playing it safe’ by taking bolder and often risky stances in the name of social change when it comes to comms on social issues, in an effort to drive meaningful conversation among consumers.
The brands of tomorrow are less fearful of engaging in what can be perceived as polarising and controversial topics within specific cultural contexts, proving an authentic concern for social change. An insight that stuck with me is our perception of the role of emotion in award-worthy work. While there’s always space for heavy-hitting emotional narratives in commercial and purpose-driven work, we often underestimate how effective other emotions such as humour and joy can be when building consumer connection. In the PR category, jury members were asked to apply a simple but effective formula: “Is the work earned at the core; does this live deep in culture; and did it actually have any impact?” I find these are questions we should continually ask ourselves as PR professionals.
There is a massive opportunity for PR to play a bigger role when it comes to creative campaigns. as it sits at the unique intersection of content, culture and storytelling. It’s our responsibility as an industry to challenge ourselves and do much more in the creative communications space.
‘‘THE INDUSTRY IS SET TO BE MORE DIVERSE AND COLLABORATIVE THAN EVER”
‘‘BRANDS MOVE AWAY FROM PLAYING IT SAFE”
‘‘I DIDN’T HEAR THE WORD METAVERSE EVEN ONCE THIS YEAR”
Every year before the Cannes Lions jury sessions start, we inevitably hear the classic quip about the judging process: while the Cote d’Azur sun shines bright outside the Palais walls, jury members will unfortunately be confined for two to three days in a windowless dungeon where they view and judge thousands of campaigns from around the world.
I have once recommended the Cannes Lions team to conduct sessions with the jury sitting inside the Martinez pool, but in retrospect, I feel it’s completely unnecessary. This year, for instance, the sunshine in the room was brought by the jury itself. I was given the task to preside over a jury of nine people that had more combined energy and spark than 620 million metric tons of pure hydrogen burning bright.
For the first time in its 70 years’ history, Cannes Lions had invited a jury president from the Middle East. And true to that momentous occasion of inclusivity, this was a most diverse jury – every geographical region was covered in terms of background experience. This resulted in the very opposite of an echo chamber, from which emerged the richest possible collection of awarded work. In fact, there was so much goodness this year, the jury collectively decided to not award the same campaign or piece of work twice, and rather have a wide range of work to celebrate.
In Woody Allen’s classic “Midnight in Paris,” the character playing Hemingway is offered a manuscript to read, and before he even reads it, he says that he hates it. He goes on to explain that if the manuscript is bad, he will naturally hate it for wasting his time, and if it’s really good, he will hate it for not writing it. This was how the jury
operated mostly. I often speak about the primary ingredient needed for work to work: emotional voltage. It must affect something within you, and bring forth a reaction. Going through the entries, the jury reacted no differently: we laughed, were awed, shocked, even cried. And yes, hated some of the best work. There was love at first sight at times, and at other times love after discussion and debate.
Rumors of the demise of print are greatly exaggerated. This is a category where brain power rules. How do you do something different in a medium where almost everything has been done before? A medium that is arguably the toughest of them all, where it has to work within milliseconds without the extra stimulus that other media offer. There is real intelligence being deployed in this category, and it fights fiercely, it rages against the dying light that is attributed to it. And it emerges
victoriously every year, dazzling us as it did so this year with its originality and strategic craft.
As with all things today, the interconnectivity of print to all other media make it much more dynamic in this era than ever. With the omnipresent discussion of AI, this is even more apt an indicator of where print is headed: the journey of how a campaign is constructed is now sometimes as important as the campaign itself. There is beauty in the process of creation, which transcends the medium itself.
I was speaking to a colleague on the overall quality of work this year at Cannes Lions, and we were in agreement: it was much, much bigger and better than previous years. Just look at all the Grand Prix winners, no single campaign running through the show as in past years, but rather a wide collection, all sparking that emotional voltage on different levels. And we felt that the industry of creativity is in a much better place today. So much hope for the coming years.
The beauty of an event like Cannes Lions is that it’s not only a peek into the work that is doing well today, but is rather a long look into the future. When I was briefing the jury, I mentioned that we need to look for work that sets the trends for the next five years, where we would like the industry to head, and what we would like the work to look like. What exactly will print be like in 2028? Just take a look at the Gold winners this year.
All of it coming from this small room without a window, one which it didn’t really need as it gave the world a window itself to look at beautiful, intelligent work through. Work selected through a powerful collection of brains, and hope for a brighter future full of creativity.
‘‘THE BEAUTY OF AN EVENT LIKE CANNES LIONS IS THAT IT’S A LONG LOOK INTO THE FUTURE’’
While large parts of the world are experiencing a squeeze on wallets driven by high inflationary pressures and market uncertainty, commerce remains in robust health globally with a forecast of over $8 trillion by 2026.
Fuelled by technological winds of change that have been blowing at unprecedented pace in recent times, brands are becoming retailers. The line between social and retail has blurred to the point that it is becoming indistinguishable and the rise of retail media - which is now 18 per cent of all digital advertising spend - is being called as the ‘third great wave of digital advertising’. It’s a melting pot of opportunity potentially so rich that both Microsoft and Meta have recently announced they are entering the market.
The Middle East is well poised to not just dip a toe into the waters of this opportunity but rather dive right in and thrive in the new world order. The UAE has witnessed exceptional commerce growth and is projected to see the market grow to $9.2bn by 2026. Why does MENA stand out? With e-commerce penetration lagging behind the likes of the US, there is real headroom for growth and the Middle Eastern shopper sits at the eye of the proverbial commerce storm: Young: 55 per cent of the population is under 30
Connected: 94 per cent of all Arabs are projected to have a smartphone by 2025
Digitally engaged: 91 per cent shop regularly online, with half saying they expect to shop more in the next 12 months
Willing to spend more: Average spends of $144 vs $79 in Europe/US
Socially engaged: 20 per cent of e-commerce sales are projected to be driven through social commerce in 2023. The description almost seems perfectly
By James Galland, Global Ecommerce Director VMLY&R
suited to a Gen Z profile, but it means MENA is a perfect incubator for retail media growth and brand engagement. Too often brands regard retail media as principally a tool to drive ROAS and a lower funnel conversion. But the impact branches far further across the ecosystem of consumer interaction as it incubates rich brand experiences to drive equity and awareness. To this end, the Digital Shelf Institute found in one test for every $1 spent on retail media that $7 haloes over the wider ecosystem as a whole.
VMLY&R Dubai/US recently launched a good example of creative brand building with its ‘I See Coke campaign’. The Middle Eastern shopper is hungry for engagement and these campaigns can empower brands to truly stand out on an infinite shelf. Taking a lens to the retailers and the market itself, retail capability in the Middle East is further ideally suited to dynamic change with: Proliferation of choice: With a rich proliferation of retailers, choice for
the consumer is abundant in the region and this is driving a competitive need for better experiences. From Careem, Instashop and Talabat to Noon and Jumia, there is a wealth of endemic, forward-facing and dynamic platforms in the region.
Immature offering experiencing rapid evolution: Inventory in the region varies from traditional well established retail media networks in the form of Amazon Advertising, which is well established since the acquisition of Souq in 2017. Also, Carrefour’s Citrus Ad media aggregator allows partnership with endemic retailers like Noon, which have developed an impressive array of media inventory. While retailers in the region have robust foundations in place, they are looking at how they can enhance their offering with the development of retail media offerings in multinationals like Uber Eats and Deliveroo setting a strong blueprint for the region.
Endemic retailers like Noon already offer a wealth of data, insights and opportunities to engage the shopper both onsite and off.
Rapid commerce growth: Commerce is expected to grow to $56bn in the Middle East by 2026 (+53 per cent since 2022). The shopper base is ideally engaged and retailers are well poised to transform both experience and inventory in the region.
The challenge for brands will be with every touchpoint becoming addressable and every moment of interaction shoppable, how to standardise brilliant experience along each and every step of the consumer journey. Brands need to stand out and imbue interactions with creativity and genuinely impactful experience that actually resonates with local shoppers. MENA retail media networks are well poised to provide brands a unique opportunity to both understand their shoppers and engage and connect with consumers. The perfect storm of a commerce revolution is here now and will accelerate tomorrow. Brands need to not just buy a ticket for the ride but become the conductor, joint owner and engine behind experience in the region or risk being left behind.
There are very few qualities that all brands want to be, but being cultured is one that every brand would unanimously nod their head to. Not cultured in the sense of being worldly and knowledgeable, though that certainly does not hurt, but rather being culturally relevant and having their finger on the pulse.
A cultured brand is one that ‘gets it’think Apple or Disney. But what does it take to be a cultured brand? In advertising, we often use relevance as a proxy for culture, but that does not do justice to what the most successful brands have done. Many startups are offering solutions that are extremely relevant to the struggles of customers. But few, if any, have embedded themselves deeply into the culture of their audience to create a timeless cult-like loyalty that some of these legendary brands, such as Apple, have done.
Being a cultured brand is more than a nice quality to have, it’s one that pays dividends. Our global study (see chart ) between brands with the highest cultural value and ordinary brands showcases that the top 10 per cent of cultural value brands find 2.6x revenue growth and 1.7x revenue - than brands that aren’t culturally relevant.
Much like the hero, hub, and hygiene model, building cultured brands requires the threefold time horizon.
On the highest level, to build a cultured brand, we need to anchor ourselves in a human truth, one that has become more salient across the trends we see. Is it that people are embracing their imperfections? Is it that freedom and independence look different than they did a decade ago? Whatever truth we want to anchor ourselves in, it must be one that fits with our brand. Most network
agencies have their own frameworks to help uncover that and use it to direct the brand into a space that is culturally impactful. At Grey, we have our Famously Effective Strategy Framework that looks at the different elements of society and consumers to uncover an insight that our brand can tap into.
One of the biggest missteps when it comes to this level of culture is constantly changing the human truth across campaigns. While a core insight can have more minor insights that we can leverage across different campaigns, the core should stay timelessly true as it takes years of communication to truly anchor the brand in that level of culture. Great examples are Dove and KitKat.
Once we’ve grounded our brand in a human truth, we need to then look into culture on a more granular level, looking into interests and
lifestyle to identify where our brand can anchor itself. Gaming is all the rage now, but not every brand can build the right culture equity in that space, and often that’s because their audiences are not gamers or their core human truth does not have a space in that affinity. To build a cultured brand on this level, we need to take an interest in their passions and make it our own. That means seeing if we could envision ourselves being a football fan or a yoga lover. This means not doing a one-off football campaign and then disappearing for eternity, but rather, frequent bursts showcasing your own passion for it. If you were to picture Redbull as a person, wouldn’t they be someone who loves extreme sports? That’s how you credibly become a cultured brand on this level.
The lowest level of being a cultured brand anchors in everyday relevance
and centres around the latest trends on social. Over the last five years, and especially with the rising popularity of TikTok in the region, culture and social media have become inextricably linked together. This dimension of day-to-day culture is just as essential for brands to be culturally impactful as the more ‘classical’ approaches. Through social listening and trends tools across platforms such as Google and TikTok, brands can get real-time insight into what their audience is interested in and integrate it into their always-on campaigns. A great case study for this is Wendy’s, whose Twitter game is always on the lookout for what topics are trending and for adding a witty spin to it.
Given the multi-dimensional considerations to build a cultured brand, it’s no surprise that not every brand gets it right. Yet with the right strategic direction, powered with epic creatives, every brand has the potential to become cultured and make a real connection with their customers.
By Elias Karam, Strategy Director at GREY Dubai
Revolutionary, new out-of-home (OOH) advertising medium, powered by innovative technology.
This unique and globally patented Escalator Step Branding Solution that gives brands an unrivaled opportunity to connect with audiences.
Somebody patient is not just patient - they are somebody who sacrifices. They sacrifice their time, their attention, and by default, their money. And user patience has a direct impact on every single experience with any level of waiting involved.
But what does ‘user patience’ mean, really? Well, it depends on who you ask.
For a movie watcher, it’s waiting for the plot twist.
For a gamer, it’s grinding patiently to max out your stats.
Even for a citizen, it’s waiting for the laws of your country to change.
In the world of brands, destinations and experiences - what does user patience look like?
When you wait in line, somebody (a company, agency or venue) designed it to be that way. And if they didn’t, and you are still waiting in line, you are forced to be patient by omission.
People have varying degrees of patience depending on what they are waiting for. Waiting a few minutes for a product to load on a retail app would be absurd, but waiting a couple of minutes in a store for a brand ambassador to come and guide your group through the experience is within reason. It’s all about context and perspective.
Americans spend about 37 billion hours waiting in line every year and Brits spend over a year waiting in shop queues over their lifetimes. So you can see why it has never been more important that the queueing experience offers value for both the businesses and customers. So where should brands start?
Three ways to incorporate user patience into your brand experiences
Embrace the ‘beta launch’ of an experience
There’s a lot of pressure on agencies and experiential consultants to ‘deliver perfectly’ from the get-go - leaving little room for iteration and prototyping. But similar to how some films end up having re-shoots after private demo screenings - it would be beneficial to test the ‘betas’ of an experiential marketing campaign before rolling out the full product. You gain rich insights that wouldn’t be accessible in controlled ‘lab’ settings.
We are currently building an innovation lab that aims to be a region-leading part of our digital transformation offer, hosting key technologies in both current-gen experiences and integrating Web3 tools into customer experiences.
It’s always in progress, and it can always be improved
More patience leaves more time to measure what works and what doesn’t. It’ll always be a ‘one-off’ if the performance of your activation or experience isn’t measured, there’s no way to tell how successful a spend was or wasn’t.
Implementing iteration into experiences will allow brands to do two things: make the initial investment more valuable as it’s not a one-off cost but something more gradual that gives increasing returns across time. It also creates a mould that can be
used in the future, taking a ‘toolkit’ approach that allows for smartly applied repeat value.
XPKit, Imagination’s proprietary measuring and tracking technology for live experiences, is a pillar of our delivery of live events, allowing us to accurately pinpoint guest and customer behaviours across prolonged periods of time.
Leverage sneak previews and exclusivity Tap into the audience’s shared sense of being able to ‘trial’ or ‘demo’ something unreleased or still being developed. Everybody wants to feel like they are seeing something nobody has seen before and that a brand thought of them to try it out first, valuing their input and opinion.
Reward people for their feedback, and outsource the stress testing of a brand experience to your end user before it is actually rolled out. It’s a dual exchange - the agency and client get rich insights and valuable testing data, and the customer gets the excitement of being part of something bigger with minimal effort.
Electronic Arts Playtesting routinely hosts ‘closed betas’ of its most popular franchises, where you can play unfinished versions of its games. The most cynical critics loathe this approach, they are getting avid fans to troubleshoot for free for thousands of hours. However, a sense of exclusivity and ‘seeing it before anybody’ is quite a powerful incentive.
We are not going to stop queuing any time soon - but we can make the queuing or wait time worthwhile to teach users, brands and clients to be more patient. Be it through an improved outcome or experience. For brands - the waiting game is quite literally a space they can take advantage of, creating pockets of value in an otherwise redundant space. And good things come to those who wait, or at least, better experiences do.
By Junior Gonzalez, Senior Strategist at Imagination‘‘EVERYBODY WANTS TO FEEL LIKE THEY ARE SEEING SOMETHING NOBODY HAS SEEN BEFORE AND THAT A BRAND THOUGHT OF THEM TO TRY IT OUT FIRST ’’
I’ ve never been big on predictions –the benefit of hindsight is something I value more than the crystal ball. Looking back at the first half of 2023, I can already recount big moments in those six fast-paced months that can serve as lessons for communicators.
In 2022, we saw record performances by the travel and hospitality sectors to levels almost predating the pandemic. This year began on an even higher note, especially for the UAE. And then came Atlantis The Royal, the ultra-luxury experiential resort that rewrote the playbook on how to launch a hospitality and luxury complex in the region. While Beyonce’s performance amidst pyrotechnics will be etched in our collective memories, the organisers’ carefully crafted journey from hotel arrivals to small details in the rooms, culinary moments and other activities, offered guests a unique, customised experience they raved about for weeks. Everything was meticulously planned, never skipping a beat or losing momentum. Well done Atlantis and its collaborators for showing us that planning is a superpower and is integral to optimising communications outputs.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
Rihanna’s performance during the Apple Music Super Bowl halftime made February memorable for communicators in the complex world of beauty. While Rihanna’s signature nonchalance during the performance set her apart, the highlight PR moment was a blink-and-you-will-miss-it integration of a product from the singer’s Fenty brand, which sold out worldwide within hours of appearing on screens. Often, PR is oversimplified
with earned media outcomes, but brands should wake up to how crucial it is to show the right thing with the right person at right time.
Communications are increasingly influencing and influenced by culture. The most memorable work from the region is hyper-local, relatable and tackling real-world problems. March and April served brands the opportunity to exhibit their unique points of view, first on International Women’s Day and then Ramadan and Eid. We’ve seen this space evolve over the years and it was great to see great work, such as Sephora’s Eid gifting campaign celebrating beautiful stories of the region’s heritage, art and culture through special packaging.
For example, MAC Cosmetics partnered with inspiring Saudi women including a model and a gamer for International Women’s Day in a campaign shot in Jeddah. This championed women, encouraging them to switch off the noise, pressure and expectations around them.
BOLDER APPROACH
As an industry, this should be considered a shared challenge and opportunity. More global and regional brands could adopt a bolder and more meaningful approach. We’ve moved past tokenism, and the work we’re seeing in the Middle East is gaining global recognition. Just look at the region’s impressive big wins in major award festivals in the past two years.
Luxury tech also saw a major launch earlier this year. Apple’s Vision Pro augmented reality headset is likely to bring AR back into the mainstream. We know from data shared by Snap Inc that 7 in 10 consumers actively use AR to enjoy a more seamless shopping experience. Now think about what Apple has done in the past to make innovative tech more mainstream. Communicators ought to think more intentionally about embracing new technology, and especially integrating AR into their toolkit for e-commerce brands to create relevant content.
As we enter the second half of the year, every communicator reading this has probably already experimented with ChatGPT or shared an ironic meme about AI’s impact on how we work. Our teams are already using generative artificial intelligence as a productivity hack. It won’t be long before we, as an industry, have to put in place our own checks and standards for the ethical use of AI, which will complement our efforts. (Sidenote, dare we get into the discussion on Threads yet?)
I know that by the time you finish reading this, marketers will be in the thick of delivering Q4 campaigns. COP28 and the Year of Sustainability in UAE will hopefully create momentum and offer us an ideal platform to deliver more compelling, meaningful work. The UAE has created an environment where we can participate in moments that make history. As communicators, we have earned a seat at that table, and with that, comes a greater responsibility to be mindful of our impact on the world.
When playing on a global platform, let’s remember we need to read the room, question the rationale behind things and be proactive about protecting our clients’ reputations, while making the best use of our expertise and staying true to what we do best.
By Dana Tahir, Managing Director at Havas Red Middle East
‘‘COMMUNICATORS OUGHT TO THINK MORE INTENTIONALLY ABOUT EMBRACING NEW TECHNOLOGY’’
“AI is the new electricity. Just as electricity transformed almost everything 100 years ago, today I actually have a hard time thinking of an industry that I don’t think AI will transform in the next several years,” said Andrew Ng, founder of Google Brain and former VP of Baidu an interview with TechCrunch in 2016. Artificial intelligence (AI) has come some way since its inception, becoming a tool that people across all industries are really getting excited about. Open AI, in particular, has been gaining traction and has the potential to transform the way businesses operate and foster relationships with their users.
One area where open AI is making a significant impact is in digital marketing. TIME magazine called it in February “the most important technological breakthrough since social media (itself)”. It can perform much of what was previously solely reserved for human
level up campaigns, and target the right audience at the right time with the right message. This can result in increased customer engagement – whether by personalising content based on sharp data analysis or by intelligently utilising predictive analytics - and loyalty, and then the main goal, which surely is potentially higher revenue.
However, it should be noted that while open AI can assist on a growing scale, especially considering the immense speed with which it will develop, it has its limitations. AI can generate ideas, analyse data, and automate tasks, but it cannot replace the human touch that goes into crafting compelling and relatable content. This is why content creation remains the number one key performance indicator for any marketer, regardless of the advances in AI tech. The importance of content creation cannot be overstated. It is what connects businesses with their audience and helps
marketing professionals, including processing large amounts of data in real-time and providing valuable insights for marketers.
It can also help in automating time-consuming tasks, such as campaign optimisation, data analysis, and segmentation, allowing marketers to focus on more strategic tasks. ChatGPT has been a revelation, even if we’re in a broadly beta state of its development.
As firms continue to navigate the ever-changing digital landscape, they must adapt quickly to new technologies and trends. However, losing sight of the basics would be a mistake. Good communication and marketing will always require a personalised approach. A business stands out from its competitors and creates audience rapport through its unique experience and creativity.
The benefits of Open AI in digital marketing are clear. Even this early on, we have seen how it can identify trends,
them establish themselves as thought leaders in their respective industries. While AI can contribute to content creation, it cannot replace the creativity and experience of us non-robots, especially with regards to developing tightly social-media-focused output for maximum reach, which, for now, demands human involvement. This field, just like copywriting, is one that is going to evolve collaboratively; the ecosystem will definitely be disrupted.
One potential concern is the ethical implications of using AI in decisionmaking processes. As AI becomes more advanced, it may start to select choices that have a significant impact on people’s lives. Therefore, we should really think about ensuring our use of it is considered and transparent. This involves being aware of potential biases in the data that is used to train AI models, and ensuring that output aligns with agreed upon, socially responsible principles. However, I sense that audience expectations may alter once AI becomes a fully accepted team member. Ripley’s eventually trusting relationship with android Bishop in Aliens was key to her eventual survival, no?
The development of open AI has put the corporate world on alert and the consuming public are tuned in too. It is seen now from both sides, albeit with differing levels of scepticism, that they can operate and interact with customers more efficiently. As we continue to work out which seat to sit our new recruit in, and what access they should be permitted, it is very worthwhile to strike a balance between advancements and the fundamentals that drive successful marketing campaigns. Ultimately, the future of businesses will rely on a harmonious relationship between artificial intelligence and human ingenuity and know-how. We’ve parented an alien again, and now we’ve time to make it neatly work for us.
By Wassim Derbi, National Marketing/Communication & Procurement Management, Hyundai and Genesis UAE and Business Partner
‘‘AI CAN GENERATE IDEAS, ANALYSE DATA, AND AUTOMATE TASKS BUT CANNOT REPLACE THE HUMAN TOUCH THAT GOES INTO CRAFTING RELATABLE CONTENT’’
AI can assist on a growing scale but it has its limitations, says Wassim Derbi
Get ready for a delightful twist in the world of social media! Threads, the new kid on the block, is here to shake things up. But that's not all! Let's dive into the key news that dominated the social media scene this month.
Makes Interactive Add-Ons for In-Feed Ads available worldwide
From Voting Stickers to Super Likes, a whole range of Premium and Standard interactive visual elements for In-Feed ads are now available on TikTok to help brands uniquely charm viewers.
Tests visual search for quick product discovery
This test is like Google’s image search meets Pinterest’s Lens, but with a TikTok twist! Users will soon be able to snap a photo and find similar matches in TikTok Shop listings.
Launches Threads, Twitter’s copycat
After hitting 100 million users, Threads is now bustling with development on thrilling features, including chronological feeds, DM functionality, and even the long-awaited ability to edit posts.
Adds the option to collaborate with three partners
You can now team up with not just one, but up to three collaborators on feed posts and Reels. Each creator will also have access to organic posts performance, including Likes, Views, and more.
Introduces “Voicebox”
Voicebox is an AI-powered tool that simplifies audio editing, sampling, and styling for creators, allowing them to effortlessly fine-tune their tracks.
Considers cheaper packages for Meta Verified The social giant is now offering discounted packages for Meta Verified if you sign up for both Instagram and Facebook to unlock the power of the coveted blue tick across your Meta posts.
Rolls out AI-powered video title suggestions
This could be a great time saver! YouTube announced a new feature that uses AI to give you title suggestions based on transcripts and descriptions.
Explores hyperlinked keywords in comments
In the new algorithm makeover, 1st degree connections and knowledge sharing content will take the spotlight, while unprofessional posts designed to game the system will be getting the boot.
Removes several creation tools
Linkedin bids farewell to a bunch of underused creation tools, including carousels, profile videos, and link stickers for images and videos.
Introduces “rate limit”
To tackle data scraping, Twitter announced limits on how many tweets a day users can read. Blue subscribers hold the power with 10K tweets/day, while unverified accounts are restricted to 1K.
Gives Blue subscribers access to its Media Studio
Blue subscribers now have VIP access to Media Studio, Twitter’s content management hub, which was exclusive to media partners. It offers a media library, scheduling tools, analytics, and more.
This new test adds search hyperlinks in comments to boost in-app discovery, connecting users to related content, while keeping their streaming experience intact thanks to the Miniplayer mode.
Saudi Arabia’s gaming scene has experienced a profound transformation in recent years, fueled by a surge in the popularity of gaming influencers and content creators. These talented individuals, ranging from YouTubers and streamers to social media personalities, have become instrumental in shaping the gaming landscape in the Kingdom. With their unique perspectives, entertaining content and engaging personalities, Saudi Arabian gaming influencers have captured the attention of millions, forging deep connections with their audiences and influencing gaming trends in unprecedented ways.
The impact of gaming influencers and content creators in Saudi Arabia extends beyond entertainment and has reached the realms of education, entrepreneurship and cultural influence. Recognising the immense potential of the gaming industry, the Saudi government has been actively promoting gaming as a means of economic diversification, leading to the establishment of numerous gaming events, competitions, and development initiatives. Through their influence, gaming influencers and content creators have also inspired a new generation of gamers and content producers, fostering a thriving ecosystem that nurtures talent and innovation.
Saudi Arabia has highly popular gaming YouTubers who have gained immense popularity and recognition for their engaging content, personalities and their skillful gameplay. Influencers such as ShongBong, Banderitax, and d7oomy have amassed millions of subscribers with their videos covering a wide range of gaming genres, game reviews, news and gameplays. Through their content, they not only entertain but also educate and inspire the younger generation and build a community of gamers.
The gaming and esports landscape has witnessed the emergence of dedicated female gaming communities providing platforms for female gamers to connect, collaborate and compete. We’ve seen communities like GCON build female gaming, esports and developers communities as well as encourage and support more women to pursue esports and game development professionally. These efforts have fostered a sense of community, empowerment, and inclusivity for female gamers in the Kingdom.
The Kingdom is constantly evolving with new esports teams and organisations. POWR Esports is one those prominent organisations who raised the profile of Saudi Arabian esports by participating in international esports tournaments. It has fielded teams in popular esports titles such as Dota 2, League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. With their vital role and the
By Hedaa Ashraf Abdulhamed, Social Media and Influencers Senior Marketing Manager at La3eb
support from General Entertainment Authority (GEA) and Saudi Esports Federation, Saudi Arabia managed to be a global hub for the biggest gaming and esports events like Gamers Without Borders which started this month with a prize pool of $45m in Boulevard, Riyadh.
Gaming influencers have become powerful agents of change within the gaming industry, playing a crucial role in shaping trends, influencing consumer choices and fostering a sense of community among gamers. In Saudi Arabia, these influential figures have emerged as key drivers in the transformation of the gaming scene. Through their engaging content, insightful commentary, and dedicated fan bases, gaming influencers in Saudi Arabia are reshaping the industry, inspiring a new generation of gamers, and contributing to the growth of the gaming ecosystem in the Kingdom.
influencers are
‘‘ The impact of gaming infl uencers and content creators extends beyond entertainment and has reached the realms of education and entrepreneurship
"
Associate Creative Director, Serviceplan Group Middle East
Associate Creative Director, You Experience
AMAZON PAYMENT SERVICES: BRAND FILM (1)
Such a refreshing take on fintech ads. From the acapella to the art direction to the editing, every frame brought a smile to my face. It would have been perfect to have the ‘supers’ treated like a music video to complement the vibrancy of the visuals.
PIZZA HUT: #NOT4SHARING (2)
This take on ‘pizza-for-one’ is strategically very interesting. Love how they condensed the ‘no sharing’ sentiment into a simple ‘hand slap’ that says it all without saying too much. Storytelling was missing. This could have been a great series of fun shorties to launch with.
COBONE: HOSTAGE (3)
Gotta love a brand that embraces its quirk. But the star for me was the sharp and clear messaging. Also, major brownie points for the Godfather reference. Crossing my fingers for a sequel!
GLITCH: LAUNCH CAMPAIGN (4)
What works is the cheekiness and the idea – of quite literally ‘putting it on the map.’ What’s missing is the scale. The idea could have been turned into some clever online and offline amplifications.
KFC: THE ORIGINALS (5)
I don’t speak a word of Arabic, but the track had me bobbing my head all along. The stellar cast and the moody treatment took it to the next level. My favourite part was the ‘supers’. Especially that ‘Mmm’ – what a touch. The only thing missing was a Zinger in my hand.
AMAZON PAYMENT SERVICES: BRAND FILM (1)
While brands tend towards hip-hop and lyrical music, this campaign opted for acapella. A refreshing take on the music video ad. Could have been a little shorter. Could have benefitted from an emotional benefit angle, but that’s difficult to achieve in B2B communication.
PIZZA HUT: #NOT4SHARING (2)
Kudos to the team. They landed on great insight: pizza attracts greedy hands you’d love to slap away and turned that into a fun, earwormy tune. And in an ocean of pizza ads where models happily share pizzas, the message of ‘no need to share’ is pretty refreshing.
COBONE: HOSTAGE (3)
A precise message that relates to its core value proposition but it does it with a fierce attitude. The tagline ‘Smart offers. Nothing else’ overflows with sass and boldness. Great to see brands in the region embracing edginess and humour as their main weapons.
GLITCH: LAUNCH CAMPAIGN (4)
The ball in the creek being a ‘glitch’ didn’t quite connect for me. The use of a clever OOH medium for this stunt is great and did generate considerable buzz. It would’ve benefited from a creative twist to keep the intrigue going.
KFC: THE ORIGINALS (5)
The combination of the fresh, playful film directon and Brrr Brrr Brrr chicken-adapted lyrics is a winner. KFC’s ‘home of the originals’ is an incredibly clever creative direction to take.
Amazon Payment Services
Title: Brand Film
Agency: Rain
Production house: Feel Productions
Pizza Hut
Title: #Not4Sharing
Agency: Publicis Middle East Cobone
Title: Hostage
Agency: Amber Communications
Production house: Film Dojo
Director: Arun Francis Glitch
Title: Launch Campaign
Agencies: Action Global Communications and Osmium
Marketing team: Al Ghurair Properties
KFC
Title: The Originals
Agency: TBWA\RAAD
Production house: Good People
Director: Maged Nasser
Motivate Media Group
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Threads has emerged as a remarkable phenomenon in the digital landscape, swiftly becoming the fastest-growing platform to date. Its rapid ascent is truly impressive, even compared to the extraordinary growth of ChatGPT. While ChatGPT has captivated users with its advanced conversational abilities, Threads has captured the essence of real-time updates and public conversations, captivating a vast audience in a unique way.
Interestingly enough, Threads’ growth can be seen as a parallel to the much-hyped cage match between tech titans Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. These two billionaires are preparing to battle it out in a physical ring and find themselves competing fiercely in the digital realm. Just as Zuckerberg spearheads the development of Threads, Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and their ongoing rivalry reflect their involvement in shaping the future of social media.
As Zuckerberg and Musk grapple with each other, the irony is not lost on us. While they engage in an epic physical showdown, Threads is busy surpassing growth records, taking the digital world by storm. Perhaps, in a comedic twist, they might even momentarily pause their fierce rivalry to marvel at Threads’ astonishing success, acknowledging that their battles extend beyond the confines of the ring and into the realm of digital platforms.
However, much remains to be seen; recent announcements suggest a freefall of the platform’s active user base, while many are still left pondering – beyond the novelty factor, what does Threads o er that many existing platforms don’t?
Source: techcrunch.com
Source: drop-desk.com
Source: financialexpress.com
Influenced by the push for shorter content, YouTube is trying to emulate TikTok due to its success with addictive short content and substantial user base. However, this change disregards long-form content creators and viewers who value YouTube for its unique o ering. Furthermore, the transition could negatively a ect advertising e cacy, suggesting potential harm to both creators and viewers in the long run.
Renault’s ‘Plug Inn,’ an app connecting electric vehicle drivers to private charging spot owners, won the Creative Strategy Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Festival. Described as an AirB&B for plugs, the app enables drivers to locate, book, and pay for charging stations while helping owners monetise their chargers. The initiative also promotes eco-friendly tourism in lesser-travelled areas, turning them into “electric villages.” Other Gold Lion winners in creative strategy were M&M’s, Vanish, Human Rights Activism, and Partners Life.
Brands should exercise caution to avoid such incidents and realize the potential negative impact on societies. Recently, a Subway restaurant in Georgia, USA faced severe backlash for a sign that mocked a tragic submersible implosion. Displaying the insensitive message 'Our subs don't implode' in reference to a fatal incident, the brand was widely criticised online. This serves as a reminder for marketers to carefully consider the consequences of their actions and prioritise sensitivity in their campaigns.
While we expected July to be a quiet month as people calmed down and went on their summer breaks, social media had other ideas. Or rather, Elon Musk and his peers did. We saw the launch of Threads, by Meta, as a direct rival to Twitter. Then Twitter rebranded itself to X, while TikTok decided it wanted to join the battle too, unveiling its text-only service. All caught up? There are bound to be more twists to this story in the coming months, with many predicting the demise of Twitter, sorry, I mean X.
While obviously the focus is on Musk and the corporations concerned, sometimes its worth thinking of those whose livelihoods might be on the line from this social media battle. With that in mind, I was intrigued to read a post from Martin Grasser, who I’m sure you have never heard of. Well, I hadn’t anyhow. Grasser is part of the three-person team that designed the famous blue bird logo of Twitter back in 2012. Their vague brief was to design a logo that featured a bird, but that was as good as the Nike and Apple logo. No pressure, then. And it needed to be simple, balanced, and legible at very small sizes.
Twitter had already made some sort of flying goose, but founder Jack Dorsey wanted something simpler. Grasser set about putting pencil to paper and started drawing birds. “Drawing is one of the quickest ways to understand how the shapes can work together,” he wroted in his LinkedIn post on the rebranding to X. The approved bird (known as Larry’s Bird) was born in May 2012, and died in July 2023. “This little blue bird did so much over the last 11 years,” wrote Grasser. Why Larry’s Bird? Twitter co-founder Biz Stone called it Larry the Bird, in tribute to basketball player Larry Bird, who played for the Boston Celtics, Stone’s home team.
It reminded me of the story of Carolyn Davidson, known as the Logo Lady, and the creator of the Nike Swoosh. Although her story may not be quite the same, it’s good to think of the creative geniuses behind
these famous logos and the human stories attached to them.
She was originally paid $35 for designing what would go on to become one of the most recognised logos in the world. This was obviously peanuts, but at the time Nike wasn’t that big of a deal. But founder Phil Knight proved his worth and did the right thing as the sports company grew in size, and in value.
Three years after the company went public, Knight invited Davidson to a company reception where he showed the kind of boss he was. There, he presented her with chocolate swooshes, a diamond ring made of gold and engraved with the Swoosh, and an envelope filled with 500 shares, estimated to be worth around $1 million at the time.
What do you think the chances are of Elon Musk hunting down the original Twiter graphic design team and paying them for their services rendered, along with a sort of ‘compensation’ payment now their bird is no longer with us? Fairly unlikely once you consider how little Musk paid for the new X logo. Apparently the chat on social media is that the X is is exactly the same as the glyph of the capital X in the Special Alphabets 4 font from Monotype. If so, the new Twitter logo will have cost Elon Musk around $35, which is the price for the whole pack. What’s more, the designer would have paid for the cheapest possible version of the font, which is why the final logo would be a little thinner.
“What if someone said to an embryo in the womb:
“Outside of your world of black nothing is a miraculously ordered universe; a vast Earth covered with tasty food; mountains, oceans, and plains, fragrant orchards and fields full of crops; a luminous sky beyond your reach, with a sun, moonbeams, and uncountable stars; and there are winds from south, north, and west, and gardens replete with sweet flowers like a banquet at a wedding fest.
“The wonders of this world are beyond description. What are you doing living in a dark prison, drinking blood through that narrow tube?
“But, the womb-world is all an embryo knows and it would not be particularly impressed by such amazing tales, saying dismissively: You’re crazy. That is all a deluded fantasy.”
In his quest to shed light on the existence of a higher power, Rumi has brilliantly (and unintentionally) shared a relevant message for us.
Let’s not just look outside the box. Let’s look outside the industry. Because somebody, somewhere, has already solved our problem!
In the book Jugaad Innovation,
we see how we can innovate, be flexible and do more with less, with examples of innovative entrepreneurs in emerging markets such as Africa, India, China and Brazil. Ideas created with low budgets and endless limitations, except those of one’s imagination and resilience. Ideas that drive breakthrough growth in complex and resource-scarce worlds.
Fiction influences reality. As does imagination. Using children’s storybooks as inspiration helps craft effective stories and experiences too. There’s so much to learn via the imagination portrayed in children’s books such as The Magic School Bus, that could’ve easily been the inspiration behind The Field Trip to Mars!
From comic books and superheroes, we learn how to make the villain (the problem) strong. Superhero stories give heroes purpose by giving that villain a sense of twisted morality and a purpose. If you were tasked with promoting The Batman, a symbol of justice and order, what would you do to kick it off? You’d create The Joker as the agent of anarchy and chaos. Thanos and Avengers. Darkseid and Superman. Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. Voldemort and Harry Potter.
A strong villain makes the hero stronger.
The power of building ‘belief’ and creating a belief infrastructure is far more effective than the overused ‘purpose’. From brand ambassadors to influencers to powerful activations to branded content to print, belief systems provide provides an example too of how to build a brand and enable it to get sustained success.
Let’s learn from toys too. LEGO nailed its marketing strategy with LEGO movies, treating adults and children as one and the same. The brand message has been much more than, ‘buy our stuff’. It persuades adults to be indoctrinated with LEGO’s spirit of adventure, driving them to buy more LEGO for their kids.
And from movies, we can get inspired from examples such as Deadpool, Star Wars and even, Barbie, about effective content marketing and connections planning – about making an unknown brand successful and making known brands more hyped up. When we sit down to think about marketing our product and brand, let’s learn a bit from how movies do it too.
So, to quote Rumi, “What are you doing living in a dark prison?”
Ireland and the U.S in addition to seven years working in MENA to his new role. His experience spans diverse client verticals including CPG, automotive and tech, most recently with programmatic digital advertising leader Teads as CPG Industry Lead for the MEA.
Mindshare has announced the appointment of DARINE EL KAISSI as the Managing Director for Mindshare Saudi Arabia. She brings more than 19 years of advertising industry experience to the team, including roles at regional creative agencies and C-level relationships with private and public-sector companies in the Kingdom as well as global and regional brands. She has worked with brands and media such as The Red Sea Project, the Public Investment Fund, NEOM, Zain, Mobily, Asharq News and Asharq Business. Her experience lies in driving market performance for large client accounts through innovative campaign development in agency environments. Darine has built strong business relationships with management of client companies to ensure directives and objectives are met throughout the campaign development process both digitally and traditionally.
Mindshare has also announced the appointment of DONNACHA KINSELLA as Global Client Lead for the Public Investment Fund business to bring senior international client management capabilities to the Kingdom. He brings global experience from
Publicis Groupe Middle East has appointed MACLEAN BRODIE as Chief Executive Officer of strategic communications agency MSL Middle East. In his new role, Brodie will be responsible for overseeing client business and business growth for MSL Middle East. He will also focus on
strengthening MSL’s presence and earned media capabilities in regional markets. In his previous roles, he has led the Corporate and Public Affairs work for Ogilvy across the MENA region and managed the public relations practice for Ogilvy Qatar.
Publicis Groupe Middle East has announced AJIT RAMASWAMI, CEO of MSL ME has taken on a new role as a strategic advisor and corporate practice head for the Asia-Pacific region. He will work closely with the MSL APAC leadership team to provide strategic counsel to strengthen their offering with a focus on the corporate practice, introduce new solutions for clients and expand the network’s footprint across key markets and industries. Ajit is a communications expert with 27 years of experience in the Middle East and India, delivering strategic communications to multinational and regional organisations across a diverse range of industries including financial services, telecom,
FMCG, technology, tourism, public affairs and family businesses. He joined MSL ME and Publicis Groupe in 2004 and was appointed as CEO in 2008. During this time, he was instrumental in securing key accounts for the agency including Du, Samsung, P&G brands and TAMM for the group. Under his management, he has built MSL’s credentials as the go-to consultant for industry verticals such as professional services, technology, media and telecommunications while making significant advances in key growth areas in healthcare, automotive and utilities. He is recognised for establishing a proprietary framework for brand resilience and C-suite profiling and establishing the agency’s reputation as a crisis and incidence management leader.
Adscholars has announced the appointment of JAD ABOU MITRI as the Sales & Commercial Director for the GCC region. In his
solutions, in-gaming ads and data analysis. The role functions in line with the company’s vision to strengthen its presence in the region. He will cover the Gulf Cooperation Council countries:
UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. Abou Mitri has more than 10 years of experience in sales and marketing roles. In his previous roles, he has held positions in advertising technology and digital sales representative companies. As part of his previous roles, he has worked with automotive and real estate brands, as well as network and independent agencies in the region. He has also worked within the F&B sector in the region, specifically with Cobone, a UAE-based offers website, for several years.
new role, Abou Mitri will be responsible for expanding the company’s presence in the media industry by building relationships with new agencies. His focus will also be on driving sales growth through creative
Berlin based creative agency
Sputnik Floyd has appointed CLAIRE EVELYN MCDONALD as Group Account Director. In her new role, she will lead the agency’s Middle East portfolio, working with clients as a strategic advisor and creative partner, harnessing the skills across the agency, from campaign conceptualisation and brand building to film production, web design and influencer marketing, to deliver against business goals.
In addition, she has a firm focus on supporting the further development and customisation of Sputnik Floyd’s AI and Web3 tools and capabilities.
Claire brings with her over a decade of regional marketing and communications experience across a variety of leading corporate, consumer, hospitality and lifestyle brands.
Saudi Festival of Creativity is a dynamic and vibrant meeting place in Saudi Arabia where culture, creativity, talent and technology converge.
The Festival Content Programme is created through the Call for Content which is open for submissions to all players within the creative space locally and globally. Please submit via our online portal by Friday 4 August. All submitted proposals will be reviewed and selected based on the merit of the idea.
WHY SUBMIT?
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By sharing your knowledge and expertise, you can help advance the industry and contribute to its growth and development
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Speaking at industry events provides a great opportunity to network, share ideas and collaborate on new projects
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