Campaign Breakfast Briefing: Out of Home 2026 gathers the region’s leading marketers, agencies, and media innovators to explore how the OOH landscape is transforming through technology, creativity, and data. From retail media and real-time targeting to the rise of precision buying powered by programmatic DOOH and automation, this event sets the scene for intelligent media investment.
NOV 21 2025 8:00 AM
Presented By
Industry stakeholders make the case for why brands must build strong emotional connections that transcend transactional loyalty mechanics in the Middle East.
Motivate Media Group
Head Office: 34th Floor, Media One Tower, Dubai Media City, Dubai, UAE. Tel: +971 4 427 3000, Fax: +971 4 428 2266. Email: motivate@motivate.ae Dubai Media City: SD 2-94, 2nd Floor, Building 2, Dubai, UAE. Tel: +971 4 390 3550, Fax: +971 4 390 4845 Abu Dhabi: Motivate Advertising, Marketing & Publishing, PO Box 43072, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Tel: +971 2 677 2005, Fax: +97126573401, Email: motivate-adh@motivate.ae Saudi Arabia: Regus Offices No. 455 - 456, 4th Floor, Hamad Tower, King Fahad Road, Al Olaya, Riyadh, KSA. Tel: +966 11 834 3595 / +966 11 834 3596. Email: motivate@motivate.ae London: Motivate Publishing Ltd, Acre House, 11/15 William Road, London NW1 3ER. Email: motivateuk@motivate.ae www.motivatemedia.com
EDITORIAL: Motivate Media Group Editor-in-Chief Obaid Humaid Al Tayer | Managing Partner and Group Editor Ian Fairservice Campaign Middle East Editor Anup Oommen | Senior Reporter Ishwari Khatu | Junior Reporter Shantelle Nagarajan | Junior Reporter Hiba Faisal
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PRODUCTION: General Manager S. Sunil Kumar | Production Manager Binu Purandaran | Assistant Production Manager Venita Pinto
HAYMARKET MEDIA GROUP: Chairman Kevin Costello | Managing Director Jane Macken
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There’s a new marketing engine being assembled in the Middle East. Policies, promises, platforms, people and purpose are being plugged in to ensure long-term brand and business outcomes. Marketers have been tasked with charting the path from proof-of-concept to proof-of-impact. The brief is no longer just a campaign request but a business problem requiring a tech-driven solution. For a change, the focus is on developing a deeper understanding of customers, using technology such as AI as the lens rather than as the subject of the conversation.
What does this mean? It’s time to stop revving up noisy opinions about AI. It’s time for strategists to steer the vehicle rather than build pointless presentations. It’s time for humandriven creative originality to cut through the ‘sea of sameness’. It’s time for contextual advertising, cultural immersion and a deeper understanding of the craft. It’s time to be courageous and curious, and to keep clients and customers – not just campaigns – top of mind.
Leaders are calling for the industry to connect emotionally with customers through memorable experiences. As Seth Godin put it: “People do not buy goods and services; they buy relations, stories and magic.” Loyalty, after all, is earned when consumers feel valued. The brands that stick are those that offer rewarding experiences and deliver on their promises. While technology enables the consumer journey, it’s worth remembering that features don’t glue people to brands; feelings do. It’s these feelings, not tech, that come into play when thumbs hover over the ‘Cancel Subscription’ button.
We need a change of mindset. Amid global calls to move at the speed of technology, trends and culture, many leaders want strategy and customer experience (CX) teams to have the time and space to pause, think and listen to the consumer’s voice. We need to simplify overcomplicated briefs and pursue meaningful outcomes rather than placebo outputs. Use AI sidekicks and copilots to mine cultural trends, and open avenues for marketers to co-create with consumers. Be guided by data, not governed by it. Also, local truth is the new export. Ensure that the teams narrating stories represent the communities they serve. Lived experiences must shape campaigns. Work travels furthest when it is rooted in place. This means moving budgets from generic global toolkits to local creative production, and empowering in-market teams to lead strategy. All in all, make consumers feel valued, empower strategists beyond the theatre of endless decks, and use AI as an accelerant, not an alibi. Ultimately, AI may be the fuel, but human strategists must hold the wheel. Where are we headed? You decide.
Contour Media, a leading out-ofhome (OOH) advertising company in the UAE, has signed an exclusive partnership with drone technology company Skyvertise to offer brands and advertisers in the UAE a share of voice in the skies of Dubai.
This is a first-of-its-kind partnership between the UAE-based OOH advertising company and a cutting-edge drone technology
Emirates has appointed Havas Media Network as its global media agency.
The appointment follows a three-way competitive pitch that included incumbent IPG Mediabrands and WPP Media. Initially, the airline invited all six major networks, including Publicis Media, Omnicom Media Group and Dentsu Media, to take part. But the six were whittled down to three earlier this year.
Emirates has a prior relationship with Havas, which ran the account from 2013 to 2020 before IPG picked it up. In 2024, the account was estimated to be worth $117.2m in global billings, which is set to increase to $126.1m in 2025, a 7.6 per cent increase. Havas Media Network and IPG Mediabrands declined to comment. Emirates and WPP Media have not responded to requests for comment.
company renowned for its eyecatching drone displays and dynamic aerial advertising.
The partnership opens avenues for brands to take their visual and creative messaging to a highly attentive audience through novel, high-impact, immersive and interactive drone show advertisements. By dealing with the complex permit application
processes, Skyvertise unlocks a pathway for brands working with Contour Media to advertise in the skies above a key cultural and tourist destination in Dubai.
Through this partnership, marketers can go live with their aerial advertising campaigns within as few as three days.
While Contour Media connects brands with their target audiences
and bridges the gap between creative, media and how it resonates with consumers, Skyvertise handles the drones from the technology aspects and oversees all the necessary approvals needed for advertisement to light up the skies.
Muyassar Abulkhair, Co-Founder and CEO of Skyvertise, said, “The beauty of drone advertising is that it makes the entire advertising process seamless, so brands can focus on their core messaging, creatives, and how they connect with audiences, while we focus on the approvals.”
Commenting on how the partnership benefits advertisers, Rabieh Adnan, Managing Director of Contour Media, said, “With drone advertising, there’s no doubt that brands garner 100 per cent active attention. This is extremely different from the general OOH, DOOH and fragmented digital media landscape where the quality of attention when the ad is served is much lower.”
“People go to key destinations to enjoy exactly these types of brand experiences,” he added.
“So, in essence, they are already primed for an immersive and memorable brand experience.”
The partnership marks a crucial step towards next-generation, tech-driven OOH experiences, reinforcing Contour Media’s position as an innovator in the industry and expanding Skyvertise’s commercial reach into branded drone advertising.
Shamal Holding has appointed Omnicom Group as its fully integrated marketing and communications partner, following a competitive multi-agency pitch.
The collaboration marks a significant step in the Dubai-based investment firm’s growth journey, underscoring its commitment to positioning marketing and communications as a core business driver.
The appointment brings together Omnicom’s network agencies –Impact BBDO/Proximity for creative,
content and technology; OMD for media and performance; and Impact Porter Novelli for strategic communications and PR – into a single cross-functional team built around Shamal’s long-term business objectives.
The partnership is designed to create a seamless ecosystem combining brand strategy, datadriven insights, and agile execution across every consumer and stakeholder touchpoint.
By integrating creativity, performance, PR and analytics under
With a blend of short films, static visuals, influencer partnerships, and social-first formats tailored specifically to each market, this festive campaign aimed to deepen Tanishq, the global Indian gold and diamond jewellery brand’s emotional resonance with the global Indian diaspora by celebrating Diwali in a way that felt intimately familiar and genuinely reflective of their lives abroad. In the UAE and Qatar, the campaign came to life through an integrated ecosystem of out-of-home (OOH), digital, radio and performance marketing, ensuring consumers encountered Tanishq across all relevant touchpoints.
one structure, the collaboration aims to redefine how Shamal builds, measures and scales its brand experiences, using unified data, AI and a more integrated strategic framework. The integrated partnership will support the company’s portfolio of destinations and lifestyle assets, including Naïa Island Dubai, Skydive Dubai, Deep Dive Dubai, Dubai Harbour, Baccarat Hotel & Residences, and Five Guys.
Shamal said that Omnicom was chosen for its track record with global and regional brands.
Cicero & Bernay (C&B), a communication advisory redefining how brands connect strategy, design and digital intelligence, celebrates 20 years with a renewed role built for today’s fast-changing business environment.
This evolution goes beyond a new look. It establishes Cicero & Bernay as a partner where facts create foresight, and creativity turns it into influence. With every discipline connected under one approach, the consultancy moves forward as: ‘Empowered by Facts’.
Ahmad Itani, CEO and Founder of C&B, said, “Our new identity is a declaration of who we are today. For years, we let the facts speak. Now, they give us the perspective to look ahead and act as true strategic advisors.”
Founded in 2005, C&B has aimed to balance global insight with local fluency across industries, including government, real estate, finance, automotive, retail and more. Today, the advisory is doubling down on evidence-based tools and exploring new approaches to narrative design. Through its annual ESG Report, which has engaged leaders across the GCC and advanced regional dialogue on responsible business, C&B continues to prepare organisations for what lies ahead with confidence.
This cheeky campaign, launched to raise awareness of Careem’s quick commerce grocery delivery service by highlighting its key differentiators – quality, freshness and speed. While quick commerce is often associated with impulse purchases or last-minute needs, Careem aimed to broaden its use case and position it as a reliable option for daily, weekly or monthly grocery hauls. As such, the brand rolled-out a 360-degree brand awareness campaign through a mix of high-visibility outdoor placements, strong digital media presence, and partnerships with relevant influencers whose content aligns with its audience’s interests and lifestyle.
Digital-out-of-home (DOOH) media company
Elevision has unveiled its latest residential media circuit at City Walk, one of Dubai’s most vibrant mixed-use neighbourhoods.
Surrounded by cafés, boutiques and green spaces, City Walk blends modern design with walkable urban living. It is a destination where Dubai’s most cosmopolitan residents live, work and connect.
The new circuit spans 29 residential buildings with 93 elevator screens, generating a unique monthly reach of 12,495 and 10,933 daily
impressions per campaign. Designed for high visibility and repeated exposure within daily environments, the circuit extends Elevision’s growing network of residential media across Dubai.
City Walk residents represent a uniquely engaged and diverse audience composed of professionals, entrepreneurs, and global families who value design, culture and convenience.
The community is a mix of Arab and Western expats, alongside Indian and other Asian professionals, reflecting Dubai’s most international lifestyle demographic. Around 34 per
This nationwide awareness campaign stars Egyptian actor Essam Omar, who delivers a powerful message about cybersecurity, urging Egyptians to protect their bank accounts and personal data against growing digital scams, phishing attempts and fraud. Live across digital and outdoor channels, the campaign aims to build a national movement of awareness and protection. The campaign is culturally rooted and built on mass relatability, turning banking safety instructions into an unforgettable anthem. Anchored by a catchy tune inspired by Egyptian folklore, this spot makes fraud awareness not just clear but instantly memorable.
cent are Arab expats, 32 per cent Western expats, 18 per cent Indian, and the rest are a mix of Asian and other nationalities.
The audience skews 25 to 45 years old, with an even gender balance and a strong presence of young professionals and social trendsetters who actively participate in the city’s dining, retail and cultural scenes. This combination of affluence, cultural awareness and high engagement makes City Walk an ideal environment for brands seeking to reach modern, aspirational urban audiences.
For advertisers, the City Walk circuit represents a new opportunity to reach audiences who are active, affluent and highly responsive to lifestyleled communication.
Every impression takes place in moments of daily movement, when residents commute, wait, or connect. This translates into higher recall and stronger message retention.
With Elevision’s residential media, advertisers can move beyond awareness to achieve deeper engagement. The City Walk circuit helps brands stay top of mind, drive consideration and connect meaningfully with the people who shape Dubai’s lifestyle economy.
The launch also introduces Elevision’s new 21-inch portrait elevator screens, offering an enhanced format that supports dynamic, socialbased content styles.
This upgrade delivers greater visual impact, improved legibility and creative flexibility, enabling advertisers to engage audiences through a content experience that feels native to their digital behaviour. With City Walk now part of its network, Elevision strengthens its residential media presence across Dubai’s premium communities.
Together, these networks contribute to Dubai’s strategic DOOH infrastructure, designed to connect brands with high-value audiences through context-rich, data-informed communication.
Off-roaders have convoys. Gamers have squads. Jeep merged these two worlds with this all-new live gaming experience, turning stuck into epic. Usually, when a car gets stuck in a game, it’s game over. However, this live role-play game sees 13 of Saudi Arabia’s biggest streamers fired up for nightly streams to show what Jeep does best: rescue, recover and ride on. When gamers got stuck in-game, they just needed to type ‘/Rescue Squad’ in the chat, which immediately spawned a convoy of Jeeps to recover them. The brand also built a custom in-game showroom, where players could explore Jeep vehicles virtually, extending to real-world experiences with the booking of test drives.
C2 Comms’ Saurabh Dahiya explains why MENA brands need cultural intelligence, not bigger dashboards.
In boardrooms across the Middle East, dashboards glow with an overwhelming amount of data. Click-through rates, dwell times and net promoter scores are all meticulously tracked. Yet, when asked why a campaign failed, the same data-rich teams often fall silent.
This paradox highlights a significant issue: Brands in the region are data-rich but insight-poor. Despite a rapidly growing digital transformation market, companies struggle to translate data into culturally resonant experiences. The problem isn’t a lack of data, but a failure of interpretation.
A retail executive in Dubai once showed me a ‘single customer view’ that tracked every touchpoint, from e-commerce clicks to in-store redemptions. While impressive, the in-store experience was clumsy, with irrelevant offers. The brand had more data but understood the buyer’s motivation less, highlighting the gap between data collection and cultural interpretation.
Western data models often fail in Middle Eastern contexts. An algorithm might prioritise ‘fast delivery’, but in Riyadh or Cairo, trust and community are more significant drivers of loyalty. This leads to ‘paralysis by analysis’, where teams debate metrics instead of making decisions, slowing down progress.
Furthermore, quantitative data reveals the ‘what’ but not the ‘why’. In the MENA region, where cultural values shape behaviour, this qualitative blind spot makes even advanced analytics shallow.
Data without cultural intelligence is like reading poetry in translation – you get the words but miss the meaning.
Take tourism in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom’s brand platform invited the world to experience its heritage and hospitality. The success was rooted in cultural storytelling, translating values of generosity and pride into tangible experiences. Similarly, Dubai’s tourism efforts drew on its cultural DNA of ambition and openness, blending tradition with modernity.
If analytics teams focused only on flight bookings or hotel searches, they would miss the deeper driver: Culture as aspiration. These campaigns succeeded because they interpreted data through the lens of identity and belonging, not just transactions.
Bias in data collection also distorts insights. Surveys translated into Arabic can lose their intended tone, and social listening
tools often miss dialect-specific nuances. A sentiment score that appears neutral in English might reflect deep frustration in Emirati or Egyptian speech.
Some brands have learned to simplify. A Gulf telecommunications brand, overwhelmed by complex churn models, refocused on three culturally relevant signals: Family bundle usage, religious calendar patterns and regional festivals. Retention improved because they finally read the data in the customer’s cultural language.
FROM DATA-DRIVEN TO DATA-INFORMED
The obsession with being ‘data-driven’ often backfires, with numbers dictating decisions and human judgment taking a backseat. A healthier approach is to be ‘data-informed’ – letting data guide but not dictate. A loyalty dashboard might show declining engagement, but a culturally attuned manager will know it’s due to a period of spiritual observance, not a failing app design.
Building cultural intelligence into data analysis requires diverse teams, regional expertise and a willingness to trust intuition alongside machine output. It’s not anti-data; it’s pro-meaning.
The future of customer experience in MENA will be won by brands that interpret data with cultural sensitivity, humility and imagination. To move from hoarding data to creating meaning, brands should follow a few guiding principles:
Culture: The invisible filter
Every dataset must be viewed through a cultural lens. A survey isn’t neutral; it’s shaped by the cultural frame in which questions are asked and answered. Ignoring this filter leads to misinterpretation. Accuracy isn’t always equity
Numbers can be precise yet tell the wrong story. Without cultural context, conclusions risk being not just inaccurate, but inequitable. Educational gaps, for instance, are often attributed to “ability,” when the real drivers are historical and cultural barriers.
Empathy as the missing metric
Cultural competence is built on empathy – listening, learning and engaging with diverse perspectives. Data provides the ‘what’, but empathy uncovers the ‘why’.
Less data, more meaning. Fewer dashboards, more conversations. That’s the manifesto for a culturally intelligent data strategy. It’s about giving algorithms a soul. Ultimately, customers crave experiences that feel designed by someone who understands them.
By Saurabh Dahiya, Head of Strategy and Planning, C2 Comms
Are all marketers and agency leaders using consumer feedback optimally to improve customer experience (CX) and enhance acquisition and retention?
Sarah Rassasse Associate Business Director, Digitas
NO
The simple answer is no. Not all marketers and agency leaders are using consumer feedback to its fullest potential. While most acknowledge its value in shaping customer experience, acquisition and retention, the reality is that meaningful change takes time. Feedback needs to be analysed, prioritised and translated into actionable improvements, and that often requires cross-functional alignment, updated internal and external processes, and sometimes adoption of new technology. So while the intent is there, the pace of implementation means consumers don’t always see the impact immediately or as fast as they would like.
Jonathan Flender Vice President – Digital & Omni, GMG
NO
Too often, feedback is captured, recorded, and reported – but rarely actioned. There is little ‘close the loop’ discipline from marketers and agencies to understand the root cause, resolve it, and design processes to prevent recurrence. Instead, feedback is treated as firefighting, with fragmented responses and limited cross-functional collaboration. True optimisation demands leadership ownership, where feedback is not an afterthought but embedded into weekly business rituals. Success should be measured by consistent monitoring and integration of customer voice and net promoter score as core inputs – used as fuel to enhance experience, strengthen acquisition and drive retention in a structured, repeatable way.
Curtis Schmidt CEO, RAPP MENA
This single biggest reason is often a lack of a centralised data strategy that incorporates first-, second- and thirdparty data. And to have a centralised data strategy that progressively enriches the view of the consumer, you need to have a loyalty programme in place that offers a value exchange between consumer – the value of consented, individual first-party data – and brand – the experience or services offered based on enriched consented data. Once you get this value exchange right, you will likely see corporate objectives broaden, to not only focus on acquisition and sales volume, but also total customer lifetime value.
Karim Emile Slim Regional CEO MENAT, MRM
Most marketers and agency leaders recognise the value of consumer feedback, yet not all use it effectively. Too often, insights remain in silos and are applied to surface level campaign tweaks rather than shaping broader experiences, products, or retention strategies. Feedback cycles can be slow, skewed by vocal minorities, and not consistently integrated into customer relationship management or martech systems. The leaders who stand out view feedback as a real-time operating system, using it to close the loop with customers and embed insights across acquisition, retention and CX. The result is not simply fixing complaints but co creating loyalty and value.
Elina Nambala Senior Creative Strategist, Burson
Marketing 101 taught us to put consumers at the centre of our strategies. Yet, while the industry knows consumer feedback is critical, it is underused. So, the answer is … no.
Consumer feedback is too often a tick box exercise that is focused on the data and facts – quantity – rather than the rich and textured insights that we get from actually speaking with audiences – the quality. Consumer feedback is an opportunity to get personal with our audience, Turning the ‘what’ of billions of data points, to using the ‘why’ to drive behavioural change. We advise our clients to make earning consumer attention a personal act. One that truly resonates, is rooted in human truth, and designed to deliver impact at both acquisition and retention stage.
Taima Al Farouqi Director of Strategy, Cicero and Bernay
But with a reality check. While many marketers claim to listen to consumers, most still treat feedback as a reaction tool rather than a strategic input. From a communications standpoint, we actively push to close that gap; using feedback to shape narratives, refine experiences, and build relevance before issues surface. The challenge isn’t access to consumer insight; it’s how it’s integrated. Too often, it’s siloed, delayed or filtered through performance metrics instead of human need. The brands that win on acquisition and retention are those that turn feedback into direction, not correction, and more of the industry needs to operate with that intention.
Asiya Ali
Founder and MD, MKV Digital
Today, marketers and agency leaders are increasingly sophisticated in using consumer feedback to shape strategy, creative, and customer experiences. Insights from analytics, social listening and CX platforms now guide acquisition, retention and overall brand engagement. While adoption is uneven across the industry, the most effective agencies embed consumer voices into every stage of the journey, turning insights into meaningful action. Listening isn’t just a metric; it’s a driver of growth and loyalty. When feedback informs decisions, brands create experiences that resonate, strengthen relationships and deliver measurable impact.
Dan Leach Managing Director, TBWA\RAAD Saudi Arabia
But there’s considerable room for improvement.
Marketers and agency leaders are increasingly using consumer feedback to inform how they engage, convert, and retain customers. However, the process isn’t always consistent or deeply embedded across teams and decisions. Many brands still treat feedback as a diagnostic tool rather than a strategic engine for innovation, acquisition and loyalty. Marketers need to take the next step and turn insight into action, using real-time data to personalise experiences, refine messaging, and co-create with consumers. Those who master this continuous feedback loop will strengthen customer loyalty and unlock long-term growth.
Inge Rademeyer
CCXP – Experience Strategy Director, Memac Ogilvy
Many marketers and agencies fall short. While drawing insight from a few conversations might inform acquisition, true CX improvement and sustained retention demand continuous data capture across the entire customer lifecycle. We often prioritise our own ideas over genuinely listening. However, enduring engagement stems from empathising and acting on feedback at every touchpoint, from call centres to app usage. This requires centralising and distributing data across departments and agencies, fostering an integrated ecosystem – a shared customer understanding. Without this continuous validation, we risk creating campaigns that promise what the brand can’t operationally deliver, ultimately eroding trust.
Omnia Ahmed General Manager – Customer Experience Management, AW Rostamani Group
Despite all the buzz around personalisation, many organisations still fall into the common trap of collecting customer feedback only to let it go into black holes of departmental silos. Others get obsessed with chasing high scores over examining feedback insights and taking actions that could drive meaningful value. Subsequently, they miss critical opportunities to enhance customer experience, reduce churn, and optimise acquisition strategies.
On the other side, a few bold leading companies treat feedback as a strategic asset. They centralise experiential data from all touchpoints across the customer journey and use analytics to uncover patterns and swiftly act on insights. Most importantly, they close the loop by letting customers know that their voices were heard and led to real improvements. While forward-thinking companies are challenging norms, adopting and equipping their teams with the rightful tools to harness strategic gains, others remain stuck in inefficient processes and outdated technologies. The cost? Missing out on one of the most valuable sources of growth: the voice of the customer.
Naman Pathak Senior CRM Strategist and Analyst, Cheil
Most marketers treat customer feedback like a trophy –nice to display, but rarely put to work. While widely collected, it rarely drives actionable strategy. Insights are often trapped in surveys or dashboards, disconnected from behaviour, purchase trends and cultural context. Without this integration, they become hindsight, not foresight.
As a strategist, I see feedback as a live pulse, a demand radar. When decoded, it uncovers unmet needs, sparks product innovation, improves customer experience, sharpens acquisition targeting, predicts churn and strengthens retention. But timing matters – delayed action turns insights into background noise, not the game-changer they could be.
Donna Glasper Executive Director – Marketing, Communications and Customer Experience, Shamal Holding
Brands are waking up to the fact they need to, but many are still stuck at surface-level collecting feedback without embedding it into strategy. It becomes a vanity metric rather than a strategic driver of journey redesign, operational change and emotional connection. Consumers hold real power when brands listen and adapt. It sparks innovation, retention, loyalty, trust, empowered teams and better experiences. Negative feedback, often feared, is actually the strongest catalyst for improvement. Building a culture that values all feedback removes fear, sharpens insight and fuels innovation. Leaders who treat feedback as a strategic asset, not a dashboard KPI, will win.
James Harrison Executive Director, MPN
Marketers are listening, but not yet connecting all the signals. There’s more feedback than ever, from social sentiment to real-time behavioural data, yet too often it’s viewed in isolation. True progress will come when those insights are unified to guide creative, media, and experience design in one continuous loop. AI will accelerate that process, helping to interpret vast amounts of data and reveal patterns humans might miss. But it can also strip out the nuance and emotion that make brands relatable. The future of listening lies in balance, where intelligence informs empathy, and data serves genuine human understanding.
Rebranding isn’t about a new logo — it’s a statement of intent. After seven years of evolution, Think Human enters a new phase as a fully integrated communications consultancy, built for strategy, creativity, and culture to coexist under one roof.
“We’ve always positioned ourselves as more than an agency. We’re partners, collaborators, and consultants deeply involved in shaping our clients’ growth,” says Ahmed El Sherbini, CEO of Think Human.
“This rebranding is about expressing that clearly – both in how we show up visually and how we talk about what we do.” Integration here means more than offering services — it means thinking together from the start.
“Our teams collaborate from day one, helping us deliver more cohesive, high-impact work,” adds Sherbini
At the core of this new phase lies a simple belief: Technology accelerates us, but humanity defines us.
“Human thinking and human insight remain the most powerful tools in our business,” says we’ve built to stay human — no matter how big we get.”
>> Let’s be partners | thinkhuman.ae
Think Human’s evolution is about relevance. After opening a new office in Egypt and expanding regionally, the focus stays clear: meaningful growth.
“We’re not scaling to be bigger – we’re scaling to stay relevant,” says Ahmed El Sherbini, “Our model is built to deliver integration without complexity, creativity with commercial impact, and strategy with speed.” Inside the agency, growth means mentorship, collaboration, and keeping culture at the core.
Because real growth is about getting better.
As the dust settles on another wildly successful Esports World Cup (EWC) in Riyadh, it’s clear that the event provides invaluable lessons.
The numbers from EWC truly stack up. This year’s event attracted more than 750 million viewers, who contributed to a total watch time of 184 million hours, a testament to the audience’s deep engagement.
On social media alone, the tournament generated an astonishing 8 billion impressions. On the ground, EWC transformed Riyadh into a global hub, drawing 3 million visitors to Boulevard City, the tournament venue, and an estimated 300,000 international visitors to the Saudi capital over six weeks of world-class gaming. In terms of hours of content consumed, EWC 2025 was at least 50 per cent bigger than last year’s event.
Perhaps the most significant achievement of EWC isn’t the marketing return on investment (ROI) data, impressive as it is, but the cultural shift the event has embraced. Today, Saudi Arabia stands proudly as a global esports destination, where two-thirds of the population describe themselves as gamers.
The Kingdom not only staged a groundbreaking global event but also witnessed its own Saudi teams and individuals perform brilliantly too, with Team Falcons winning the coveted Club Championship trophy.
And, of course, EWC was much more than a tournament. It was a genuine festival – with live concerts, cultural activities and themed cafés – a fascinating fusion of international pop culture and local flavours.
Through initiatives such as EWC, Saudi Arabia is presenting a new face to the world: youthful, dynamic, inclusive, digitally native and confidently future-forward. The National Gaming and Esports Strategy hopes esports will directly and indirectly contribute as much as $13bn to the national economy by the end of the decade, a huge boost to the region’s nascent digital entertainment industry.
It’s no wonder that both Saudi Arabia and several international brands were eager supporters of this year’s EWC. Barn’s was thrilled to be the tournament’s exclusive coffee partner, connecting with the Kingdom’s burgeoning gaming community and flying the flag for homegrown industry and innovation. We were particularly excited to introduce our speciality coffee brand, Barn’s X, at the event. Perhaps you sampled one of our drinks at the Barn’s X speciality coffee bar on the VIP Embassy floor or enjoyed a Mocha Frappe made by our purpose-built robotic arm while attending the New Global Sports Conference.
EWC was also the ideal platform to celebrate our partnership with Team Falcons, demonstrating our support for local talent and Saudi Arabia’s growing sports ecosystem.
Just as Saudi Arabia is challenging misperceptions through EWC, so is Barn’s also reinvigorating its relationship with younger consumers, demonstrating that we, too, are part of the future of entertainment and culture.
This is the beauty of the esports movement. Brands used to be passive participants in global sports events, a name on a billboard or a shirt. The nature of esports means that they are part of the action rather than merely spectators. They create personalised content, run contests and engage fans directly on social platforms.
The fact that esports is a culture as much as it is a sport explains the diversity of EWC’s sponsors. Brands
“A MAJORITY OF ESPORTS FANS ARE MORE INCLINED TO BUY PRODUCTS FROM BRANDS THAT SPONSOR THEIR FAVOURITE TEAMS, DEMONSTRATING A DIRECT LINK BETWEEN SPONSORSHIP AND CONSUMER LOYALTY.”
can get real-time data on viewership, engagement and even meme culture, which provides a far more precise understanding of their ROI compared with traditional media buys. The ability to measure the impact of their digital activations on a Gen Z audience – often beyond the reach of traditional media – is another major draw.
Some companies have become so integrated into the esports scene that they are no longer just viewed as advertisers but as integral parts of the gaming ecosystem. In fact, a Nielsen study found that a majority of esports fans are more inclined to buy products from brands that sponsor their favourite teams, demonstrating a direct link between sponsorship and consumer loyalty.
The marketing world is recognising that the future lies in authentic, interactive engagement with an audience that has moved beyond passive consumption. The EWC has opened up a hitherto elusive demographic to brands willing to rise to the challenge.
It is part of a broader trend of ‘new’ sports capturing international attention and engaging new audiences in a different way than traditional, established sports. These platforms have become a powerful way for brands to align with a new set of values: technology-driven, innovative and globally engaged.
At Barn’s, we firmly believe that investing in esports goes beyond marketing. We are investing in our community and the next generation of our customers.
As a proud Saudi partner of the Esports World Cup for the second year running, we can heartily conclude: “GG!” [Good game!]
By Hamada Higgy, Head of Marketing, Barn’s
BRAND FOCUS
Hamada Higgy from Barn’s explains why the future of marketing in Saudi Arabia lies in interactive engagement with audiences that have moved past passive consumption.
Al Rostamani Group’s Amit Chopra addresses the real marketing challenge in the Middle East: Recognising that ‘brand’ delivers long-term returns that makes the day-to-day efforts of marketing meaningful and sustainable.
During a recent campaign review, a crossfunctional team presented immaculate dashboards that proved our quarter was on track. Clicks were up, costs were down and every platform we partnered with claimed credit. Yet, when I asked what a customer would remember in six months, the room stalled. The work was efficient, not distinctive.
That moment captures the central challenge facing client-side marketers in the Middle East today: organisational priorities that reward short-term efficiency over long-term brand building.
While you may be posting strong growth, a slight drift in direction can change the destination. Teams optimise what platforms report instantly, while brand building is absent from the scorecard because evidence is slower, fragmented and, often, offline. With brand and performance split, measurement defaults to what is easy to capture rather than what builds future cash flows and pricing power – the basis of a sustainable advantage.
Procurement chases unit efficiencies, leadership seeks immediacy, and agencies work to narrow briefs, creating activity without a durable moat for the business. The remedy is to put brand metrics on the same monthly scoreboard as customer acquisition costs (CAC) and return on ad spend (ROAS). Protect a share of spend for memory building. Judge creative for effectiveness in storytelling, shifting buying behaviour and demonstrable loyalty. When brand and performance are managed as one system, growth compounds and builds legacy.
Three regional dynamics make alignment decisive.
1. Fast growth and visibility pressure: National programmes set ambitious targets for speed and scale. Leaders demand visible progress, which biases teams towards immediate metrics.
2. Fragmented channels and rising media costs:
Reaching audiences across languages, emirates and platforms is costly. Without a shared view of value, budgets splinter across suppliers and walled gardens, which limits learning.
3. A maturing talent market: The region is investing in young marketers, yet many lack line of sight across brand, product, service and finance. With few home-grown case studies and no clear North Star, teams chase trends rather than lead them.
Alignment is a leadership job. It requires decisions about incentives, measurement and governance that outlast any single campaign.
1. Adopt a single growth scoreboard. Put brand and performance on the same page. CAC, ROAS and funnel velocity sit next to pricing power, repeat rate, share of search creative quality and brand lift. Review them together, monthly and quarterly. Treat distinctive creative as an asset, not a cost line.
and cut operational drag. Insist on transparent models and consented first-party data.
5. Build T-shaped teams: Teach marketers to read a profit and loss statement (P&L) and a mood board at the same time. Pair young practitioners with commercial mentors. In the UAE, align this with national talent agendas so capability building becomes a strategic contribution.
LITMUS
If you lead a marketing organisation, then ask yourself the three questions below and if the answer is ‘no’ then you know that you are not aligned with the right brand growth metrics.
1. Can your team show, in one slide, how brand health links to future margin and lower CAC?
2. Does your quarterly review report any primaryresearch metrics gathered directly from customers or prospects?
3. Could you pause a single platform for 30 days and still maintain reach through owned and earned channels, supplemented by alternative routes if needed?
When we invest capital in marketing, the aim is to build an asset that reduces future spend to achieve the same returns and, over time, becomes partly selfsufficient. That asset is your brand. It delivers long-term returns that supplement the day-to-day efforts of your marketing team and makes those efforts sustainable without draining them of meaning. Recognising this, and managing accordingly, is the central challenge.
2. Ring-fence memory building: Pre-commit a proportion of spend to reach and salience among future buyers and protect it during reforecasts. Use creative testing that tracks attention and recall, not only clickthrough. In volatile months, reduce frequency or channels, not the commitment to memory.
3. Design briefs that join the dots: Every brief links a customer tension to a commercial goal and a measurable brand outcome. The media plan captures demand today. The creative idea builds advantage for tomorrow. One document. One owner. One set of trade-offs visible to all.
4. Use AI and data to remove friction, not voice: Deploy AI to accelerate insight generation, improve relevance
Organisations aligned with this idea create a different rhythm. To know if you are part of one, look for these signs. Planning starts with a customer truth rooted in local context, translated into a proposition a frontline colleague can say without slides. Creative ideas are chosen for simplicity and effectiveness, then made media ready. AI is deployed to shorten feedback loops and raise quality rather than flood channels with content.
Measurement shifts to mixed-model learning that informs the next quarter’s choices. The board sees the link between brand investment and commercial performance. Teams recruit and retain better people because the work has meaning.
In this region, the opportunity is to direct ambition towards brands people remember and recommend. The question that opened my meeting has become a habit across our teams: What will the customer remember in six months. When the answer is clear, in classrooms and boardrooms, instead of quoting Nike, Coca-Cola or Apple, we reach first for Middle East brands because they are the clearest examples of how brand creates commercial advantage.
By Amit Chopra, Group Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications, Al Rostamani Group
Chief Strategy Officers and Heads of Strategy representing some of the most respected agencies in the region speak to Campaign Middle East about the purpose of strategists beyond preparing pointless presentations and decks.
By Anup Oommen
Once upon a time, as all good stories start, a strategist’s job used to be scripted in neat lines: find insights, brief the work, set the course, spark the magic, and measure the echo. But then, the plot thickened, the stage stretched, the costumes multiplied, and expectations expanded to everything from product and pricing to platforms and performance.
From being the backstage operator, the protagonist was pulled on stage and placed under the spotlight of playback theatre –required to improvise based on real-time demands. The strategist soon played the roles of a creative thinker, trend analyst, tech tinkerer, growth driver, data scientist, coder, the voice of the consumer, gatekeeper and more.
Over time, some strategists became superstars – the kind that performed their own stunts on sets – while donning the different hats demanded of the ‘S’ between the ‘C’ and the ‘O’ in their titles. Meanwhile, others drew guardrails around their roles, choosing to orchestrate with care and craft for clients with a steadfast focus on human culture, resulting in less performance for marketing Oscars and more performance in the market.
Unsurprisingly, as the storyline progressed, the ‘strategy’ that made the strategist became polysemous – reaching a juncture where a critical evaluation of ‘strategy’ became highly subjective.
Today, as this play reaches its denouement, Chief Strategy Officers and Heads of Strategy representing some of the most respected agencies in the region demand an end to preparing purposeless presentations and pointless decks. Instead, they call for lasting salience in strategy along with a seat at the
table; relentless inventiveness rather than running ragged by routine; clarity instead of complexity; and meaningful outcomes to replace mere outputs.
Campaign Middle East speaks to:
Tahaab Rais, Group Chief Strategy Officer, Publicis Groupe Middle East and Turkey; Catherine Bannister, Chief Strategy Officer, TBWA\RAAD; Alejandro Fischer, Chief Strategy Officer, Havas Middle East; Alex Jena, Chief Strategy Officer, dentsu MENAT;
Daniel Shepherd, Chief Strategy Officer, Omnicom Media Group – MENA; Sebastian Roland, Group Head of Strategy, Impact BBDO; Frances Bonifacio, Head of Strategy and Director of HR, Serviceplan Arabia; Sanita Sandhu, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer, Initiative MENAT; Prabhakar Iyer, Head of Strategy and Planning – Middle East, Edelman; and Sachin Mendonca, Chief Creative Strategist, YouExperience
STRATEGISTS’ DILEMMA – MORE ‘STRATEGY’ OR MORE SEATS AT THE TABLE?
At the outset, leaders agree that strategy can get lost in its own sprawl – too many roles, too many decks and slides, and far too little time and space to ‘strategise’. The hard truth: Strategy resourcing seems thin across the industry with ubiquitous under-investment.
Tahaab Rais, Group Chief Strategy Officer, Publicis Groupe Middle East and Turkey, says, “Strategy should be the operating system of the company, not some cheap little plug-in. Strategy is often staffed to fill the slides, not to steer the ship. You want power? Give strategists true ownership across the funnel and a veto right on the problem framing. You hand them the baton. And then you step back and let them conduct.”
When asked whether strategy is a wellstaffed department in most agencies, and whether it needs more power at the table, Sachin Mendonca, Chief Creative Strategist, YouExperience, says, “Strategy remains criminally understaffed. Often, one poor soul is expected to conjure meaning from thin air just before the creative reveal. We’re still treating strategy as a support act, not the
wouldn’t want a book’s cover to be thicker than the sum of its pages, would you?”
backbone of bold thinking. Creatives end up doing the heavy lifting, retrofitting rationale after the idea has already taken flight, and hope that it works. Hope, I’m afraid, is not a strategy.”
He adds, “More strategists at the table doesn’t just add bodies, it adds brains. It sharpens thinking, lifts ideas and will free up 40 per cent of a creative’s time to be creative. And when strategy is in the room, creativity doesn’t just look good –it works.”
However, Frances Bonifacio, Head of Strategy and Director of HR, Serviceplan Arabia, offers a different perspective.
While agreeing that strategy is among the least staffed departments, she says that there’s a sound reason for it to be so.
Arguing that an agency’s core product is its creative prowess, Bonifacio explains, “Strategy sets the course, creative crafts the substance. Think of strategy as the bookends: steady both at the start and at the finish, keeping everything in check and intact so the storytelling stays strong and potent. You
So, do we need more seats at the strategy table? Leaders suggest that before we add more seats, we must give current strategists the space to breathe, think, reflect and orchestrate. Then, embed strategy across teams and make it a shared language across the organisation.
Alejandro Fischer, Chief Strategy Officer, Havas Middle East, says, “Strategy often feels thinly spread because too few people are allowed to think. When strategy sits with a handful of people, everyone else stops asking questions. The fix isn’t necessarily more strategists; it’s more strategy. The problem isn’t power; it’s time. The pitch treadmill with tight deadlines leaves no room for reflection. Strategy doesn’t need a bigger seat at the table. It needs space to think.”
Alex Jena, Chief Strategy Officer, dentsu MENAT, adds, “Strategy often gets reduced to one or two people representing the whole ambition. But equally, you don’t want a ‘strategy department’ that bottlenecks creativity and vision to a chosen few, leading to cerebral atrophy. The good news is that when strategy is truly embedded across every discipline, you unlock far richer ideas while building even more resilient teams.”
Going beyond the ‘talk’ of the benefits of strategy, leaders call for the ‘walk’ by truly investing in strategy –whether that means more staff, seconds or space to strategise.
Sebastian Roland, Group Head of Strategy, Impact BBDO, says, “As an industry, we have historically had this strange thing where we simultaneously talk up the importance of strategy and being strategic at every turn, yet consistently under-invest in strategy departments. However, I’m starting to feel the winds of change. Clients are more uncompromising when it comes to demanding strategy. Investing in strategy is becoming a non-negotiable, and I believe that’s a great thing for the industry at large.”
Catherine Bannister, Chief Strategy Officer, TBWA\RAAD, says, “I believe agencies must invest in ‘more planners’ and invest ‘more in planners’ – two distinct, but equally essential, commitments. When agencies do both, they empower planners to deliver greater value not just in daily work, but also by driving proactive projects that build consultancy credentials and thought leadership.”
The commercial case becomes far easier to make when strategy proves that it pays for itself. Conversations around strategy then pivot from it being a cost centre to a catalyst.
“Strategy can be a growth engine,” says Prabhakar Iyer, Head of Strategy and Planning – Middle East, Edelman. “When it’s scoped into retainers and tied to commercial key performance indicators (KPIs), it funds itself and uplifts every communications output.”
Iyer calls for the industry to give strategy two gates. First, the ‘Brief Gate’: Define the problem, audience, objectives as a starting point – prior to putting pen to paper. Then, the ‘Release Gate’: Define success metrics and monitoring.
AI STRATEGISTS: SIDEKICKS, COPILOTS OR COLLEAGUES?
Artificial intelligence (AI) has shifted from novelty to a necessity for several strategists. The debate is no longer whether strategists should use it, but how deeply one can rely on it, and where it should sit in the process.
In a world that’s demanding hyperpersonalisation at scale and predictive solutions for problems that have yet to arise, some leaders have gone all-in on a new breed of ‘AI strategists’, while others advise caution.
Rais doesn’t hold back when he says, “The best ideas are a blend of instinct and brutal computation.”
“STRATEGY IS OFTEN STAFFED TO FILL THE SLIDES, NOT TO STEER THE SHIP. YOU WANT POWER? GIVE STRATEGISTS TRUE OWNERSHIP ACROSS THE FUNNEL AND A VETO RIGHT ON THE PROBLEM FRAMING.”
In fact, Rais recommends an ‘AI strategist workflow’ that is human-led and machine-accelerated, including:
A sensing layer: For always-on data listening, category signals and cultural trend mining.
An insight engine: For pattern detection, clustering, anomalies and counter signals.
A creativity copilot: For concept generation against constraints, rapid pre-mortems and scenario trees.
An experiment operating system (OS): To test design, synthetic audiences, uplift modelling and routing.
A decision dashboard: Live the objectives and key results (OKRs). Prove commercial impact and incrementality. Watch out for risk flags.
Several strategists, who currently survive on coffee and need sleep, welcome the army of agentic AI ‘colleagues’ who do not need either.
requires machines with equal computational power to make sense of it. Otherwise, you’re taking a toothpick to a gunfight. This is certainly no different for strategy.”
It’s no surprise that several strategists have already embedded AI deep into their workflows: before, during and after thinking.
Bonifacio says, “Agentic AI? Absolutely! Let’s start building and deploying them to take the brunt out of tedious data digging and processing. Let’s design and automate them in all forms and functions to act as our disembodied yet highly cognitive extensions, faster and far more precise, sans the sighs and the countless coffee breaks.”
She adds, “Since they have greater capacity to plan, act, optimise, and analyse, let them handle all the tasks that often leave us uninspired. I say let them do the manual labour while we labour with our cerebral hustle. We divide and conquer. We think, plan, design and deliver vital context as human strategists, while they get to execute deep research, and orchestrate, personalise, generate and analyse complex campaigns autonomously and at scale as AI strategists.”
Some agency teams have already embedded agentic capabilities into their everyday planning. Strategy and workflow have already become the backbone of Omnicom Media Group – MENA’s OMNI platform, which has agentic AI embedded at every stage.
Daniel Shepherd, Chief Strategy Officer, Omnicom Media Group – MENA, explains, “In practice, this means ‘AI strategists’ are interacting with various leading AI platforms – Open AI, Anthropic and the like – to empower our human strategists and planners when they’re crafting solutions. Strategy remains, ultimately, a question of human judgement and taste, but time is released for this to be enhanced by an army of synthetic whizzes that don’t need caffeine or sleep.”
He adds, “Without AI strategists, the job would now be impossible. Trying to tackle the explosion of the digital footprint with traditional analogue methods doesn’t work in all aspects and disciplines within an agency or within any business. The sheer quantity of data created by machines
Mendonca says, “The best strategists already know: the trick isn’t outthinking AI, it’s thinking with it. AI is already the strategist’s operating system. It’s supercharged my output, sharpened my thinking and saved me from drowning in data. AI won’t replace us. But without it, we’re simply slower, blinder and buried.”
However, there are several other strategists who caution against this bold move towards AI strategists.
Jena argues, “Should the strategic process be retooled for a more agile, predictive era? Absolutely, and that shift is already under way. AI is a powerful, democratic tool, and every discipline in the agency can – and should – use it to sharpen its output and productivity, but
the industry doesn’t need a new class of ‘AI strategists’.”
Reiterating this notion, strategists share that the call to action must be partnership: machines accelerate; humans improvise.
Bannister says, “We need to design processes and workflows for ‘AI sidekicks’, not ‘AI strategists’. AI is an incredible accelerant, turbocharging the journey from insight to idea and enabling strategists to cover more ground, faster. Let algorithms crunch the numbers, spot patterns and visualise complex data, extracting and simplifying what would take a human many hours to do. But true strategy needs a
human heartbeat with personal flair, intuition and a knack for seeing what others miss There are no cookie-cutter answers or off-the-shelf solutions in this game. AI is a brilliant ‘sidekick’, powering up our process, but it shouldn’t steal the show.”
Fischer agrees, “We’re not there yet when it comes to replacing the dance that makes strategy human – the curiosity, challenge and back-and-forth that turn information into insight. I don’t want to over-romanticise human creativity, but instinct, empathy and lived experience still drive the best leaps. AI is an extraordinary partner. It just hasn’t learned how to improvise.”
THE LOAD AND THE LINE: WHAT’S KEEPING STRATEGISTS UP AT NIGHT?
As expectations balloon, strategists are juggling craft, code and commerce. Leaders point to clearer roles, better briefs and disciplined measurement as the way through.
“Across most agencies, strategists are running ragged,” says Rais.
When asked why, he points to:
Role sprawl: Strategists wearing several hats. Shallow briefs: Problems phrased as outputs. “We need a campaign.”
Proof pressure: Ideas without believable evidence. It’s all hot air until you have the numbers.
Silo friction: Handovers that kill momentum. Time poverty: Too many tickets raised, not enough critical thinking or problem solving. Capability drift: AI, commerce and CX are moving faster than training.
Pointing to another age-old problem of time, or the lack thereof, Shepherd quotes Mark Twain, “I apologise for such a long letter, I didn’t have time for a short one.”
Shepherd explains, “Being able to simplify and synthesise information and insight remains the most important function of a strategist. With so much information and so many different business imperatives, sifting the signal from the noise and distilling this into something potent, distinctive and measurable is as hard as it’s ever been.”
Fischer adds, “The brief keeps getting bigger and the deadlines shorter.”
With AI entering the conversation, not only have deadlines become even shorter, but “everyone has picked the wrong lesson: cut corners,” Mendonca explains.
He adds, “There is nothing wrong with speed, until it comes at the cost of thinking. And right now, 95 per cent of our industry is fighting the wrong battle. Speed over quality. Volume over value. The real challenge? Staying thoughtful in a world obsessed with being fast. When everything is noise, clarity becomes your competitive edge.”
Several strategists also point to how they are expected to wear several hats while offering solutions to the challenges.
“Strategists are expected to know everything about culture, data and technology while diagnosing business problems and shaping creative work,” Fischer says.
Sanita Sandhu, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer, Initiative MENAT, says, “Strategists today are expected to be polymaths – creative thinkers, data scientists, trend analysts and even coders. The challenge is balancing these demands without losing sight of what strategy is truly about: understanding human motivation and culture. The overload of expectations is real, but the differentiator lies in focusing on cultural insight and turning complexity into clarity for clients.”
Bannister agrees, “Today’s strategists must wear a dizzying number of hats – creative, analyst, tech tinkerer, growth driver and more. The big challenge? There’s simply too much ground for one person to cover alone.”
They all agree that the solution to the ‘polymath problem’ lies in building T-shaped teams made up of strategists who can connect the dots across disciplines but have a superpower in at least one discipline. Ensure these teams have complementary strengths across data, culture, creativity and commerce. Then, add in a few endlessly inquisitive minds – pairing young experts and seasoned practitioners – and throw in a dash of AI support and you’ve got a strategy department that’s both resilient and relentlessly inventive.
Introducing another current concern to the conversation, Jena opines, “The biggest challenge is the polysemy of the word strategy. It means different things to different people. Agency interpretation vs. client briefing, brand vs. performance, directional architecture vs. tactical execution. Everyone carries their own definition, which makes both the creation and evaluation of strategy highly subjective. The solution? Precise definitions and key decision makers knowing what they want.”
Roland cites deeper concerns of a new generation of strategists who are more disconnected from the real world than ever before.
interesting to say; it’s become harder than ever to stand in a boardroom and deliver a deep truth about people that literally has the power to change everything for a brand.”
To solve several of these problems, Rais suggests achieving clarity on the core purpose; designing specialist talent pods; building due-diligence rituals and a test-and-learn cadence as a default; making fewer, bigger and better bets; giving strategists room to think instead of turning them into glorified ‘typists’ or prompt engineers; enabling relearning
“STRATEGY ISN’T A SLIDE FACTORY. IT’S THE DISCIPLINE THAT MAKES IDEAS MAKE SENSE, GIVES CREATIVITY PURPOSE AND HELPS BRANDS MATTER.”
programmes that treat tools and techniques as more than shiny toys and, most importantly, keeping strategists involved end-to-end – from the initial hypothesis to the packaging of results and reports.
RAPID FIRE
Before the discussion concluded, each of these leaders was offered the opportunity to share one thing they would eradicate within how strategy is perceived and how it works. The catch? They didn’t have visibility on each other’s answers. Yet, a pattern emerges.
Here’s what each of them said they would get rid of:
single-mindedness. We should not be measured by the number of slides and words we use to convey a strategic idea. Call me old school, but if you can’t get a strategy across on a single sheet of A4, you’ve probably lost the plot a bit.”
Mendonca: “The hamster wheel of performative deckbuilding. Layer on a few frameworks, a couple of cultural buzzwords, and voilà … strategy. What an incredible waste of brainpower. If I could change one thing, it would be this: educate the industry. Strategy isn’t a slide factory. It’s the discipline that makes ideas make sense, gives creativity purpose and helps brands matter. Our industry doesn’t need more templates; it needs a crash course in what strategy really is: a thinking function, not a formatting one.”
Fischer: “Writing decks that justify work instead of changing it. Too much time goes into packaging, not shaping. Too often we end up copywriting the creative platform instead of influencing it. The fix isn’t more polish, it’s more proximity. Go to the car dealer on Sheikh Zayed Road, do the test drive, sit with parents after school pickup, talk to the tribes that move culture. That’s where truth lives. We need to carve that time; it can’t be a luxury.”
Sandhu: “The absence of strong briefs and long-term planning. Too often, strategy is reduced to tactical execution, leaving little room for brand building or salience. This short-termism risks narrowing strategy to performance marketing alone.”
Making the case for why strategists must speak to real people, Roland says, “Qualitative research, ethnography and voice of the consumer – all of these are starting to feel like concepts from a bygone era. A brand’s audience is increasingly being reduced to on-demand, AI-powered, synthetic data dashboards. And that’s cool if you’re on a tight deadline – as we always are. Yet, one of the big issues I see is that these ‘insights’ have become completely commoditised. For strategists, it’s become harder than ever to have something
Rais: “The deck-dump theatre. Replace it with a living strategy operating system, which includes hypotheses, experiments, plays and proofs that travel with the work, the client and the teams. Treat your strategists like master conductors and you’ll finally hear the difference. The orchestra plays tighter. Solos get braver. And the audience doesn’t just clap. They come back, with friends, and they pay more for the ticket. That is strategy that works.”
Bonifacio: “The culture of isolation must go. Strategists are makers in as much as they are thinkers.”
become harder than ever to have something
Jena: “Wri en submissions that rarely get read. A mountain of slides no client really wants to sit through. Agency “themes” that feel interchangeable. It’s become borderline parody. A strategic process is more like an F1 circuit – high speed, constant feedback, sharp corners, unexpected red flags, and relentless two-way dialogue between driver and team. Yet the way we’re forced to pitch strategy feels more like a penalty shootout: silence, one isolated strike, and then judgment. If you’re reading this and working in brand side procurement or at an intermediary then please, let’s brainstorm a better way.”
Roland: “Overcomplication, especially in briefing. We need simplicity, clarity and
Bannister says, “We should put genuine client understanding – in all its dimensions – at the very heart of strategy. We ought to know our clients’ business, consumers, pressures and ambitions inside out. We must fall in love with their products and seeing the world through their eyes. Strategy must be both advocate and challenger: honest when a brief falls short, bold with new perspectives, yet always empathetic and constructive.
She concludes, “Our responsibility is to be both tough and understanding, pushing for braver solutions while keeping client ambitions central. True partnership means showing up this way every single day. That’s how we create work that truly makes a difference.”
And that’s how we create our happily ever after – as all good stories must end.
Motivate Val Morgan’s Avinash Udeshi says that cinema stands ready – as a necessity – for those who want to build a brand that lasts.
In today’s world of dashboards, attribution windows, and performance marketing obsessing over return on ad spend (ROAS), it’s tempting to view brand building as a luxury – a kind of ‘nice to have’ when growth is already assured. But nothing could be further from reality.
The Multiplier Effect report from WARC and its partners puts it plainly: strong brand equity acts not as a cost, but as a potent accelerant to performancedriven campaigns.
Marketers who neglect this foundational work risk entering what the report calls the ‘performance doom loop’, in which incremental gains from performance channels keep shrinking over time. In contrast, when you invest in your brand and performance in tandem, the uplift is striking. The report cites cases where a balanced model increased overall revenue return on investment (ROI) by up to 90 per cent.
This isn’t academic fluff. At many organisations today, the board demands immediate returns. Yet the stories of durable brands always point back to consistent emotional investment – those makes-theheart-beat brand moments that remind people what you stand for, not just what you sell.
ENDURING
Brand building needs reach, trust, and emotion – qualities that traditional media have spent decades perfecting. Television, audio, print, outdoor, and cinema remain some of the most effective ways to make people feel something real about a brand. These channels reach audiences at scale; more importantly, they do so in environments of attention and credibility.
Traditional forms of media have what digital ones rarely offer: presence. A radio spot that plays uninterrupted during a morning drive, a full-page print ad that demands a reader’s pause, or a 30-second cinema placement before a major release – each earns its moment. These experiences invite engagement rather than chase it. They create memory structures that no performance metric can quantify. This is an argument for efficiency, not nostalgia. Emotional storytelling in trusted environments delivers a multiplier effect on sales and long-term brand equity, proven repeatedly by global effectiveness research. The most powerful brands know that awareness is not waste – it is the groundwork on which all conversions depend.
CINEMA: THE MODERN CLASSIC
Within that mix, cinema stands out as a uniquely modern classic – a traditional medium
that has evolved without losing what originally made it powerful.
Advertisers who balance brand building and performance not only see a 90 percent higher revenue ROI, but performance-only campaigns face a ‘performance penalty’ of about 40 percent.
The reason is simple. As Sir John Hegarty frames it, “Cinema belongs to showmanship, not salesmanship.” Cinema reaches people when they are most open to feeling: in the dark, phone-free, immersed in story. The big screen commands focus, emotion, and scale.
And as neuroscientific studies have repeatedly highlighted, cinema advertising outperforms other environments across attention, emotion, and memory metrics – the foundations of effective brand recall. Today’s cinema advertising also bridges the gap between emotion and accountability. With MVM’s measurement CinePlan and CineMeasure linking on-screen ad exposure to admissions/impressions, cinema is no longer just powerful; it is provable.
Cinema doesn’t compete with other media channels; it amplifies them. It gives your brand the silence, the scale, and the storytelling canvas that no other platform can.
As brands rethink the balance between the short and the long, cinema stands ready – not as a luxury, but as a necessity for those who want to build what lasts.
By Avinash Udeshi, Chief Operating Officer, Motivate Val Morgan
This article was written by ChatGPT. Or was it? You’re probably scanning these lines, trying to catch the overly perfect grammar, the balanced sentence structure or maybe a word such as ‘synergy’ – the kind of giveaway that screams: “Yep, definitely AI.”
But hold on. Before you roll your eyes and scroll away, let’s talk about that instinct – that tiny voice that says, “This doesn’t feel human.” Because that feeling right there? That’s the new battleground for customer experience.
We live in a world where AI writes ad copy, designs logos and predicts what customers will want before they even know it. The efficiency is amazing – the empathy, not so much. I’ve spent nine years in this industry watching automation take over the heavy lifting. It’s brilliant. But somewhere along the way, we started sounding the same – polite, precise, and painfully predictable.
And that’s the problem. If your marketing sounds like it was written by a machine – even a very smart one – you’ve already lost the magic.
One of my favorite quotes by Seth Godin says, “People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories and magic.” That line has always stuck with me, because it captures exactly what we tend to forget in the rush to optimise everything. AI can help us produce faster, but it can’t replicate that spark – the human messiness that makes people feel something.
Here’s a secret: people don’t crave perfection. They crave connection. The typos, the humour, the sarcasm, the “Wait, what?” moments – that’s what reminds people that there’s a real human being behind the brand. And that’s why I say your next marketing strategy needs a ‘meme budget’.
Because memes are imperfect, unpredictable and sometimes even chaotic. But they feel alive. They make people smile, react and share – not because they’re perfect, but because they’re real.
I’m all for tech. I use it daily – dashboards, AI tools and automation – the whole digital world. But after years in the game, I’ve realised that while tech helps us talk to customers, it doesn’t help us connect with them.
Data can tell you what time someone’s most likely to engage with your post. It can’t tell you what’s going to make them laugh at it. That’s where the human layer comes in – tone, humour, empathy, curiosity. Those are the things that no algorithm has mastered yet.
David Ogilvy once said, “The consumer isn’t a moron, she’s your wife.” It’s one of those timeless reminders that audiences don’t just want clever content – they want to be understood. They want honesty, warmth and sometimes even a little chaos. That’s what makes a brand feel alive.
Behind every strong CX strategy is a team that actually cares. If your internal culture encourages curiosity and playfulness, your campaigns will naturally carry that energy. If your team is afraid to experiment, your content will play it safe – and safe is invisible.
One of my favourite things about good marketing teams is that you can feel when they’re having fun. That energy seeps through the copy, the visuals the captions – everything. And on the flip side, when content feels over-polished and risk-free, it’s instantly forgettable. Because it sounds like everyone else.
So, whether it’s through memes, storytelling, or humour –give your people room to sound like people. It’s your best competitive advantage. Maybe that’s what we’ve lost in the age of ‘perfect’ content – the willingness to sound a little raw. The more human your brand feels, the more your audience sees themselves in it.
So yes, maybe this article started out sounding like ChatGPT. But by now, you’ve probably realised it’s not. Because no matter how smart AI becomes, it still can’t replicate the little sparks that make us human – the self-awareness, the humour, the imperfections.
And that, my friends, is exactly what separates good marketing from great experiences.
automate what you can. But don’t forget to keep a line in reminder that connection beats perfection every time.
you’re not in the room.”
So go ahead – use your tools, optimise your funnels, and automate what you can. But don’t forget to keep a line in your budget – and in your heart – for the human moments. Call it your meme budget, your emotion fund, or just a reminder that connection beats perfection every time. Because, as Jeff Bezos once said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
And people don’t talk about flawless.
And people don’t talk about flawless. They talk about real. Because the smartest strategy of all still feels human.
By Azzam Khan, Integrated Associate Director, 5th Element MEA.
“What we’ve lost in the age of ‘perfect’ content is the willingness to sound a little raw. The more human your brand feels, the more your audience sees themselves in it.”
Contextual advertising has become a widely used strategy in digital marketing. This innovative technology targets users based on their current interests without relying on personal data. Reflecting this rising adoption, contextual advertising spending is projected to grow by 13.8 per cent year-on-year from 2022 to 2030, highlighting its importance in a privacyfirst world.
Until now, contextual strategies have been linked to upper-funnel branding campaigns focused on key performance indicators (KPIs) such as viewability and attention. But now, pioneering adtech companies are using advanced contextual artificial intelligence (AI) to reach consumers further down the marketing funnel. By training contextual AIs on intent-labeled datasets, advertisers can engage high-intent audiences ready to take action – boosting conversion KPIs such as cost per quality visit (CPQV) and cost per lead (CPL), and ultimately delivering more qualified traffic and on-site actions.
This next generation of intentionbased contextual AI enables marketers to strike the right balance between performance and branding, making it an effective tool across the marketing funnel.
Traditional targeting methods often fail to distinguish between casual curiosity and genuine purchase intent. For example, a user’s likelihood to engage with an ad can vary greatly depending on the context of the webpage they’re interacting with. Someone browsing
general information about travel destinations has much lower intent than someone actively searching for the best hotels in a given area. Failing to differentiate between these levels of intent can result in wasted impressions and budgets, with ads shown to users who are not yet in a decisionmaking mindset. In contrast, advanced contextual AIs can leverage deep content analysis to place ads on articles that align with the intent level outlined in a campaign’s specific brief.
By analysing intent signals – such as sentiment, engagement depth, and contextual nuance – they can distinguish between casual browsing and transactional readiness. For instance, these technologies can tell the difference between someone researching car options through content such as ‘The benefits of leasing vs. buying a bar’ and someone actively looking to make a purchase, with content such as ‘Top 10 electric cars to buy today’.
In today’s privacy-first landscape, regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL), and the UAE’s Data Protection Law are reshaping how brands approach targeting. Relying solely on third-party data or behavioural tracking is no longer a sustainable strategy.
At the same time, visibility alone no longer guarantees results. Serving ads to users who quickly scroll past or disengage adds little value. Instead, advertisers need to shift their focus to intent-based strategies that connect with the right audiences at the right moment.
This is where intention-based contextual AI provides a new advantage by taking traditional branding strategies further down the marketing funnel. Instead of stopping at awareness and attention, it allows advertisers to engage users, showing real intent, and effectively bridging the gap between branding and performance.
By integrating advanced contextual AI in intention-focused campaigns, advertisers can: Show up in the moments that matter, when buyers are most open to influence. Align ads with content that reflects real interest, not just broad auto categories. Reach people actively comparing products, or reading reviews.
Almost 90 per cent of consumers prefer personalised ads, and 87 per cent are more likely to click on ads for products they’re interested in or shopping for, highlighting the growing demand for relevant and tailored advertising experiences.
At Seedtag, we recently announced our latest innovation: AI Intention Models. Powered by our
contextual AI, Liz, this solution enables effective engagement of action-ready consumers. For a leading automotive brand in Spain, Seedtag’s intention models delivered impactful results, reducing the CPQV by 68 per cent and the CPL by 35 per cent compared with the target.
Also, although test drives weren’t a primary KPI, the high-intensity traffic still boosted test rates. These results underscore the power of contextual AI in reaching consumers in a decision-making mindset.
Advanced contextual AI has the transformative potential to reshape digital advertising as we know it. By combining complex, intent-labeled datasets with open web intelligence, we don’t need to know a person’s browsing behaviour to predict their next move. As the industry shifts toward privacy-first solutions, embracing intent-driven contextual targeting will be key to optimising ad spend and driving real engagement.
By Sherry Mansour, Managing Director at Seedtag MENA
Merkle MENA’s Sameer Poonja explains why customer experience thrives
Putting together a marketing strategy today feels a lot like conducting an orchestra where the instruments, and sometimes the musicians, keep changing mid-performance. We’re operating in a world that’s increasingly omni-channel, overwhelmingly digital, and constantly evolving. Yet, at its core, success still depends on something timeless: understanding people.
In my work across airlines, fintech, automotive and culture sectors, one thing has become clear: Strategy and technology are meaningless without empathy. We can automate every touchpoint and deploy every piece of martech under the sun, but unless we understand what the customer feels, none of it matters.
Here in the GCC, this evolution is unfolding at lightning speed.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 has created a fertile environment for innovation, where customer experience isn’t just a marketing goal, but a national ambition.
Every new brand, from Riyadh Air to Ceer Motors, is being built digitally first, data-first and experience-led. But it’s also about emotion. It’s about making every traveller, every guest and every user feel seen, valued and connected.
At Merkle, dentsu, we often say customer experience (CX) isn’t a
‘‘BRANDS THAT WILL DEFINE THIS NEXT DECADE OF GROWTH IN THE GCC WILL BE THE ONES THAT HUMANISE BEST.’’
department; it’s the heartbeat of a brand. It’s how your site loads for a traveller browsing from an airport wifi. It’s how your app remembers a loyal customer’s preferences. It’s the tone of a support agent responding to a frustrated passenger. Every micro-interaction adds up to something far greater: Trust. What excites me most about the region right now is how brands are beginning to connect strategy, experience and culture – not as buzzwords, but as a unified discipline. Look at Emirates and how
its digital experience matches the promise of its in-flight service; or DCT Abu Dhabi, where culture, tourism and technology blend to create experiences that feel personal, purposeful and distinctly local.
And this is the real unlock: CX thrives when culture becomes the enabler, not the barrier. A brand can’t deliver exceptional experiences externally if its internal culture doesn’t reflect empathy, collaboration and accountability. The best customer journeys start from the inside – with teams that believe in the experience they’re designing.
Across the Middle East, we’re now seeing the emergence of experienced ecosystems, where loyalty, commerce, media and data all speak to each other. AI and personalisation aren’t just about automation anymore; they’re anticipating, predicting needs, removing friction and creating moments that feel intuitively human.
So, as we talk about strategy in this issue of Campaign, remember: CX is not the outcome; it’s the journey itself. Because the brands that will define this next decade of growth in the GCC won’t just be the ones that digitise fastest; they’ll be the ones that humanise best.
By Sameer Poonja, Managing Director – Experience and Platforms, Merkle MENA
As marketing technology executives, we often speak of the ‘valley’ – the beating heart of innovation where entrepreneurship pulses amid disruption and rapid change. Another dynamic valley is indeed emerging in the Gulf, creating a pivotal moment for marketing and communications professionals. To build brands in this rapidly transforming region, opportunities abound to further blend technology with advertising and communication and navigate the new customer experience landscape.
MACRO-PERSPECTIVE: A THRIVING INFRASTRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE DRIVE
Concrete national artificial intelligence (AI) strategies in the Gulf, particularly in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have grown from pilot schemes to cross-sectoral adoption in 2025. Initiatives such as UAE’s AI Strategy 2031 and Saudi’s Vision 2030 have spurred investment beyond infrastructure: Sovereign platforms, regulatory rigor and use cases are blooming.
For instance, a local AI revolution is under way in large language models (LLMs) such as K2 Think and Falcon Arabic. Until now, Arabic speakers wrestled with tools built for the English-speaking world.
Today, regional LLMs – trained on local dialects and cultural contexts – are launching, boosting relevance and freeing organisations from linguistic dependency.
These LLM developments are by themselves critical for AI-powered locally relevant content creation, hyperpersonalisation and AI-reasoning embracing local contexts hidden in language derived from the local training data.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR BRANDS AND AGENCIES?
These macro-developments are foundational pillars for what brands and agencies can build: transforming work processes and value creation through AI to optimise
customer journeys. You can apply AI across many fronts in your organisation, but a business exists to create customers – so the customer experience (CX) is precisely where you must begin defining your brand’s AI transformation. This will ensure that everything else will fall into place around your customer value propositions. They are, after all, the very foundation upon which your brand stands.
Every agency brief – whether explicit or hidden – carries a CX dimension that demands a strategic tech approach. We are entering an era when AI agents support a significant part of marketing and advertising processes; some believe humans
ALLURE AND THE REALITY: ARE WE BEHAVING LIKE KIDS IN A
With the speed of change, risks abound. The allure of new AI tools can make us behave like kids in a sweet shop, leading to messy experimentation without a clear strategy. True effectiveness will not come from adopting every new tool, but from a calculated methodology for transformation.
Both agencies and brands face a flood of startup tools promising AI miracles with slick demos. However, true transformation demands sound strategy – sometimes choosing real customer value and filtering out flashy features. Winners will resist trying every shiny object, instead anchoring
HAVAS CX Middle East’s Serhat Akkılıç reveals a ‘valley’ that is emerging in the Middle East and explains how brands and agencies must address its allure and its reality.
may one day leave the cycle altogether. Today, humans remain central to creative strategy, brand building and storytelling –but increasingly amplified by machines. With competitive pressures in every industry, transformation is rather urgent for brands, and it already feels late to start with AI-related, FOMO-inducing news popping up every day.
The role of agencies is shifting. The brief is no longer just a campaign request, but a business problem with an AI dimension. Every stage – research, strategy, production and media planning – has an untapped AI potential that, if harnessed, delivers disproportionate value.
The required talent is also changing. We are working with hybrid professionals: Creatives who understand data, strategists fluent in the capabilities of APIs and teams facing clients skilled in tech integration. The agency is no longer a vendor but a transformation partner fluent in both brand and code. It is no longer just creative, media or digital; it requires transversal talent to solve business challenges.
Take the Havas CX network as an example: With expertise across the world, working seamlessly with the Middle East Village, it builds customer experiences with hard-core technology teams alongside creatives – engineers and poets working together to cut through the clutter.
decisions in CX strategy. The organisations that thrive won’t chase every breakthrough but will distinguish between meaningful progress – what we call meaningful AI – and mere novelty. Strategy, not spectacle, separates lasting transformation from temporary projects – and, ultimately, business success.
Despite challenges, the opportunity is clear: The ‘valley’ in this region is becoming the bedrock of operational, creative and competitive advantage for hybrid marcomms professionals. Infrastructure is in place. Execution is now a hygiene factor, combined with strategic vision and brand understanding. Today’s brand leaders need a calculated methodology for AI transformation, and this should be around CX – to steer clear of messy trials. They need partners who understand both brand and customer dynamics with technology mastery to guide them.
AI changes nothing by itself. It is marketers, advertisers, tech experts with business vision and hybrid professionals who will harness its power with the right partners. Those who adapt won’t just shape brand experiences; they’ll pioneer new standards of effectiveness in a region rapidly becoming the epicentre of digital change.
By Serhat Akkılıç, Vice President – Delivery, HAVAS CX Middle East
Why are some apps or subscriptions harder to cancel than others?
Because the best ones aren’t just feature-rich; they deliver on a simple promise – consistently and intuitively. When competitors all reach that baseline, users stop being exclusive. They become ‘polygamous loyalists’, mixing and matching brands based on evolving needs or moods. Streaming services have amplified this behaviour. Today, most people subscribe to multiple platforms, but only a few earn consistent engagement. It’s not about being present on the screen. It’s about being present in the habit.
Streaming is the one category that is not riddled with too many loyalty programmes and is somewhat good at generating organic loyalty and even happy sharing with others. The best streaming platforms are not the ones that have the best content, but the ones hardest to let go despite not having the best content always. Some apps and subscriptions are just stickier than others.
We believe that comes down to what we call the ‘Relationship ABCs’. These aren’t marketing buzzwords; they’re the building blocks of enduring brand-customer relationships.
A is for Appropriateness: how relevant your brand is to a user’s needs, context, or moment.
B is for Benefit: the tangible or emotional reward the user receives in exchange for their time, data, or money.
C is for Currency: the social equity users gain – or lose – by engaging with your product. It’s the cultural cachet of saying “I use this,” or the subtle fear of missing out (FOMO) when they don’t.
These three forces don’t work in silos; they feed into each other to build habits and, importantly, trigger loss-aversion. Together, they not only keep users coming back, but also create conditions for loyalty to emerge.
Let’s quickly unpack how each of these plays out in practice.
A IS FOR APPROPRIATENESS THE BEATING HEART OF RELEVANCE
Relevance is arguably the single most important characteristic of sticky brands, products and platforms. It’s the ability to align with what people need, what they value and how they live. Once a brand achieves that, it becomes easier to see its place in your routine and harder to imagine life without it.
But relevance has two faces: brand relevance – does this brand reflect my values? – and contextual relevance – is this useful right now? Both matter, and few do it better than Netflix. The brand blends machine learning with behavioural science to engineer a hyperpersonalised experience at scale. Its secret weapon? A technique known as contextual banditry: a real-time system that decides the best creative asset (think: cover art, thumbnails) to show each user for the same title.
We tested this in the office once. Four people. Same trending movie. Four completely different visuals served up. Personalised beyond just age, gender, or region, this was content relevancy tuned to each individual’s subconscious clicks.
That level of relevance doesn’t just make Netflix useful. It makes it meaningful. And in the psychology of habit and loyalty, meaning is everything. Relevance speaks to our survival instincts, confirming that what we consume
‘‘RELATIONSHIPS AREN’T SUSTAINED BY FEATURES ALONE, BUT BY HOW YOUR BRAND MAKES PEOPLE FEEL, BEHAVE AND BELONG.”
brings us joy, comfort, or clarity. So, the next time a consumer hovers over the ‘cancel subscription’ button, they just might pause. Maybe not forever. But at least until the next season drops.
B IS FOR BENEFIT THE REWARD THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
For any brand-consumer relationship to hold value over time, benefit and behaviour must reinforce each other in a continuous loop. But here’s the catch: if a benefit is too easy to get, it loses meaning. If it’s too hard to access, it feels like a trap. The magic happens in the middle, here the right balance creates real stickiness.
Disney+ Perks is a masterclass in loyalty design. The programme offers tangible, attainable benefits, but what truly stands out is its use of variable rewards:
unpredictable bonuses that trigger satisfaction, delight and anticipation. One Reddit user shared how, upon joining, they received a two-month free trial to Duolingo Premium, completely unexpected.
That randomness matters. It surprises users in a way that feels personal. And while it delights in the moment, it also does something clever: it slows down cancellation. You hesitate. You think, “What if the next perk is even better?” Suddenly, the content doesn’t need to be amazing; the reward system buys time, goodwill and another billing cycle.
In that one moment of delight, the brand earns forgiveness and loyalty.
C IS FOR CURRENCY THE NON-MONETARY VALUE OF BELONGING
Relationship currency is the invisible asset consumers build through repeated interactions with brands. It’s not measured in points or discounts; it’s the social capital that comes from being in the know. From having taste. From being early. These nonverbal, often unspoken assets are powerful because they serve a deeper need: validation.
The brands that stick are the ones that make you feel smarter, more informed and more relevant. Think about the cultural clout that comes from watching Money Heist on Netflix at the peak of its popularity. It’s not just about content consumption, it’s about being able to engage in the cultural moment, to have a say in the group chat. That’s relationship currency.
Even more niche examples, like Slow Horses or Silo on Apple TV, or Gen V on Prime Video, show how powerful this currency can be. The Reddit threads, the fan theories and the heated debates – all of these are proof that when people feel they’ve earned insider status, they’re more likely to stay. To subscribe. To evangelise. It’s not just a fear of missing out, it’s also a fear of being left out.
Because, at the end of the day, you’re not just building products; you’re building relationships. And relationships aren’t sustained by features alone, but by how your brand makes people feel, behave and belong.
As Maya Angelou said, “people will never forget how you made them feel”; that’s the currency they take into their next conversation and into their next purchase. So, ask yourself: Are you giving your customers a reason to stay, return and advocate?
Master the ABCs and you won’t just drive loyalty. You’ll drive a business that lasts.
By Derrick Nyirenda, Head of Strategy at MRM MENAT
SOCIALEYEZ’s Heena Mak reveals that when creators genuinely represent the communities that a brand serves, strategy becomes empathy, and engagement becomes a sense of belonging.
It’s 2025; you’re a creator, I’m a creator, and everyone with a phone and a point of view is one, too. We’re living in an economy where creativity is currency, and the number of followers no longer measures influence, but the power to connect genuinely with people does.
According to a YouGov survey in the UAE, 58 per cent of consumers say they trust micro-influencers over big-name influencers. The pivot toward the accessible creator, someone relatable, niche, and authentic, is clear. Yet, despite this shift, a report by Influencer Marketing Hub revealed that 61.5 per cent of brands in the MENA region run fewer than five influencer campaigns per year.
It is proof that while audiences want more, many brands are still playing catch-up, treating creators as a line item used during launches, events, or campaigns rather than an ongoing relationship. Working with creators is no longer enough; the real power lies in building with them. Here’s how that shift begins.
INVOLVE CREATORS AS PART OF THE STRATEGY
Creators are not the footnote; they are the story. We need to shift the mandate and bring creators up where it matters in the strategy phase. They know how audiences think, talk and behave online, often faster than any insight can capture.
When brands co-create at the strategy stage, they don’t just get better ideas; they get ideas that already belong to the audience and their culture. An individual’s lived experience can turn a corporate message into something that feels human, and in 2025, real is what performs.
Most brand-creator collaborations in the region still happen in sparks. A few sponsored videos during launches, a campaign story and then silence. But audiences recognise inconsistency instantly.
Real influence builds on familiarity and trust, which can only come from long-term partnerships. When you see the same names associated with the same brands, you inherently trust the partnership, it comes across as genuine, and you find the content that comes out of it more relatable and authentic.
In a market where 58 per cent of UAE consumers trust micro-influencers over celebrities, it’s clear where the next wave of credibility lives. Smaller creators bring tighter communities, honest interactions and storytelling that feels personal, not produced.
Instead of chasing reach, brands should be building ecosystems of relatable voices that grow alongside them. If you look at channels such as TikTok, the growing popularity of user-generated content creators tells us that small audiences do not equate to small impact. Our algorithms are more democratic than ever; you can go viral whether you have 20 followers or 2 million followers. What matters is the story you are telling.
The chase of immediate returns has made many brands forget what social media was built for: storytelling and engagement. When brands evaluate creator content solely based on cost per view or clickthrough rates, they overlook the value of connection.
In today’s environment, performance should encompass perception: what do audiences feel, remember or share about a piece of content? Great content moves people first; conversions and virality follow. Building a community takes time and consistency, if brands are willing to invest, the return on investment (ROI) will follow, late but not never.
MAKE
Creators are no longer just spokespeople; they reflect the world we live in. The best collaborations happen when audiences see themselves in the person speaking on behalf of the brand. That means diversity of voice, culture, age and lived experience, particularly in a region as layered as the MENA region. When creators genuinely represent the communities a brand serves, strategy becomes empathy and engagement becomes a sense of belonging.
In a region built on ambition and storytelling, creators are the new architects of cultural identity. They translate language, bridge generations and make brands human. The future of marketing in the region will belong to brands that view creators not as media investments but as co-authors of meaning. Because in 2025 and beyond, collaboration isn’t just a tactic; it is the entire strategy, one built on connection, creativity and the courage to let people shape the story with you.
By Heena Mak, Group Head of Strategy, SOCIALEYEZ
For decades, marketing leaders swore by the mantra – ‘Think global, act local’. It promised efficiency and consistency – a way to scale campaigns across markets while sprinkling in just enough local flavour to feel relevant. The approach usually meant developing a global campaign, swapping in local faces or backdrops and maybe translating a tagline. It looked neat on a slide deck but often fell flat in reality.
That model doesn’t work any more. Today’s audiences are too savvy, too connected and too sensitive to cultural nuance to be convinced by one-size-fitsall storytelling. They can smell when a brand is borrowing from the outside rather than building from within. Authenticity isn’t about substituting a skyline; it’s about capturing the texture of local life. Which is why the future belongs to a different paradigm: Think local, act local. Global relevance becomes the byproduct, not the starting point.
The power of this shift becomes clear when you see it in action. Take the Republic of Georgia, for example, a country eager to raise its profile on the world stage. Instead of leaning on glossy aerial shots or a polished slogan, Bloomberg Media’s strategy was to embed storytellers directly into communities. Influencers broke bread with families, cooked traditional meals, hiked mountain trails and shared it all in real time with their followers. Audiences didn’t see outsiders observing a place from behind a camera lens; they saw participants living it, immersing themselves in the culture. It gave the campaign credibility that a script could not have manufactured.
Bloomberg Media Studios’ Ashish Verma explains why the brands making headlines and building loyalty are the ones embedding themselves in communities, letting local nuance drive the story and amplifying it
But this wasn’t just about attracting tourists. Alongside the cultural storytelling, there was a parallel track designed for foreign investors. Georgia’s talent pool, growing industries and business potential were spotlighted through a narrative that resonated with the global investment community. The combination of cultural immersion and economic storytelling worked because both were rooted in the Republic’s unique local strengths.
A similar shift played out in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, though the stakes were different. The Kingdom’s challenge wasn’t obscurity but perception. As it opened its doors to welcome the world, the question wasn’t just how to attract tourists but how to reshape the narrative entirely. A templated campaign could never have overcome ingrained bias with certain global markets. Instead, Bloomberg Media Studios’ Middle East team created a multiplatform campaign, ‘The Most Amazing’, highlighting the depth of Saudi hospitality and the richness of its destinations while creating something bigger than a tourism ad. It was a story told not from the outside in, but from the inside out – how Saudis themselves
wanted their country represented. Today, the Kingdom is getting ready to host TOURISE, a global platform that will convene leaders of government, global business, technology and culture in Riyadh to participate in a dialogue about the impact of tourism on sustainability, equity and innovation. TOURISE will position Saudi Arabia as a thought leader with authenticity, ambition and scale. Again, local roots make global impact possible.
The lesson here isn’t just that local insight is valuable; it’s that it is indispensable. For too long, efficiency in marketing has meant standardisation. But efficiency without resonance is wasted effort. A campaign that looks streamlined but doesn’t stick is more expensive than one that takes the time to embed itself in the rhythms of real life.
This doesn’t mean abandoning the idea of scale. It means recognising that scale happens differently now. A story that starts deeply local has the power to travel further because it feels true. When people sense that a brand has listened, understood and reflected their culture with care, they are more likely to share that story. Trust spreads across borders and engenders ‘brand love’.
‘‘AUTHENTICITY ISN’T ABOUT SUBSTITUTING A SKYLINE; IT’S ABOUT CAPTURING THE TEXTURE OF LOCAL LIFE.”
The reality is that this is already happening. The brands making headlines and building loyalty are the ones embedding themselves in communities, letting local nuance drive the story and then amplifying it outward. They’re proving that relevance beats efficiency and that trust – earned on the ground – is the currency that compounds into long-term value.
The challenge for marketers is whether we’re willing to give up control at the centre to gain impact at the edges. Because here’s the paradox of our time: the more you think local, the more global you become.
By Ashish Verma, Global Head of Creative and Bloomberg Media Studios.
Are brands showing up for culture or simply showing off? It’s the question we need to be asking more urgently than ever. In a time when every brand wants to be part of the conversation, culture has become the hottest marketing commodity. Whether it’s a pop-up at the Dubai Design District (D3), a DJ set in an art gallery or a capsule collection inspired by spoken word, brands are hustling hard to look relevant, radical and in touch with today’s ‘creative class’.
But beyond the branded backdrops and curated chaos, the real question lingers: Are these acts of cultural participation meaningful or are they just a well-disguised box-tick on a brief? Some would even call it marketing cosplay.
PERFORMATIVE CULTURE: NOW IN LIMITED EDITION
Let’s call it what it is: a new kind of cultural capitalism. You’ve seen it. The brand collaborating with digital graffiti artists. The fashion house staging a ‘community dinner’ with five influencers and a public relations (PR) lens filter. The tech brand that drops into a niche cultural scene for exactly one campaign cycle, then ghosts just as fast.
Culture today is treated like a limited-edition sneaker drop, cool, collectable and ultimately disposable. This performative involvement is dressed in the language of purpose: ‘Platforming voices’, ‘championing community’ and ‘bridging disciplines’. But peel off the glossy veneer and what’s often left is a lack of true intention or impact. In many cases, the culture being ‘celebrated’ is being co-opted, reduced to aesthetics and stripped of meaning.
It’s borrowed cool, with borrowed depth. The central tension is this: As brands construct increasingly complete ecosystems, the risk of cultural homogenisation grows. Yet, when executed with integrity and diverse perspectives, brand curation can serve as a catalyst rather than a constraint. It offers frameworks for discovery, launching points for personal exploration rather than prescriptive lifestyle templates.
MCH Global’s Saheba Sodhi on why brands need to stop treating culture as a camouflage for campaigns without conviction and start investing into meaning, community and creativity.
THE POWER – AND PRICE – OF SHOWING UP PROPERLY
That’s not to say brand involvement in culture is always hollow. Far from it. When done well, brand partnerships have elevated art, empowered subcultures, driven economic impact and supported creative ecosystems, that might otherwise have remained invisible. Think of Nike’s long-standing support for grassroots basketball communities, or the boundary-breaking collabs between UBS bank and the creative industries that live within its experiential platform, House of Craft.
This is less about sponsoring a moment, more about backing a movement. What makes a brand’s involvement meaningful is how long it’s willing to stay. Not just at the forefront, but behind the scenes, funding the infrastructure, amplifying local voices and giving credit where it’s due.
We can see this shift taking a slightly more evolved pace across luxury. Today, luxury brands don’t merely shape what we shop. They curate what we read and collect, and how we live. They build entire ecosystems, creating worlds we can inhabit through purchasing their products or attending their events. Where once curators provided the narrative while designers created objects, fashion houses now do both: they curate their universes and design the pieces that bring them to life.
“CULTURE DOESN’T WANT TO BE ‘TAPPED INTO’. IT WANTS TO BE UNDERSTOOD. RESPECTED. PROTECTED.”
We’ve reached a point where brands are treating culture like a seasonal trend report. Art is the new algorithm. Subculture is the new segmentation. Community is the new click-through. But here’s the reality: Culture doesn’t want to be ‘tapped into’. It wants to be understood. Respected. Protected.
Too often, culture becomes the creative camouflage for campaigns that lack originality or conviction. The metrics may spike, the visuals may pop, but the impact is fleeting – and for the communities being ‘celebrated’, this superficial attention often feels extractive. Because once the campaign ends, the conversation doesn’t continue. The community doesn’t grow. The investment doesn’t follow through.
THE CONSUMER KNOWS
What brands often underestimate is how attuned today’s audiences are to authenticity or the lack of it. Cultural consumers can sniff out opportunism faster than you can say “immersive”.
The audience are not just watching the performance; they’re reading the fine print. They’re asking: Who benefits from this collaboration? Whose stories are being told, and by whom? Who’s actually in the room?
It’s not enough to show up anymore. You have to stand for something. You have to be in it for the long haul. And, crucially, you have to be okay not being the star of the story.
Culture is not a campaign. It is a long-term commitment to meaning, community and creativity. Brands that treat it as a moment will quickly be forgotten. But those who invest with purpose, consistency, and humility will build something deeper.
Cultural capital that lasts far beyond the feed. That’s the kind of presence that doesn’t just show up in culture; it shapes it.
By Saheba Sodhi, Global Head of Strategy and Experiential, MCH Global.
Event success isn’t fully captured in footfall and meetings secured. Today’s marketers need a framework that reflects the full depth of impact says, Spiro’s Virginia Ocampo, while calling for a holistic lens to measure experiential return on investment.
For too long, experiential marketing has carried the stigma of being ‘hard to measure’.
Unlike digital campaigns that serve up dashboards of reach, click-through rates and conversion lift, live events and activations were often judged by surface metrics: badge scans, footfall or anecdotal feedback.
Those indicators are not meaningless, but they rarely capture the deeper ways live experiential engages audiences, influencing brand strength, community connection and long-term growth.
Today, that’s no longer enough. In industries such as sports, aerospace, pharma and luxury – where the Middle East is seeing remarkable investment – marketers are asking tougher questions: Did this activation shift audience behaviour? Did it accelerate decision-making? Did it strengthen trust in our brand?
Counting footfall or logging meetings might demonstrate short-term activity, but they offer only a snapshot, missing the layered ways live experiences create long-tail value. A product showcase might not deliver an immediate spike in revenue, yet it can shape pipeline momentum six months later. A leadership summit won’t yield hundreds of leads, but it can transform how teams collaborate globally. A sponsorship might redefine how a community perceives a brand’s contribution to culture. There are operational ripple effects, too – fewer escalations, faster approvals and clearer governance – that never appear on a badge scan report.
These outcomes are harder to measure, but they are where a significant share of experiential value lives. Relying solely on surface metrics leaves marketers exposed when budgets are under scrutiny. The metrics miss the opportunity to show how events move the business forward.
Progressive organisations are shifting from transactional measurement frameworks to holistic approaches, balancing immediate returns with long-term impact. That means building systems that capture:
Business outcomes: not only sales on the day, but shifts in purchase intent and pipeline acceleration.
Audience shifts: changes in trust, loyalty or perception that influence future decisions and recommendation behaviour.
Operational improvements: efficiencies, collaborations or innovations that make organisations stronger.
Community impact: contributions to the local ecosystem, knowledge-sharing and cultural relevance.
Together, these create a more accurate and actionable picture of how experiential drives growth for your business.
Holistic measurement only works when it’s embedded into the event lifecycle, and consistently optimised. That means:
Setting clear objectives up-front that map to business priorities.
Integrating measurement into planning and creative, so success is designed, not retrofitted.
Establishing baselines before the event to enable comparison.
Capturing live engagement data from dwell time and session depth to qualitative audience signals that explain the why.
Following through with post-event analysis that connects experience quality to downstream behaviour.
Closing the loop by feeding insights back into future experience design, portfolio mix and budget allocation.
When marketers adopt this approach, measurement evolves from tracking performance to driving progress. It becomes a strategic tool that shapes event design, guides investment decisions and ensures each event is accountable to outcomes that matter most to the business.
Holistic measurement can feel abstract until it is applied with structure. That’s why frameworks are essential: They provide discipline without reducing complex experiences to a single number.
At Spiro, we use our proprietary Total Return On (RO) as that framework. Rather than chasing isolated key performance indicators (KPIs), this system helps brands connect event performance directly to critical business goals. It recognises that financial results, operational improvements, audience behaviour and cultural relevance all contribute to the real value of an event.
The strength of a framework such as T•RO lies in giving leaders a common language. It allows them to defend budgets in the boardroom, design future programmes with confidence and ensure creative ambition is always tethered to business outcomes.
The Middle East has become a proving ground for ambitious events: global expos, sector-defining conferences and high-profile sponsorships. With this scale of investment comes heightened accountability. Stakeholders expect live experiences to deliver cultural influence, commercial return and reputational strength in equal measure.
That makes holistic measurement more than a best practice. It is now a requirement. By adopting frameworks that capture impact across multiple dimensions, regional marketers can demonstrate that experiential is not simply about crowds on the floor or meetings logged in a customer relationship management (CRM) tool.
It is about shaping perception, accelerating decisions, strengthening communities and aligning every activation to long-term, strategic business goals.
When measured with this level of discipline, experiential stops being a cost to justify. It becomes one of the region’s most powerful engines of growth.
By Virginia Ocampo, Director of Global Strategy, Spiro
Consumers’ expectations have never been higher. And their patience? Never shorter. In this compressed world, time, attention and differentiation are all under pressure, and that pressure is changing how people experience brands.
As automation accelerates timelines, and algorithms dictate attention, the space between brand and customer is shrinking at pace. Journeys that once unfolded gradually – through conversation, discovery and trust – can now play out in seconds, across screens and channels that blur together.
For marketers, the challenge goes beyond creating a smooth customer experience; it’s about creating a meaningful one. Today everything happens faster, but it doesn’t always make it better – and when every experience feels optimised, connection is what truly cuts through.
For a time, customer experience (CX) was the marketing world’s favourite acronym. It felt like, overnight, CX was suddenly everywhere – from request for proposals (RFPs) to quarterly reviews, in the boardroom and by the watercooler –and the great race to ‘do CX’ was on.
Yet customers still describe too many brand interactions as cold, confusing, or forgettable. That’s because when an organisation treats CX as an efficiency problem it becomes a sequence of clicks to shorten, friction points to remove and hand-offs to automate. But CX was never meant to be a checklist, it was meant to be a compass.
Streamlining has its place, but when brands design only for speed and convenience, they risk stripping away the very things that create loyalty: emotion, empathy and story. The result? Seamless experiences that people forget minutes later.
FROM EXPERIENCE TO CONNECTION
Experience is what a customer goes through. Connection is what a customer takes away.
The difference is emotional, and it can be a competitive advantage that, in the race to optimise, brands can lose sight of.
In a compressed world, connection is the thing that slows people down for the right reasons: the pause, the smile, the share, the purchase that feels personal.
Take Airbnb, a brand that reframed itself around connection rather than platform performance. Its ‘Belong Anywhere’ campaign replaced destinations with human stories, proving that when you design for emotion, not efficiency, the memory lasts longer than the moment.
The brands winning today are the ones investing as much in meaning as in measurement. They’re treating every moment – whether an ad impression, store visit, or support chat – as a touchpoint that can earn or erode connection.
Team Red Dot’s Jake McCatty takes CX beyond a department or a deliverable and defines it as the cumulative effect of everything a brand does to make people feel something consistent and real.
The value agencies bring no longer lies in running campaigns or building journeys; it lies in understanding how every touchpoint works together to move a customer closer to action.
It’s not about omnichannel for the sake of coverage, but about orchestrating impact: knowing which moments matter, where they happen, and how to make them count. This demands both data fluency and human intuition, as automation can identify the signal, but only empathy can interpret it.
The future of CX belongs to the agencies and brands that can blend technology, intelligence and instinct –creating experiences that feel as good as their performance.
‘‘CX ... IS THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF EVERYTHING A BRAND DOES.”
If the last decade was about mapping the customer journey, the next will be about measuring the quality of connection along it. Brands will start to value resonance as much as reach, attention as much as impressions, and advocacy as much as acquisition.
That shift won’t happen overnight, but it’s already visible: loyalty programmes evolving into communities, customer relationship management (CRM) systems tracking sentiment (not just spend), out of home placements judged by engagement not exposure, and the list goes on.
In this context, CX isn’t a department or a deliverable – it’s the cumulative effect of everything a brand does. It’s marketing, product, service and culture converging to make people feel something consistent and real.
IKEA delivered this masterfully in its ‘Where Life Happens’ campaign, turning everyday searches into something deeply human. By renaming its products after common Google queries about relationship problems, it reminded people that its designs are inspired by real life, not ideal homes. The work extended into social, OOH and real-time editorial banners that responded to live news stories – using humour and empathy to show that IKEA doesn’t just furnish houses, it understands the people living in them.
As automation takes over more execution, our differentiator will be our humanity.
The agencies and marketers who understand cultural nuance, who can interpret emotion through data and design, will lead. Our role isn’t to optimise attention; it’s to earn it. Because, in a world where everything is optimised, what’s left to compete on but how you make people feel?
We don’t live in an age of perfect journeys, but we do live in an age of constant interaction. And in this compressed world, the most powerful form of experience is still the simplest one: feeling understood. When brands design for that, every touchpoint matters.
By Jake McCatty, Head - Client Solutions & Growth, Team Red Dot
For years, the Kingdom’s marketing and advertising landscape thrived on ambition, but not always on measurement. Big budgets often drove big visibility, yet leadership grew increasingly hungry for proof of impact.
As Vision 2030 reshapes every sector, that same spirit of optimisation and accountability has reached marketing. The days of unchecked spending are giving way to an era of smarter, leaner and more measurable strategies.
The question is no longer ‘How many people saw it?’ but ‘What difference did it make?’
This market recalibration mirrors Saudi Arabia’s broader economic transformation. Vision 2030 is driving restructuring and efficiency across
industries and marketing is no exception Budgets are tightening not because ambition is shrinking, but because strategy is sharpening. Every riyal now needs to show return, forcing both brands and agencies to trade the old spray-and-pray mentality for precision, purpose and proof. Creativity still matters, but it must be backed by data, behavioural insight and a clear link to outcomes. The Saudi story is no longer about noise; it’s about narrative with measurable impact.
FROM CAMPAIGNS TO OUTCOMES
Across boardrooms, the conversation has evolved. Marketers are asking tougher questions: What did this campaign achieve beyond impressions? Did it shift behaviour or perception? Are we setting up the right trackers for continuous optimisation? The focus is shifting from activity to accountability.
Kijamii’s Omar Shoeb shares his take on the new era of Saudi Arabia’s marketing industry, one that rewards efficiency, clarity and proof of impact.
The best campaigns today aren’t just seen, they’re felt, measured and refined.
For agencies, this is a wake-up call. The role is no longer to simply deliver ideas, but to co-own outcomes. Creativity alone is no longer enough, it must be informed by data, powered by automation and amplified through precise media planning.
The strongest work now comes from truly integrated offerings, where strategists, data analysts, media planners and creatives operate as one team, not in silos.
Integration isn’t a buzzword; it’s the foundation of effective marketing. It’s what turns insight into ideas, ideas into campaigns and campaigns into measurable business results.
I’ve witnessed first-hand the yielding power of big ideas deeply rooted in local insights uncovered by consumer insight teams, matched with precise audience segmentation from our paid media team, strengthened by first-party data and amplified through creative built to scale from day one, all under a focused, impact-driven strategy.
Yet, for all its progress, the Saudi marketing ecosystem faces growing pains on its road to maturity. Some challenges stem from legacy ways of working: Slow decision cycles that delay momentum.
Procurement-driven RFPs that prioritise cost over strategic value.
Presence-driven campaigns created for visibility rather than impact.
Fragmented agency models lacking integration between data, media and creative disciplines.
But these challenges come with opportunity. The rise of generative AI and automation is reshaping how marketers plan, produce and personalise at scale.
Today’s marketers can:
Use predictive analytics to improve media planning and ROI.
Scale creative output for hyper-targeted audiences while keeping spend efficient. Streamline production and localisation without compromising quality.
Technology, paired with strategic intent and cultural understanding, can help Saudi brands deliver more for less, not by cutting corners, but by cutting waste.
This new market reality isn’t a setback, it’s progress. It’s forcing everyone, brands, agencies and strategists, to think harder, plan smarter and aim higher.
After years of big budgets and bigger ideas, the day of reckoning has arrived. Saudi Arabia’s marketing industry is entering a new era, one that rewards efficiency, clarity and proof of impact.
By Omar Shoeb, KSA Managing Director, Kijamii
ACCOR’s Kerry Healy shares how strategy, culture and AI-powered personalisation are reshaping loyalty and guest experience across the region.
The most successful brands in hospitality today are not just building transactions; they are building trust. In a world where consumer expectations shift by the hour and where attention spans are short but the competition list is long, the brands that win are those that combine strategy, culture, and customer experience into one seamless whole. At Accor, this has been the foundation of our journey across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific (MEAAPAC); it’s why we’ve made this region the leading hub for loyalty, growth, and innovation.
Over the past year alone, we’ve delivered more than 500 customer relationship
“WE SEE EVERY GUEST INTERACTION AS A SIGNAL: DATA THAT TELLS US WHAT WORKED, WHAT DIDN’T AND WHERE WE CAN ELEVATE.”
management (CRM) activations, 200 e-merchandising rollouts, 70 media campaigns, and thousands of localised assets across MEAAPAC. That level of scale is important because it shows that personalisation and storytelling are not just creative ambitions; they are business-critical drivers. Every campaign, every asset, and every partnership has to ladder back to a bigger truth: How do we create deeper connections with our guests?
In today’s world of hyper-personalisation, guests expect their experience to start long before arrival. A booking begins with the why? Why the trip? Why the destination? Why our brand? That journey is increasingly powered by loyalty. In March this year, Accor’s ALL loyalty programme hit 100 million members, supported by more than 110 partners in our ecosystem. The ALL app’s business volume is also up 45 per cent versus 2023, which gives us leverage to personalise at levels this industry hasn’t seen before.
Our AI-powered CRM system now tailors communications down to the individual activity, which has already driven $251mn in incremental revenue, much of it from members who had never stayed with Accor before.
But personalisation is not only about data. It’s about connection. As my colleague Amro Khoudeir, Accor’s SVP of Digital and E-Commerce for MEAAPAC, often reminds me, personalisation without heart falls flat. He once told me a story from his early career, when a team member shared a Nelson Mandela quote: “If you speak to a person in a language they understand, it goes to their head, but if you speak in their language, it goes to their heart.” Amro carried that lesson forward in Accor.
In MEAAPAC, ‘language’ is culture, respect, upbringing, and even love language. That’s why we’ve industrialised and automated the cookie-cutter work, freeing our teams to focus on audience-first strategies.
Over the past two years, this has meant curating religious pilgrimage content through the Makkah–Madinah portal, scaling locally driven F&B storytelling, and forging loyalty partnerships with Wego, Traveloka, and Emirates Skywards.
Each initiative is designed to reach the right people, at the right moments, with the right stories. As Amro puts it, “These aren’t one-off campaigns; they’re proof that personalisation, storytelling, and loyalty connect with hearts as much as heads.”
This ethos extends to how we think about storytelling at scale. Storytelling in our industry is not an abstract concept; it is a commercial engine. Partnerships with Emirates Skywards, Singapore Airlines, and Gulf Air have given ALL members more value across air travel, while collaborations with WeGo and Traveloka have allowed us to meet leisure travellers where they are: mobile-first, app-driven, and ready to book. These partnerships are not only about share of voice; they are about share of preference.
Our ability to deliver on these strategies also depends on efficiency. Two years ago, we transitioned much of our production to Publicis SSC in India and Poland, enabling us to manage more than 100 briefs every month! This shift has unlocked the freedom for our in-market teams to focus less on repetitive tasks and more on the guest-first creativity that drives impact. It’s a perfect example of how operational decisions directly empower storytelling, loyalty, and culture.
As for loyalty? It is a powerhouse. In 2025, the ALL loyalty revenue share in MEA APAC grew by 3.2 points year-on-year, making this region the number-one global hub for growth. That success is not accidental. It is the result of seamless collaboration between in-country teams, functional experts, and hotel operations. The recognition we’ve earned globally matters, but what matters more is how those insights translate into tangible business impact for our hotels, deeper engagement, stronger preference and repeat stays.
Feedback also plays a critical role in shaping the guest journey. We see every guest interaction not just as a transaction but as a signal: Data that tells us what worked, what didn’t and where we can elevate.
The cultural nuance of this region means feedback cannot be interpreted in a one-sizefits-all way. A comment in Jakarta may carry a very different weight from the same comment in Dubai or Sydney. Understanding that difference, and adapting accordingly is part of the craft of customer experience.
Hospitality is human. Data, technology, and partnerships give us scale, but culture gives us meaning. And in MEAAPAC, culture is not a backdrop; it is the stage on which every guest experience plays out. The collective heartbeat of Accor is powered by our Heartists (the teams on the ground in our hotels whose ability to connect with guests in a way that feels authentic, personal, and true to place is what ultimately builds loyalty).
The future of strategy, customer experience, and culture will not be about doing more; it will be about doing better. Better personalisation, deeper storytelling, sharper feedback loops and loyalty that is not just measured in points but felt in relationships. That’s where we are heading as a region, and that’s how we believe Accor will continue to pioneer the art of responsible hospitality, by connecting with both the heads and the hearts of travellers everywhere.
By Kerry Healy, Chief Commercial Officer, Accor Premium, Midscale and Economy – MEAAPAC
The Middle Eastern market today is buzzing – too much choice, too much content, and not enough connection make it harder for brands to catch their audience. With nearly 70 per cent of online shoppers in MENA never finishing their carts, it’s clear that now is the time to switch from just selling to creating emotions.
FROM RECOMMENDATIONS TO RELATIONSHIPS
Personalisation has come a long way from simple recommendations. Today, it’s about making each customer feel seen and understood. With 71 per cent of consumers expecting brands to offer personalised offerings, companies that nail this can see their revenue grow up to 40 per cent higher than their competitors.
Spotify’s ‘Blend’ playlists combine two users’ music tastes into a single playlist, creating a shared experience that’s both personal and social. Engagement rates have risen, and users spend more time in the app. What’s more, personalisation paired with social interaction fosters community – and 56 per cent of users say they’re feeling closer to brands that offer social features. Careem added several personalised features to its service. Beyond its in-app promotions tailored to user habits, it has also run charitable campaigns where users could donate their ride-hailing points.
CULTURE THAT CONNECTS
What makes a brand truly resonate in a market as diverse as the UAE where more than 200 nationalities live together? It’s about the emotional response behind real stories. So, it’s more important than ever for brands to feel the power of unity and cultural sensitivities, together with the significance of moments such as Ramadan, Eids and UAE National Day.
Emirates airline celebrated Ramadan by offering culturally inspired meal boxes with traditional dishes and Al Sadu patterns. IKEA’s ‘Togetherness Assembled’ campaign showed how its products could help create special moments and connections around the iftar table, focusing on family bonds. Uber Eats respected local traditions by adding a time-sensitive feature to schedule food deliveries for iftar. By tapping into the cultural heritage of the region with relevance and sincere involvement, brands may create deeper emotional connections with their audience.
Think about the last time you bought something because a friend swore by it or because you saw someone like you using it online. Chances are, it felt more real than any advert could. Research by Nielsen shows that 92 per cent of consumers trust peer recommendations over ads, and emotionally resonant content can increase purchase intent by 23 per cent. It’s important to turn your customers into real brand advocates whose feedback can bring more consumers. That’s the power of listening
Flowwow’s Ekaterina Gorbacheva shares how personalisation, storytelling, feedback and loyalty can change the game for companies that want to keep growing.
and storytelling. Instead of shouting about features, the best brands talk about their customers’ struggles – and show how they help turn pain into solutions and doubt into confidence. It’s about creating a dialogue that makes people feel seen, not sold to.
Beauty brand Glossier taps into Millennial and Gen Z rejection of overly polished pictures, combining user-generated content with personal stories to celebrate ‘beauty in imperfection’. As a result, the brand turned real people into both the face and the voice of the brand.
One more beauty brand – Huda Beauty, founded in Dubai by Huda Kattan, grew on the wave of users and fans sharing real makeup reviews and tutorials.
Marketing fatigue is real, with 67 per cent of consumers saying they’re feeling overwhelmed by marketing messages. To make people truly believe you, it’s important to go beyond demographic segmentation and delve into the deeper motivations that drive behaviour. Like, what makes their heart melt? What’s the key to evoking nostalgia?
Alo Yoga, for example, chose to promote a lifestyle of wellness, self-expression, and mindfulness that speaks to its buyers.
Targeting health-conscious women aged 25-40 who value sustainability and quality, the brand aligns messaging, collaborations, and content with its audience’s aspirations. User-generated content, empowering taglines, and partnerships with yoga instructors all reinforce a relatable, trustworthy brand identity. Emotional alignment, rather than purely aspirational messaging, fosters loyalty that endures.
For Middle East commerce, the game has changed, with every interaction becoming a chance to connect or to lose a potential customer. The brands that will lead aren’t just selling products; they’re building trust. The winners will be those who treat strategy, customer experience, and culture as one, blending personalisation and storytelling to build a loyalty that lasts. Because, in the end, trust isn’t a bonus feature; it’s the ultimate differentiator.
By Ekaterina Gorbacheva, Global Expansion Lead at Flowwow, a gifting marketplace.
It often begins with a scroll. Something catches the eye and within minutes it’s in a cart. That familiar impulse has become the default mode of discovery for millions of consumers. But that’s not a revelation. What is changing – and fast – is how platforms are learning to anticipate those impulses before they even surface.
Platforms such as Meta, Google, TikTok, Snapchat and Spotify are no longer passive mirrors of consumer behaviour; they are microscopes that interpret why people want what they do – and what they will want next. That means every campaign is first evaluated by algorithms, AI assistants and other invisible gatekeepers before it reaches the human eye.
For marketers, the prize is real-time market intelligence: the ability to detect emerging preferences, test reactions instantly and predict demand patterns with greater clarity.
Winning in this environment blends systems-thinking with storytelling instinct. It starts with interoperable data across fragmented commerce, customer relationship management (CRM) and media stacks, then layers on AI to scale creativity and performance. Platforms are attempting to meet that need by unifying and activating first-party data; keeping signals fresh while proactively catching catalogue and event errors and turning best practices into actionable, account-level recommendations.
For marketers, this evolution isn’t just about better engagement; it’s about insight. The ability to detect emerging preferences, test reactions in real time and predict demand patterns offers a new kind of market intelligence.
Before any ad or campaign reaches the human eye, it is judged, filtered, and prioritised by machines. As Ahmad Numan, Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications, Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ), states in an opinion piece submitted to Campaign Middle East earlier this year, this is B2M: business-to-machine. Marketers need to understand each platform’s brain – a one-size-fitsall approach never worked; it won’t work now.
Numan says, “Algorithms, AI assistants and invisible gatekeepers decide what’s shown and what’s forgotten. And brands that understand this and design for it are already pulling ahead.”
He continues, “Marketers who win today are those who blend systemsthinking with storytelling instinct. You don’t need to code. You need to understand the ecosystem you’re trying to enter – and who guards the gates. Win the machine, reach the human. Lose the machine, and you remain invisible. Your move.”
Leaders from Meta, Google, TikTok, Snapchat and Spotify speak to Campaign Middle East to discuss ways for brands to enable seamless integration, map measurement that matters and bridge the gap between advanced tooling and implementation.
By Hiba Faisal
While advertisers now have access to highly advanced event taxonomies and data, the real challenge lies in interpreting and operationalising them across fragmented ecosystems – where commerce, customer relationship management and media data often sit in silos.
Platforms such as Google, Meta, Snap and TikTok are equipping marketers with tools to address these challenges.
“Google helps marketers overcome the challenge by providing different tools to interpret, integrate and ensure interoperability of their data.
Google Marketing Platform, with Google Analytics (GA4 and GA360) at its core, unifies advertising and analytics to provide a single source of truth for understanding customer behaviour. Google Cloud is also a powerful platform for data integration at scale,” says Aishi Lahiri, Director, Advertising Solutions – Google Middle East and North Africa
‘‘AI-POWERED SOLUTIONS ... MAKE INNOVATION ACCESSIBLE AND ACTIONABLE.’’
Lahiri adds, “Brands can use BigQuery, a serverless data warehouse, to bring together their marketing data with their own first-party data – whether that
is CRM, sales or offline data. Google Cloud’s architecture is designed to be open and flexible, allowing businesses to use Google Cloud alongside other cloud providers.”
Leaders also point to the stream of data behind every ad, cautioning that when that data is broken, outdated or disconnected from the ecosystem, even the best campaigns can stumble. Brands are often stuck manually patching catalogues and tracking errors, but smarter AI tools are beginning to take over the grunt work.
For example, Snap aims to empower advertisers to maintain accurate and up-to-date data by facilitating seamless integration between its systems and theirs.
Nicerine Sadouki, Head of Client Solutions, UAE at Snap Inc., says, “Our conversions application programming interface (CAPI) enables brands to transmit events such as purchases or sign-ups directly from their servers, ensuring that signals remain fresh and reliable. We also collaborate with mobile measurement partners (MMPs) to verify and integrate app data.”
Sadouki adds, “When combined with dynamic product ads (DPAs), this approach minimises the manual effort required to update catalogues, allowing brands to deliver the most relevant
products to their audiences and achieve stronger direct response (DR) outcomes. Beyond integrations, our systems proactively detect errors – such as missing events or mismatched catalogues – and provide real-time feedback and automated syncing.”
TikTok’s generative AI suite of creative tools, such as Symphony, assists with brainstorming ideas, script optimisation and efficient scaling of production. It simplifies the ideation and creation process, saving time and enhancing effectiveness.
But, in a content-first world, speed and relevance are everything. Brands need tools that not only spark creativity but also drive performance optimisation.
For instance, TikTok’s AI-powered media solution Smart+ automates campaign optimisation, ensuring content reaches the most relevant audiences for maximum return.
Testing shows that 78 per cent of catalogue ads using Smart+ outperform those managed manually, and web campaigns achieve a 53 per cent boost in return on ad spend (ROAS). Symphony and Smart+ support marketing teams with the tools they need to create, optimise and scale content that delivers quickly and effectively.
Similarly, Meta offers AI-powered recommendations such as Opportunity Score to guide campaign decisions.
Anna Germanos, Group Director FMCG, Luxury, Retail & E-commerce (MEA) at Meta, says, “Meta helps brands bridge the gap between advanced tooling and implementation with intuitive, AI-powered solutions that make innovation accessible and actionable. Over time, we’ve heard feedback from advertisers that it can be hard to know where to find our best practices or to know which best practice is most relevant to their account.”
Germanos adds, “Tools such as Opportunity Score make it easier for advertisers or agencies to find the right performance recommendation personalised to their account and implement it without guesswork. Opportunity Score gives advertisers research-backed recommendations for campaign adjustments to help improve performance, including adopting advanced AI optimisation as well as new performance ad solutions.”
If algorithms define the pulse of ongoing trends, then creators have become the new curators of culture – the human layer that gives content a heartbeat. Predictive AI can map behaviours, but it is creators who shape them. Platforms are now using AI to support creator workflows,
amplifying influence and filling gaps in the creative process, which in turn feeds back into predictive systems.
Google MENA’s Lahiri says, “YouTube creators’ authentic and trusted relationships with their audiences provide brands with an unmatched opportunity to drive influence and achieve real results. That’s why we’re continuing to evolve the suite of creator tools powered by BrandConnect to help marketers more easily find, engage and work with the perfect creator for their campaigns. These include partnership ads, which allow a brand to promote videos mentioning their products.”
At Google Marketing Live, the platform announced Creator Partnerships Hub currently available to select advertisers, which enables brands to put out a request for sponsored content broadly to creators.
“Creators Partnership hub will help brands discover new and relevant creators, to get more from their social strategy on YouTube,” Lahiri adds.
Spotify is also leaning into AI to support creator workflows and enable new forms of content that feed back into predictive systems.
“We’re hearing from artists and their teams that they are curious and interested in how AI can help their creative process – whether they are recording in a studio, using digital audio workstations (DAWs), recording acoustic or using electronic sounds, using autotune or pitch correction, using AI workflows, or anything else,” says Mark Abou Jaoude, Head of Music for MENAP, Spotify
Some examples include Randy Travis, who lost his voice due to a stroke, being able to release new authorised music using AI trained on his pre-stroke vocals. Brenda Lee’s iconic Christmas song was translated into Spanish, expanding its reach to global audiences.
Musician Lauv leveraged AI to connect with Korean fans by releasing a Korean version of a new song in his own voice.
The Beatles’ Now and Then used AI to finish a decades-old demo, which later won a Grammy. Singer/songwriter Vince used ChatGPT while producing Soda Pop, which cemented its place in people’s heads and the Billboard Hot 100.
Creators aren’t just fuelling or following algorithms – they’re working alongside AI to teach algorithms what culture will look like in the near future.
Conversely, by combining creatordriven content with AI-assisted tools, platforms are capturing signals that anticipate future trends, giving advertisers actionable insight into what audiences will engage with before it even becomes mainstream.
However, addressing the ‘concerning side of AI’, Spotify’s Jaoude says, “AI has the potential to exacerbate or accelerate many of the industry-wide problems that
already exist – such as spam, fraud and deceptive content. These things have no place on Spotify. That’s why we’ve announced stronger impersonation protections, rolled out a new spam filter and introduced a new industrysupported system for disclosing when AI was used in a track to continue making Spotify a more transparent, fair and trustworthy platform for artists and listeners.”
He adds, “We’ve announced three new updates aimed at making Spotify a more transparent, fair and trustworthy platform for artists and listeners.
The first is a stronger protection against impersonation – including AI voice clones and profile ‘mismatches’ with clearer artist recourse. Secondly, a new music spam filter identifies and stops spammy uploads from being recommended – whether that’s mass duplicates, SEO-gamed content or ultra-short track abuse. Thirdly, support for an industry standard, developed through digital data exchange (DDEX), discloses when AI was used to create music.”
Even with the best creators, brands need smarter automation to ensure their content drives meaningful results, rather than over-amplifying short-term fads.
For several platforms, AI-driven optimisation has become part and parcel of how they ensure that performance is tied to business objectives rather than only virality.
For instance, Performance Max uses Google AI to optimise bids and placements across all its channels, including YouTube.
The placements and bids are based on the conversion goals the advertiser defines.
“Brands only need to provide the budget, business objectives and creative assets. The AI then works to find the most valuable customers to achieve the conversion goals, rather than simply maximising clicks or impressions on a trending topic,” Lahiri explains.
Google also rolled out AI Max in beta to advertisers globally earlier this year, which is a suite of creative and targeting enhancements for Google AI Search campaigns.
AI Max helps boost conversions and find new customers by using features such as search term matching to discover more high-performing queries, asset optimisation to generate ad copy, and final URL expansion to direct users to the most relevant pages on a website.
“Data already shows that advertisers that activate AI Max in search campaigns will typically see 14 per cent more conversions or conversion value at a similar cost per action (CPA)/ROAS,” Lahiri says.
Similarly, Snap’s measurement tools provide brands with a transparent connection between their advertising investments and the resulting outcomes.
Through CAPI, integrations with MMPs, and comprehensive reporting, advertisers can track how campaigns contribute to key metrics such as purchases, sign-ups, CPA and ROAS.
“Clarity facilitates swift budget reallocation toward the most effective strategies. For senior executives, trust hinges on transparency and consistency across platforms.
We are committed to enhancing these areas, allowing leaders to make the most informed and confident decisions,” Sadouki adds.
For years, marketers have tracked clicks, views, and impressions – but those numbers rarely tell the full story. The real question for chief experience officers (CXOs) today isn’t how many people saw an ad, but how much value it created.
As platforms evolve their measurement tools, the focus is shifting from surfacelevel metrics to hard business outcomes: profit, growth, and long-term loyalty.
Meta’s Germanos says, “Some conversions are more valuable than others, and marketers want to focus on conversions that generate the specific business results they care about, whether that is maximising profit, driving subscriptions that won’t churn, or
‘‘ADVERTISERS WHO TESTED INCREMENTAL ATTRIBUTION SAW AN AVERAGE 46 PER CENT INCREASE IN INCREMENTAL CONVERSIONS COMPARED TO THEIR BUSINESS-AS-USUAL CAMPAIGNS.’’
reaching a certain demographic. For the advertisers who measure their performance based on incrementality experiments, we have recently completed the global rollout of Incremental Attribution, which is the only product in the market that optimises for and reports on incremental conversions in real time.
Advertisers who tested incremental attribution saw an average 46 per cent increase in incremental conversions compared to their business-asusual campaigns.”
That said, CXOs need to also see the true return on their ad spend by measuring total sales – both online and offline – by capturing the full value driven by their digital investments.
Meta is solving this through its omnichannel ads, which Germanos says “are an optimisation solution that enables advertisers with existing omnichannel capabilities and a Conversions API for offline integration. It provides the ability to safely send offline customer conversion information from the advertiser’s server to Meta’s server – to optimise the objective of a single campaign for both online and in-store sales.”
She adds, “The format is proving to deliver strong results – Foot Locker Middle East achieved a 15.2 times higher ROAS for omnichannel purchases in the UAE.”
However, positive outcomes aren’t only performance-orientated anymore. In the ongoing brand versus performance debate, measurement also encompasses long-term metrics.
This is why Google also offers measurement uplift tools such as Brand Lift, Search Lift and Conversion Lift to understand the causal impact of ads on users’ behaviours, not just views or clicks.
Lahiri explains, “These solutions measure the direct correlation between ad exposure and a user’s likelihood to search for the brand, as well as their propensity to convert.
This allows advertisers to quantify the true impact of advertising beyond just clicks and impressions, optimising for long-term brand growth and sales, with recent AI-powered updates enhancing accessibility and accuracy for a privacyfocused future.”
The need of the hour is to pair creator authenticity with machine-scale tooling. Marketers must lean into AI to amplify trusted voices and signal quality so that predictive systems can learn from what truly resonates, not just what trends.
Ultimately, B2M is validated in measurement.
Marketers need to lean into tools that align bids and placements with defined conversion goals, optimise for incremental outcomes in real time, and deliver brand lift in a way that moves beyond surface metrics to tangible profit and long-term brand loyalty.
Tourism is no longer just about going places; it’s the pulse of global innovation. From how we move and dine, to how we play and connect, tourism is quietly powering transformation across industries. This November, the world’s most influential voices will gather in Riyadh to define what comes next for the sector.
WELCOME TO TOURISE
This isn’t just another conference, it’s a movement. TOURISE is a year-round platform with an annual summit. A summit with more than just talk, it’s for action. A place where decisions are made, deals are struck, and the next 50 years of global tourism are reimagined and brought to life. From November 11 – 13, 2025, Riyadh becomes the epicentre of change for the global tourism sector. TOURISE will convene governments, startups, global corporations and visionary thinkers to come together and unlock the innovations, investments, policies and discussions that are needed to reimagine how we travel. Together we can build a sector that is streamlined, purposeful, intuitive, and above all, more immersive.
Leaders and innovators will come together in Riyadh this November for TOURISE 2025, where the next 50 years of tourism will be decided, designed and set in motion.
“Tourism is becoming the future of everything, and it’s time to make sure the sector is headed in the right direction.”
YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS. YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO MISS THIS.
The TOURISE summit is where bold ideas become real-world solutions. It’s physically exclusive, digitally inclusive, and globally resonant. Whether you’re a policymaker, innovator, investor, or creator, this is your moment to be part of something bigger. Because the future of tourism impacts us all, and you deserve a front-row seat.
THE FUTURE OF TOURISM IS THE FUTURE OF EVERYTHING. Tourism touches everything, everywhere. It fuels transportation networks, powers entertainment ecosystems, drives culinary exploration, and strengthens supply chains. It is the connective tissue of the global economy. Sports tourism is projected to reach a staggering $1.3tn by 2032, reflecting its growing influence on global travel long after the final whistle. Major concerts are also driving economic impact, delivering a 25 per cent boost to hotel performance and showcasing the power of cultural tourism. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the hospitality and tourism landscape, with its market expected to exceed $58 bn by 2029, redefining how we plan, book, and experience travel. In need of rest and relaxation? The wellness economy continues to expand and is on track to grow to nearly $9tn by 2028, with tourism playing a central role in this. Together, these trends point to a powerful truth: tourism is becoming the future of everything, and it’s time to make sure the sector is headed in the right direction.
Register now to be part of the must-attend tourism event of the year at: www.TOURISE.com/register
Let’s shape the future together.
Industry players make the case for why brands must build strong emotional connections that transcend transactional loyalty mechanics in the Middle East.
By Shantelle Nagarajan
At the halfway mark of the 2020s, consumer behaviour has changed significantly, with shoppers calling for recognition, trust and valuealignment from the brands they welcome into their lives.
Shoppers want their brands of choice to truly know them. As a result, brands are shifting their loyalty marketing strategies, evolving from transactional point-reward systems to complex tech powerhouses that intimately interact with individual shoppers.
In the UAE, 87 per cent of consumers are more likely to shop frequently if they receive personalised special offers, according to research by Comarch. 37 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s respondents join loyalty programmes for the value of rewards.
Loyalty programmes have grown to become a brand’s frontline defence against customer churn.
Industry leaders tell Campaign Middle East that the brands winning in 2025 are the ones engineering emotional connections through intelligence, authenticity and respect.
These brands genuinely reflect individual preferences – from style to values.
into an emotional one that understands their unique experience”.
“For us, personalisation isn’t about algorithms or data points, it’s about creating a sense of belonging,” says Rashmi Chittal, Vice President of Brand Marketing and Communications, JA Resorts and Hotels
“Technology helps us understand our guests better, but it’s the human connection that ensures they feel genuinely seen, valued, and understood every time they stay with us.”
This shift from recognition to true understanding builds authentic loyalty – where customers feel valued for who they are, not just for what they buy.
REAL-WORLD APPLICATION
McNamara says putting this refined personalisation into practice is easier said than done. She says that at the ENTERTAINER, the aim is to share relevant offers but still delight the user with surprises and the opportunity to discover new experiences,” which means opting towards more niche segments over large
Cemil Toksöz
“Consumers don’t just want to be recognised; they want to be understood,” says Sue Azari, Ecommerce Lead, EMEA and LATAM, AppsFlyer
“When a brand rewards sustainable choices or offers experiences tailored to a shopper’s habits, it moves beyond transactional loyalty and creates something more meaningful,” she says.
transactional loyalty and creates something , references medium is the message’. He says the best outcome of personalisation is when a starts being a trusted companion.
Anshuman Chaturvedi, Head of Data & Analytics, MRM MENAT, references Marshall McLuhan’s insight that ‘the medium is the message’. He says the best outcome of personalisation is when a smartphone stops being just a device and starts being a trusted companion.
“Niche segmentation and personalisation across any channels, be they CRM journeys or smartphone applications, becomes a customer’s owned safe space,” says Chaturvedi. “Consumers’ social feeds, next watched movie and skincare recommendations are all based on who they are.” Smart personalisation for digital channels allows the customer to fully own the brand experience when they consume products and services.
“Niche segmentation and personalisation or smartphone applications, becomes a customer’s owned safe space,” says Chaturvedi. “Consumers’ social feeds, next recommendations are all based on who they channels allows the customer to fully own the brand experience when they consume
According to Penny McNamara Marketing, the ENTERTAINER feeling, turning a transactional programme
According to Penny McNamara, Head of Marketing, the ENTERTAINER, the ultimate objective is “creating a ‘this is just for me’ feeling, turning a transactional programme
To her, the shift from generic like-for-like groupings.
, Chief Strategy Officer, GoWit, says, “Programmes can adapt to life stages,
shopping behaviours and cultural nuances so consumers feel represented as individuals, not cohorts.”
“For the customer, this removes friction, builds trust, and makes interactions feel less like marketing and more like a service,” he adds.
McNamara offers a real-world example: “Instead of mass emails, a customer who frequently uses offers for sushi and healthy restaurant options might receive a push notification for a new wellness centre offer nearby on a Monday morning.”
makes the ENTERTAINER experience feel like a useful, curated service, “which dramatically enhances the overall user journey and satisfaction.”
Brands must focus on providing consumers with value that adapts to their immediate context, while remaining relevant to their broader life circumstances.
“Personalisation becomes powerful when it enhances comfort and ease,” says Chittal.
She says JA Resorts and Hotels offers guests dedicated check-in desks, complimentary breakfasts and in-room welcome amenities that reflect the preferences and tastes of top-tier members of its JA DISCOVERY loyalty programme.
Leaders also recommend making the customer’s online and offline interactions with a brand more seamless. “In the UAE, where ‘phygital’ retail is fast becoming the norm, this connection is key,” says Azari.
“It makes customers feel recognised and appreciated wherever they shop, and that familiarity builds trust, stronger relationships, and ultimately, loyalty that drives return on investment (ROI).”
Chaturvedi agrees, saying that “real-time personalisation and dynamic content further streamline the experience”.
He says that brands should aim to meet their customers at the right digital touchpoint and at the right frequency, “making every interaction more relevant for the customer”.
Marketers agree that brands can no longer churn out loyalty for the masses.
Instead, they suggest leaving the macro scale to connect with customers individually, on a tailored micro level.
Marketers are in agreement that when marketing feels personal, every touchpoint becomes more effective.
delivered hard results. Revenue is up 25 per cent
Toksöz recommends building on emotional loyalty through shared values and consistent recognition. “This can mean co-creation with customers, exclusive access to communities, or sustainability-driven initiatives,” he says.
Toksöz recommends building on consistent recognition. “This can mean co-creation with customers, exclusive access initiatives,” he says.
“When customers feel a brand reflects their identity and aspirations, they move from transaction to advocacy,” Toksöz says. He calls the strategy “a critical shift in an era when peer-to-peer influence often outweighs advertising.”
With JA DISCOVERY, personalisation has delivered hard results. Revenue is up 25 per cent year-on-year; with 29 per cent of revenue from repeat members, and 7 per cent from partnerbrand members. “When guests feel genuinely recognised and rewarded, they return more often, stay longer, and engage more deeply,” says Chittal. “That emotional connection translates directly into commercial success – proving that when you invest in understanding your guests,
directly into commercial success – proving that they, in turn, invest in you.”
customer loyalty, brands that use automation to scale these programmes must balance personalisation with privacy concerns. “Brands must be explicit and clear about what data is collected,” says McNamara.
To build on this emotional loyalty, Azari suggests gamification – inviting customers to take part in challenges and experiences to redeem rewards that make them feel part of
She says automation is a key tool because it enables the use of anonymised or aggregated data where possible, “ensuring that personalisation is only executed within the bounds of explicit permission”.
“That emotional connection is what turns a shopper into a brand advocate – someone who doesn’t just buy, but champions the
Chaturvedi adds: “While many businesses seek cheat codes and loopholes around privacy laws, [the] misuse of customer data creates lasting consequences.”
Further supporting this, Chaturvedi shares the
Further supporting this, Chaturvedi shares the following performance statistics:
returns on their personalisation efforts,
On this note, McNamara says the ENTERTAINER’s organically grown customer base of brand advocates is one of its greatest strengths.
“Emotionally connected customers become authentic brand advocates who drive organic growth and referrals,” she says.
Brands must prioritise transparency, processes “with clear stage-wise value exchange”. something special. brand,” Azari says.
“We cannot hold our customer data hostage,” he says.
he says.
Brands must prioritise transparency, processes and governance on the customer data lifecycle, “with clear stage-wise value exchange”.
She believes word-of-mouth marketing
She believes word-of-mouth marketing remains hugely powerful for brands and urges them to harness it.
“We use our communication channels to beyond our user communities to the wider
“We use our communication channels to amplify these stories and connections beyond our user communities to the wider world,” she says.
Chaturvedi proposes the ‘segment of one’ ideology where a customer is “approached not just based on demographic, behaviour or transaction datasets, but context-rich predictive models which account for external factors.”
For example, a solo traveller’s summer offer should change after they add a spouse to their loyalty profile; or frequently purchased nappies could result in a milk formula bottle as a gift.
“We cannot be loved back by an audience we don’t understand,” says Chaturvedi.
At JA, Chittal says, “true loyalty isn’t about creating followers; it’s about cultivating a sense of belonging that keeps guests coming home to us”. This sense of belonging is reflected in the numbers. “Some of our resorts see return guest ratios as high as 80 per cent,” she says, “proving that genuine relationships drive advocacy far more than incentives ever could.”
Now that marketers have defined hyperpersonalisation as the foundation of
“WE CANNOT BE LOVED BACK BY AN AUDIENCE WE DON’T UNDERSTAND.”
with personalised email campaigns generating more than double the ROI of generic messages.
Website personalisation can boost conversion rates by as much as 80 per cent, while tailored shopping experiences increase repeat buying and customer loyalty.
Fast-growing companies leveraging AI for personalisation are seeing revenue rises of up to 40 per cent.
By tailoring engagement, brands see higher conversion, reduced churn, and increased lifetime value.
“It’s all about trust,” says Azari. “Shoppers are happy to share data when they understand the value they get in return.”
“Guests trust us to protect their information, and we honour that by using data responsibly to create relevance, not intrusion,” says Chittal.
Marketers suggest achieving this balance between relevance and respect by using aggregated, privacy-safe insights to deliver personalised experiences without overstepping boundaries.
“Automation should be used to scale relevance without feeling intrusive,” says Toksöz.
“Brands need to adopt a privacy-first infrastructure – consent mode, clean rooms, server-side tagging – while giving customers clear choices.”
He adds: “When people see the benefit of data use, and know they’re in control, personalisation becomes an enabler, not a threat.”
“At scale, this compounds into measurable ROI, making personalisation one of the most powerful levers for sustainable growth,” says Toksöz.
McNamara’s take is that, “Personalisation improves marketing spend efficacy.”
She adds that delivering the right offer to the right customer at the right time minimises wasted spend and significantly boosts conversion rates.
“Incrementality comes from the fact that personalised offers motivate specific, highervalue behaviours, such as increased redemption frequency or higher average order value (AOV), that wouldn’t have occurred otherwise,”
McNamara explains.
“When marketing feels personal, every touchpoint becomes more effective,” Azari says.
“With the right measurement tools, brands can see the true impact of personalisation,” she concludes, “proving that emotion-driven marketing doesn’t just feel good; it performs better too.”
Key leaders across brands and agencies discuss the profitability – and the cost – of diversity, equity and inclusion, calling for a collective and collaborative approach to creating the right culture, addressing unconscious bias, and enabling conscious inclusion.
The Middle East brand, marketing, creative, advertising, PR and comms industry has made commendable progress in terms of ‘diversity’ within diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) – with more gender representation in boardrooms, on executive committees, at various levels of management, and across cubicles and desks within offices.
However, when we dig deeper, many women in leadership positions and within the workforce have demanded more of the ‘equity’ and ‘inclusion’ of DEI – whether that’s in pay structures, or trust placed on them to handle important projects, or giving them a voice – involving them in decision-making – rather than merely offering them a seat at the table.
Dubai Lynx, in partnership with Campaign Middle East, held a round table discussion with key leaders across brands and
agencies in the Middle East region, including: Ines Cases, Partnership and Coordination Specialist, UN Women
Priya Sarma, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Head, Unilever
Catherine Bannister, Chief Strategy Officer, TBWA\RAAD
Nesrine Chami, Head of Global Brands Portfolio, PepsiCo – MENAPAK & South Africa
Andrej Arsenijevic, Executive Creative Director, Commonwealth//McCann and MCN Sustainability Ambassador
Mazouz Melkheir, Head of CSR/Diversity and Inclusion, Etihad
Tatiana Campos Rocha, Former Head of CSR, Louis Vuitton
Mona Hassanie, Head of Strategy, VML UAE
Prerna Mehra, Executive Creative Director, MullenLowe MENA
Kyra Mathews, Associate Creative Director, Independent Agency
Vidya Manmohan, Founder & Creative Chairwoman, V4GOOD
Carlos Nadal, Managing Director, Havas Creative UAE
Around the table, leaders reached a consensus: Diversity is akin to a party invitation, but true inclusion means being invited to the dance floor.
Building on this metaphor, they insisted that industry leaders must be held accountable for laying down the right ‘policy’ floorboards for the dance floor, build the right ‘culture’ playlist that encourages people to dance, and then consciously create the ‘right environment’ that not only ‘mentors’ people to dance, but also ‘celebrates’ them when they do.
The discussion highlighted how inclusion is no longer a reputational flourish; it’s a lever for growth. The conversation moved the DEI narrative past platitudes, delving into tangible evidence in operations and the ‘messy middle’ where culture, policy and commercial realities collide.
Panellists revealed how inclusive teams raise creativity, reduce churn and widen relevance. At the same time, they warned that tokenism and performative case studies can hollow out intent.
Another recurring theme was measurement beyond the spreadsheet. DEI outcomes were framed in hard metrics and lived experiences. Panellists called for leaders to unlock equal access to opportunity, for women employees in the workplace to claim their rights, for prejudices to get called out, for work to be allocated based on merit, for success to be redefined based on quality of project completion, for flexible work-life policies to become commonplace, and for teams to feel safe enough to speak up.
Several voices cautioned that while inclusivity can drive revenue, bias and burnout carry very real costs. They echoed findings of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) Global DEI Census, which stated that one in every seven people would consider leaving their company – or the industry altogether – if the lack of sufficient equity and inclusion was
left unchecked. Here are some salient takeaways from the discussion.
Leaders explained how brands are putting inclusion into practice through tangible CSR programmes, and through substantial internal policies and processes.
Examples were shared of how brands have moved ‘inclusion’ from press releases to social impact, citing a programme in Egypt designed to remove barriers for women farmers. The initiative reached approximately half a million women across the Middle East and Africa, improving productivity, income and food security. Some of these farmers even qualified as suppliers, accessing avenues to sustained revenue and growth.
Another example showed how appointing a creative director from an underrepresented group transformed a luxury house, bridging street culture and craftsmanship, attracting a new generation of clients, diversifying the portfolio and lifting revenues – while boosting a sense of belonging among employees.
Panellists agreed that diversity and inclusion in the workplace – right from the early planning, ideation and strategy stages of a campaign – directly affect its effectiveness.
To anchor the commercial case, the room reiterated the fact that inclusion equals income: They detailed how a diverse team correlates directly to higher levels of creativity and better productivity and, has a direct impact on the profit and loss (P&L) statement.
These insights echoed discussions at Cannes Lions and insights from the Unstereotype Alliance’s (UA) ‘Inclusion = Income’ study, which shared empirical evidence that inclusive advertising drives positive commercial outcomes, allowing brands to choose both profit and people through authentic representation.
Yet, it’s not always a bed of roses. Addressing bias and being courageous carries very real costs. While inclusion leads to profitability in the long-term, it also often requires leaders to say ‘no’ to requests for proposal (RFPs), or talented people, or partners who do not align with their values.
In a market where competition remains extremely high, where margins are low, and where as many agencies are shutting shop as are launching – it remains quite tempting to sacrifice policies in the
pursuit of profitability.
Yet, if this route is chosen, the cost to culture could be great, leaders caution. They cited a study that found ‘when women work for pay, their children suffer’. It takes a village to raise a child, said the leaders adding that the industry has a shared responsibility to help fathers and mothers in the workplace.
Panellists stressed the need to not only create the right policies, but also put them into practice. Policies institutionalise accountability; culture translates them into daily behaviours.
They described the dissonance that currently exists between being ‘a diversity hire’ and being sidelined when clients walk in. The critique was blunt: box-ticking in staffing, gatekeeping in rooms, and rationalisations based on ‘who and what clients prefer’ permeate the industry.
The solution? It takes two to tango, panellists emphasised. Leaders must create a psychological ‘safe space’ and iterate policies based on continuous feedback. Meanwhile, employees must be brave and courageous enough to critique policies – or the lack thereof – calling out inequity when they spot it, even if it isn’t directed at them.
If diversity is akin to being invited to the party, and inclusion is akin to being invited to the dance floor, then, the organisation must also play the right music to create the right environment to ‘dance’.
Leaders called for settings where ideas can be tested, opinions offered and mistakes made – without penalty. They advised regular workshops to address unconscious bias, invite quieter voices in, model boundaries and reframe biased language in real time.
For instance, they suggested a shift from using terms such as ‘boisterous’, ‘loud’, ‘aggressive’ and ‘emotional’ to using words such ‘passionate’, ‘inspired’ and ‘zealous’ while describing the tone of a fervent discussion.
They also advocated practising ‘conscious inclusion’, which involves asking even the ‘silent smart ones’ for their informed opinions instead of simply sitting by while the lively voices dominate discussions.
But what if the industry chooses to ignore all of this? Well, the choice must be made now. Several thousand people surveyed by the UA study have either
already exited the industry – or are actively planning to – because they don’t feel heard or valued, or are forced to make seemingly ‘impossible choices’, or are struggling to deal with the stress and anxiety, which have become a norm rather than an exception.
All in all, what were the final takeaways?
Tie inclusion to creativity, growth and profitability;
Take another good look at team composition and behaviours;
Train and retrain for unconscious bias; Encourage managers to intervene on language and process;
Codify flexible work, parental leave and meeting norms;
Enforce boundaries as a team rule, not individual exceptions;
Share case studies and progress transparently;
Celebrate wins to raise the bar for the industry;
Practise conscious inclusion: invite perspectives, make space.
The unanimous accord: Each one of us has a role to play. Drive small changes that make a big difference.
The party has started. Cue the right music. Create the right space. Invite people to the floor. Let them dance. That’s what will drive footfall, conversions and profitability.
The media and marketing landscape in Saudi Arabia – and across the world, for that matter – is not just evolving, it is undergoing a seismic transformation. This goes far beyond the emergence of new platforms; it represents a profound shift in how brands connect, engage and thrive in markets defined by unprecedented digital adoption and a hunger for authentic narratives.
This dynamic environment – powered by immersive technologies, AI-driven personalisation and consumer demand for not just relevance, but resonance – is ushering in a new era of opportunity, innovation, and engagement.
I’ve had the privilege of navigating the hurdles and opportunities of this landscape as we work to position the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) as a unique heritage and cultural destination on the global tourism map. The challenge for destinations such as ours is not just to keep pace, but to lead – showing how culture, heritage and creativity can cut through an era of digital saturation.
Our strategic priorities have evolved to focus on understanding and engaging audiences who are fast adopters of the latest tech and trends. But success doesn’t come from keeping up with new innovations and shifting preferences. Rather, it comes from managing tried-and-true tactics while pushing new avenues to blend creativity with agility.
In today’s competitive landscape, every marketing dollar is precious. Maximising the impact of finite budgets is vital. We continue to see how lasting, impactful amplification of a message is best achieved through organic reach – through the power of earned media, advocacy from trusted sources, and virality. We can no longer rely on paid promotions alone. Travellers are increasingly prioritising authenticity over a barrage of advertisements and ‘nudges’. Strategies that incorporate the ‘whisper effect’ and peer-to-peer endorsement are critical in building and maintaining connections.
Indeed, Saudi Arabia’s audiences are some of the most digitally engaged in the world, with more than 94 per cent of internet users active on social platforms, and an average of three hours a day spent on social media. Attention spans are short, but expectations are high. Platforms such as TikTok, X and Snapchat are not just entertainment, they are arenas of
‘‘Strategies that incorporate the ‘whisper effect’ and peer-to-peer endorsement are critical in building and maintaining connections.”
cultural influence and commerce. For RCU, this is another key opportunity: to craft narratives that are short-form and engaging but still purpose-driven.
Our sector is also maturing fast. When I first arrived in KSA about six years ago, there was a limited pool of experienced professionals working in tourism, though there was strong marketing talent in other industries.
As the ecosystem has matured – in line with the overall growth of tourism and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan – this situation has changed rapidly and for the better, with homegrown leaders actively stepping up to fill the gaps. At RCU, this taps into a key priority for us: to develop the next generation of Saudi talent.
By being able to invest in local staff, our industry is strengthening its authenticity, its credibility and its reach. This means we’re able to tell AlUla’s story through voices that
SAUDI FOCUS
resonate deeply with visitors – because no one is better placed to promote Saudi Arabia than its own people.
Looking forward, tourism is poised to be a transformative contributor to the Kingdom’s GDP. Saudi Arabia is already among the fastestgrowing travel destinations globally, but growth alone is not a measure of success. What will define us is our ability to deliver tourism that is responsible, regenerative and resonant.
At RCU, that means ensuring every visitor experience not only inspires awe, but also contributes to revitalisation – of the land, communities and culture. By being focused on strategic market priorities, understanding our audiences, harnessing immersive media to blur physical and digital boundaries, and investing in local talent that embraces new ideas and ways of working, we won’t just address the challenges our industry faces, we’ll actively shape the pathway to success.
The Royal Commission for AlUla’s Melanie de Souza shares how the media and marketing landscape in Saudi Arabia is changing.
TSAUDI FOCUS
VICE and VIRTUE Middle East’s Tarek Khalil says brands that succeed in the next five years will be those that help shape culture.
he Middle East is sitting on a creative opportunity most brands haven’t woken up to.
We’ve spent the last decade mastering branded content. It has become the default answer to every brief. But the truth is, most of it doesn’t move people. It doesn’t build brand. It doesn’t last.
Because most branded content isn’t built to matter. It’s built to tick a box.
Meanwhile, the work that does break through looks a lot less like advertising and a lot more like entertainment. Not surface tricks. Real storytelling. Built with emotional depth, cultural intelligence, and audience intent. Not to fill a channel. To earn a place in someone’s life.
That is where the future is. And we are not claiming enough of it.
ENTERTAINMENT IS NOT A FORMAT.
IT’S AN ADVANTAGE.
Audiences have never had more control over what they give their time to. They are making active choices, not just watching what lands in their feed. The work that earns attention today does so because it connects. Not in a fleeting way. In a lasting way.
Take the documentary Drive to Survive. It turned Formula 1 into a global obsession by showing the human side: rivalries, stakes, personalities. Then came F1: The Movie with Brad Pitt, filmed with real F1 teams on real tracks, built around redemption and mentorapprentice dynamics. Even music played a role, with The Chemical Brothers creating ‘We’ve Got To Try’, a surreal video that pulled F1 into popular culture. These were not random projects. They were deliberate steps in building cultural presence. In the United States, F1 viewership among under-35s rose by almost 50 percent after the first season of Drive to Survive. Ticket sales surged. Merchandise sold out. Formula 1 became more than a sport. It became a story.
Now compare that with a Rolex spot with Carlos Alcaraz. The production is flawless. The athlete is inspiring. But does it deepen your relationship with the brand? Not really. It’s
branded content. And it stays branded content. You walk away remembering the tennis, maybe the player, but not the watch. One brand created fans. The other created footage.
CULTURE REWARDS THOSE WHO INVEST IN IT
The best brand building today looks less like messaging and more like original intellectual property (IP). Something that can be returned to. Extended. Evolved. It is no longer about campaigns. It is about cultural presence.
Take The White Lotus. A dark satire about privilege and power that lifted tourism numbers across multiple countries. After the third season was teased, Koh Samui saw a 40 percent jump in hotel searches. Once the season launched, bookings spiked by 65 percent. In Sicily, the San Domenico Palace was sold out for months. In Maui, the Four Seasons saw availability checks rise by 386 percent. These are commercial outcomes, delivered by story.
Or look at Something Like Home, a short film by Duolingo. It follows Syrian refugees in Turkey and Jordan learning new languages to rebuild their lives. There is no hard sell. The product isn’t the focus. The story is. And the impact is real. It builds relevance. It builds trust. It builds belief.
feels inauthentic. But most of what we give them? Safe work. Sanded edges. Message-first thinking. Our region is bursting with stories, talent, and energy. What it needs now is belief. Not just in audience insight or brand strategy. But in entertainment. In emotion. In bold, original IP built for people, not platforms.
Right now, we don’t have our version of Drive to Survive or The White Lotus. But we will. The ingredients are here. The only thing missing is backing.
We already have platforms with global reach, regional credibility, and serious cultural pull. The region’s streamers and broadcasters have proven that audiences are hungry for Arabic-language, locally relevant stories with emotional depth and staying power. But while the entertainment industry is building IP that travels, brands and cultural platforms are still playing it safe. Where is the brand-backed docuseries that matters? The original format with something to say? The infrastructure is here. What’s missing is the will to build brand-led stories that live beyond the campaign cycle. Stories that earn their place in culture, and can stay there.
By
This is what entertainment done right can do. It does not chase attention. It earns it. It does not ask for permission. It creates belonging.
THE MIDDLE EAST IS MORE THAN A MARKET. IT IS POWERED BY YOUTH, CREATIVITY AND A HUNGER FOR CHANGE.
We have one of the youngest, most culturally fluent audiences on the planet. People here aren’t waiting to be marketed to. They are remixing, reacting, and rejecting anything that
DON’T JUST SHOW UP. BUILD SOMETHING WORTH SHOWING.
Entertainment is not a tactic. It is a strategy. A serious one. And the brands that succeed in the next five years will not be the ones who interrupt culture. They will be the ones who help shape it.
That means fewer assets. More impact. Fewer outputs. More ownership. Less brand-first thinking. More audience-first intent.
It might be a podcast. A series. A documentary. A format we haven’t seen yet. The shape does not matter. What matters is that it was built with people in mind. Built to travel. Built to last.
This is not the job of your media plan. It is the job of your leadership team.
The opportunity is here. The region is ready. The only question left is who will make the first move.
Campaign Middle East rounds up the latest updates on social media and content and streaming platforms from October. Here are the key highlights:
GOOGLE: Google started rolling out AI Mode in Google Search in 36 new languages including Arabic, and across 200 countries and territories in total.
It also announced a free, one-year subscription to Gemini Pro, Google’s most advanced AI model, for university students (above the age of 18) across the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Jordan, after launching the offer in Saudi Arabia and Egypt last month.
In addition, Google introduced the AI Film Award, an open call for local and global creators to submit short films made using Google’s AI models and tools, including Gemini. The winner will receive a $1m prize, presented at the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai.
SNAPCHAT: Snap announced the launch of the App Power Pack, an innovative suite of advertising tools and solutions designed to support app marketers to enhance performance and achieve measurable results on Snapchat.
The App Power Pack integrates seamlessly into both new and existing campaigns and has already demonstrated the ability to increase app install rates by at least 25 per cent. The pack supports both Apple’s SKAdNetwork (SKAN) campaigns as well as non-SKAN campaigns.
SPOTIFY: Spotify released its first Saudi edition of the Loud & Clear report, an annual global music economics report designed to bring greater transparency to the industry by sharing data on royalty payments and breaking down the streaming economy. More than 90 per cent of royalties generated for Saudi artists came from outside the Kingdom, underscoring the export potential of Saudi music.
The number of Saudi artists generating more than SAR100,000 annually on Spotify has also doubled since 2023, showing how streaming is translating discovery into financial opportunity and enabling more artists to build sustainable careers.
LINKEDIN: LinkedIn has launched Career Hub, the world’s first platform that helps organisations guide employee growth using their own talent data and LinkedIn’s real-time skills insights.
Designed to help organisations stay ahead of evolving workforce needs, Career Hub brings together LinkedIn Learning and the power of data from more than a billion career journeys to give talent and learning leaders the intelligence they need to act before skills gaps appear.
With data-driven career pathways, employees can see the skills and roles their company needs most, along with tailored learning content to help them get there. And with opportunity matching at scale, Career Hub connects people to internal roles and projects that align with their skills, increasing mobility and visibility across the organisation.
META: On October 1, Instagram launched Maps globally – a new, lightweight way to connect with friends and see what’s happening around you.
Users can now opt in to share their last active location with selected friends, explore content posted by friends and creators nearby, and customise privacy controls by choosing who can see their location or turning sharing off any time. Parents with supervision enabled can also manage their teen’s location-sharing se ings for safer use. Any content with a location tagged can show up on the map, including, reels, posts and stories, from people followed and notes from people mutually followed, available for 24 hours.
Instagram has also introduced Friends; a new tab in Reels where you can see public content friends have interacted with. Friends will help users see which reels the people they care about the most are creating and engaging with.
Director of Brand Marketing at Rove Hotels
1. TALABAT
Love the messaging of this campaign. It’s built on such a spot-on human insight – something everyone in the region can relate to. It’s simple, funny and hits where it should. I didn’t love being reminded of the chaotic return to everyday life, but I get it – that’s the point. At least talabat’s there to make the juggle a little easier, and that’s what makes the campaign feel honest.
2. DODGE
I believe Dodge got it right with this one. It says you can be a dad, comply with all your family needs, but not be restricted to driving a boring grocery-getter as most people seem to think. The humour’s predictable, but works, and the wordplay around mechanical terms fits perfectly. Localising it for the Arabic market is smart; muscle cars have huge appeal here. Plus, the character’s rebellious styling and attitude are spot-on.
3. NAMSHI X TOMMY JEANS
Great influencer choices! Homegrown faces that genuinely connect with both millennials and Gen Z. The role-reversal concept was a fun touch (always wanted to show my teachers a thing or two about the ‘modern age’). The art direction and cinematography lend themselves naturally to Gen Z-style storytelling, but the nostalgia bits felt like a box that had to be ticked. The jokes could’ve gone bolder to be truly memorable. The campaign just leaves you wanting more; offline activations could have complemented the idea and rounded out the experience.
4. EMIRATES GLOBAL ALUMINIUM (EGA)
A beautifully grounded approach that highlights the real representation of Emirati women in STEM through honest, unfiltered employee stories, which makes it powerful. Partnering with a local university adds realworld weight, turning the idea from online storytelling into something actually impactful. Beyond that, it’s a subtle yet strong celebration of Emirati culture as a whole.
Associate Creative Director (Copy), Impact BBDO
1. TALABAT
The flash photography and chaotic moments capture modern life perfectly. Still, the layout and hierarchy make the ‘one less thing to do’ thought easy to miss. A clearer framing of that benefit would sharpen the impact. It’s visually alive, but needs stronger focus to connect the creative energy to the message.
2. DODGE
Funny, confident, and full of character, but the car itself takes a back seat. The storytelling overshadows the product, missing a chance to link personality with performance. A few smart integrations of features or driving moments could balance the humour with desire. It entertains, but sells more attitude than car.
3. NAMSHI X TOMMY JEANS
A smart, Gen Z-minded idea; students teaching teachers is a fun narrative flip and the casting brings it to life. However, the storytelling could use more layers and the art direction more refinement to rival the quirky naratives we are seeing from top fashion houses. It’s a clever, relevant concept, but could reach its full potential with greater visual and narrative depth.
4. EMIRATES GLOBAL ALUMINIUM (EGA)
I love the insight and ambition behind ‘Made by Many’. It’s a beautiful, important celebration of the collective strength behind Emirati women’s success. However, the execution feels slightly restrained for such an inspiring idea. The film could have shown more visual diversity to reflect the range of women and their support systems. A bolder, more cinematic treatment might have helped it resonate beyond a corporate lens, but it remains a strong, meaningful piece.
5. ASFAR
The humour and relatability humanise Al Hilal FC wonderfully. Yet the card-game setup underplays Saudi’s stunning destinations, leaving ASFAR’s promise of exploration underexplored. With richer visuals and stronger narrative tension, it could have felt more epic. The camaraderie and tone land well, but the creative ambition could stretch further.
ASFAR
talabat MENA has appointed CHAMA MOUMILE as Regional Director of Communications for the Middle East and North Africa, reinforcing the company’s focus on strategic, data-driven communications that strengthen its leadership as the region’s leading on-demand platform. In her new role, Moumile will work closely with talabat’s executive leadership and communications teams across the eight markets in which the company operates: the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Jordan and Egypt.
Publicis Groupe Middle East has appointed CHRIS SOLOMI as Chief Digital Officer, a newly created role that reinforces the Groupe’s ambition to advance its connected media ecosystem and marketing transformation capabilities across the region. In this position, Solomi will oversee the scaling of Publicis Groupe’s identity and data proposition, helping clients unlock greater value through person-first intelligence.
experience from across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Pakistan. Usmani will oversee the company’s financial strategy and performance, playing a key role in strengthening the group’s position as a leading out-of-home (OOH) media powerhouse.
Zenith, the media agency under Publicis Groupe Middle East, has appointed RAWAN YAQUB as Head of Zenith Saudi Arabia, reinforcing its strategic focus on talent, leadership and local market depth. In her new role, Yaqub will lead Zenith’s strategic direction and growth in Saudi Arabia. Her remit includes expanding operations, strengthening client partnerships, and building a highperforming, future-ready team.
with leading agencies and technology platforms across London, Europe, the Nordics and MENA, overseeing some of the world’s leading brands and their programmatic execution while building high-performing teams that delivered measurable growth.
Multiply Media Group (MMG) has appointed NOUMAN USMANI as Chief Financial Officer to support the company’s continued growth across regional and global markets. With more than two decades of international financial leadership, Usmani brings extensive
Omnicom Media Group (OMG) MENA has appointed FLORIAN PFEIFER as Managing Director of Flywheel Commerce Network, the group’s global e-commerce intelligence and retail media technology arm. In addition to leading regional operations, Pfeifer will join Flywheel’s international leadership team, contributing to the development of the Global Retail Network in partnership with Amazon.
DYLAN TEMPLE-HEALD has been appointed as Head of Programmatic (pDOOH) at Hypermedia. Temple-Heald brings nearly two decades of digital media expertise, with the majority of his career dedicated to programmatic. He has worked and partnered
Fusion5 has added to its senior leadership team with the appointment of DAVID SHIELDS as Director – Client and Strategy. Following an intense year of strategic investment and foundation-building of AI and automation capabilities, the ROI-driven media agency has picked Shields for his global experience and forwardthinking approach.
5th Element has named UMESH AJMANI as its new Head of Performance – Mobile. The move highlights the agency’s growing focus on mobile-led performance marketing across the region. Ajmani, who brings more than a decade of experience in the AdTech and digital marketing space, will lead 5th Element’s Mobile Performance division, overseeing strategy, execution, and innovation in data-driven campaigns. His remit includes developing performance frameworks, enhancing campaign efficiency, and deepening collaboration with clients and platforms across markets.
The Spin has seen its fair share of marketing missteps, design quirks and headlines that make you do a double take. Here are some eyebrow-raising examples from October 2025.
1. The truth hurts – as anyone who has seen this acupressure mat ad can attest. Making the rounds online this week, the ad’s tagline promises far more than any consumer could bargain for – not the kind of move that usually relaxes them. The Spin’s seen its fair share of painful copy, but this one hits a nerve in more ways than one.
2. Closer to home, a new building near The Spin’s headquarters is well under way. While the building does look promising, the same can’t quite be said for the company board standing proudly outside. Construction progress aside, someone might want to rebuild that line from scratch. Let’s just hope that is one promise it doesn’t deliver on.
3. Pictures sometimes speak for themselves. This televised angle from a White House conference proves it. This poorly (or expertly) framed backdrop requires very
little reading between the lines. Proof that a little bit of perspective changes everything.
4. This headline spotted online was so revealing, we can only hope the follow-up was ‘water found in the ocean’.
5. A recent online purchase by one of The Spin’s colleagues didn’t quite meet expectations. Sometimes good design is about knowing where to make the cut. This designer seems to have taken the … mickey. Must have been in a bit of a rush to cross the finish line.
6. Halloween appears to have arrived early at one online store. Some confessions, The Spin thinks, are best left to the living.
7. What do Bangladesh and 9/11 have in common? Nothing, as it turns out – except this post. Some crossovers are best left unexplored.
8. Sometimes the best advice is no advice, as this sign would suggest. Age, weather and irony seem to have joined forces on this one. The owners should take notice – all signs point to getting a new one.
NOVEMBER 2025
C AMPAIGN BREAKFAST BRIEFING (DUBAI, UAE) Out of Home 2026
DECEMBER 2025
C AMPAIGN AGENCY OF THE YEAR MIDDLE EAST AWARDS (DUBAI, UAE)
FEBRUARY 2026
C AMPAIGN BREAKFAST BRIEFING (DUBAI, UAE) Ramadan Advertising & The Year Ahead
The out-of-home (OOH) and digital out-of-home (DOOH) industry in the Middle East is moving in the right direction. From what leaders have told us, this move is probably not as fast as children riding electric scooters in gated communities, but it is definitely faster than rush-hour traffic in many of the region’s cities – a blessing in disguise, as it may increase attention to billboards.
What used to be siloed, static backdrops are fast becoming a living, connected system of digital ads spanning unipoles, MUPIs, bridges, hoardings, building façades, rooftops and lifts, as well as in-mall and airport screens.
While the fragmented media landscape continues to vie for consumers’ time, attention and trust, the DOOH sector has already made its case. It has taken conversations beyond credibility, reach, frequency and impressions. It is driving actionable return on investment (ROI) by monitoring and measuring dwell time, post-exposure uplift, brand discovery, and in-app and in-store traffic. This means attention metrics measured via sensors, mobile location data and computer vision are under the microscope.
Intuition is giving way to precision. It’s no longer about paying top dollar for the shiniest asset and hoping for the best. Brands and advertisers are choosing performance over placements; creative brilliance over clutter; language and localisation over sheer scale; and meaningful, full-funnel experiences over fleeting moments.
The trajectory is clear: it’s forward. Technology is finally playing the right role: not as a gimmick – cherry-picking data to prove ‘good work’ – but as the glue bringing clients closer to consumers.
Think trust and transparency through real-time dashboards; smarter strategies through artificial intelligence (AI)-driven consumer insights; advanced targeting through contextual data on weather, metro timetables, mall footfall and traffic patterns; and dynamic creative optimisation (DCO) through programmatic DOOH to match ad elements to user preferences – all of which are pulling OOH into the omnichannel fabric.
Done well, OOH not only drives performance and brand love, but it also becomes a two-way touchpoint for permission-based data capture. Pair dynamic creative with a clear value exchange – for example, a QR code that launches a 30-second poll, coupon or content – and advertisers can invite people to opt in and share preferences to enable personalisation.
The horizon can grow even wider: the future promises interactive storefronts, connected indoor networks, closer ties with mobile channels, and moments where user-generated or influencer brand collaborations scale to be seen on cities’ skylines.
In a world that’s turning towards effectiveness, bigger and brighter is not always better. The industry needs to go back to basics with bold minimalism, bilingual belonging, and visuals that feel lived-in, not lacquered. Let’s trade vanity for value, prime positions for precision, noise for nuance – and enjoy the ride while we build what’s next. This edition is our field guide to that future.
Motivate Media Group
Head Office: 34th Floor, Media One Tower, Dubai Media City, Dubai, UAE. Tel: +971 4 427 3000, Fax: +971 4 428 2266. Email: motivate@motivate.ae Dubai Media City: SD 2-94, 2nd Floor, Building 2, Dubai, UAE. Tel: +971 4 390 3550, Fax: +971 4 390 4845 Abu Dhabi: Motivate Advertising, Marketing & Publishing, PO Box 43072, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Tel: +971 2 677 2005, Fax: +97126573401, Email: motivate-adh@motivate.ae Saudi Arabia: Regus Offices No. 455 - 456, 4th Floor, Hamad Tower, King Fahad Road, Al Olaya, Riyadh, KSA. Tel: +966 11 834 3595 / +966 11 834 3596. Email: motivate@motivate.ae London: Motivate Publishing Ltd, Acre House, 11/15 William Road, London NW1 3ER. Email: motivateuk@motivate.ae www.motivatemedia.com
EDITORIAL: Motivate Media Group Editor-in-Chief Obaid Humaid Al Tayer | Managing Partner and Group Editor Ian Fairservice Campaign Middle East Editor Anup Oommen | Senior Reporter Ishwari Khatu | Junior Reporter Shantelle Nagarajan | Junior Reporter Hiba Faisal
DESIGN: Senior Designer Thokchom Remy
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES: Chief Commercial Officer Anthony Milne | Publishing Director Nadeem Quraishi (nadeem@motivate.ae) | Sales Manager Tarun Gangwani (tarun.gangwani@motivate.ae)
PRODUCTION: General Manager S. Sunil Kumar | Production Manager Binu Purandaran | Assistant Production Manager Venita Pinto
HAYMARKET MEDIA GROUP: Chairman Kevin Costello | Managing Director Jane Macken
(and
opinions expressed within this magazine are not necessarily those of Haymarket Magazines Limited or those of its contributors.
Out-of-home is no longer just about size or frequency.
IKEA’s Carla Klumpenaar says it’s about showing up in a way that feels relevant, respectful and real.
Even in an age of endless feeds, a good billboard still stops you. I’ve seen it happen too many times to doubt it.
There’s something uniquely public about out-of-home (OOH) campaigns. Ideas are tested in the open, shared by strangers in traffic, at junctions, and on the school run.
And maybe that’s why it still matters in 2025. When so much of our attention lives behind a screen, OOH remains one of the few spaces that belongs to everyone.
In the Middle East, where skylines seem to change overnight and audiences are more connected yet more fragmented than ever, OOH remains one of the most human ways to reach people where life actually happens.
But it’s also becoming one of the most technologically advanced. Across the region, traditional billboards are giving
way to digital displays, interactive screens, and even augmented reality murals.
The UAE and the wider Middle East are leading this transformation, with combined OOH investments exceeding AED 1.396 bn annually and digital growth rates of 16-23 per cent – well above global averages. It’s a shift that reimagines how brands can connect in one of the world’s most digitally ambitious regions.
What’s changed is the job OOH is being asked to do. It’s no longer just about size or frequency. Today, it’s about presence –showing up in a way that feels relevant, respectful and real. The best work is built on empathy, made for context and designed to spark conversation, not simply to deliver a message at scale.
OOH has always thrived on understanding everyday life and turning it into moments of recognition. Some of the most memorable work by IKEA in the region captures this spirit.
Proudly Second Best, for instance, flipped traditional advertising logic on its head by celebrating parents rather than products. It acknowledged that while a brand can offer every cot, stool and highchair a young family might need, nothing compares to the warmth of mum or dad.
The images of babies sleeping, eating and playing on their parents instead of the furniture designed for those very tasks delivered a tender, humorous reminder that family always comes first.
In a region where family sits at the heart of identity, that honesty felt deeply relatable, turning OOH from a mere announcement into a quiet tribute to caregiving.
Another IKEA example, Guilty Pets, spoke to a different kind of everyday truth: the funny, familiar chaos that comes with sharing a home with animals. A cat beside a broken mug, a dog caught red-pawed next to a shredded cushion: each scene made passers-by smile before they even read the line, ‘Don’t worry, you can afford it’.
The idea transformed everyday mishaps into reassurance, reminding people that homes are meant to be lived in, not preserved in perfection. In just a single frame, OOH became both relatable and
comforting; a shared wink between brand and audience.
These campaigns continue to live because they weren’t built around products or promotions. They were built around people. They worked because they reflected life as it really is: imperfect, emotional, and shared. They understood that a billboard, when done right, connects rather than sells.
In a market as diverse as the UAE and the wider GCC, that kind of connection matters. We live in a region where more than 200 nationalities drive the same roads, read the same signs, and interpret them through different experiences. That’s both a challenge and a creative gift.
From the fast-moving traffic of Dubai and Abu Dhabi to the slower commutes across the Northern Emirates, each environment demands a creative that’s legible, warm, and true in the few seconds people have to engage.
The creativity really lies in matching message to moment. A heartfelt parenting line near a school or a playful pet confession along a residential route feels naturally placed; part of the landscape, not pasted on to it. As OOH evolves with digital formats, that contextual sensitivity will only deepen. Digital OOH campaigns in the region are already achieving engagement rates up to six times higher than static billboards, while augmented reality-enhanced activations in premium locations see interaction rates surpassing 30 per cent.
Today, unipoles, hoardings, lampposts, and digital screens – formats IKEA has explored across the UAE – allow brands to shift creative by time of day or neighbourhood, giving storytelling a new kind of agility. Whether it’s a striking unipole along a major highway, a series of lampposts lining community streets, or digital screens inside malls and urban centres, each format serves a different purpose, creating continuity between high-traffic and hyper-local spaces and ensuring IKEA’s message meets people wherever they are.
Most recently, this has been brought to life through IKEA’s Price Lowered campaign, a nationwide outdoor campaign reminding audiences that good design can also be affordable. With its simple message of ‘Quality at better prices’, the campaign connects with people in the flow of everyday life, from highways to neighbourhood streets. It reinforces IKEA’s ongoing commitment to making quality products and improved living accessible to all.
But beyond technology, the heart of OOH hasn’t changed. It’s still about belonging. When brands speak with honesty, humour or warmth, public space turns into social space. A place for recognition, laughter and even empathy. People don’t just see the ad; they see themselves in it.
And maybe that’s why OOH has never felt more alive than it does today. As the region’s cities continue to grow and diversify, the power of OOH will lie in that balance between visibility and humanity.
The most memorable work will keep doing what these OOH campaigns do so well: meet people where they are, say something real and leave them feeling understood.
By Carla Klumpenaar, GM Marketing, Communication, HF & Retail Design IKEA (Al-Futtaim)
SkyBlu Media Group’s Chairman Dato’ Manikandamurthy Velayoudam discusses with Campaign Middle East the current trends reshaping the regional out-of-home industry, from vertical formats and programmatic to sustainability initiatives.
WHAT NEW FORMATS OR INNOVATIONS IN OOH HAVE CAUGHT THE MOST ADVERTISER INTEREST RECENTLY?
One of the most exciting shifts in OOH is the move from horizontal to vertical formats, aligning with how audiences now engage with digital and social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, where audiences naturally engage with vertical storytelling. By adopting vertical screen formats, we’re creating a visual continuity between physical and online platforms – allowing brands to deliver cohesive, cross-channel storytelling that feels natural to today’s mobile-first audience.
HOW ARE BRANDS BALANCING TRADITIONAL STATIC OOH WITH DIGITAL SCREENS AND PROGRAMMATIC BUYS?
Brands today are striking a smart balance between static
“While traditional, relationshipdriven agency buys remain central, programmatic introduces greater efficiency and transparency.”
objectives. Static formats continue to play a strong role in long-term brand building, offering scale and presence, while digital and programmatic OOH are increasingly favoured for tactical, short-term activations. They eliminate production costs, deliver wider screen coverage, and offer better efficiency with lower CPMs – making them ideal for brands seeking agility and measurable impact.
HOW DO YOU SEE PROGRAMMATIC DOOH CHANGING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUYERS, MEDIA OWNERS AND TECHNOLOGY PROVIDERS?
Programmatic DOOH is redefining the ecosystem but not replacing relationships – it’s enhancing them. While traditional, relationship-driven agency buys remain central, programmatic introduces greater efficiency, transparency and agility. Technology providers act as crucial enablers, ensuring seamless campaign execution and data-driven delivery.
HAS SUSTAINABILITY BECOME A REAL CONSIDERATION IN OOH PRODUCTION AND DEPLOYMENT?
Sustainability has become a core consideration, not just a talking point, in OOH today. Our upcoming 99EV bus fleet with the RTA reflects this commitment – a major step toward greener mobility and cleaner media infrastructure. As part of our business directive, this platform will be offered exclusively to sustainable brands, reinforcing our belief that innovation and responsibility must go hand in hand.
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT THE OOH INDUSTRY TODAY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
If I could change one thing, it would be to accelerate the industry’s shift toward technology that drives conversion and measurability beyond traditional branding metrics. OOH has immense potential to connect physical audiences with digital actions – and embracing data, attribution and real-time insights will redefine how brands value and invest in the medium.
DO YOU FEEL MEDIA SPEND TOWARDS OOH IS INCREASING, AND WHAT FACTORS ARE CAUSING THIS SHIFT?
Yes, OOH spending is on the rise, driven by a renewed understanding of its role in brand building. Unlike online media, which is often conversion-driven and pricesensitive, OOH creates lasting brand equity and positive perception. Leading digital-first brands like Apple, Netflix and Amazon continue to invest heavily in OOH because they recognise that conversions alone don’t build brands – consistent visibility and trust do.
Attractions
Activities
Dining
Health
Education
Entertainment
Real
Hotels
Shopping
The ‘Discover
Founded: 1997 Regional HQ: Dubai Head of company: Greg Benatar alliancemedia.com info@alliancemedia.com
Alliance Media is a leading Out-of-Home (OOH) media agency, recognized as the Best OOH Company across Africa, the Middle East and multiple other global markets.
PROPERTIES: Outdoor and Airport Advertising formats in 50+ global markets. Alliance Media’s offering includes large format static billboards, digital screens, mall, airport and transit media.
Founded: 2008
Offices: Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah Head of company: Hassan Abdulla Mohammed connectionmena.com basheer@connectionmena.com
PROPERTIES: Biggest network in Northern Emirates with assests including hoardings, unipoles, led digital, rooftops, bridge banners, megacoms, wall banners and lampposts.
Founded: 2006
Number of staff: 28 Headquartered: Dubai www.edsfze.com manish@edsfze.com eds.ae
Founded: 1964
Holding group: JCDecaux Middle East, a subsidiary of JCDecaux SE
Regional HQ: Dubai
Number of staff: 247 middleeast@jcdecaux.com jcdecauxme.com
JCDecaux is the world’s largest outdoor advertising specialist & sole international player in the Middle East with presence in 6 countries: UAE (Dubai & Abu Dhabi), KSA, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain & Jordan. Offering a broad range of advertising solutions in high-quality & uncluttered environments, JCDecaux stands out for its strong emphasis on innovation and data-driven strategies. By leveraging technology and insights, they empower advertisers with targeted and impactful campaigns. As a sustainable media partner, JCDecaux is committed to incorporating ecofriendly materials, energy-efficient technologies, and responsible practices in their operations. Their commitment to data-driven excellence and sustainability makes JCDecaux Middle East a pioneering force in outdoor advertising.
Al-Arabia’s Jalal Khanfour explores how programmatic DOOH can finally deliver the reach, scale and automation for OOH planning across MENA.
Al-Arabia’s entry will change this dynamic. By opening up inventory at scale, we will exponentially increase the levels of reach available through programmatic platforms. The automation that programmatic brings ensures this scale is not just theoretical but practical, removing friction from the buying process, speeding up activation, and making campaigns more adaptable in real time.
This combination of automation and premium inventory is what we believe will transform pDOOH into a reliable marketing solution. For the first time, advertisers and agencies will have the ability to build programmatic campaigns with the reach and impact needed to stand alongside other digital channels.
While Dubai is our starting point, Saudi Arabia is where programmatic has the potential to reach its greatest scale. The Kingdom’s rapid development, coupled with the ambitions of Vision 2030, makes it one of the most exciting media markets in the world.
or years, advertisers in our region have experimented with programmatic OOH, but without scale, it has remained on the margins of media plans.
Over the past decade, Al-Arabia has transformed from a static OOH media owner into a digital-first company, with 100 per cent of our network now digital. This global-scale advancement positions the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia among the top 10 markets worldwide in DOOH penetration.
Al-Arabia’s philosophy is simple: programmatic cannot just exist; it must deliver value. That is why we are investing in the right technology, aligning with international standards, and working closely with agencies and advertisers to educate the market.
We are now taking the next step in that evolution with programmatic Digital Out-of-Home (pDOOH). Our first programmatic screens will launch in Dubai, a milestone that will finally give the market something it has long been waiting for, scale.
Until now, Dubai’s pDOOH market has been small and fragmented. With only a limited number of screens available to demand-side platforms, reach has been restricted, and campaigns have struggled to achieve meaningful coverage. For advertisers, programmatic has too often been treated as an add-on rather than a central part of their media strategy.
Our aim is not to position programmatic as another sales channel, but to create an ecosystem that brands believe in and agencies can confidently plan around. By doing things the right way, step by step, we will make sure that programmatic OOH in the region has the scale, reliability, and long-term impact it deserves.
Al-Arabia’s launch of pDOOH in Dubai will be a step change for the market. It will transform programmatic from a fragmented, limited proposition into a solution that finally delivers the reach and scale advertisers have been waiting for.
For Al-Arabia, programmatic is not the end point, but a new chapter in our evolution. By combining automation with scale, we will change the way OOH is planned, bought, and experienced across the region.
By Jalal Khanfour, Chief Commercial Officer, Al-Arabia
“For advertisers, programmatic has too often been treated as an add-on rather than a central part of their media strategy.”
Founded: 1983
Ownership/holding group: Engineer Holding Group, MBC Holding Group – Public; Al Arabia Digital OOH, UAE Registered Company
Offices: Riyadh and Dubai Number of staff: 400+ al-arabia.com salesteam@al-arabia.com
+966 92 003 3343; +971 4 362 8123; (800) 25272242
Founded in 1983 and publicly listed in 2021, AlArabia is a leading outdoor advertising company across the Middle East and North Africa. With innovative, high-quality solutions across diverse platforms, AlArabia serves a wide portfolio of clients and continues expanding regionally and internationally, driving excellence and innovation in alignment with Vision 2030.
PROPERTIES:
Riyadh: Digital assets: 360 faces Mezah, 34 faces Digital Mezahpole, 80 faces The Guide, 110 Skyline Bridges, 9 LEDs, 60 faces Digital Megacom, 100 faces Digital Mupi, 6 Super Giants, 16 faces Arches, 40 faces Mezah Tower, 2 faces Digital Gateways – King Fahad Bridge highway, and 42 screens located on KKIA access road. Static assets: 22 faces static Mezahpole, 250 faces Megacom, 1100 faces Mupi.
Jeddah: Digital assets: 7 LEDs; 4 faces Building screens.Static assets; 10 Hoardings.Faden’s investment; 350 faces Megacom, 350 faces Mupi.
Dubai: Digital assets: 18 Mezah Max, 143 Mezah Pro, 23 Skyline Bridges, and 50 Mezah Light.Static assets: 110 Mezah Tagline.
MANSOUR ALOBAIKAN
Chief Executive Officer
INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT
HOW HAS DATA AND TECH CHANGED THE WAY OOH CAMPAIGNS ARE PLANNED AND MEASURED IN THE PAST YEAR?
The adoption of a unified reach-andfrequency measurement currency has transformed planning. Campaigns are now built around actual audience delivery rather than site counts. At Al-Arabia, we take this a step further – we use predictive data not only for campaign planning, but also to guide where we place new screens and networks. It’s reshaping both sales and infrastructure strategies.
HOW IS OOH BEING INTEGRATED WITH OTHER CHANNELS SUCH AS SOCIAL AND MOBILE TO CREATE MORE CONNECTED BRAND EXPERIENCES?
OOH increasingly acts as the public stage, while social and mobile channels extend interaction. A recent 2025 study found that OOH drives a 13.3 per cent higher lift in ad awareness than digital channels alone, proving how physical presence strengthens digital performance. As a supplier, we focus on enabling data-driven planning and measurement, so brands can use a common language across channels. This makes integration more seamless and ensures OOH works as a powerful amplifier to digital campaigns.
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT THE OOH INDUSTRY TODAY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Shifting the mindset from competing for share to growing the market. Transparent pricing, standardised measurement, and real collaboration can build trust and unlock larger budgets. The opportunity is to expand the scale of the industry collectively, not fragment it. If stakeholders align around shared standards and ecosystem thinking, OOH can move from incremental growth to exponential impact across the region.
DO YOU FEEL MEDIA SPEND TOWARDS OOH IS INCREASING, AND WHAT FACTORS ARE CAUSING THIS SHIFT?
Rapid urban development and the expansion of digital networks are fuelling renewed advertiser interest. OOH offers a fraud-free, brand-safe, and highly viewable environment, making it a trusted medium compared to social and digital media platforms. This trust has grown alongside the digitisation of networks. The World Out of Home Organization ranked Saudi Arabia #1 globally in DOOH share of OOH spend, reflecting this momentum. Underpinning it all is confidence in transparent audience measurement, allowing advertisers to plan OOH with the same rigour as other media.
Founded: 1995
Holding group: Choueiri Group
CEO: Pierre Choueiri
COO: Fawzi Tueni
FTueni.AOUAE@choueirigroup.com
As part of Choueiri Group which channelises advertising budgets across the full spectrum of communication platforms (TV, radio, print, digital and outdoor), Arabian Outdoor UAE has served as a market-leading force in the UAE’s OOH market since 1995.
Today the fully integrated media house extends a comprehensive range of outdoor vehicles – varying from lamposts, megacoms, unipoles and bridge banners to the largest and most strategically significant mupi network in the UAE. The company’s track record of innovation reflects its vast capabilities and dedication to providing advertisers with greater flexibility, creativity and effectiveness.
PROPERTIES:
Dubai: 800 mupis; 661 lampposts; 65 megacoms; 7 unipoles; 4 SZR bridge banners; 4 digital Dubai Canal Towers
Abu Dhabi: 414 mupis; 109 megacoms; 27 unipoles
Binary TV screens inside thousands of RTA taxis reach millions each month across airport and city fleets. They deliver an in-flight-style experience that keeps riders relaxed and receptive, while brands run full-screen, interactive audio-video ads with location and daypart targeting – creating a new distribution channel that drives attention and measurable engagement.
Founded: 2024
Regional headquarters: Dubai
Number of staff: 15 binarymedia.io info@enterbinary.com +971 50 551 5691
PROPERTIES
Dubai: More than 2,000 live connected screens, with more being added each month. Reaching millions of passengers monthly, each with an average dwell time of 25 minutes. Binary screens feature full-screen audio-video ads with interactive, location, and daypart-based targeting capabilities.
FAWZI TUENI
COO, Arabian Outdoor
HOW HAS DATA AND TECH CHANGED THE WAY OOH CAMPAIGNS ARE PLANNED AND MEASURED IN THE PAST YEAR?
Data and technology have expanded OOH from a pure reach medium into a full-funnel channel, now equally leveraged for performance-driven actions as it is for brand building. Planning is now guided by mobile location data and audience verification platforms, enabling precise targeting based on real-world behaviours and demographics, not just estimated footfall. Measurement has been revolutionised by attribution modelling, which correlates campaign exposure with tangible offline and online actions – from foot traffic and sales to website visits. This provides a clear, data-backed line of sight to ROI, moving the conversation beyond mere impressions to demonstrable business impact and solidifying OOH’s role in the modern, connected marketing mix.
WHAT NEW FORMATS OR INNOVATIONS IN OOH HAVE CAUGHT THE MOST ADVERTISER INTEREST RECENTLY?
Advertisers are increasingly drawn to integrated ecosystems that blend high-impact static placements with dynamic digital networks. This “surround sound” approach combines the authority of static with the agility of digital for real-time messaging. Programmatic trading platforms are therefore gaining traction, offering efficient, datadriven audience targeting and transforming DOOH into a flexible, performance-oriented medium.
HOW ARE BRANDS BALANCING TRADITIONAL STATIC OOH WITH DIGITAL SCREENS AND PROGRAMMATIC BUYS?
Brands now treat static and digital/ programmatic OOH as complementary. Static builds mass awareness and long-term equity, while digital and programmatic deliver real-time, targeted messaging and measurable results. The most effective campaigns use static for overarching narratives and digital for targeted, data-driven activations.
HOW DO YOU SEE PROGRAMMATIC DOOH CHANGING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUYERS, MEDIA OWNERS AND TECHNOLOGY PROVIDERS?
Programmatic DOOH is fostering deeper collaboration among buyers,
“
Key challenges include slow standardisation in measurement and programmatic protocols, along with how rapid digitisation is being balanced with the enduring value of static assets. The solution for this is unified, transparent metrics, which would be essential for unlocking regional potential.”
with the enduring value of static assets. The solution for this is unified, transparent metrics, which would be essential for unlocking regional potential and attracting global investments.
HAS SUSTAINABILITY BECOME A REAL CONSIDERATION IN OOH PRODUCTION AND DEPLOYMENT?
Absolutely. Sustainability is now central to OOH operations, driven by client demand and corporate responsibility. The industry is adopting energy-efficient LEDs, recycled materials, eco-friendly inks, and optimised logistics. Sustainable practices are a key differentiator in vendor selection and brand storytelling.
WHERE DO YOU SEE THE BIGGEST GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES FOR OOH IN THE REGION?
The biggest opportunity lies in integrating digital and static OOH into unified, full-funnel solutions. This approach delivers both mass reach and measurable performance, positioning OOH as an essential, accountable channel for modern marketers.
HOW IS OOH BEING INTEGRATED WITH OTHER CHANNELS SUCH AS SOCIAL AND MOBILE TO CREATE MORE CONNECTED BRAND EXPERIENCES? OOH acts as a physical anchor for digital campaigns, driving social engagement and mobile interaction through hashtags, user-generated content, QR codes, and NFC triggers. This creates a seamless brand experience, linking high-impact physical presence with digital amplification and measurement.
WHAT ROLE WILL CREATIVITY PLAY IN KEEPING OOH IMPACTFUL AS THE MEDIUM BECOMES MORE DATA-DRIVEN?
media owners, and tech providers. Media owners must offer data-enriched, addressable inventory; tech providers ensure seamless, transparent transactions; buyers gain control and insight. This interconnected approach drives value through agile, data-driven campaigns.
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES FOR OOH IN MENA TODAY?
In our view, key challenges include slow standardisation in measurement and programmatic protocols, along with how rapid digitisation is being balanced
As OOH becomes more data-driven, creative remains crucial. Data determines targeting and timing, but impactful creative captures attention and forges emotional connections. The future of OOH depends on bold, contextually aware creative that transforms targeted impressions into memorable brand experiences.
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT THE OOH INDUSTRY TODAY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
If I could make one fundamental shift, it would be accelerating the adoption of a unified, transparent measurement framework. This, we believe, would unlock significant growth. Standardised metrics would also simplify planning, improve ROI, and build advertiser confidence, catalysing innovation and investment across the OOH industry.
Founded: 2022 (in the Gulf region)
Ownership: Blue Ad Group
Regional headquarters: Dubai
Number of staff: 12 www.bluead.ae info@bluead.ae
SERGEY GORBATOV
Group CEO
WE SPOKE A YEAR AGO. HOW HAVE THINGS BEEN SINCE THEN?
It’s been quite a year – full of change and progress. On one hand, Dubai’s population has almost doubled over the past decade and has now reached around four million in 2025. The city ranks third in the world among capitals with the highest number of high-net-worth residents, with nearly 100,000 millionaires calling it home. Everywhere you look, there are new districts, new roads, new projects coming to life.
The out-of-home (OOH) advertising sector is growing right alongside this boom — benefiting from bigger budgets and the appearance of exciting new locations.
But at the same time, competition remains intense. Still, we’ve kept moving forward. We’ve launched – and are working on – several new digital and static sites along some of Dubai’s key roads, including Al Khail, Sheikh Zayed and Mohammed bin Zayed.
Blue Ad is a premier digital out-of-home media operator with over 20 years of experience in the USA, Russia, and the UAE. We proudly own and operate the world’s only vessel equipped with 3D LED screens in Dubai, alongside a range of other state-ofthe-art video displays, digital Unipoles, and static Hoardings on major roadways.
PROPERTIES:
Hoardings: Al Khail Rd (Al Jaddaf, Dubai Mall, Dubai Hills Mall); Hessa St (Opp Jebel Ali Racecourse); MBZ Rd (Dubai Autodrome, Dubai Sports City, City Centre Me’aisem); Al Ain - Dubai Rd (Opp Avenue Mall); Al I ihad Rd (Dubai Exit).
Digital Unipoles: Hessa St (Saudi-German Hospital); Umm Suqeim St (Mall of the Emirates), MBZ Rd (Arabian ranches), Al Khail Road (Al Jadaf, Al Quoz)
Transit media: 3D-digital vessel “Illuminate”, targeting Dubai’s promenades and waterfronts.
Digital screens: Sheikh Zayed Road (Two Seasons Hotel, Downtown Jabel Ali)
RTA Marine assets: Exclusive rights to manage all indoor and outdoor advertising on RTA Marine assets until 2030: marine vessels, 44 water taxis, marine stations naming rights, marine infrastructure and kiosks, 143 abras, tickets etc.
Ola Ghoneim Direct Sales Director
HOW IS THE DIGITAL VESSEL PROJECT COMING ALONG?
It’s been an incredible journey. Getting a newly built vessel ready — technically, legally, and logistically — has been no small feat. But we’ve finally done it. The vessel has started its daily cruises along Dubai’s most famous waterfronts — JBR, Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Beach, Dubai Creek and Business Bay. Seeing it in motion, lighting up the skyline, is a fantastic moment for us.
BESIDES ADVERTISING, WHAT ELSE CAN THE VESSEL BE USED FOR?
It’s really much more than just an advertising platform – it’s a full-scale communication tool. The vessel has four large LED screens, including one on top that can be seen from surrounding towers. It also features a 2,000watt sound system, so it’s not only visible but audible from afar.
The best part is flexibility — you can have it almost anywhere and anytime. It’s perfect for events, celebrations, product launches, or even to deliver a personal message in a big way. It can host live broadcasts, stream major sporting events, or showcase sponsors and brands in complete exclusivity — without any visual clutter. With its 3D capabilities and high-
definition screens, it gives advertisers a unique advantage: reaching audiences in prime areas that no other outdoor format can access. We’re extremely proud to have brought this patented vessel to Dubai after our successful experience with similar projects abroad.
What have you observed during your first year operating in the UAE?
The ambition here is unmistakable. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are actively positioning themselves on the global stage, not just as regional leaders, but as cultural and commercial hubs. What excites us most is how brands are leaning into this vision, ready to share their identity with the world.
David Hawkins Managing Director Middle East
What makes billups a uniquely valuable partner to brands in the UAE and region?
We bring the world closer. With a global network spanning the U.S., EMEA, and APAC, we offer regional brands unmatched access to global media environments. We make campaign planning, buying, and delivery seamless, strategic,and on-brand.
Wissam El Rayess Business Director Middle East
OOH is local by nature. We’re global by design. With teams in the USA, EMEA, and APAC, we help brands win where it matters.
What global OOH trends should UAE brands be watching for 2026?
OOH is entering its performance era. AI-led targeting, responsive creative, and dynamic formats are becoming standard. But beyond tech, brands are seeking storytelling that travels, campaigns that perform locally and resonate globally. The winners in 2026 will match scale with cultural fluency.
James McEwan CEO EMEA
What major global events should UAE advertisers start planning for in 2026?
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is more than a sporting event; it’s a cultural moment. For travel, hospitality, real estate, and government brands from the GCC, it’s an opportunity to reach global audiences at peak attention. Through billups' network, regional brands can activate campaigns in key global cities, driving brand fame and cultural relevance among affluent, engaged spectators worldwide.
Karen Barboza
Account Manager Middle East
Founded: 2004
Ownership/holding group: ELAN
Holding QPSC, owned by Qatar Development Bank
Offices: Doha and Dubai
Number of staff: 125 elan.qa elanmedia@elan.qa; elanmediadubai @elan.qa +974 4428 2830; +971 4428 9430
Jaber Al Ansari Group Chief Executive Officer
BILL FORDYCE
Chief Operating Officer
Ibrahim
Hassan Managing Director
HOW HAS DATA AND TECH CHANGED THE WAY OOH CAMPAIGNS ARE PLANNED AND MEASURED IN THE PAST YEAR?
At ELAN Media, we accelerated this shift with the launch of inMotion 2.0 in April 2025. Built with Ooredoo and Kido Dynamics, the system uses real-time telecom data to provide advertisers with accurate insights on audience movement, demographics, and impressions. This removes the guesswork and ensures campaigns are measured with clarity and confidence.
We also introduced a self-serve platform that puts these tools directly in the hands of advertisers and agencies. By selecting their preferred audience, whether by age, gender, nationality, or area of residence, they can instantly build an AI-optimized campaign that forecasts reach, calculates CPMs, and designs the best campaign plan for both impact and efficiency.
The result is a major change in how campaigns are planned. Instead of starting with “where should we place our ads?” the process now begins with “who do we want to reach?”
E LAN Media is the leading Qatari media company and is commi ed to driving innovation and excellence in advertising by offering a mix of media channels, such as digital out-of-home, static out-of-home, cinema, online and radio advertising. We offer highimpact advertising assets and high-value creative opportunities for brands. ELAN Media pioneered DOOH and programmatic DOOH in Qatar and is at the forefront of implementing technology to embed data in all its assets.
Static Out-of-Home: Our static outdoor assets cover all the municipalities in Qatar, including Lusail City. The range of ELAN Media’s advertising platforms includes MUPIs, Seniors, Unipoles, Scaffoldings, Flag Poles, Bus Shelters, Bridge Banners and Wall Wraps with a total number of more than 2,300 faces.
Digital Out-of-Home Assets: One of the most advanced digital networks in the region, ELAN Media’s assets span key malls, roadsides and landmarks across Qatar –including Mall of Qatar, Doha Festival City, Msheireb Downtown Doha, Place Vendôme, Salwa Road, Al Waab, iconic locations in Lusail, and key Woqod petrol stations with a total of 368 screens.
Cinema: ELAN Media exclusively represents Novo Cinemas in Qatar with 104 screens. Radio: ELAN Media is the exclusive media representative of the two leading Qatari stations, Habaieb Radio 93.7 FM and Mazaji Radio 94.6 FM.
HOW ARE BRANDS BALANCING TRADITIONAL STATIC OOH WITH DIGITAL SCREENS?
The industry has been buzzing about digital OOH for years, and for good reasons. At ELAN Media, more than half of our revenue now comes from digital signage.
That said, static is far from obsolete. In fact, it still delivers incredible value. A well-crafted static billboard, with bold design, quality printing, and strong lighting, can be just as impactful, sometimes even more than digital. Unlike rotating digital messages, static offers uninterrupted presence, making it ideal for long-term brand campaigns or high-profile landmark sites.
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT THE OOH INDUSTRY TODAY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
If I could change one thing about the OOH industry today, it would be the adoption of audience measurement.
Across the industry, companies like ours have invested significant amounts of time, resources, and money into building advanced measurement systems.
Yet, despite this progress, the uptake from agencies and clients remains lower than it should be. Too often, planning is still driven by location or habit rather than by data. When measurement is used, the results are clear: smarter targeting, stronger ROI, and greater trust in OOH as a medium.
WHERE DO YOU SEE THE BIGGEST GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES FOR OOH IN THE REGION?
The biggest opportunity is in omnichannel campaigns, although I hate to use such a buzzword. Advertisers want their message to follow consumers across platforms – online, offline, mobile, and social.
Digital OOH fits perfectly into that mix. It offers the scale and visibility of outdoor media, while syncing with digital channels. A consumer might see a brand on a big screen in the morning, then get a personalized ad on their phone later that day.
That kind of continuity builds stronger awareness and drives action. OOH is becoming the anchor in these cross-platform strategies, and that’s where the growth for our companies is.
The UAE’s most strategic DOOH network reaching exclusive audiences across landmark residential, lifestyle, and business communities.
Founded: 2011
Regional headquarters: Dubai
Number of staff: 36 elevision.com marketing@elevision.com +971 4 360 8089
Elevision operates a strategic DOOH network embedded across the UAE and UK’s premium residential, lifestyle and business districts. Designed for advertisers seeking relevance and impact, Elevision delivers context-rich, data-informed communication that reaches affluent audiences in the moments and environments that matter most.
PROPERTIES: Total of 2500 Digital Screens in the UAE.
Large Format LED Screens: 121 (DIFC, One Central, Dubai Design District) Hoarding: 1 DIFC North
Residential Media: Dubai 1,685 and Abu Dhabi 169 (Dubai South, Sport City, JVC, Dubai Hills, Dubai Marina, JLT, Media City, Palm Jumeirah, The Greens, Jumeirah, City Walk, Downtown, Business Bay, Meydan, Bluewaters, Khalifa City, Downtown, Rawdhat and Reem Island)
Commercial Elevator Screens: Dubai 490 and Abu Dhabi 35 (Media City, JLT, Business Bay, Dubai Design District, DIFC, One Central, Reem Island, Abu Dhabi Downtown)
HOW HAS DATA AND TECHNOLOGY CHANGED THE WAY OOH CAMPAIGNS ARE PLANNED AND MEASURED IN THE PAST YEAR?
Over the past year, data and automation have transformed, especially DOOH, planning and scheduling into a real-time, audience-driven discipline. Campaigns are now built around behavioural patterns, attention metrics, and dynamic environmental triggers instead of fixed impressions.
At Elevision, this shift has been accelerated by our integration of Catch across the entire network, providing advertisers with the region’s most precise real-time impression matrix. This enables live visibility of audience flow, dwell time, and exposure frequency, allowing planners to optimise campaigns on our screens while they’re running. Combined with AI-driven reporting, these insights connect reach and recall to measurable outcomes, redefining how OOH effectiveness is quantified.
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES FOR OOH IN MENA TODAY?
The industry’s main challenge lies in context and attention. Scale is no longer enough; effectiveness depends on how meaningfully content fits its environment. Audiences are selective, and impressions without attention
no longer hold value. OOH networks must demonstrate contextual precision – reaching the right audience in the right place, at the right state of mind, while proving measurable engagement through credible dwell-time insights.
HOW IS OOH BEING INTEGRATED WITH OTHER CHANNELS SUCH AS SOCIAL AND MOBILE TO CREATE MORE CONNECTED BRAND EXPERIENCES?
OOH now acts as the foundation of omnichannel campaigns, triggering sequential storytelling across mobile, social and CTV. Real-time location signals and behavioural data enable brands to re-engage audiences digitally within minutes of physical exposure,
bridging awareness, consideration, and conversion in a single, connected journey.
WHAT ROLE WILL CREATIVE PLAY IN KEEPING OOH IMPACTFUL AS THE MEDIUM BECOMES MORE DATA-DRIVEN?
As data guides precision, creative remains the differentiator for attention. Understanding dwell-time patterns enables storytelling that unfolds naturally, capturing interest in the first few seconds and rewarding it through layered, emotionally resonant design. Creativity is what transforms data insight into a memorable human experience.
DO YOU FEEL MEDIA SPEND TOWARDS OOH IS INCREASING, AND WHAT FACTORS ARE CAUSING THIS SHIFT?
OOH investment is stable but evolving. In the UAE market, where OOH already commands roughly 35 per cent of total ad spend compared to about 5 per cent globally, the question is less about growth in media spend and more about transformation. Brands are reallocating within the channel, shifting from static placements to high-impact digital formats that offer data, flexibility, and measurable outcomes. At the same time, advertisers are seeking credible, brand-safe environments after years of overexposure to low-trust digital inventory. OOH provides that balance: physical presence, verified audiences, and longer viewing times all contribute to stronger recall and real-world impact. The shift we’re seeing isn’t just toward more OOH, but toward smarter OOH.
Founded: 2020
Regional headquarters: Dubai
Number of staff: 30+ flick.global flick@flick.global +971 4 576 6770
Flick Global is a leading premium outdoor and private jet terminal advertising provider specialising in reaching Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals, VIPs and elite audiences. With a strong presence in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, London, Paris, Geneva, Marrakesh and Damascus, Flick connects global brands with influential audiences through high-impact OOH and airport advertising solutions.
13 Hoardings
300 Lampposts
DWC Private Jet Terminal Digital LED Screens: 14 faces LED Lampposts, 8 faces LED Totems, 2 faces 3D Cube
1 DIFC Wall Banner
AlMardini Chief Executive Officer Flick Global Final.pdf 1 23/10/2025 7:19 pm
Founded: 2017
Regional headquarters: Dubai, UAE
Ownership/holding group: Golden Anchor Investments
Number of staff: 12 footprintooh.com sales@footprintooh.com
+971 4 288 7000
Founder and Managing Partner
WHAT NEW FORMATS OR INNOVATIONS IN OOH HAVE CAUGHT THE MOST ADVERTISER INTEREST RECENTLY?
Advertisers today are moving beyond evaluating OOH formats solely by their size or location. There’s growing interest in highimpact structures and visually striking designs that capture attention. Additionally, innovations in digital and interactive displays – such as 3D anamorphic screens, motionintegrated facades, and dynamic LED installations – are drawing strong advertiser interest for their ability to create memorable, immersive brand experiences.
HOW ARE BRANDS BALANCING TRADITIONAL STATIC OOH WITH DIGITAL SCREENS AND PROGRAMMATIC BUYS?
Brands are increasingly taking a data-driven approach when balancing static and digital OOH. The choice often depends on the location’s dwell time and audience engagement potential. In environments with longer dwell times – such as shopping districts, airports, and transit hubs – advertisers are leaning toward digital screens that allow for dynamic, timesensitive, and even programmatic creative rotations. These formats offer measurable engagement, flexibility in messaging, and the ability to optimise in real time.
Conversely, in high-traffic corridors or highways where audiences have limited viewing time, static formats continue to dominate. Their
At Footprint Advertising Solutions, we believe in the power of ideas. Our comprehensive Marketing Agency is based in Dubai, but we work with clients near and far in order to help them transform the way they do business. Every great client alliance starts with a strategy.
When we partner with clients for full-service creative solutions, we devise a plan to capture audience a ention and ensure long-term success. We were born out of a desire to provide brands with the quality creative services they need in order to stay ahead. We believe in creating inspired solutions that are uniquely appropriate for each client we work with.
We have been building, brightening and promoting company brands since 2017, and our team has the necessary skills and experience to benefit our clients. Our approach involves developing custom-made integrated solutions that define the right messaging at the right time to help businesses engage with the right audience.
PROPERTIES: 10 unipoles, 2 wall banners, 2 bridge banners, 3 hoardings
large-scale visibility ensures stronger brand recall and impact with a single, bold creative. Many brands now integrate both formats within the same campaign – using static for broad awareness and digital for contextual, datatriggered engagement – creating a more cohesive and performance-oriented OOH strategy.
SUSTAINABILITY BECOME A REAL CONSIDERATION IN OOH PRODUCTION AND DEPLOYMENT?
Sustainability is gaining traction in OOH, but its adoption still varies significantly by region. In many markets, including ours, there’s still a long way to go before sustainable practices become an industry standard rather than an exception. At our company, we’ve made sustainability a core commitment – being one of the few, if not the only, zero-to-landfill suppliers and actively working toward net-zero operations.
While these efforts set an important benchmark, broader change will only come when more suppliers integrate responsible production methods and when clients begin prioritising partners who demonstrate genuine sustainability credentials. The shift is gradual, but there’s growing recognition that sustainable OOH isn’t just ethical – it’s becoming a key factor in long-term brand reputation and procurement decisions.
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT THE OOH INDUSTRY TODAY, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
If I could change one thing about the OOH industry today, it would be the lack of creativity
and risk-taking in campaign execution. Too many campaigns feel monotonous and formulaic, relying on safe visuals rather than bold ideas that truly captivate audiences. When you look at cities like Mumbai, London, or São Paulo, their OOH campaigns often push creative boundaries – they’re immersive, interactive, and unforgettable.
One of my favourite examples was a Sephora campaign that used a 3D execution, where the visual transformed as you drove past it. It was a perfect example of how innovation and storytelling can turn a billboard into an experience. I’d love to see more of that level of creativity in our region – campaigns that not only deliver impressions but leave a lasting impression.
In the fast-paced world of advertising, out-of-home (OOH) media holds a unique power: the undeniable impact of physical presence. But the true magic unfolds not with a single billboard, but with a strategically woven network across key, high-traffic areas. This is where OOH transforms from visibility to undeniable influence.
This was the case for yet another satisfied client of ours, Sukoon Insurance, whose campaign was successfully able to capture 72.75 per cent of Dubai residents and 40 per cent of Sharjah, ensuring maximum visibility and guaranteeing high repetition, which leads to call-to-action.
THE WINNING FORMULA: NETWORK + LOCATION STRATEGY
A successful OOH campaign isn’t just about being seen; it’s about being seen consistently, everywhere it matters, by the right people. By combining the
following elements, brands unlock the true power of OOH:
A strategically planned network that covers key audience pathways and touchpoints; High-traffic locations focus to maximise impressions and reach; Driving notability and attention with a clear, compelling message. This synergy creates an immersive brand experience that builds awareness, drives
“IT’S ABOUT BEING SEEN CONSISTENTLY, EVERYWHERE IT MATTERS, BY THE RIGHT PEOPLE.”
Hills Advertising’s Sami Al Mufleh explains how a strategic network can transform outdoor media from visibility to impact.
recall, influences perception, and ultimately, fuels campaign success far beyond what isolated placements can achieve. It transforms OOH from mere advertising into a powerful, omnipresent brand statement.
WHY A NETWORK MATTERS:
1. Ubiquity and repetition: A single ad might be seen once. A network ensures your message is encountered repeatedly by the same audience as they move through their daily lives – commuting, shopping, socialising. This repetition builds familiarity and reinforces brand recall far more effectively than isolated exposure.
2. Maximised reach and frequency: Blanketing key areas, such as downtown cores, major highways, transit hubs, and popular shopping districts, guarantees exposure to a vast, diverse audience. High traffic volumes translate directly into high impression counts. A network amplifies both the number of people reached and the average number of times they see your message.
3. Contextual relevance and targeting: Strategic networks allow you to place messages in contextually relevant environments. Target affluent consumers near luxury retail districts, reach commuters during rush hour near transit points, or connect with families in entertainment zones. High-traffic areas naturally aggregate specific demographics and mindsets.
4. Building brand authority and credibility: Seeing a brand consistently represented across premium, highvisibility locations creates an impression of scale, success and market leadership. It signals that a brand is established and is everywhere its audience might be.
5. Creating campaign momentum: A well-coordinated network creates a sense of movement and momentum for the campaign. It feels less like a static ad and more like a brand taking over the cityscape, generating buzz and conversation.
THE
Integrating high-traffic locations is the crucial fuel for this network effect: Massive audience delivery: These spots guarantee significant eyeballs –commuters stuck in traffic, pedestrians navigating busy streets, shoppers en route to stores.
Captive audiences: Unlike digital ads that can be skipped, OOH in high-traffic areas often catches people during dwell times – waiting for a bus, sitting in traffic –leading to higher engagement potential. Prime real estate is equal to premium perception: High-traffic zones are premium precisely because of their visibility. Associating your brand with these locations enhances its perceived value and importance.
By Sami Al Mufleh, Founder & CEO, Hills Advertising
Founded: 2003
Regional headquarters: Dubai
Number of staff: 130 hillsadvertising.com
Info@hillsadvertising.com
+ 971 4 325 3130
Hills Advertising LLC was established in Dubai in 2003, with the vision to lead and actively develop the outdoor advertising market within the middle east It has become one of the largest and most experienced owner and operator of outdoor advertising in Dubai. The teams’ vast experience, creativity and passion for outdoor advertising has enabled Hills to become a valued media partner for local and international clients and agencies.
PROPERTIES:
Dubai: SZR (backlit bridge banners; free standing LED bridges ‘Golden Gates’, Al Wasel Road (bridge banners); Al Khail Road, Al Sofouh Road, Al Rebat Road (backlit bridge banners); Expo Road and Mohammed Bin Zayed Road (backlit bridge banners, large format hoardings); Bani Yas Road (LED unipole); Financial Center Road (LED wall sign); Airport Road (backlit bridge banners); Dubai South & Maktoom Airport Approach Rd. (backlit lampposts, flags, hoardings); Private Jet Terminal (solar mupis); Deira (bridge banners); Ittihad Road (backlit unipoles).
Jordan: Covering the Capital Amman, Queen Alia Airport Road, Dead Sea Road, Aqaba City, Irbid City (unipoles; wall banners; bridges; lampposts).
Aleading brand approached Hills Advertising with a clear objective – to secure maximum exposure on Sheikh Zayed Road (SZR), Dubai’s most prestigious and high-traffic corridor. The client wanted high visibility in what is often seen as the city’s most desired advertising location.
At Hills Advertising, we believe true campaign effectiveness comes from a balance between visibility, reach, and efficiency. While SZR offers an undeniable impact, relying solely on one corridor can limit audience penetration and inflate frequency among the same commuters.
Drawing on our deep understanding of OOH dynamics, we adopted a consultative approach, engaging the client in a data-led discussion on how to unlock incremental reach by extending visibility to other major highways such as Al Khail Road, MBZR, and Airport Road. Thanks to our planning capabilities and access to Streach, one of the most widely adopted OOH measurement tools
in the market, we were able to demonstrate the reach efficiency and frequency optimization that comes from network diversification.
Our data-driven recommendation illustrated how including additional high-traffic corridors would expose the campaign to new commuter audiences across Dubai’s expanding residential and business hubs
– from JVC and DAMAC Hills to Dubai Hills and Mirdif – while maintaining a strong presence on SZR for prestige and prominence.
After implementing the optimized network strategy, the campaign achieved:
• +13% uplift in unique reach
• -34% reduction in frequency, ensuring reduced overexposure to the same audience
• Broader geographic coverage across the city
• Higher campaign efficiency, translating to better value for the client
This case demonstrates how Hills Advertising’s consultative planning approach is able to transform a client’s brief into a more effective and measurable outcome.
By going beyond the obvious choice of Sheikh Zayed Road, we helped the brand maximize its audience exposure, proving that OOH success lies in owning the journey – not just the road.
Advertising is no longer a race for visibility only. It is a competition for attention, and attention has become the most valuable asset in marketing. In a world where audiences are more selective and more empowered than ever, the brands that succeed are those that earn this attention rather than demand it.
Across MENA, consumers are surrounded by content from morning to night. They scroll, swipe, skip, and mute at record speed. Ipsos research shows that almost 75 per cent of viewers decide within five seconds whether to continue watching an ad. That fleeting moment now determines whether a message connects or disappears.
While many advertisers chase short-term digital metrics, out-of-home continues to prove its long-term value through both efficiency and effectiveness. Ipsos data shows that OOH delivers one of the lowest global average costs per thousand impressions at $6.41, nearly half the $12.20 all-media average. For marketers facing constant pressure to justify every dollar, that difference directly translates into stronger return on investment.
But cost efficiency is only part of the story. OOH’s strength lies in how it combines reach with relevance. It meets commuters, shoppers, and travellers in the real world, at moments when attention is highest and distraction is lowest. Unlike digital formats, it cannot be skipped, scrolled past, or muted. It demands a pause, not a click.
THE CREATIVE ADVANTAGE: WHERE IDEAS MEET CONTEXT
OOH’s true power lies in creativity. Ipsos’ global creative effectiveness database
shows that when OOH ads are perceived as unique, they can deliver a 21 per cent lift in memory encoding, driving stronger long-term brand recall.
Campaigns that evoke empathy, making people feel ‘this is for someone like me’ can increase behavioural change by 53 per cent. Those that introduce new or unexpected ideas drive a further 38 per cent uplift. When empathy and novelty come together, OOH becomes one of the most effective platforms for both emotional connection and message retention.
From illuminated facades on Sheikh Zayed Road to digital screens along Riyadh Boulevard, great OOH campaigns turn familiar spaces into shared experiences. They transform architecture into storytelling and everyday commutes into moments of engagement.
THE TACTICS THAT DRIVE RESULTS
Ipsos data identifies two consistent levers of success in OOH execution.
The first is the use of distinctive brand assets such as logos, colours, taglines, and product visuals. Including a tagline can lead to a 24 per cent increase in behavioural response, while showing the product or its packaging drives an even higher 61 per cent uplift. Recognition begins with familiarity, and OOH excels at turning familiarity into trust.
The second is simplicity. Campaigns built around one clear message outperform multi-message executions by 44 per cent in driving behaviour change. In a world of fragmented attention, clarity is not only a creative discipline, but also a commercial advantage.
THE STRATEGIC MANDATE FOR MARKETERS
OOH is no longer a complementary channel. It has become a strategic pillar that connects efficiency, creativity,
While many advertisers chase short term digital metrics, out-of-home continues to prove its long-term value through both efficiency and effectiveness, writes Ipsos’ Ziad Issa.
and credibility in one place. It creates shared public experiences in an era dominated by private screens and fleeting impressions.
For decision makers, the numbers are persuasive. OOH delivers broader reach than other mediums. It offers almost 50 per cent lower cost per thousand impressions (CPM) and contributes to more than half of award-winning campaigns worldwide. Yet its value is not just numerical. OOH restores something the industry has lost: the ability to make people feel part of a collective moment.
In a world where so much media disappears the second it appears, physical visibility still builds permanence. It gives brands a presence that audiences can literally see, feel, and remember.
The next chapter of marketing effectiveness will belong to brands that balance analytical precision with creative ambition. OOH offers the space to do both. It turns fleeting attention into lasting memory, memory into action, and action into measurable growth.
In a marketplace overflowing with noise, that might just be the most valuable outcome of all.
By Ziad Issa, CEO, IPSOS MENA
If you’re a FEMALE Aged 20–45 Between AFFINITY
FEMALE Aged Between 25-40
Target LOCATION PROXIMITY AFFINITY
Detects the Audience. Speaks to the Moment. Delivers in Real-Time.
Visit hypermedia.ae
Founded: 1999
Holding group: W GROUP holding, a subsidiary of W Ventures Holding
Number of staff: 93
Offices: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Beirut hypermedia.ae
info@hypermedia.ae
+971 800 4600
As creators of impact, Hypermedia empowers brands with intelligent DOOH and retail media experiences. Our extensive OOH network across the UAE integrates cu ing-edge, technology-driven media with strategically positioned prime locations. Leveraging advanced real-time AI-powered pDOOH, we deliver tailored solutions that maximise engagement and effectiveness for advertisers.
Public transport: Signature naming rights: 32 stations. Dubai Metro: 1,500 digital screens; 800 illuminated sheets; 4,000+ vinyl wrap assets; 53 activation areas. 125 trains: 2,750 overheads, 4,000 window stickers and seat dividers. Palm Monorail: 4 stations and trains. Outdoor: Z Gallery: SZR 23 Iconic Arts, 13 LED and 21 static bridges, 3 static illuminated hoardings, 6 verticals, 780 pillars, 4 hoardings. Z others: Prime outdoor areas (112 illuminated piers; 140 lampposts). Retail Media: In-Mall: 47 malls (MAF, AlDar, Dubai Holding, Wafi, Burjuman, Abu Dhabi Mall, Deerfield, Bawabat al Sharq, Dalma, Reem); InStore: 268 hypermarkets (Carrefour, Union Coop, Abu Dhabi COOP, LULU); Petrol stations: 68 ENOC stations; 1400 screens; Destinations: Palm Jumeirah, Expo City Dubai, Hudayriyat Island. Innovations: Real-time AI audience-targeting, immersive hologram technology.
Philip Ma a CEO, Hypermedia
Roy Ma a CRO, W GROUP Holding
Gerard Rustom COO, Hypermedia
Nassim Habib VP of Sales, Hypermedia
INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT
Daniel Khalil Head of Sales, Hypermedia
Dylan Temple-Heald Head of Programmatic (pDOOH), Hypermedia
HABIB WEHBI
Chairman and Group CEO, W GROUP Holding (Hypermedia, DXTA, AiOO)
HOW HAS DATA AND TECH CHANGED THE WAY OOH CAMPAIGNS ARE PLANNED AND MEASURED IN THE PAST YEAR?
The past year marked a decisive shift, from digitization to intelligence, from visibility to accountability. Data and technology have turned Out-of-Home into a precision medium, measuring real audiences in real time.
At W Group Holding, we’ve built this transformation from Dubai outward through an in-house integrated ecosystem that connects the full advertising chain. Hypermedia anchors the region’s most diversified DOOH network; DXTA Technology bridges it to online AdTech platforms like Gameloft, Petal Ads, social media, Google Ads; and AiOO powers it through IoT and AI, turning every screen into a data-rich touchpoint.
This isn’t imported innovation, it is homegrown technology, designed and built in Dubai for the world, delivering reach and accountability advertisers can trust.
WHAT NEW FORMATS OR INNOVATIONS IN OOH HAVE CAUGHT THE MOST ADVERTISER INTEREST RECENTLY?
Traditional OOH was about places. Today, it’s about people.
With programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) technology, advertisers no longer buy locations, they buy audiences, in real time. Campaigns can
now adapt instantly, react to live conditions, and measure verified exposure rather than estimated impressions.
For the first time, OOH delivers the same performance precision as digital, only with greater scale and visibility. It’s a first-of-its kind built in Dubai, now scaling globally, setting a new benchmark of how cities and brands connect. Advertisers no longer ask if their campaign worked, they see it working, moment by moment.
HOW DO YOU SEE PROGRAMMATIC DOOH CHANGING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUYERS, MEDIA OWNERS, AND TECHNOLOGY PROVIDERS?
pDOOH is reshaping the value chain. It’s no longer about buying inventory; it’s about building connected ecosystems that link brands, data, and outcomes.
Globally, Retail Media is projected to surpass $200bn by 2026, becoming one of the fastestgrowing ad channels. pDOOH extends this momentum into the physical world, where 80 per cent of sales still happen.
For media owners, it opens new revenue streams through data monetization and retail integration. For advertisers, it delivers measurable, real-time engagement along the shopper journey.
At W Group, we’re driving this convergence, combining Hypermedia’s exclusive DOOH footprint, DXTA’s online precision, and AiOO’s real-time audience intelligence to bridge media and commerce seamlessly.
WHERE DO YOU SEE THE BIGGEST GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES FOR OOH IN THE
As communication infrastructure merges with city infrastructure, growth will hinge on how fast markets adapt to that convergence. Dubai is already leading this evolution; operationalizing what the world still calls “smart media.” Here, mobility, retail, and technology converge within one connected urban framework.
This model will soon define how cities measure engagement, movement, and economic activity.
For W Group, it’s not about following digital trends; it’s about exporting a Dubai-born model globally, where Out-of-Home becomes the intelligent backbone of connected cities. Hypermedia is scaling it locally; AiOO will replicate it regionally and globally.
The next phase of OOH isn’t a competition of screens; it’s a competition of intelligence. And Dubai has already shown what that future looks like.
Hypermedia’s Dylan Temple-Heald explores how programmatic digital out-of-home is transforming the medium from static visibility to intelligent, data-driven engagement.
When did ‘digital’ become the finish line? When was the last time your campaign truly moved with your audience, not metaphorically, but literally? When did your billboard know your customer was nearby? When did your media plan last adapt in real time, not after a post-campaign deck two weeks later?
If the answer is never, you are not alone. Most marketers still treat out-of-home as a static channel, fixed, predictable and passive. But that era is ending.
Welcome to Programmatic Digital Out-of-Home (pDOOH) where automation, data, and audience intelligence collide. If you are still waiting to see how it evolves, you are already behind. In the UAE, it is not a concept. It is operational and happening now, delivering measurable, automated campaigns across Dubai Metro and retail media networks every single day.
THE WAKE-UP CALL: DIGITAL WAS JUST THE WARM-UP
At Hypermedia, that transformation is already underway. We have built one of the region’s first connected programmatic ecosystems with 780 digital screens across Dubai Metro and an expanding retail network inside leading supermarkets and hypermarkets, all powered by data-driven delivery and audience analytics.
pDOOH bridges the gap between awareness and action.
• Connects physical and digital touchpoints through automated planning.
• Targets audiences contextually by time, location, and behaviour.
• Measures incrementality, store visits, and conversions, not just reach.
Hypermedia is now rolling out programmatic enablement across its entire media portfolio, including outdoor networks. While real-time audience targeting is currently live across Metro and retail media, its expansion into outdoor environments marks the next chapter of our transformation, turning every format into an intelligent and measurable platform.
For years, the industry applauded itself for digitisation, swapping vinyl for LEDs, adding motion, and calling it transformation. But digitisation wasn’t innovation; it was the warm-up act. The real revolution is automation and accountability; the moment screens stop speaking at people and start engaging with them.
• Extends a ribution to online channels like search, social, and CTV.
This is not about digitisation anymore. It is about precision, performance and proof.
FROM ASSUMPTIONS TO ACTUALS
For too long, OOH planning has been powered by guesswork, estimated impressions, average dwell time, and probabilistic audiences. We built campaigns on averages, and digital took the accountability crown.
pDOOH changes that. Through verified audience data and automated buying platforms, advertisers can now plan and optimise campaigns based on real audience
behaviour, not assumptions. No facial recognition. No tracking. No Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Only privacy-first, anonymised insights and transparent reporting. This gives brands something OOH has always needed: clarity and confidence.
THE SLEEPING GIANT: RETAIL MEDIA MEETS THE REAL WORLD
Retail media is the marketing world’s new obsession, and rightly so. Projected to exceed 200 billion dollars globally by 2026, it is where commerce and communication converge. The next phase of retail media is not confined to e-commerce or app banners. It is happening inside physical stores, right where decisions are made.
Through Hypermedia’s retail network, programmatic screens in supermarkets and hypermarkets reach shoppers at the exact moment of intent.
awareness to conversion. Entertainment brands can combine mass visibility with measurable engagement.
This is not a replacement. It’s an evolution of control, transparency, and accountability.
For decades, OOH has celebrated outputs such as reach, frequency, and visibility. The new era is defined by outcomes, engagement, visits, and incremental sales. Through integrations with major digital platforms such as Google Ads, Petal Ads, and connected retail data, Hypermedia’s pDOOH allows advertisers to measure the incremental lift generated by each exposure. For the first time, OOH can speak the same performance language as digital, only with greater credibility and visibility.
A beverage brand can shift creative by time of day. A weekend promotion can activate when store traffic peaks. A new product can gain measurable exposure across hundreds of aisles, with attribution that connects exposure to sales lift.
That is not a pilot. That is today’s operating model.
THE REAL-TIME ADVANTAGE AND WHAT COMES NEXT
The age of ‘set it and forget it’ campaigns is over. Today, Hypermedia’s programmatic infrastructure gives advertisers the flexibility to activate, pause, and optimise campaigns in real time, especially across Dubai Metro and retail media environments, where verified data informs every impression. This is real-time targeting in motion, live, measurable and accountable. The next step is even bigger, extending this intelligence to outdoor environments where data and automation will soon shape how brands communicate citywide.
Hypermedia’s full programmatic rollout across Metro, retail and outdoor will unify every format into a single, connected, data-intelligent network where media stops being a channel and becomes an infrastructure.
WHY THE UAE IS THE PERFECT TEST BED
Few markets are as ready for programmatic transformation as the UAE. A tech-savvy population, progressive data laws and integrated mobility systems make it ideal for measurable innovation, while the nation’s modern, ever-evolving infrastructure continues to give rise to smart city advancements.
52 Metro stations and 125 trains: over 800,000 daily riders.
47 malls and 260 supermarkets: more than 700 million annual visits.
Every commute, every purchase, every moment of attention is measurable. Hypermedia’s role is to orchestrate it. We are not selling sites; we are delivering data-driven scale and verified audiences across the nation’s busiest and most valuable environments.
Automated activation across Metro and retail media networks
Contextual creative optimisation
Cross-channel a ribution
Fraud-free, human impressions
Audience-led buying precision
The winners aren’t necessarily the biggest. They are the boldest. Brands that embrace automation, experimentation, and measurable accountability.
Across categories, from retail and FMCG to automotive and fashion, early adopters are already engaging with Hypermedia’s programmatic stack, testing new ways to:
• Plan campaigns by audience and context.
• Activate dynamically across Metro and retail
• Measure ROI, not post-campaign, but in-flight.
Many others are now beginning to explore this full ecosystem, learning how automation, data, and creative agility can work together to elevate performance. In this evolution, creativity still plays a leading role. It isn’t overtaken by automation; it’s amplified by it. Programmatic DOOH makes creativity more relevant, more responsive, and more capable of inviting audiences to be part of
Let’s be honest; hesitation still exists. Some marketers prefer the comfort of static takeovers and long-term placements. It feels safe and tangible. But permanence doesn’t equal performance.
Programmatic doesn’t replace traditional OOH; it enhances it. Luxury brands can still own iconic visibility through direct buys, while adding data-driven retail extensions to connect
Cities breathe. They move. They react. Your advertising should too.
With programmatic now powering Dubai’s Metro and retail environments and soon its outdoor network; OOH is evolving from visibility to intelligence. Hypermedia is building a media ecosystem that listens, learns, and connects brands with audiences in contextually relevant ways, screen by screen, store by store, journey by journey.
The question is simple: Will your brand keep showing up on screens, or start engaging through them?
Dylan Temple-Heald, Head of Programmatic (pDOOH), Hypermedia
A SINGLE LOOP THROUGH TOWN, YOU`RE KNOWN ALL AROUND!
Across bridges, trams, buses, and taxis, Info Media Group connects movement with meaning—driving brands through every route and over every horizon.
Founded: 2004
Holding Group: Independent Offices: Dubai (UAE), Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia Staff: 175
Founded in 2004 by CEO Vedran Pušić, Info Media Group has grown into a leading international player in public city transport and bridge advertising across Europe and the Middle East
As specialists in urban mobility media, we transform everyday journeys into powerful brand experiences—connecting audiences through a diverse network of buses, trams, metros, trolleybuses, taxis, and landmark bridge structures.
Our strength lies not only in the scale of our network, but also in our talented team of strategic sales professionals, creative designers, and operational experts who bring passion, precision, and innovation to every campaign. Their combined expertise ensures that each project is executed flawlessly, driving both commercial results and brand impact for our clients.
We pride ourselves on the seamless integration of outdoor and indoor formats, combining data, design, and operational efficiency to deliver unmatched visibility for our partners. Every campaign we execute is guided by our core values: quality, innovation, efficiency, and accountability—ensuring brands stay visible, relevant, and unforgettable.
Info Media Group’s extensive portfolio spans transit and bridge media across Europe and the UAE, covering buses, trams, metros, trolleybuses, taxis, and iconic bridge structures. Our formats include full wraps, digital and static bridges, mega sides, and interior branding, strategically positioned to deliver maximum visibility and impact. Through AI-based analytics and traffic mapping, we ensure every campaign achieves precision targeting, powerful reach, and measurable ROI.
Outsite Billboards’ Ahmed Bahgat says Cairo’s expanding cityscape and Gen Z-led digital shift are breathing new life into Egypt’s out-of-home market.
Egyptians have a strong affinity for out-of-home (OOH) media, and data consistently shows high engagement with outdoor campaigns. For the millions of citizens who spend a significant portion of their day commuting, OOH media provides an entertaining experience on the road. Marketers in the real estate and FMCG sectors report that OOH advertisements yield higher conversion rates, indicating that Egyptian audiences place more trust in digital and static out-of-home than other advertising channels.
Egypt’s OOH industry stands as the largest in the MENA region. Despite the notable scarcity of market information, the sector’s true scale far surpasses general expectations, with figures significantly higher than those observed elsewhere in the region.
As of Q3 of 2025, Greater Cairo’s OOH advertising industry is thriving. Statistics from MOOH Media Intelligence reveal the existence of more than 13,000 advertising faces at more than 9,500 locations across 34 districts. This expansive network supports over 1,200 advertisers promoting more than 1,600 brands through more than 2,600 campaigns. An average campaign in Egypt deploys about 50 hi-format ad faces, while big campaigns easily go over 200. All these numbers reflect the fierce competition over the more than 26 million Egyptians living in the metropolitan area of Greater Cairo, a city with a $292bn GDP, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS).
In this sleepless city, the constant hum of engines is a 24-hour symphony of productivity. With hundreds of millions of ad reaches per week, brands are confident in their audience engagement. This allows marketers to prioritise OOH among other media channels, since delivering the highest conversion also guarantees higher return on advertising spending (ROAS), according to both global and local brands.
Experienced marketers in Egypt understand that to make a significant impact, a bold approach is essential. Large budgets allocated to OOH advertising enable extensive coverage across multiple districts, using significant advertising spaces. Consequently, a low-profile strategy is risky and ineffective for brand building and sales. In the minds of Egyptian consumers, OOH media is equivalent to ‘big advertising’ or ‘big campaigns’ – when they see a brand on a large outdoor billboard, it signals the brand’s importance and its commitment to an OOH campaign.
Cairo is undergoing rapid changes, with the new capital expanding the Greater
Cairo metropolitan area and adding a whole new road network. As a result, the media landscape has significantly shifted from 2024 to 2025. During this period, the number of advertisers has grown by 14 per cent, brands on billboards increased by 18 per cent, and advertising campaigns risen by 17 per cent. OOH advertising locations have expanded by 38 per cent, accompanied by a 46 per cent increase in the number of ad faces.
The digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising market is also experiencing continuous growth, largely driven by the preferences of Gen Z. According to Harris Poll and JCDecaux, 80 per cent of Gen Z consider DOOH to be the most favourable advertising format, contributing to the increasing presence of digital advertising screens. Savvy marketers strategically leverage DOOH to enhance their presence and target specific audiences through geo-planning. For instance, brands within the real estate sector, which used to show a clear preference for high-format static OOH, nowadays have reached an average daily expenditure of $64,000 on DOOH advertising, according to MOOH.
The expansion of the city has significantly impacted the digital/static and out-of-home landscape, placing a greater burden on advertisers to increase their budgets to match this growth. This has led to the highest spending in the last three years. According to MOOH, during the first three quarters of 2025, the real estate industry has led the spending on OOH advertising with more than $28m. Following at a distance, the telecom industry has spent almost $10m, while FMCG has exceeded $8m. Automotive brands have spent more than $7.3m, and the banking sector has contributed more than $6.4m.
SAHEL TAKES OVER THE SUMMER
Alongside Greater Cairo, the North Coast –Sahel – provides another competitive scene for digital/static out-of-home media, albeit seasonally. The area reaches its peak in the third quarter of the year, and it is the second-highest season of the year after Ramadan. This year, 2025, the competition among the brands in Sahel for impactful presence on OOH was at its peak, with a total market spending of $54m – a figure expected to increase alongside the urban expansion on the North Coast.
By Ahmed Bahgat, CEO, Outsite Billboards
James Bicknell, Group CEO, Multiply Media Group, tells Campaign Middle East how the company is creating benchmarks for out-of-home through visionary leadership, powerful creativity and a culture that puts people at the forefront.
BILLBOARDS CONTINUE TO DOMINATE CITYSCAPES, YET MANY ARGUE THE ENVIRONMENT IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY CLUTTERED. HOW CAN OOH DIFFERENTIATE ITSELF AND DRIVE BRAND RESONANCE IN THIS CONTEXT?
Nobody does out-of-home (OOH) better than we do. People see our billboards and they want to advertise on them. They look. They remember. That’s what great OOH is all about. You don’t want noise; you want presence. You want something that fits perfectly into the city, something beautiful, something powerful. We do that better than anyone.
WE OFTEN HEAR ABOUT BOLD LEADERSHIP IN MEDIA. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR OOH IN THE REGION TODAY?
Bold leadership means thinking bigger. Not just the region, but the world. We’re not here to compete; we’re here to set the standard. You need vision, strong execution, and bravery. At MMG, we build smart, we build fast, and we build world-class. We’ve done it in the UAE, and now we’re taking it global.
THE INDUSTRY OFTEN FOCUSES ON ROI WHEN DISCUSSING SUCCESS. SHOULD WE BE REDEFINING WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE IN OOH?
ROI is important. I love ROI. But real success is when people trust you, when your business keeps growing, and when brands keep coming back because you deliver results every single time. We’re doing that. We’re making OOH great again — profitable, creative, and respected.
BEYOND ASSETS AND PLACEMENTS, WHAT ROLE DO PEOPLE AND CULTURE PLAY IN DRIVING THE INDUSTRY FORWARD?
“We’re not here to compete; we’re here to set the standard. You need vision, strong execution and bravery.”
People are everything. You can have the biggest screens, the best tech, but if you don’t have great people, forget it. My teams are incredible: smart, loyal, hardworking. They care about excellence. They want to win. And they do win. That’s the culture we’ve built: success, innovation, accountability.
People are everything. You can have the biggest screens, people, hardworking. They care about excellence.
TECHNOLOGY IS TRANSFORMING OOH, BUT IS THE INDUSTRY STRIKING THE RIGHT BALANCE BETWEEN CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION?
together great ideas and great tech, and you innovation; we actually deliver it.
We love technology. We use the best. But it’s nothing without creativity. You’ve got to have both. You bring together great ideas and great tech, and you get magic. That’s what we do. That’s why our campaigns stand out. Everyone talks about innovation; we actually deliver it.
What’s changing is how intelligently we use it.
1. How has data and tech changed the way OOH campaigns are planned and measured in the past year?
The outdoor advertising industry has entered a new era. Data and technology have elevated OOH from static placements to precision-led media. Today, we can target audiences based on real movement patterns, measure impact with impression-based metrics, and optimize campaigns in real time. This has given brands the confidence to treat OOH with the same performance accountability as digital media without losing its unmatched visibility.
2. What new formats or innovations in OOH have caught the most advertiser interest recently?
Advertisers are drawn to experiences that turn a simple billboard into a story. 3D anamorphic content, dynamic LED screens, interactive triggers, and contextual campaigns that respond to live data are at the top of that list. These formats don’t just advertise they engage. And that’s the future.
3. How are brands balancing traditional static OOH with digital screens and programmatic buys?
It’s no longer a choice between static or digital the most powerful campaigns use both. Static formats provide longevity and dominance in key locations, while digital delivers agility, flexibility, and interactivity. Programmatic buying has made this mix seamless, giving brands full control over timing, targeting, and creative.
4. How do you see programmatic DOOH changing the relationship between buyers, media owners and technology providers?
Programmatic DOOH is rewriting the playbook. It creates a transparent, collaborative ecosystem where data drives value. Buyers gain precision and flexibility, media owners unlock new revenue models, and technology becomes the bridge. It’s no longer about space buying it’s about delivering impact.
5. What are the biggest challenges for OOH in MENA today?
The challenge isn’t demand it’s speed. Our region has enormous potential, but the pace of standardization, data integration, and tech adoption needs to accelerate. Once we bridge that gap, MENA will set global benchmarks for outdoor innovation.
6. Has sustainability become a real consideration in OOH production and deployment?
Absolutely. Sustainability is no longer optional; it’s expected. We are seeing more demand for eco-friendly materials, energy-efficient LED solutions, and responsible production practices. As an industry, we have a duty to lead this transformation and make green OOH the norm.
7. Where do you see the biggest growth opportunities for OOH in the region?
The biggest opportunity is in digital transformation programmatic DOOH, connected campaigns, and advanced data measurement. There’s also a massive opportunity in elevating OOH’s role as a lead channel in omnichannel strategies not just a supporting one.
8. How is OOH being integrated with other channels such as social and mobile to create more connected brand experiences?
Today, a single outdoor exposure can trigger an entire digital journey. Through geofencing, mobile retargeting, and social amplification, we’re turning OOH into a smart entry point for deeper engagement. It’s how brands can create powerful, connected experiences that start in the street and continue on the screen.
9. What role will creative play in keeping OOH impactful as the medium becomes more data-driven?
Data can tell us where and when to speak but creativity is what makes people stop and listen. As the medium gets smarter, the power of bold, relevant, and dynamic creative becomes even more essential. Creativity is what turns impressions into emotion, and emotion into action.
Sandra George Chief Executive Officer, Media World
10. If you could change one thing about the OOH industry today, what would it be?
I would accelerate standardization and collaboration. One unified framework for measurement, buying, and data exchange would push the entire industry forward. It would make OOH even more competitive and attractive to advertisers globally.
11. Do you feel media spend towards OOH is increasing, and what factors are causing this shift?
Yes, we’re seeing a steady increase in OOH investment. Mobility is back, brands are seeking stronger physical presence, and digital capabilities are making OOH more measurable than ever. It’s a channel that delivers both scale and accountability and that combination is driving growth.
“The future belongs to those who combine creativity, technology, and vision. And at MediaWorld, we’re determined to lead that future.”
Media World is a multiplatform media group focused on the UAE’s vibrant media industry since 2005
Our forte is premium, large-format media assets on key arterial roads. Driven by more than just existence, we believe that it’s our responsibility to make a positive contribution to the business ecosystem of UAE and provide our clients with a higher value proposition.
We collaborate with the world’s most inspiring and innovative brands to deliver tailored OOH advertising solutions. Also, we strike the perfect balance between targeted sites and extensive exposure to meet all your communication needs.
Founded: 2005
Company: Media World LLC
Head Office: DFC, Dubai
Number of staff: 49
Contact No.: +971 04 358 8855
Email: info@mediaworld.ae
www.mediaworld.ae
Pixels World is a leading digital-out-of-home (DOOH) company in the UAE, specializing in delivering products that consistently exceed customer expectations. We emphasize our leadership in transforming the OOH industry through innovative solutions while demonstrating our position as a forward-thinking company.
Our focus on creating impactful, data-driven campaigns that connect brands with their audiences in a meaningful way. We are dedicated to building a legacy of trust and excellence. Through continuous innovation, our goal to deliver outstanding value that exceed partner's expectations by overachieving their KPI’s and marketing campaign objectives.
Founded :2024
Company: Pixels World Media LLC
Head Office: DFC, Dubai
Number of staff: 10
Contact No.: +971 04 358 8855
Email: info@pixelsworld.ae
www.pixelsworld.ae
Firas Salha Chief Commercial Officer
Media mix has evolved from a bold idea into a trusted force in the industry, driving exceptional results and redefining creative excellence.
Founded: 2020
Regional headquarters: Dubai, U.A.E
Head of company: Paul Abouchacra
Number of staff: 9 mediamixadv.com info@mediamixadv.com +971 50 687 6262 , +971 50 497 7653
Media Mix Advertising will celebrate its fifth anniversary on October 27. For the past few years, our partnership with Starzmedia has been instrumental in enhancing our growth. As we continue to diversify our inventory, we remain dedicated to exploring innovative advertising opportunities, creating lasting impact in the OOH scene. Small actions can lead to much bigger successes.
PROPERTIES: 2 Billboards – Canal Bridge - Jumeirah Beach Road; 4 Unipoles – Dubai Festival City – Rebat Street & Nad Al Hamar Street; 21 Unipoles – Sheikh Zayed Road –Jebel Ali to Abu Dhabi; 1 Side Wall – DIFC – Al Saqr Business Tower; 1 Digital Unipole – Al Maktoum Bridge – Tariq Bin Ziyad Street; 2 Digital Screens – Umm Suqeim – 700 Padel & Fitness Hub; 1 Hoarding – Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road – DSO Entrance; 1 Beacon – Jumeirah Beach Residence – Opposite Ain Dubai; JBR Static Assets – 3 Escalator Handrails, 3 Glass Barries, 3 Glass Panels, 8 Elevator Doors, 8 Wall Banners; City Walk
Static Assets – 5 Escalator Handrails, 5 Glass Barries, 9 Elevator Doors, 11 Lightboxes; 13 Luxury Buggies – 6 Buggies in Downtown Dubai, 1 Buggy in The West Palm, 3 Buggies in Creek Harbour, 1 Buggy in JBR Walk; 4 Digital Unipoles – Zayed Festival – Al Ain Road
WHAT NEW FORMATS OR INNOVATIONS IN OOH HAVE CAUGHT THE MOST ADVERTISER INTEREST RECENTLY?
Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) remains the most exciting frontier. The integration of dynamic creatives, contextual triggers, and data-driven content delivery is giving advertisers the tools to reach audiences more effectively than ever. Campaigns that change based on the time of day, weather conditions, or live social trends are gaining traction. In particular, large-format digital billboards in high-traffic zones have seen surging demand, offering brands maximum exposure with the added flexibility of rotating content. Programmatic DOOH is also unlocking new layers of precision, letting brands adjust their campaigns in real time based on performance and audience data.
HOW ARE BRANDS BALANCING TRADITIONAL STATIC OOH WITH DIGITAL SCREENS AND PROGRAMMATIC BUYS?
Many brands are opting for a hybrid OOH strategy, combining the broad visibility of static formats with the targeting and
flexibility of digital screens. Static placements still play a vital role in building consistent brand presence, especially in long-term campaigns or in areas without digital infrastructure. However, the growing appetite for agility means more budget is shifting toward DOOH and programmatic platforms, especially for time-sensitive or product-driven campaigns. Programmatic DOOH is being used strategically, but adoption is still maturing across the region.
Measurement remains a key challenge –advertisers want better data, but there’s no unified standard across the region. At the same time, the market has become increasingly saturated, with new players offering low-cost inventory to compete. This aggressive pricing is diluting value, making it harder for established media owners to maintain quality and consistency, and affecting how OOH is perceived in terms of effectiveness and long-term return.
HAS SUSTAINABILITY BECOME A REAL CONSIDERATION IN OOH PRODUCTION AND DEPLOYMENT?
Yes, and it’s growing in importance. Brands, especially multinationals, are increasingly asking about eco-conscious production –such as recyclable materials, solar-powered
units, and energy-efficient LED displays. In response, media owners are gradually integrating sustainable practices, though the pace varies by market. Government sustainability goals, such as those linked to COP28 and Vision 2030 in KSA, are accelerating the shift.
MPN’s Executive Director James Harrison tells Campaign Middle East why the next phase of out-of-home evolution will depend on transparency, consistency and collaboration.
HOW HAVE DATA AND TECH CHANGED THE WAY OOH CAMPAIGNS ARE PLANNED AND MEASURED IN THE PAST YEAR?
It’s only really getting started. The industry has talked a good game about data and measurement for years, but much of the execution still relies on traditional media metrics. There are a lot of unverified or inconsistent data sources circulating, and that can sometimes do more harm than good. The real value of data comes from confidence, not quantity. The next phase must focus on validation, transparency and consistency across the ecosystem. Once everyone is working from a common, trusted framework, the technology can do what it’s meant to do: help advertisers plan campaigns with precision, measure attention rather than exposure and attribute outcomes with real credibility.
HOW ARE BRANDS BALANCING TRADITIONAL STATIC OOH WITH DIGITAL SCREENS AND PROGRAMMATIC BUYS?
Traditional static still holds a strong position, particularly in this region, where iconic large-format placements continue to shape brand identity. The growth of digital screens beyond Sheikh Zayed Road and other flagship locations has brought greater reach, flexibility and creative agility. Static delivers long-term fame and permanence; digital enables contextual storytelling; and programmatic introduces agility and scale. The strongest campaigns blend all three, combining timeless brand-building with the dynamic responsiveness of
digital. Programmatic is still finding its feet, but as networks grow and audience data becomes more robust, it will evolve from an experiment into an essential part of the OOH mix.
HOW DO YOU SEE PROGRAMMATIC DOOH CHANGING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUYERS, MEDIA OWNERS AND TECHNOLOGY PROVIDERS?
Programmatic has democratised access to OOH, giving buyers the ability to transact through the same demand-side platforms (DSPs) they use for online media. That convenience has opened new doors, but it’s also raised new challenges around measurement, pricing and the role of data. Costs per thousand impressions (CPMs), tech fees, impressions and audience verification still mean different things to different players, and until the industry aligns, there will always be uncertainty around value. The future depends on collaboration, media owners providing verified data, buyers demanding clarity, and technology partners acting as the connective tissue rather than intermediaries. Once that trust is built, programmatic will strengthen relationships across the chain, not fragment them.
HOW IS OOH BEING INTEGRATED WITH OTHER CHANNELS TO CREATE MORE CONNECTED BRAND EXPERIENCES?
OOH has never been more connected, but it requires smarter planning to make those connections meaningful. When used alongside cinema, radio and digital, it can create a powerful multiplatform ecosystem where each channel amplifies the other. For example, OOH delivers reach and visual impact, cinema
brings immersion and emotion, while radio adds frequency and familiarity. When combined, they build both scale and depth. Increasingly, brands are also using data triggers and synchronised creative to link OOH with social and mobile, turning awareness into action. The key is integration, planning these platforms together, not in silos, to deliver consistent storytelling that follows audiences through every part of their day.
WHAT ROLE WILL CREATIVE PLAY AS THE MEDIUM BECOMES MORE DATA-DRIVEN?
Data helps us plan smarter and will always be top of my agenda, but creativity will always be the heartbeat of OOH. Algorithms can tell us who’s there, but only great creative can make them care. As the medium becomes more intelligent, the challenge is to use data as fuel for ideas, not a set of guardrails. The most effective campaigns will combine insight and imagination, using audience context, environmental cues and live data to inspire creative that feels timely, relevant and human. In the end, it’s the bold ideas that make people look up, not the targeting strategy.
“DATA HELPS US PLAN SMARTER, BUT CREATIVITY WILL ALWAYS BE THE HEARTBEAT OOH.”
Founded: 2003
Holding group: Eye Group
Number of staff: 25
Headquartered: Dubai www.eyemedia.ae info@eyemedia.ae
Founded: 2017
Holding group: Hivestack
Regional HQ: London
Number of staff: 150+ info@hivestack.com
Hivestack is the largest independent, global, full stack, ad tech company, powering the buy and sell side of programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) advertising. Hivestack was founded in 2017 with headquarters in Montreal, Canada and operates in 35+ countries across the globe.
Founded: 2006
Ownership: Sonali Bhatia Office: Abu Dhabi
Number of staff: 10–15 mascotad@emirates.net.ae
Founded: 1999
Ownership: Motivate Media Group and Val Morgan Network HQ: Dubai, UAE
Number of staff: 33 motivatevalmorgan.com valmorgan@motivate.ae +971 4 390 3550
Founded: 2015
Holding group: International Live Solutions Headquartered: Oman info@mubashir.com
PROPERTIES: Over 300 digital billboards in various formats such as LED, large ,targeted, megacom, interactive kiosks across highways, university, Muscat Airport lounge , Oman Convention Centre, malls and convenience stores.
Founded: 2018
Holding group: ARN/ Dubai Holding Headquartered: Dubai Head of company: James Harrison, Executive Director Number of staff: 200+ hello@mpn.ae
MPN is your gateway to high-impact, multi-channel advertising in the UAE. As part of ARN, the UAE’s leading multimedia network, we deliver media solutions across outdoor, cinema, digital, social, experiential, and radio. Our team of media experts understands how to turn brand ambition into results, seamlessly managing everything under one roof.
PROPERTIES:
Dubai: Sheikh Zayed Road Mega-hoardings, large format hoardings and unipoles at major highways and premium locations across Dubai, such as Al Khail Road, Umm Suqeim Road, Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, Palm Jumeirah and Dubai Marina. MPN is also the exclusive sales representative of Roxy Cinemas.
Motivate Val Morgan Cinema Advertising, a joint venture company by Motivate Media Group and Val Morgan Cinema Network, represents cinema advertising sales across leading cinema exhibitors in United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon and Egypt.Delivering innovative and extensive on- and off-screen advertising and activations, the company provides advertisers with a powerful platform to engage audiences through an immersive and emotionally charged medium.
With an expansive network spanning 1,100+ screens across 100+ locations, Motivate Val Morgan’s coverage includes both metropolitan and regional markets, representing premier cinema partners such as AMC Cinemas, Cinemacity, Cinépolis Cinemas, Muvi Cinemas, Reel Cinemas, Royal Cinemas, and VOX Cinemas.
KEY INDUSTRY ADVERTISERS: Telecommunications, Gov. Departments, Automobiles & Services, Banking, Finance, Insurance, Healthcare, Medical, Hospitals, Cosmetics, Perfumes, Hygiene, Watches & Jewellery, F&B, Fashion & Clothing, Restaurants, Cafés.
AWARDS:
Most awarded cinema advertising partner in the world at Dubai Lynx, Effie, The One Show, Cristal and Cannes Lions.
2 . W h a t n e w f o r m a t s o r i n n o v a t i o n s i n O O H h a v e c a u g h t t h e m o s t a d v e r t i s e r i n t e r e s t r e c e n t l y ?
W e ’ r e a l s o s e e i n g s t r o n g i n t e r e s t i n e x p e r i e n t i a l a c t i v a t i o n s
b i l e / v e h i c l e - b a s e d s c r e e n s T h e c o m m o n t h r e a d i s e n g a g e m e n t b r a n d s w a n t f o r m a t s t h a t p e o p l e p h o t o g r a p h , s h a r e , a n d t a l k a b o u t , s o O O H
b e c o m e s n o t j u s t e x p o s u r e b u t c o n t e n t .
3 H o w a r e b r a n d s b a l a n c i n g t r a d i t i o n a l s t a t i c O O H w i t h d i g i t a l s c r e e n s a n d p r o g r a m m a t i c b u y s ?
I t ’ s n o l o n g e r a n e i t h e r - o r d e c i s i o n L a n d m a r k s t a t i c b i l l b o a r d s s t i l l p l a y a b i g r o l e f o r b r a n d p r e s e n c e a n d p r e s t i g e , w h i l e D O O H b r i n g s a g i l i t y t h e a b i l i t y t o r u n c o n t e x t u a l o r t i m e - s e n s i t i v e c r e a t i v e P r o g r a m m a t i c
a d d s a n o t h e r l a y e r , a l l o w i n g b u y e r s t o t a r g e t b y a u d i e n c e o r t r i g g e r i n r e a l t i m e W h a t w e ’ r e s e e i n g i s a d v e r t i s e r s b l e n d i n g t h e t h r e e , d e p e n d i n g o n w h e t h e r t h e o b j e c t i v e i s l o n g - t e r m b r a n d b u i l d i n g o r s h o r t - t e r m
p e r f o r m a n c e
4 . H o w d o y o u s e e p r o g r a m m a t i c D O O H c h a n g i n g t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n b u y e r s , m e d i a o w n e r s a n d t e c h n o l o g y p r o v i d e r s ?
P r o g r a m m a t i c h a s s h i f t e d t h e d y n a m i c i n t o m o r e o f a t e c h p a r t n e r s h i p B u y e r s e x p e c t A P I a c c e s s a n d t r a n s p a r e n c y , m e d i a o w n e r s n e e d t o s u r f a c e i n v e n t o r y a n d p r o v e v i e w a b i l i t y , a n d t h e p l a t f o r m s c o n n e c t
e v e r y t h i n g i n b e t w e e n A t C o n t o u r M e d i a , w e ’ r e v e r y f o
i l
i
e b r i d g e s a l i g n i n g d a t a s t a n d a r d s a n d a t t r i b u t i o n m o d e l s s o c a m p a i g n s c a n r u n s e a m l e s s l y a c r o s s m a r k e t s I t ’ s a n e w w a y o f w o r k i n g , b u t i t ’ s a l s o w h e r e t h e i n d u s t r y i s h e a d i n g
5 H a s s u s t a i n a b i l i t y b e c o m e a r e a l c o n s i d e r a t i o n i n O O H p r o d u c t i o n a n d d e p l o y m e n t ?
Ye s , v e r y m u c h s o B r a n d s a r e a s k i n g u s a b o u t s u s t a i n a b i l i t y a t t h e b r i e f i n g s t a g e E n e r g y - e f f i c i e n t L E D s , r e c y c l a b l e s u b s t r a t e s , e c o - i n k s , a n d m o d u l a r s t r u c t u r e s a r e a l l b e c o m i n g s t a n d a r d c o n s i d e r a t i o n s F o r C o n t o u r M e d i a , i t ’ s a b o u t w o r k i n g w i t h p a r t n e r s w h o s h a r e t h a t c o m m i t m e n t a n d m a k i n g s u r e c l i e n t s k n o w t h e i r c a m p a i g n s a r e c o n t r i b u t i n g t o g r e e n e r p r a c t i c e s I n t e g r a t i o n i s w h e r e O O H r e a l l y s h i n e s A b i l l b o a r d o r D O O H s c r e e n m i g h t t r i g g e r a Q R s c a n , u n l o c k a m o b i l e j o u r n e y , o r s e t u p r e t a r g e t i n g o n s o c i a l m e d i a E x p e r i e n t i a l a c t i v a t i o n s o f t e n s p a r k u s e r - g e n e r a t e d c o n t e n t t h a t s p r e a d s o n l i n e A t C o n t o u r M e d i a , w e ’ r e d e s i g n i n g c a m p a i g n s s o O O H i s t h e s t a r t i n g p o i n t o f a c o n n e c t e d b r a n d j o u r n e y , a n d t h e r e s u l t s c a n b e t r a c k e d a c r o s s c h a n n e l s C r e a t i v e i s s t i l l t h e m a k e - o r - b r e a k f a c t o r . D a t a c a n t e l l y o u w h e r e t o b e a n d w
6
7 . W h a t r o l e w i l l c r e a t i v e p l a y i n k e e p i n g O O H i m p a c t f u l a s t h e m e d i u m b e c o m e s m o r e d a t a - d r i v e n ?
Founded: 2021
Holding group: Next What Group of Companies Head of company: Tanvir Shah
Regional headquarters: Dubai, UAE
Number of staff: 17 nextwhat.ae contact@nextwhat.ae
NextWhat Next level changing the face of OOH in the UAE PROPERTIES: Hoardings on Shiekh Zayed Road, wall banners on Hessa, hoardings on Al Khail, glass facade in Deira, unipoles in Karama
Founded: 2012
Managing director and owner: Souriana A. Khalek
Headquartered: Dubai info@royaloutdooradv.com
PROPERTIES: Lampposts in Ras Al Khaimah, Um Al Quwain, Fujairah and Sharjah; hoardings in Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah; bridge banner in Sharjah; hoarding on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road.
Founded: 2025
Ownership/holding group: Multiply Group
Regional headquarters: Dubai
Number of staff: 150+ mmg.global info@mmg.global +971 4 446 7540
Founded: 2018
Holding group: Danube Group Headquartered: Dubai Number of staff: 10 jennifer@starzmediainc.com
Starz Media was founded in 2018 by the Danube Group. Starz Media’s core mission involves offering expert, visible and targeted brand marketing exposure by effortlessly integrating each brand into the city’s landscape through strategically located OOH advertising mediums in Dubai. Starz Media and Media Mix Advertising formed a strategic and mutually beneficial alliance aiming at constantly growing their inventory as well as looking out for valuable opportunities while maintaining a clear and focused business approach and vision.
Founded: 2000 Head office: Dubai (MENA); London (Global)
Number of staff: 33 mena@talonooh.com
Talon is a pioneering global independent Out of Home (OOH) media agency delivering strategic, data-driven creative and OOH advertising campaigns.
Multiply Media Group (MMG) is an out-of-home media powerhouse, uniting BackLite Media, Viola Media, Media 24/7 and Purple Printing. Through strategic investment in talent, technology and high-potential assets, MMG drives innovation, delivers futureready solutions and operational excellence across its portfolio. More impact. More innovation. Greater momentum.
PROPERTIES:
Dubai: The Outdoor Collection: 16 Unipoles (2 Digital), Sheikh Zayed Road; The Landmark Series: 4 Digital Billboards, Sheikh Zayed Road; The Helix Network: 4 Digital Billboards; Malls: Dubai Festival City; The Link: 29 Static Bridge Banners; Unipoles: 11; Hoardings: 31; Wall Backlits: 3; DOOH: 4; Glass Graphic: 5; Lamppost Networks: 9; Transit: 5,600
Abu Dhabi: The Landmark Series: 3 Digital Billboards, Al Khaleej Al Arabi Street; Destinations & Malls: Al Qana and The Galleria Al Maryah Island; The Link Network: 18 Digital / 40 Static Bridge Banners; The Skyline, Al Hosn: 1 Digital Screen; The Marina Wall, Al Bateen: 1 Digital Screen; The Pointe, Al Reem Island: 2 Digital Screens; Firefly Taxis Screens: 100; Building Wrap: Al Sawari Tower, Corniche; Bus wraps: 500+Lampposts: 2000+ Faces
Founded: 2013
Holding group: Yazle Global
Headquartered: Dubai
Number of staff: 35 jamie@yazle.com
PROPERTIES: 20 instore digital screens across Choithrams and Aswaaq supermarkets, Invenda UAE 200+ digital screens, Invenda KSA 250+ digital screens
Founded: 2004
HQ: London with offices in Dubai, Paris and Johannesburg
Number of staff: 10 privatejet.media banan.abusi a@privatejet.media
Private Jet Media presents exclusive advertising solutions in the world’s largest private jet terminals network, where brands can reach out to the VIP Travelers and high-net worth individuals with no wastage.
PROPERTIES:
GCC: 35 digital screens network in 9 private jet terminals located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Jeddah.
Globally: More than 200 Digital screens network in Europe, Africa, Asia covering main hometown of HNWI such as London, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Milan, Munich, Singapore and Johannesburg.
Founded: 1986
Headquartered: Beirut + 10 local offices
Number of staff: 300 www.pikasso.com
Hughe e.nassar@pikasso.com +971 50 115 7280
Dubai | Italy | Lebanon | Jordan | Iraq | Algeria | Morocco | Tunisia | Senegal | Mali | Ivory Coast | Armenia
Founded: 2004 Regional headquarters: Ajman, UAE rayaat.ae info@rayaat.ae
Rayaat is a full-service agency renowned in the UAE’s marketing and advertising landscape. We specialise in outdoor advertising, event management, print, and production services.
Properties: Ajman: 600 lampposts, 6 hoardings, 1 unipole and 1 digital screen.
Founded: 2023
Head of company: Dato’ Manikandamurthy Velayoudam Regional headquarters: Ajman, UAE skybluemedia.ae mani@skybmedia.com
Sky Blue Group is reshaping OOH landscape with visionary media solutions as the exclusive media partner for RTA. We provide wide advertising inventory, including 1400 various types of buses, 741 bus shelters, 523 mupis and 22 bus stations. We’re dedicated to transforming OOH ensuring your message reaches your target audience wherever they are.
PROPERTIES: RTA Buses, RTA bus shelters and mupi, RTA bus stations, hoardings, digital shelters
Pikasso is the number one OOH company across the Levant and leader in North Africa and West Africa with a presence in Italy and Armenia
The Group operates in 11 countries and in all segments of OOH & DOOH including billboards advertising, street furniture, retail & malls, transport advertising.
Our focus is on ensuring audience engagement in prime locations and delivering creative opportunities to our advertisers through the combination of technology and innovation.
PROPERTIES
Large format digital screens: Italy, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Morocco, Algeria & Ivory Coast
Classic large formats: 11 capitals, 80 main cities and towns in 11 countries
Billboard advertising: 434 cities and towns in 10 countries
Malls concessions: 75 concessions, 7 countries
Supermarket networks: Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Mali and Armenia
Founded: 2022
Office location: Dubai
Number of staff: 21 publshmediagroup.com libby@publsh.ae +971 56 662 6269
Publsh Media Group is a next-generation media powerhouse, redefining Out-of-Home with iconic, high-impact locations that exude prestige and visibility. Specialising in premium outdoor placements across the UAE’s most elite destinations, Publsh transforms OOH into a luxury experience – where every screen and structure becomes a storytelling canvas.
Beyond placement, the agency crafts immersive brand narratives and experiential activations that captivate refined audiences. With communications expertise and storytelling in its DNA, Publsh delivers end-to-end strategy, ideation, and flawless execution, ensuring brands not only stand out but dominate in a city determined to lead the world in influence and innovation.
PROPERTIES: 12 immersive digital screens with 17 faces as one network at J1 Beach.
KUSHAL DESAI
Managing Director and Co-Founder
SAGAR CHOTRANI
CEO and Co-Founder
WHAT NEW FORMATS OR INNOVATIONS IN OOH HAVE CAUGHT THE MOST ADVERTISER INTEREST RECENTLY?
Today, when brands invest in OOH, they’re no longer focused solely on the number of views – they’re prioritising the quality of those views: who’s seeing the message, in what context, and how deeply it resonates. Audiences have evolved beyond static billboards and now engage with formats that blend creativity, technology, and interactivity. Innovations such as programmatic DOOH that adapts in real time to weather or traffic conditions, immersive 3D anamorphic displays, ARenabled installations, and experiential “phygital” activations – which merge physical and digital touchpoints – are gaining traction. These formats capture attention, evoke emotion, and drive measurable engagement.
HOW IS OOH BEING INTEGRATED WITH OTHER CHANNELS SUCH AS SOCIAL AND MOBILE TO CREATE MORE CONNECTED BRAND EXPERIENCES?
DOOH is no longer a standalone medium – it’s a bridge between the physical and digital worlds. Brands are aligning their outdoor messaging with social media to build stronger recall, often supported by strategic PR amplification that
turns OOH campaigns into shareable stories. Many use curiosity driven teasers on screens, with reveals or extensions delivered via social platforms, creating a full-circle engagement loop. Technologies like geo-targeted mobile retargeting, QR codes, AR integrations, and real-time social feeds displayed on screens transform passive viewing into active participation.
The result is a connected ecosystem where OOH sparks attention on the street, social media sustains conversation, and mobile completes the interaction – making campaigns more immersive, measurable, and memorable.
DO YOU FEEL MEDIA SPENDING TOWARDS OOH IS INCREASING, AND WHAT FACTORS ARE CAUSING THIS SHIFT?
Yes, media spending on OOH – particularly DOOH – is steadily rising as brands seek to cut through the noise in an oversaturated market. With new businesses launching daily, standing out requires high-impact, creative outdoor campaigns that combine visibility with engagement. This shift is driven by several factors: advancements in programmatic buying and audience measurement, seamless integration with digital and mobile ecosystems, and the expansion of urban environments offering premium screen inventory.
As traditional channels like print and linear TV decline, brands are reallocating budgets to OOH, where creativity, data, and location converge to deliver measurable, high-quality visibility and stronger brand recall.
WHERE DO YOU SEE THE BIGGEST GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES FOR OOH IN THE REGION?
The biggest growth opportunities for OOH in the region lie in premium, high-impact locations that speak directly to the right audience. As Dubai and the UAE increasingly become home to millionaires, billionaires, and global investors, brands are shifting focus toward placements in luxury corridors such as J1 Beach, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Marina, DIFC, and high-end hospitality or retail zones. These areas offer not just visibility but access to affluent, decision-making audiences with real spending power. In essence, growth will come from strategic locations that combine affluence, attention, and aspiration – where every view truly matters.
The time has come for Middle East brands to take their global customer engagement to the next level, says TheVantage’s Manoj Khimji.
Since Dubai Tourism and, by extension, Emirates airline began running ad campaigns outside MENA, the region has taken a real fancy to the fame and exposure of global awareness. This trend was soon followed by Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Oman, and, most recently, Saudi Arabia, following the launch of its inbound tourism objectives in 2019.
In advertising circles around the world, MENA became known for heavy abovethe-line investments, world-first media takeovers and media asset buyouts in order to build the region. Ad campaigns from tourism boards, airlines, sovereign wealth funds, destination marketing organisations (DMOs) and giga-projects enveloped London, New York, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, Mumbai, Delhi, Shanghai, Beijing and beyond.
Some of us ad folk from the region would go to World Media Group awards, INMA conferences and Cannes Lions festivals and be instantly associated with the global campaigns that had been seen in delegates’ home countries. In many ways, it was very nice to finally have that kind of recognition amongst international peers, but it was often expressed with insincerity and irony. As if the Middle East was trying to buy attention and disrupt a tired and traditionalised marketing path. Imagine that.
As consideration of the Middle East increased over the past decade with new audiences and demographics now open to living in, working with, and visiting the region, so has the complexity of our marketing communications. We see brands taking a much more full-funnel approach, backed with better data, intelligent insight and brand lift studies, which are now included as hygiene in almost every campaign. The creatives have got bolder, the messaging more direct, and the world has taken notice.
There is a common gap, however, when we speak to and visit these markets; they can’t quite believe, understand nor fathom what clients in the Middle East are actually building. Not just announcing and planning, but actually building and completing. Of course this hasn’t been without incident nor a sprinkling of bad publicity from time to time, but on the whole the Middle East has delivered on its plans and promises – certainly to a far greater extent than many expected.
So perhaps what’s missing is the experience? The touch, the feel, the engagement in a direct one-to-one
capacity. The region’s clients have begun to respond, from Abu Dhabi Tourism’s takeovers of Times Square, real estate activations in Harrods, and Diriyah’s World Travel Market activations at Outernet London. The reactions and results of these have been outstanding and testify to the appetite the world’s audience has to experience the Middle East. It certainly signifies the time is right to bring more of this to the world. Following the resumption of normal service post-lockdown, travellers and investors have shown a greater willingness to discover more and experience better. The iconic Piccadilly Lights, used by a plethora of Middle East brands, recently launched its stunning The Venue – an 8,000+ square foot purpose-built activation space, over three floors, in the heart of cosmopolitan London. This isn’t a retail space sometimes available for a brand to shoehorn itself into. It’s been specifically designed and built to match a brand’s key
“EXPERIENTIAL IS THE NEXT FRONTIER IN OOH THAT MENA BRANDS NEED TO EXPLORE.”
objectives: exposure, eyeballs, and engagement. Whether it’s displaying multiple assets of a tourism board or DMO, private meeting areas to crack deals, or providing state-of-the-art immersion technology to facilitate augmented reality experiences, The Venue enables brands to provide a real touch and feel dimension.
Experiential activations have the unique ability to work through the funnel, driving awareness through exposure and converting these via personal engagements and a feedback mechanism not seen in other forms of media. Not to mention how amplifiable these are on social and the organic reach a well-produced activation can generate. Most recently, Disney used The Venue and the wider Piccadilly Circus to preview and launch the new Tron: Ares movie.
The activation entailed a takeover of Piccadilly Lights, as well as having the movie’s headliner, Jared Leto, standing atop the iconic building in the world’s first ever rooftop red carpet. Simultaneously, below this, The Venue was turned into a fully immersive digital frontier for the movie, featuring LED-lit corridors, surround sound themed music, and futuristic set pieces that recreated the virtual Grid from the film. Passers-by could interact with the Lightcycle, explore a high-tech digital control hub, and witness dynamic lighting and 3D visuals – all designed to blur the line between reality and the Tron universe. This 10-minute activation resulted in an estimated $5.4m of media value and a media reach exceeding 400 million.
The message is clear: customers want to experience brands, and brands want to interact with customers. For Middle East clients, this outcome is even clearer, with ambiguity around the world still a barrier to overcome. Experiential is the next frontier in OOH that MENA brands need to explore, push and demand innovation for.
By Manoj Khimji, Managing Director, The Vantage
Campaign Breakfast Briefing: Out of Home 2026 gathers the region’s leading marketers, agencies, and media innovators to explore how the OOH landscape is transforming through technology, creativity, and data. From retail media and real-time targeting to the rise of precision buying powered by programmatic DOOH and automation, this event sets the scene for intelligent media investment.
NOV 21 2025 8:00 AM
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