Communicate | Mar 2011

The marketing and advertising resource • March 2011 • Issue N° 75 • www.communicate.ae Get in the game: Sport 360 ’s Michael Chalhoub on the paper’s play Page 64 book

Phygital focus: FP7’s Tom Roychoudhury on how Egypt organizes Page 68 protests

Strong Lynx: Steve Lane on his hopes for this month’s big awards Page 34 show

AWARDS Glass act Last month the MENA Cristals ­kicked off the Middle East’s awards season. Communicate joined the party to bring back the news, gossip and controversy. Plus a showcase of winning work.

(Page 42)

PRINT Roll with it It’s not all sex, drugs and rock and roll for Rolling Stone Middle East publisher Waref Hawasli. He’s interested in advertising too. We find out who’s buying space in his magazine, and why he’s banking on a brand audit.

(Page 48)

AGENCIES There will be flood

How technology is changing television and what advertisers can do to keep up

When it rained in Jeddah in J a n u a r y, t h e w a t e r s r o s e a n d wreaked havoc in the city. Agency staff were stranded in their offices or left swimming to dry land. We speak to ad execs to find out how they coped.

(Page 36)

CAMPAIGN Call of the wild

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Qatar.................... QR 15 Saudi Arabia......... SR 15 Switzerland........... SFR 8

Syria................... S£ 100 Tunisia................. TD 2.5 U.A.E....................DH 15

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Letter from the editor | MARCH 2011

Washing television O

ur cover story this month is about the future of television. We’ve been up on the roof of the industry, moving the aerial to get good reception and a clear picture of professionals’ opinions. Tune in to page 20 to see what’s going to change in the way consumers watch video content and how advertisers can continue to get their messages across efficiently and effectively.

Two trends seem to keep cropping up, and they apply to virtually all content, and not just television. They are convergence and curation.

YouTube exemplifies both.

Convergence has been around for a while. It should come as no surprise that print is meeting digital is meeting video, and so on. Media is no longer siloed; its different channels come closer together every day. YouTube is effectively television on the Internet. And with Google TV in the pipeline (Google owns YouTube), it is reasonable to expect that in no time it will also be the Internet on television.

The other word that kept cropping up is curation.

There’s a lot of media out there (it would take more than 400 years to watch all the videos on YouTube), and not all of it is interesting, relevant or any good.

So people like “futurologist” Gerd Leonhard (see page 20) tell us that as more video

channels and content appear, we will rely more on specialists to select and curate the best stuff most relevant to our interests, and feed it to us on a plate – like super-focused television programmers.

Which is, in a way, what YouTube does through its channels, playlists, and so on.

Others do the curation thing better, I’m sure, but YouTube is the biggest.

I recently signed up for a YouTube account. It’s a convergence thing, combined with a self-improvement drive: As a journalist, it makes sense to learn to use video as the distinction between hacks with notebooks and those with video cameras narrows.

It’s safe to say that none of my videos has gone viral.

I’ve posted a short interview with marketing trailblazer Jack Trout, who came up with the concept of positioning back in the day. And I also published some clips from last year’s GEMAS Effies Awards. But that’s where the marketing-relevant stuff ends.

Although I’ve been keeping my Flip to hand, it seems to come out more to shoot my brothers sledging at Christmas and penguins copulating at Dubai Mall than it does for press conferences.

The other thing I videoed was my washing machine.

I’ll admit I might have been a little bored, but it was more interesting than washing machines normally are, shaking

wildly and moving to block my apartment door.

Weirdly, that has been the most watched of my clips, with 157 views and counting.

(Which doesn’t say much about interest in marketing pioneers and award shows.)

It’s even had comments; the first (of two) was from someone called Dyson2drum, who tried to diagnose the fault with the machine.

I was intrigued, and followed a link to his channel.

It’s full of videos of washing machines. And he has fans and friends online who also post clips of washing machines. (2drum has also posted a couple of movies of dishwashers, but I suspect that may be a side interest.)

That is curation in action.

Those guys are following each other’s links to what must be one of the most esoteric fetishes on the Web – including my malfunctioning Teka LSE1200S. We’ve had specialist channels for a long time – for news, sport, travel and more.

But now TV can be tailored to every taste.

You read it here first: Expect more riveting washing machine action coming soon to a screen near you.

Austyn Allison, managing editor editor@communicate.vg

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Contents | MARCH 2011

Contents

COVER: The future of television 20 26 30

Coming up next: We look at technologies and trends changing the way we watch TV Spot check: How can advertisers continue to reach viewers?

Coming at ya: How 3D is moving from the big screen to the living room

SHORTS 6

NEWS 8 10 12

34 35 36 40

48

54

Agencies. Harfouche takes over top job at MCN Outdoor. Decaux trials free bicycle scheme in Doha Print. Sports Illustrated ends print-only subscriptions We ask the industry: What legislation would you like to see introduced?

FEATURES

44

50

Telling tales: How one research company is encouraging youths to spy on their friends

COMMUNIQUESTION 14

42

Advertising. It’s showtime: We speak to the director of the Dubai Lynx to see what this year’s Advertising Festival has in store Research. News to us: How the revolution in Egypt has affected television viewing in Saudi Arabia Agencies. Floody hell: How did Jeddah’s advertising fare in last month’s floods?

Advertising. Bahrain breakdown: How have the riots in Bahrain affected the industry?

56 58 60

Advertising. Faraya eyes only: With oversubscribed dinners and some unpopular awards, this year’s MENA Cristals saw too many boos for not enough booze Advertising. Trophy cabinet: A selection of Cristal winners Print. Roll with it: Why Rolling Stone Middle East is banking on a brand audit Marketing. Bitter draught: The trouble with selling alcohol in the UAE Media. Buyer beware: Online scammers are targeting media shops Advertising. Jobs on the line: How Apple CEO’s departure could affect relations with TBWA Digital. Playing for keeps: The casual gaming industry earned $3 billion in 2009, and that number’s only going to rise Advertising. Nike plus: How Wieden & Kennedy became Ad Age’s Agency of the Year

DEPARTMENTS 64

68 70 74

Q&A. Sporting chance: Sport 360 ’s publisher tells us about the paper’s strategy Guest Opinion. Feeling phygital: FP7’s Tom Roychoudhury on the online and offline communication mix that drove Egypt’s revolution Work. Selections from the regional and international creative scenes The Dish. Press releases, paintings, and peptic ulcers

MARCH 2011 Published by: Medialeader FZ/MediaquestCorp Medialeader, P O Box 72184, Dubai Media City, Al Thuraya Tower 2, Office 2402, Dubai, Tel: (971) 4 391 0760

CO-CEO Alexandre Hawari CO-CEO Julien Hawari Managing Director Ayman Haydar CFO Abdul Rahman Siddiqui creative DIRECTOR Aziz Kamel Distribution & Subscription Director JP Nair, jp@mediaquestcorp.com Head of circulation Haries Raghavan, h.raghavan@mediaquestcorp.com Marketing Manager Maya Kerbage, m.kerbage@ mediaquestcorp.com KSA GM Walid Ramadan, walid@mediaquestcorp.com, Tel: +966 1 4194061 Lebanon GM Nathalie Bontems, nathalie@mediaquestcorp.com, Tel: +961 1 492801 North Africa GM Adil Abdel Wahab, adel@medialeader.biz, Tel: +213 661 562 660 France Sales Director Manuel Dias, dias@arabies.com, Tel: +33 1 4766 46 00

Founder Yasser Hawari Managing Director Julien Hawari Group managing editor Siobhan Adams Managing editor Austyn Allison journalist Sidra Tariq Contributor Rania Habib senior sub editor Elizabeth McGlynn sub editor Salil Kumar ART DIRECTOR Sheela Jeevan ART CONTRIBUTORS Alvin Cha, Aya Farhat External Affairs Manuel Dias, Maguy Panagga, Catherine Dobarro, Randa Khoury, Lila Schoepf, Laurent Bernard PRINTERS Raidy Printing Group ADVERTISING The Gulf MEDIALEADER, PO Box 72184,

Dubai Media City, Al Thuraya Tower 2, Office 2402, Dubai, Tel: (971) 4 391 0760, Fax: (971) 4 390 8737, sales@mediaquestcorp.com Lebanon Peggy ElZyr peggy@mediaquestcorp.com, Tel: (961) 149 2801 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Walid Ramadan, walid@mediaquestcorp.com, Tel: (966) 1 419 40 61, Ghassan A. Rbeiz, ghassan@mediaquestcorp.com, Fax: (966) 1 419 41 32, P.O.Box: 14303, Riyadh 11424, Europe S.C.C Arabies, 18, rue de Varize, 75016 Paris, France, Tel: (33) 01 47 664600, Fax: (33) 01 43 807362, Lebanon MEDIALEADER Beirut, Lebanon, Tel: (961) 1 202 369, Fax: (961) 1 202 369 WEBSITE www.communicate.ae

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MARCH 2010 | shorts

The in thing A Dubai-based research firm promises to tell marketers what the cool kids are doing by Sidra Tariq

W

ERIK VAN VONDEREN. Vndlgy’s founder

hat is the Middle East business equivalent of Gossip Girl? Don’t think too hard. There isn’t one. However, a recently launched market research company might come close to filling that gap as it aims to find out what the cool kids are doing.

Operating in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Vndlgy (pronounced “vondology”) commissions 18- to 30-year-old trendspotters to determine what’s in and what’s out. They don’t do this through surveys or questionnaires; they give their opinion about trends, and observe their surroundings and peer groups. And, of course, they get paid for telling researchers what their friends are doing.

The methodology moves away from traditional quantitative and qualitative research methods, says Vndlgy’s founder Erik van Vonderen. “Traditionally, it is very difficult in the Middle East to get consumer data to the surface because of the cultural aspects and the normative society here,” he says.

“Vndlgy is based on a collaboration with trendspotters – a young group of cool, hip, trendy people – who get us insight in a natural environment and give feedback with information regarding fashion, music, technology, food, entertainment, and other areas.”

These trendspotters fall into two groups: 18- to 30-year-old early adopters and 20- to 30-year-old Arab women.

Van Vonderen says trendspotters are expressive, key opinion leaders in their group, and up-to-date with the latest developments and technology.

While the company aims to have 150 trendspotters in Saudi Arabia and 75 in the UAE, it currently has a total of between 50 and 75 across the two countries, says van Vonderen.

Projects range from tracking trends to assessing products and services, and even evaluating competitors’ activities.

A minimum of 25 to 35 trendspotters are needed for a project, says van Vonderen. That may seem a limited number, but he says Vndlgy’s research is not quantitative; it is “indicative.”

“In fact, if I go for the really right trendspotters, maybe even five are enough,” he says.

Feedback is tailored to clients’ briefings. Trendspotters are encouraged to take pictures and videos, jot down their thoughts, and describe their experience in an expressive way (see the link to Gossip Girl?). Once the data is in, says van Vonderen, “researchers make the analysis and translate that into intelligence. It’s not a number-crunching exercise. We combine it and we convert it to match the briefing of the client. And that is how we connect trends to the brands.”

This contrasts with the “thick, not inspiring” reports research often yields, says van Vonderen.

While a client might not base its entire marketing plan on Vndlgy research, van Vonderen says his firm provides direction. “We don’t stop once the report has been submitted to our clients. We can take it to the next level as well: We give you the conclusion, we give you the recommendations, but at the same time we can help you as a company to plan new products or to improve your brand identity or to reposition your brand.”

Vndlgy provides “Really Useful Insights” (van Vonderen’s capitals).

“We are very pragmatic at what’s in today,” he says. “And we separate a fad from a trend from a Really Useful Insight. A fad is only for one day, one week, or one month. A trend could be longer – a year or two. A Really Useful Insight is based on a fad and a trend and has a lifespan that is quite long.”

Vndlgy has reached its two initial goals: It has built an infrastructure of trendspotters, and created awareness among prospective clients. Van Vonderen has seen interest from sectors as diverse as telecommunications, food and beverages, media supply, and advertising.

As Vndlgy hasn’t launched any projects yet, it is too soon to determine whether its methodology will be a fad, a trend or a Really Useful Insight for the region’s marketers. But we’re already wondering which of our friends are watching us.

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MARCH 2011 | Regional news

MCN appoints Harfouche as group CEO

 I PRINT

Former managing director of Choueiri Group’s MEMS to join network at beginning of second quarter

Dubai. The Middle East Communications Network (MCN) – an advertising, media and communications holding group – has appointed Ghassan Harfouche as group CEO. Harfouche, the managing director of Choueiri Group’s Middle East Media Services (MEMS), will join MCN at the beginning of the second quarter of this year. He will replace Fadi Salameh, who joined the MCN group in 1992 and will be ending his service at the end of March.

Akram Miknas, chairman of MCN, says, “I am convinced that Ghassan – known as a great, fair and transparent leader and communicator, with his enthusiasm and knowledge of the industry and region, and his strong strategic focus, energy and passion – will lead the operating companies to drive the success of our group in transforming brands and growing our clients’ businesses.”

Harfouche will be leading the process of developing and driving the vision for the future of MCN,

says the company in a release. He will be “identifying new growth opportunities in the region, and connecting the dots to maximize integration between the operating companies and between MCN and its parent IPG/McCann Worldgroup.

Harfouche says, “I am delighted to work closely with the outstanding leaders of MCN’s network in driving the vision for the group and nurturing further collaboration and integration within the different entities and enhancing the culture of creativity and innovation, which I am confident will produce distinctive communication solutions for our clients’ businesses.”

Commenting on Salameh’s departure at the end of March, Miknas says, “MCN would not be where it is today without Fadi Salameh. We all know that Fadi took a personal decision three years ago to leave his position by March 31, 2011. We have been truly saddened by his decision.

His succession was carefully planned by the MCN Board and Fadi.”

No Glamour in Middle East Dubai. A source at ITP has denied market rumors that the business and consumer magazine publisher will be launching Glamour magazine in the Middle East.

The international publisher of the women’s title, Conde Nast Publications, had not responded to Communicate’s queries at the time of going to press.

ITP doesn’t have plans to launch the magazine in the near future, says Communicate’s source, who asked not to be named. The publishing house will, however, be launching the Middle East edition of women’s magazine Cosmopolitan in April.

Melwyn Gonsalves, group media director at media agency UM, says he doesn’t know of plans for the title. However, ITP will also be launching Time Out Style, but not as a standalone publication. “It’s a magazine that will be released once in six months and distributed free with Time Out,” he says.

Asked whether there is room for more women’s magazines in the region’s saturated market, Gonsalves is optimistic. “Cosmopolitan is a [magazine] a lot of people are looking forward to because it is very interesting from a content point of view,” he says. “If their international content standards are anything to go by, then I think it will be quite a treat to look forward to.”

“Even though there are a lot of existing titles, I think the major concern has been the quality of content,” he says.  I television Sky News Arabia appoints Nart Bouran as director of news Abu Dhabi. Sky News Arabia has appointed Nart Bouran as director of news for its 24-hour Arabic rolling news channel, due to launch in spring 2012.

Bouran joins Sky News Arabia from Thomson Reuters, where he was director of television for the Reuters news agency.

He will have overall responsibility for the channel, including delivering its editorial standards and business goals, says Sky in a release.

His appointment is the first big hire for Sky News Arabia, a joint venture between Sky News in the UK and Abu Dhabi Media Investment Company in the UAE.

 I DIGITAL Nearly half of Internet surfers use mobile Web Dubai. Forty-five percent of Internet surfers in the UAE use mobile phones to access the Web, according to a survey of more than 12,700 people across the Middle East and North Africa. More than 71 percent of mobile Internet users ranked e-mail as their biggest mobile Internet activity in the survey conducted by online marketing intelligence company Effective Measure and Spot On Public Relations.

“People are increasingly using mobiles as Internet access devices in the Middle East and are starting to access social networks as well as news, sport and other information services using their mobiles,” says Brendon Ogilvy, vice-president of digital insights at Effective Measure. “The primary application for mobiles is still e-mail, but more than 85 percent of users have downloaded mobile applications for their devices, and the spread of services being accessed is very wide.”

“Social networking, in particular, is a strong and growing trend, with 40 percent of women who use the mobile Internet doing so to access social networks,” he adds.

ADMC’s new games division releases Cricket Power: ICC World Cup 2011 Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC), the multiplatform media and entertainment organization, officially launched the game Cricket Power: ICC World Cup 2011 on Feb. 14.

The game is the first product from new studio Karkadann Games, which ADMC launched at the end of January. It was released in time for the ICC Cricket World Cup, which kicked off on Feb. 19.

The studio will be releasing another game, Manny Pacquiao Pound For Pound (a working title), in mid2011, and will showcase regional stories and characters through many of its future titles.

Continued on page10

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MARCH 2011 | Regional news

Decaux introduces self-service bicycles in Doha

Doha. The Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning in Doha, and outdoor supplier Q Media Decaux have launched a range of self-service bicycles called Q Bike. A sample station of bicycles has been set up on the corniche. Decaux says the service is considered the first of its kind in the Middle East.

A trial period of two months has been allocated to assess the service and consider a city-wide development of the scheme. The initiative seeks to promote eco-friendly transport modes, help ease the exponentially growing traffic in Doha, and promote regular physical exercise, says Decaux in a release.

Continued from page 8 David Ortiz is general manager of Karkadann Games. He is tasked with overseeing the strategic development of the studio and a team comprised of regional and international game designers.

Outgoing ADMC CEO Ed Borgerding says, “Our aim is to lead the development of the media industry in the region, from a business, innovation and audience engagement perspective.

The future development of our company depends on broadening our offering, and leveraging our leadership position to pursue digital opportunities.”

Between Feb.5 and Apr. 5, residents and tourists can ride the bicycles on a dedicated track on the corniche from 3pm to 8pm. The service is free. Cyclists will be required to give their ID number to an operator in exchange for a bicycle and helmet.

Both must be returned to the Q Bike station by 8pm.

“Gaming is currently the fastest-growing entertainment sector worldwide,” he adds.

“Karkadann Games represents a strategic addition to our existing media entertainment offering and a new milestone of audience engagement.”

 I ADVERTISING Du launches new brand campaign Dubai. Du has launched its new brand campaign, “Open your Heart.” It is the UAE telco’s first brand (as opposed to product-specific) work since the company launched with “Water” in 2006.

Announcing the campaign, du’s vice-president of brand and communications, Ashish Banerjee, showed press the brief to which creative agency LeoBurnett worked. It begins with the line, “We all know the only

constant is change,” and ends with “Welcome to du, again.”

“What has happened now is that our business and our network and other aspects of our business are way ahead of where some people might think,” says Banerjee.

“So what we wanted to do was put in the market a campaign that helped people see us through fresh eyes,” he adds.

Creative agency Leo Burnett “responded magnificently,” says Banerjee, to a brief that required a degree of humility.

The campaign features two 50-second TV spots called “Beat” and “Pulse,” shot in the UAE with UAE-based actors. They show the landscape moving to a heartbeat or sound wave.

Seven print ads and an online campaign complement the TVCs. The campaign’s duration has not yet been decided, but it is probably going to run for a long time, says Carl Atallah, director-planning at du’s media agency OMD. Outdoor ads will run on the oversize billboards du has favored in the past.

DDB Dubai develops campaign for music download site launch Dubai. Music Master, a Middle Eastbased music distribution business, launched music download website Musicmaster.com in February with an advertising campaign using QR (quick response) codes. A QR code is a barcode that customers can photograph with their smart phones to be directed to websites and other forms of information.

The campaign, “I am my music.

I am music master,” was developed by creative agency DDB Dubai. It encourages consumers to explore their individual musical tastes at the site.

The advertisements feature ambient portraits of musicians made up from QR codes.

Within each of these portraits, live codes link to free downloads of the subject’s top 20 tracks. The

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Regional news | MARCH 2011

The report, published annually by consultancy firm Holmes Group, included the Middle East category for the first time this year, says TRACCS in a statement.

According to the report’s assessment, the volume of business generated (just shy of $7.5 million in fees) makes TRACCS the only Middle Eastern firm to rank among the world’s top 100 independent public relations agencies.  I media three executions appear in malls around the UAE. The campaign is also supported in press, on radio and online. I public relations TRACCS declared Middle East Consultancy of the year by Holmes Report Dubai. Trans-Arabian Creative Communications (TRACCS), a public relations network, has been named Middle East Consultancy of the Year 2011 by the Holmes Report.

ADMC CEO Ed Borgerding steps down Abu Dhabi. The Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) announced the departure of CEO Ed Borgerding in early February. According to a press statement, Borgerding is leaving the company to concentrate on independent projects.

ADMC chief financial officer Frank Mooty has been appointed acting CEO of both ADMC and its wholly owned subsidiary Imagenation Abu Dhabi.

The search for a successor to Borgerding is ongoing.

Very Briefs McCollins hosts Social Media Workshop at Middlesex University Dubai Baraem TV launches new grid for pre-school kids

Tecom Investments Media Cluster and WSI host Digital Marketing Summit 2011 LBC Sat acquires international reality show formats Zeenah wins best PR agency award in Oman

Branding agency Zaman to hold design competition for students

NHK and Al Jazeera Children’s Channel sign co-production agreement

Re-brand-ing gives three Arabic magazines a makeover

Image Nation appoints Shimaa El Sayed as account manager

Tahadi Games reports rapid growth in gamers since Saudi expansion

Praias hires Image Nation as communications company

Al Ittihad wins Golden Supplement award for sports coverage Dubai 92 launches animated radio show JWT wins Wild Wadi brief

Wolff Olins wins competitive pitch for Kuwait Finance House Arabian Radio Network hires Cameron Plant as its sales director Expression wins California Garden and Americana

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MARCH 2011 | INTERNATIONAL news

Sports Illustrated to stop print-only subscriptions “All Access” package wraps up print and digital, offering universal price for access on any platform

 I AGENCIES Amir Kassaei becomes global chief creative at DDB Bob Scarpelli is handing over DDB Worldwide’s global chief creative reigns to Amir Kassaei (pictured, below), chief creative of the Omnicom agency’s German group. Scarpelli has been with the agency for more than 30 years and has served as worldwide chief creative officer since 2005. He will remain as chairman.

“When Bob decided he wanted to transition his global creative duties, we both thought of Amir,” DDB president and CEO Chuck Brymer says. “He has a strong commitment to great work in every type of communication and to inspiring others to succeed. We are confident he will do an extraordinary job in this new position.”

Wunderman’s David Sable becomes CEO of Y&R Y&R Advertising, which is part of holding group WPP, has appointed David Sable as its CEO. Sable has served as vice-chairman and chief operating officer of WPP sibling Wunderman, a marketing communications company.

He replaces Hamish McLennan, who is reportedly leaving for family reasons. McLennan will remain chairman until the end of the year, but will return to his native Australia.

The news comes amid a rough patch for Y&R, which has seen the defection of several longtime clients.

It is also battling in a review for the Sears account and a chunk of tech titan Dell’s creative business.

While in many respects the work at Y&R has improved in the US, the clients haven’t stuck around to benefit. In October, MetLife’s US advertising account went to MDC Partners’ CP&B after a review; Y&R retained the global business.

And last September, Y&R lost 7Up, the last piece of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group account.

After a 40-year relationship, the beverage giant moved the brand to McGarryBowen without review.

In January, it lost Hilton Hotels to Cramer-Krasselt.

When Sports Illustrated unveiled its new $48 “All Access” subscription package, bundling print, Web, and app editions for Android tablets and phones, a related detail went unmentioned: Sports Illustrated is quitting the business of selling print-only subscriptions.

The $39 print-only offer will go away soon, a spokesman confirms, replaced by the $48 package that wraps up print and digital.

“You’re really buying a subscription to the brand, not a magazine,” the spokesman says.

The idea is to offer a universal price for access to the brand on any platform. That will please subscribers who’ve complained in the past year about being asked to pay again for their magazines’ app editions.

The magazine industry has also been knocked for selling subscriptions cheaply and relying on advertisers to carry the real freight. Charging $48 instead of $39 will help Sports Illustrated get more revenue from its readers and theoretically reduce its exposure to advertisers’ comings and goings.

Sports Illustrated is making the transition at an awkward time. Many people don’t own Android devices and don’t care much about reading the magazine’s Web edition on their desktops. The magazine’s full content is still free on its website anyway, albeit in a less attractive package than “All Access” offers.

For those people, the cost of a new subscription to Sports Illustrated is going up almost 23 percent for no appreciable gain.

 I MARKETING

 I Research

Third of marketers look to hire people with social-media skills Marketers this year are looking for more workers with social-media skills than any other type of digitalmarketing experts, according to a new study from the Society of Digital Agencies.

Nearly one-third of marketers surveyed by the group are looking to hire people this year with social-media skills, with research and strategic planning coming in as the second most sought after skill set.

The study also found that 80 percent of marketers surveyed planned to increase the volume of digital projects this year. However, digital spending still only accounts for a fraction of the overall budget.

The majority of respondents still spend less than 30 percent of their marketing budgets on digital.

Pilot tests attempt to measure mobile video A consortium of media and advertising companies has launched two tests aimed at chronicling how consumers watch video on TV, the Web, and mobile devices. In the process, the consortium expects to create a system that will, for the first time, measure mobile video consumption and Internet use through mobile apps by a single group of consumers.

The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement – a consortium of media and advertising companies in the US that includes AT&T, Microsoft, News Corp., Time Warner and Comcast, among others – says the two pilot tests, conducted with research firms Arbitron and ComScore, are aimed at monitoring the behavior of so-called three-screen users who watch video with a bevy of different devices. The results will be available in the second half of the year.

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MARCH 2011 | OPINION

The Communiquestion

A matter of act

We ask the industry: What one piece of legislation would you most like to see introduced?

TONY ORSTEN CEO, twofour54 A quota applied to broadcasters for locally produced content that would stimulate production in Arabic from the region.

HUBERT BOULOS Head of strategic planning, JWT There is a lot of legislation needed in media, starting with the publication of accurate performance figures in a coordinated way across the region and for each key category (print, out-of-home/posters and TV).

However, strictly from the creative advertising agency perspective, I do not see any major legislative needs. As an industry, it’s more about us anticipating issues and agreeing collectively on codes of conduct before having legislation imposed on us. The IAA is probably the body best adapted to tackle such issues.

JAIKUMAR MENON Vice-president, MCN Media “Advertising Claims” is a critical area and needs legislation to ensure claims are not false, unfair or deceptive.

YOUSEF TUQAN TUQAN CEO, Flip Media The death penalty for unsolicited SMS spam. The constant late-night SMS pollution from nightclubs and hotels I’ve never heard of, with no way to opt out, is becoming unbearable.

FADI CHAMAT General manager, PHD Abu Dhabi I would love nothing more than to have a mandatory rule from the Ministry of Information stating that any new print title has to be officially audited (i.e. circulation) or else no license would be granted. Maybe then we could finally have some transparency in the print market (mostly magazines).

GEORGEs BARSOUM Managing director, Saudi Arabia, Leo Burnett I would ask for the following commandments: • You shall be an eternal student of human behavior; • You shall live it with passion; • You shall forever instigate and embrace change; • You shall have a recollection of the past, a foot in the present, and an eye on the future.

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SAWSAN GHANEM Managing director, Active PR OK, where do I start? The first one that comes to mind is a charter between public relations agencies and journalists that says it would be more conducive and productive if both had good things to say about each other, rather than the finger-pointing exercises that tend to occur.

Both work hard – generally speaking – to do their job, so mutual respect would go a long way for the communication industry in general.

The second one – a more serious one – is a charter signed by all members of the Middle East PR Association that necessitates references be obtained for employees who move from agency to agency.

SUNIL JOHN CEO, Asda’a Burson-Marsteller A legislation that defines public relations as a professional stand-alone industry, not clubbed with advertising and media services licenses; one that clearly defines the job description and scope of services of PR practitioners. I believe that setting baseline standards is key to building a professional PR industry in the region.

AZHAR SIDDIQUI General manager, Magna Global Advertisers should be required to provide proof or evidence for what they claim in their advertising. Things would get interesting if people started asking some brands to prove things like “The Middle East’s fastestgrowing company.”

DAVID PORTER Media director, Unilever MENA A telecoms bill enforcing the ban on unlicensed satellite TV, reducing consumer Internet costs at home and on mobile, and banning mobile phone-using drivers. Sorry, Etisalat and du, you can’t blame me for dreaming.

NASSIB BOUERI CEO, Y&R & Wunderman I would like to have a code of ethics that will “force” agencies to respect the industry we work in, from the pitch process to poaching.

KAMAL DIMACHKIE Managing director, UAE, Kuwait and Lower Gulf, Leo Burnett Legislation to reduce waste in our industry and make it mandatory for clients to pay for all agency resources used, including pitch time and materials produced. It won’t protect us completely, but at least it puts a premium on our time.

YVES-MICHEL GABAY General manager, MEC MENA I would like the government to introduce two pieces of legislation: • To forbid selling at a loss. It should stop some companies from proposing crazy prices just to win a piece of business; • To create a joint responsibility for the payment for the media space between the agency and the client/ advertiser. The client should become the final entity responsible for the payment.

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In this case, if a client doesn’t pay an agency, the agency won’t be obligated to pay the media owner. And in the meantime, the media owner won’t accept any new order from this client, even if the client is using the services of another agency. This should stop the bad practices of some advertisers and will create a better cohesion between media agencies and media suppliers.

RAMZI RAAD Chairman & CEO, TBWA/Raad Advertising in the GCC has developed into a robust and responsible industry. An industry mature enough to selfregulate with much greater confidence than endorsing such a responsibility to a government regulator who – as experience has shown – will require advisors and consultants to understand how our business works before even venturing to introduce its first piece of legislation.

Accordingly, my answer to the question is a clear nothing at all. If the GCC governments are keen to regulate the advertising industry, then the only regulation they need to introduce is towards the procurement departments at their various ministries, government departments and authorities. The objective being to help them all understand that advertising agencies get engaged to provide services that are based – first and foremost – on anticipated results, not on cheaper prices and discounts.

HERMANN BEHRENS CEO, The Brand Union Middle East Real IP protection, no free creative pitches, and pitches limited to five shortlisted agencies.

DIMITRI METAXAS Executive regional director of digital, OMG Rather than legislation, I would like to see a digital media association to serve as an industry backbone and help guide this nascent industry.

MICHEL BORT Client relationship director, Kassab Media Proper and appropriate commercial payment plans.

HADI JAWAD Regional group director research, M-Services MENA Introduction of a code of conduct between clients, media, and agencies. Sadly, we are one of the least organized regions in this matter and hope to have this sorted out one day.

MOUNIR HARFOUCHE CEO, Lowe MENA Protection of human rights.

YOANN EL JAOUHARI Sales and marketing director, JC Decaux Middle East and Africa The audience gets fined if they don’t look at the ad.

ZOYA SAKR Editor-in-chief, anaZahra.com Copyright is the main aspect that should not only be regulated for the digital industry, but also respected.

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The big picture Television is changing. We speak to industry experts to find out what advances we can expect to see in the Middle East by Sidra Tariq

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R

emember when you had one telephone and one computer at home that every member of the family shared? Now mum, dad, brother and sister all have their own cell phones and laptops, with the added convenience of portability. Until a few years ago, television was also a static, shared device. But as technology developed, and prices – of hardware and bandwidth – dropped, people started to consume video content on desktops and laptops as well. Now you can have your own personal TV too, and not just in your bedroom.

Smart phones and tablet devices such as the iPad can play recorded videos, and even stream live broadcasts directly to your hands, wherever you are.

Over the following pages Communicate talks to regional experts about what direction TV will take in the next five to 10 years, and how viewers will change the way they consume content. We also look at what methods advertisers will have to use to reach their audience.

Bassem Massoud, regional managing director of Magna – a media agency, part of the Middle East Communications Network (MCN) – says, “Even in most advanced markets, with multiple options, people still watch TV for an average of three to four hours per day.”

According to our experts, television will see some major developments around the world within the next decade, but the region will not see a dramatic change any time soon. One development that will certainly be seen is that viewers will have more choice and control over what they want to watch and how they want to watch it.

Below, we look at developments, trends, issues and changes that will shape television consumption.

High-definition television (HDTV) Melwyn Gonsalves, group media director at media agency UM, says the development we are most likely to see first in the region is a growing presence of high-definition (HD) television. “This is quite prevalent in markets such as the US and Europe, but still in its nascent stage in the Middle East,” he says.

“American Networks such as ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox have channels being broadcast in HD. British networks such as BBC and Sky broadcast in HD. A total of about 60 channels are available in high definition,” he adds. “And we don’t have more than about five HD channels in the region.”

3D television “Of all the major trends being discussed, 3D TV is by far the biggest and most promising,” says Gonsalves. Lack of availability of good 3D content and the hassle of using 3D glasses are limiting factors, he adds, but these are being slowly addressed.

While 3D TV will be the “biggest push” worldwide, uptake in the region will be slower. (See “Raise your glasses,” page 30, for more on 3D TV.) Web-connected TV Gonsalves predicts the killer development is going to be Web-connected television, also called Internet TV. Consumers will be able to access the Internet and video content online through their TV sets, via built-in technology or set-top boxes.

Such technology can enable viewers to search for content online and view it at their own convenience. They will not have to be tied to scheduled programming, and content providers will be able to make consumers’ viewing experience more interactive.

Convergence of TV and the Internet has been tried by many companies, but Gonsalves says a recent venture by Google, Sony and Intel seems

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reel life. 3D TV will see the biggest push worldwide, with manufacturers vowing to address the hassle of using glasses

IAIN JACOB. CEO at Starcom Mediavest Group

melwyn gonsalves.

UM Dubai Group media director

Bassem Massoud.

Regional managing director of Magna

to show the most promise of success. “Sony will make Internet-connected TV sets powered by Intel Atom chips. Google will provide the operating system and system software. Logitech is working on a line of keyboards that would replace remote-control units,” he says.

“The benefit for consumers is that they will be able to search for TV shows using Google searches – searching not only for titles, actors and other [production details], but also for dialog (by searching closed-captioning streams),” he adds. “Google will also introduce an app store, which will provide applications to enhance the TV viewing experience. This will also allow consumers to share their TV viewing experiences on social networks with their friends. Another important fall-out is that TV scheduling will be taken over by consumers. You could have an app that allows you to decide what you see, when you want to see it. TV apps are going to change the TV broadcast landscape.”

Lex Bradshaw-Zanger, regional director for digital strategy and innovation at creative agency Leo Burnett in Dubai, also predicts convergence.

“Five to 10 years from now, we’re going to see this complete integration of what we see as TV on the Web or video on the Web. There are lots of these sort of Web-connected TVs coming out – beyond just Apple TV or Google TV.” “When things like Apple TV and Google TV take off, in the next two to three years, we’re going to see the Web on TV in a much stronger position,” he adds. “And then maybe when you get out to a five-year horizon, you’ll start to see people integrating the technologies.”

Gerd Leonhard, a Switzerland-based media futurist and CEO of The Futures Agency, spoke at the recent Omnicom Media Group Media In-

novations Forum in Dubai. He tells Communicate that people in most countries will use the Internet to fragment their television watching.

“We’ll use YouTube, [online video channels like] Hulu and Netflix, and Google TV and lots of others, to watch specifically what we’re interested in,” he says. “For example, political shows, or shows on how to fix your motorcycle, or travel shows, because they are available in those fragments.”

Cable TV streams hundreds of channels into our homes, but most of them do not match our tastes well enough, he says. “On YouTube, you can create your own channel that only has a heavy metal band from China, or whatever you are interested in. Many of us will be using the Internet to pretty much take care of our entire watching needs – except for what’s not available, such as real-time sports and so on.”

Video on demand Iain Jacob, CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, at Publicis Groupe media agency Starcom Mediavest Group, says video on demand (VOD) will also “supplement and replace some of the traditional television viewing.”

VOD is a system where customers can pay to watch content from a library of movies, programs and other types of video. It has VCR-style functions such as rewind, pause and forward. The content can be streamed through set-top boxes that can be connected to the television, or via computers or other devices. It is widely available in the region already.

Georges Dabaghi is general manager of On Demand Group, the content aggregation and management subsidiary of SeaChange International,

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and the provider of UAE telco du’s VOD technology. He says, “The traditional route of watching TV that is of entertainment value has largely been through media where you get the content broadcast to you, which means you do not have a choice in selecting it. And it is programmed at certain time frames to reach you.”

VOD gives users the flexibility to watch content when they want, and gives them the option of watching or continuing it at a different time, he adds, saying, “The technological advancement and the consumer habits and behavioral change puts VOD as a very credible business case and a very credible mode for watching – for any aspect of information or entertainment criteria that you are trying to offer.”

Gerd Leonhard.

Media futurist and CEO of The Futures Agency

On-the-go television Mazen Hayek, group director of PR and commercial at the Middle East Broadcasting Network (MBC), a free-to-air pan-Arab news and entertainment broadcaster, says out-of-home viewing and multitasking will gain ground in the future, “especially among young audiences – who don’t consume media the same way the older generation does.”

This audience is on the go more, he says.

“Mobility is important. They have smart devices, they have mpegs, they browse blogs and vlogs, and they look for the unexpected when consuming media. They don’t look for a set of patterns, they don’t look for a set of grids.”

“These are the challenges and this poses the issue of migration of audiences between old media and new media in the future,” he adds.

“I’m talking about it being in 10 years’ time in the Arab world, but it can be witnessed today in the West. We really need to sharply target the content on TV and to customize it and make it available across multiple platforms and multiple touch points.”

Catering to all sizes As people watch content on different platforms – especially small-screen devices such as smart phones – it may become important for broadcasters and content providers to ensure that the content is compatible with the device it is being viewed on.

“From a broadcaster’s standpoint, you can no longer produce content for TV and adapt it for other devices,” says Hayek. “It’s content that you produce originally for TV, and you have to produce it differently – with different cameras, different sets of script and treatment – for a smart device, or for another form of delivery.”

Hayek offers the example of viewing MBC news channel Al Arabiya on a BlackBerry in its regular television form. “As much as I love to watch Al Arabiya, I cannot read the crawler, I cannot read the breaking news, I cannot see the stocks, and I cannot tell what’s happening on the screens,” he says. “It is impossible for me to watch it as it is. So adaptation in this case is a no-go.”

“You have to have a feed that is practically produced for the smart device,” he says. “It might work in the case of a soap, or a program like a comedy, but people consume media on the devices differently from the way they do on a TV at home. There are differences in lengths, durations, places, attention spans, so the content has to be totally different. A half-hour format on TV that is top-rated might have to be a five-minute format delivered to a mobile phone. It might not work as a 30-minute, even if it is very successful on TV, because people’s consumption habits and patterns are totally different on those devices.”

Gonsalves says that while consumers increasingly want to be entertained on the go, bandwidth is a limitation. “But as you find 3G and 4G systems developing, you’ll find that people will be able to do more of that on the go,” he says. “Eventually, I foresee people being able to view TV through their spectacles, wherever they are. It will require

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the convergence of MyVu [a firm that makes portable viewing glasses] technology with 3G mobile service, and you’ll have TV on the go.”

CuRAtIon While TV will become more fragmented and targeted, viewers are unlikely to migrate en masse to a new platform, particularly in this region. Hayek says that while some prefer having choice, “People in Arabia and MENA trust professional broadcasters to produce for them and practically tell them what to watch and when to watch it. It’s like when you go to a restaurant and have a 300-page menu, and you ask the waiter, ‘What is the dish of the day?’ or ‘What do you recommend?’”

However, Johnny Khazzoum, managing director of media planning and buying agency Mindshare Bahrain, says that people now like to have more control over what they watch. “There is nothing like ‘prime time’ any more,” he says. “If you look at the consumer nowadays, what we have is called ‘my time.’ Basically, the consumer will decide when to watch TV, and which kind of program he wants, and he will make his decision on that basis; especially with the technology available. We have video-on-demand, Tivo, and pay-per-view, so it’s not like the old days when the family sat in one room watching one specific series. Everyone can decide how, when and where to watch any specific program.”

The Futures Agency’s Leonhard says, “The choice is huge, but you need a new programming guide. Most people will not make their own guides, so there will be people who make guides for others – journalists, editors, broadcasters, experts. But it will be very fragmented. So if you are really into animals and nature, there will be somebody curating that. But it will be from all over the world, in whatever language you want,

and it will be simultaneously translated using technology as well.”

The entertainment experience will clearly be affected by the choice and flexibility technology has to offer viewers, says Magna’s Massoud.

“Certain segments, such as youth, will watch more content on digital platforms, and with timeshifting options, we may start seeing some ‘reverse generation influence,’ whereby youth help their parents in watching TV, through recording their favorite programs. Yet older generations will continue to watch their live or recorded programs on a TV set,” he says. tv doMInAnCe In the region, TV will remain the dominant source of entertainment for a long time, says Hayek. “You have issues that are intrinsic to the Arab world that make the rapid growth of new media one that is rather gradual,” he says. “This is a region that has poverty, high illiteracy rates, low PC penetration per capita, low broadband penetration per capita, and a developing telco infrastructure.”

Arabic content accounts for no more than one percent of the Web, he adds. “So, as an Arab, if I want entertainment – breaking news, movies, series – I still go to TV because that is my dominant source of all premium content.”

So as more choices come along for viewers, the term “watching TV” may not fully describe what we will do in the future. The concept of watching will remain the same. But instead of only watching “TV,” viewers will be consuming video content – be it on a television set, a computer screen, a tablet device, or a smart phone. And while we may not always flock to the one television set in our living room, the viewing experience can still be a social one, with interactivity and shared experience staying a key part of the way we consume moving images.

MAzen HAyeK. Group director, PR and commercial, Middle East Broadcasting Network

geoRgeS dAbAgHI. General manager of On Demand Group

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Get with the program How are advertisers keeping up with the technological advances affecting television?

T

echnology seems to be playing games with advertisers. Marketers manage to master a form of communication with customers, then just as they sit back to enjoy it, a new platform comes along and the learning curve begins again.

That’s what is happening with television. Consumers don’t watch plain old TV these days; they watch video content. The shift is subtle, but can make a big difference to brands keen to engage those one-time couch potatoes. On the previous pages we’ve seen some of the ways viewing habits – around the world, as well as in the region – have been changing, and will continue to change over the coming years.

Here we examine the flip side of that coin. As TV viewers embrace emerging technologies and shift to different platforms to consume content, reaching them becomes a game of cat-and-mouse.

Communicate talks to planners, buyers, and content providers to find out how advertisers are reacting and adapting.

For years, the region’s TV industry has been plagued by a paucity of measurement. Those who have watched the TV industry long enough will heave a sigh of relief that not one of our interviewees mentioned people meters. It’s not that a lack

of international-standard measurement facilities doesn’t keep industry execs up at night; but as our focus is strictly on the future of TV, it seems that the inadequacies of the region’s viewer-auditing technology could become just a painful memory as digital advances render it a moot point. Detailed viewer data will be available by default.

Johnny Khazzoum, managing director of media planning and buying agency Mindshare Bahrain, says that in the future, telecom companies will play an important role in how advertisers reach viewers – and what marketers know about their audience. “These days the telecom companies have access to all the houses when it comes to cable TV viewing,” he says. “They are the providers of TV content through cable viewing. They have access to [information such as] family size, age, gender, nationality, interests and hobbies. It’s something they collect as part of their database whenever someone subscribes to a [TV or mobile phone] package.”

SPECIAL SERVICE. With such data being available, Khazzoum says the future will bring more behavioral targeting, when ads during a com-

by Sidra Tariq

mercial break are tailored to cater for different viewers. He gives an example of two men watching the same TV program in their own homes. The first is married with young children, while the second is single. During the same ad break, the married man views advertisements for diapers, while the singleton is served an ad for a sports car.

Bassem Massoud, regional managing director of Magna – a media agency under the Middle East Communications Network (MCN) – says that in one form or another, “the 30- or 15-second spot will continue to be an important marketing tool in the future.”

Khazzoum agrees, but says that while the spot is cost-effective because of its wide reach, it will no longer be sufficient on its own. Advertisers will need support from “digital, the different media mix, the experience with consumers, and engagement,” he says.

High-quality data tracking is becoming more and more important, says Massoud. “Advertisers and agencies have started to – and will continue to – track trends more closely,” he says. “If viewership is going to shift significantly, then adequate systems are required to measure viewership across platforms

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to quantify the total viewership, and eventually design strategies and build plans accordingly.”

“Additional work will be required on a daily basis to further build expertise on how to manage these platforms on behalf of our clients,” he says.

“We have to follow consumers, who follow content, and we need to be ready to reach these consumers wherever they are. How far this will go depends on how much of a shift there is in viewership habits.”

Khazzoum says behavioral targeting will also help reduce clutter. He gives the example of a one-hour show that attracts 10 advertisers. Those advertisers currently take up 20 minutes in the hour, but all that advertising may not be relevant to every viewer. So, by serving ads to the viewers who find them most relevant, and showing different, equally relevant ads to others, the 20 minutes of catch-all advertising can become 10 minutes of tailored messages.

COME TOGETHER. Web-connected TV is another attractive area for the adventurous advertiser, as companies try to bring the Internet and TV experience together. With the convergence of the two mediums, advertisers will be able to learn more about the end user, says Lex Bradshaw-Zanger, regional director for digital strategy and innovation at creative agency Leo Burnett in Dubai. “If we want to be able to monitor, down to individual households, what people are watching and how they interact, we’ll be able to do that.”

“The gatekeeper for that information will be whoever actually owns the connection with the household,” he says. “It could be the telecom operator or satellite operator. We’ll be able to [access real data], just as on websites we can get down to real data about what people are doing, how long they are spending, and how many repeat visitors we are getting. “ But while these TV developments mean new platforms for advertisers to explore, they also mean viewers will have more control over what they watch. And with this control comes the option to skip advertisements – especially on Web-connected TV and video on-demand, where viewers can search for and select what they want to watch.

Advertisers, however, can still find ways to include ads in video content online. “Pre-roll and post-roll [advertising] is a classic example,” says Bradshaw-Zanger. “When you go to a sponsored video online, you see a 10- or 15- or 30-second spot before what you are going to watch. The advertisements can also be inserted within the video and at its end,” he says. ”You see a lot of this on online video channels like Hulu and ABC.” INSERT HERE. Advertisers can reach video-ondemand customers with the help of ad insertion technology, says Georges Dabaghi, general manager of On Demand Group, the content management subsidiary of SeaChange International that provides UAE telco du with its video on-demand service.

The availability of space depends on the owner

On the box. Consumers don’t watch TV anymore; they watch video content of the content, he says. Some content may have 30-second windows within it, and in other cases the ad can run before or after the video. Ads can also be inserted in an L shape around content on the screen. “You can use the background of the screen to further advertise. It’s all about the exploitation of screen, and inside the content as well. All this is formulated by the content owner and furthered by the operator,” he adds.

Technology aside, Massoud says there are other methods advertisers can use to be visible in a “cluttered and fragmented media landscape.” Advertisers can establish a presence behind high-value, entertaining programming, be it general entertainment or sports, when audiences expect advertising to be exciting to watch. “A good example is the Super Bowl,” he says. “Despite the idea that people have the option to skip ads, they love to watch the ads every year for their high entertainment value.”

Advertisers can also use interactive ads to engage viewers, he says. “At the end of the ad, a simple multipleichoice question is asked about the product that was advertised, and people have the opportunity to answer the question through SMS or the box. Global studies show that if you have to think about a certain ad to answer a question, you will pay more attention to the ad, which means higher ad recall than with regular advertising.”

PLACE SCHOOL. Product integration with programming content is on the rise. “In its different formats, branded entertainment is always a good opportunity

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Johnny Khazzoum.

Managing director of Mindshare Bahrain

to provide relevant exposure to the brand, provided that the integration is done in a proper manner.

The trend is growing globally, and the number of product placements inserted into television shows is soaring,” says Massoud.

Melwyn Gonsalves, group media director at MCN media agency UM, agrees that product placement is a trend that will increase in acceptance. Apart from product placement, there will be a lot more messaging happening during the show, he adds. “[Nowadays] the messages during the break happen, but while you are watching the content they are already promoting the next show, or are promoting another channel in the same group.”

The way messages are delivered through video content will become more sophisticated, especially with Web-connected TV, says Gonsalves. He gives the example of an ad crawler about a product being used in a show. An example on YouTube shows an episode of US comedy series The Big Bang Theory. One of the characters is using a laptop, and a crawler ad for his computer runs at the bottom of the screen. Viewers can click on the crawler to get more information about the laptop. The technology can even allow viewers to purchase through the TV. Bradshaw-Zanger says a similar level of interaction will also be available within commercials.

“You’ll see a TV spot about a car and you’ll be able to click on the link to go to the website for more information.

“Potentially, we [as advertisers] will already have your data or even connect you through a video call straight to a dealership. There is so much more you can do when you think about connecting all the pieces together,” he says.

As more viewers watch video content on the go and on various platforms, advertisers will have to develop different ad formats for new screens such as smart phones and tablet computers.

SLOW START. “Sadly, not enough work is being done on this front,” says Gonsalves. “Adoption of alternative formats for advertising has been slow. Most clients are still using the old formats for new media. Clients and their agencies are still coming to terms with the various formats thrown up by digital media, so the development of new media has been slow – if at all. Media owners, too, are still experimenting with different types of advertising opportunities that best suit their medium. There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done.”

Gonsalves says it will take around three years to get a better idea of what works best for each medium.

Massoud says, “Some brand agencies are building and enhancing their capabilities on this front; they are getting better at creating ads specifically for these new platforms, taking into account the inherent characteristics and strengths.” But, he adds, “At a broad market level, the trends are still not significant enough for advertisers to start developing different formats.

However, if this trend gathers momentum and we reach significant levels of viewership behind different platforms, then creative adaptation and format adaptation will follow automatically.”

Mazen Hayek, group director of PR and commercial at the Middle East Broadcasting Network (MBC) – a free-to-air pan-Arab news and entertainment broadcaster – says it all boils down to whether advertisers are willing to pay an “extra dollar gross rating point” to customize the content and alter the format for the different platforms. “That is yet to be seen,” he says.

So there is clearly a lot to watch out for in the next few years. The industry will be tuning in to see how advertisers will make their way beyond the living room.

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Raise your glasses Avatar may have signaled the start of a 3D TV revolution, but is the region ready to embrace those technological changes? by Sidra Tariq

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LEX BRADSHAW-ZANGER. Regional director of digital strategy and innovation, Leo Bunett

n December 2009, millions of people around the world flocked to cinemas to watch Canadian director James Cameron’s science fiction epic, Avatar. For some, the attraction was that it was the most expensive film ever made. For others, it was the chance to see the Na’vi, the humanoid species indigenous to the film’s fictional planet of Pandora.

But, for a large group of people, it was the idea of watching the most expensive film ever made, with blue human-like creatures, in three dimensions (3D).

While 3D cinema technology has been around in one form or another since the 1950s, it has seen a resurgence in recent years, and reached a peak with the movie’s release. Since Avatar, a number of content providers have started to develop 3D material, and electronics brands have been rolling out 3D television sets.

3D TV will be the “biggest and most promising” television development in the world in the next five to 10 years, says Melwyn Gonsalves, group media director at media agency UM in Dubai. “This is primarily because a lot of people want it and a lot of industry participants are investing money in it.

So, whether it is in movies, gaming, or other content on TV, people are investing a lot of money and actually creating new content that people can use.”

But Lex Bradshaw-Zanger, regional director of digital strategy and innovation at creative agency Leo Burnett, doesn’t expect the technology to grow as much as some predict. “For certain early adopters and people who’ve got home theater systems set up, 3D may make a difference,” he says. “But I think for a mass-market consumer, that is going to take a long time.”

“When you have a medium with a user base as large as TV’s, it’s very difficult to get people to change their equipment, because it is an investment for them. It’s still a capital expense that you have got to replace your TV. And a regular TV costs around $300. You need these things to break or to wear out before you replace them,” he says.

QUALITY COSTS. “HDTV [high definition television] took a long time to take off because, yes, there is a definite difference in the quality, but I’m not going to spend another $300 to $500 to

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Glass act. 3D is back, but manufacturers are working hard to lose the glasses currently needed to view the growing trend replace my TV just to get the better quality,” Bradshaw-Zanger says.

Gonsalves acknowledges that the 3D TV trend will not explode in the Middle East in the next five years, but thinks it can be a starting point for the platform to develop further on a global level. “Currently, the biggest limiting factors are the availability of good 3D content and the cumbersome 3D glasses,” he says.

However, this is being addressed. Gonsalves says, “On the content front, major Hollywood studios have increased the number of 3D movies being released. So far, there are about 185 titles available in 3D, with about 73 movies in the pipeline this year. Game developers such as PlayStation and Xbox are investing heavily in 3D games. On the user-developed content front, a lot of electronics majors such as Sony, Panasonic, and JVC have introduced lines of 3D camcorders, so consumers can create and share 3D content. Broadcasters, too, are getting their act together. At least two of them – Sky and Virgin – have launched dedicated 3D channels in Europe.”

Bradshaw-Zanger, however, says costs associated with 3D content can be limiting – particularly in the region. “Arabic content is already behind Western and English content. So, if you’ve got the hurdle of creating content that is going to cost money to produce, and creating content in Arabic, which is also going to cost, I think we are going to see a much slower uptake of 3D TV.”

depth of focus.

Several manufacturers have launched 3D camcorders

CLEAR VIEW. Gonsalves says one of the biggest developments the next five years will bring is the elimination of 3D glasses. “One of the key limiters has been that people find the glasses too cumbersome. Normally you get about two

pairs of glasses with every 3D TV set. Most families today are an average of four people, so, obviously, that is not going to work.”

Manufacturers are working to lose the glasses, though. “Toshiba showcased a 3D TV without glasses last October at the CEATEC electronics show in Japan,” says Gonsalves. “The only limiting factors are the distance and angle of viewing, which will soon be addressed with advances in technology.”

Philips, too, has the technology, he says, where a person can watch 3D TV without glasses, from a very short distance.

He adds, “Companies have started investing on that front and there have been developments as far as glasses are concerned. Once that moves out of the way, you’ll have a lot more people going and buying 3D TVs.” Marketers are also gearing up to address 3D. “Advertisers have already started creating ads in 3D,” says Gonsalves. “In the Middle East, advertisers including Philips, BMW, and Total Lubricants run ads in 3D, albeit only in cinemas. As more movies get released in 3D, the number of advertisers investing in the medium will increase.”

3D may be adopted quicker if it can piggyback on other emerging technologies. BradshawZanger says, “If we can launch everything in one go – 3D, Internet-connected TVs, or media centers or home cinema centers – then maybe there is a way for economies of scale to kick in and we get into that replacement lifecycle.

Then people can take it on quicker.”

It may take time for 3D TV to flourish, but the trend seems to be catching. With hit movies Piranha, Toy Story 3, and Tron: Legacy adopting the technology, that immersive experience may be coming to a screen near you.

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MARCH 2011 | ADVERTISING

Looking to the Lynx

The ad festival’s director tells Communicate we can expect a revamped Young Creatives competition, a shift in the focus of entries, and an impressive line-up of speakers by Austyn Allison

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STEVE LANE. Director of the fourth Dubai International Advertising Festival, and the Dubai Lynx awards show

rom March 27 to 29, the region’s biggest creative event will take place at Dubai’s Madinat Jumeirah. Steve Lane, director of the fourth Dubai International Advertising Festival, and the Dubai Lynx awards show, says he is cautiously optimistic this year’s entries will exceed 2010’s total of 1,364.

“I would hope for more than last year, but you should never expect,” he says, speaking to Communicate 10 days before the Feb. 24 closing date for entries. “Half the time you don’t quite know which way the wind’s blowing in this market.”

Experience shows that agencies tend not to enter until the last minute, says Lane. However, he predicts that the balance of submissions will shift. “It’s too early to tell, but what I think we will see is a decline in traditional media,” he says. “It won’t be off a cliff, but it will be a slight drop off in numbers of entries in the traditional categories. I think we will see a marked increase in Digital entries, in the Direct and Promo stuff, and Media will increase again.”

The Media category was only introduced in 2009, but Lane says it could challenge Print’s dominance of the awards. “I don’t think it will overtake it,” he says, “but it will be close.”

Judging for the awards will take place from March 25 in Dubai. “Everything happens live at the event,” says Lane. “That way we can manage to keep the results a secret and a surprise for the awards show.”

The juries include such creative luminaries as Prasoon Joshi, McCann Erickson Worldgroup’s executive chairman and regional creative director for Asia-Pacific; Mike Cooper, worldwide CEO of PHD Global; and Rodney Fitch, the founder of Fitch and Rodney Fitch Limited.

Headline speakers at the festival include the newly appointed gloabl CEO of Y&R, David Sable; both Leo Burnett’s chief creative officer, Mark Tutssel, and the agency’s creative director, Michael Canning; and Arto Joensuu, “digital change agent” at Nokia, the phone giant that just announced a tie-up with Microsoft.

In the background of the seminars and workshops, the Lynx’s Young Creatives competition will be in full swing with a new format.In previous years there were two competitions: Young Creatives Print and Young Creatives Media.

“This year there is one competition, which is called the Young Creatives Integrated,” says Lane.

“It’s teams of three (it used to be two for print and three for media). The teams will be briefed on Sunday, March 27, and the brief will come from a brand this year, rather than a charity.”

He says the brand is well-known, among the top 50 advertising spenders in the world, and will be announced around a fortnight before the festival.

“Teams will have from the brief on Sunday to the end of Monday to create an eight-slide pitch, plus one execution of an integrated campaign,” says Lane. “On Tuesday night they will then pitch the Lynx jury (we are putting together a special Young Creatives jury from among our jurors and some of our guest speakers). From that pitch, the judges will award Gold, Silver and Bronze. It’s a little more real-world than the Print was.”

The format will also encourage teams to include a mixture of creatives and planners, he adds. These may come from separate, partner agencies.

Last year the Lynx began questioning clients about entries before work reached the judges, and although there are no changes to the judging process this year, that procedure will stay in place. “We ourselves will contact the client that is on an entry form before the entry ever goes to a judge,” says Lane.

The rule was brought in after the 2009 Festival was marred by scandal over ghost ads. In 2010 around 30 entries were withdrawn. “It’s a reasonably significant amount,” says Lane. “It’s not that it was not real work; it’s more that the client didn’t want it in an award show.”

One thing everyone wants is an after party, though, and after this year’s awards, production house Big Kahuna will be hosting one for the first time in Trilogy night club. Hopefully that will be a place to continue celebrating wins across all categories, for young guns and old hands alike.

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RESEARCH | MARCH 2011

The Egypt factor

Unrest in Cairo shakes up viewership figures in Saudi Arabia, according to research from WPP’s Mindsight

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he rioting in Egypt that began in January and continued until after President Hosni Mubarak stood down on Feb. 11 shook up the region’s politics.

It also shook up television viewership as consumers across the region tuned in to follow the developments in Tahrir Square and across the country.

Mindsight, the research arm of WPP media agencies Mindshare and MediaCom, released details of how the Egypt crisis had affected viewership in Saudi Arabia, as monitored by the firm’s ongoing television measurement survey, Mashhad.

“The average TV viewer is keenly following the events in Egypt on TV, resulting in a substantial surge in the rating points of the major news channels in the region,” says a report from Mindsight.

“A case in point is the meteoric rise in viewership in KSA for the main Arabic news stations such as Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera, along with other stations such as BBC Arabic and Al Ekhbariya.”

Usually, Middle East Broadcasting Corporation’s Arabic-language news and entertainment flagship MBC 1, and English-language MBC 4 are the top-performing stations in Saudi Arabia.

But Egypt’s news shook up the status quo, according to Mashhad figures from Jan. 25 to 31, the first week of protests.

In the preceding week, Jan. 18 to 24, MBC 1 commanded 30 percent of Saudi viewership.

MBC 4 had 8 percent, Al Jazeera had 2 percent, and Al Arabiya had 3 percent.

From Jan. 25 to 31, although MBC 1 retained the top spot, its lead had narrowed significantly, and Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya became the second and third most-viewed stations in the kingdom.

In that week, MBC 1 had 21 percent of viewership, MBC 4 had 7 percent, Al Jazeera had soared to 9 percent, and Al Arabiya had risen to 13 percent.

The Mindsight report says, “A closer look at the Mashhad data tells us that this trend took Al Jazeera to the most-viewed TV station on Jan. 28, with total gross rating points (GRPs) of 330.”

The shift in viewing was most pronounced among men, says Mindsight. Viewing time among males rose by as much as 25 minutes in the day.

On Jan. 30, Al Arabiya, Al Jazeera, and Egypt Channel 1 were the top three stations among men, capturing nearly half of total TV viewership. MBC averaged 107 GRPs, its lowest in recent years. Al Jazeera’s 400 GRPs were the highest for the station since it covered the Gaza war in 2009.

MBC 1 and MBC 4 generally dominate the ranking of top programs in the kingdom, but in the last week of January, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya broadcast 12 of the top 20 highest rated shows among men. Morning viewership for men also rose against regular days.

Saudi viewership before and during the Egypt riots

Source: KSA Mashhad

Percentage of audience share

Jan. 18 to 24 Jan. 25 to 31

MBC 1

30% 21% 8% 7%

MBC 4 2%

Al Jazeera

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MARCH 2011 | AGENCIES

Rain of terror

When Jeddah flooded, communications agencies found themselves in deep water.

We see how they coped by Sidra Tariq

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Tony RouhanA. Vice-president for KSA and Levant, Horizon Draftfcb

Georges Barsoum. Managing director of Leo Burnett Saudi Arabia

he floods that hit Jeddah on Wednesday, Jan. 26, brought the city to a standstill. Swamped streets, floating cars, and human chains became a common sight. There was more loss of property than life, but the disaster brought enormous grief to residents. All the sources we spoke to said the safety of their staff was their first priority, but creative agencies faced setbacks to their working calendar just as much as other businesses.

Tony Rouhana, vice-president for Saudi Arabia and Levant at ad agency Horizon Draftfcb, says there was light rain when he and his colleagues reached work at the International Economic Tower. “Within four hours, we started seeing the streets flood,” he says. “The area got really swamped. We had about one meter of water around [our building]. Employees’ cars were damaged because they were parked on the street. About eight cars were totally damaged.”

He and around 25 employees had to spend the night at the office without electricity or fresh water, as there was a total shutdown of amenities. The rest of the staff decided to walk home, but it took them a long time to reach their families, Rouhana says.

“The next morning, we got up and started seeing the water level coming down,” says Rouhana.

Employees tried to walk home, but what was a five-minute commute took four to five hours. Some got home and found their homes flooded, he adds.

A similar situation was faced by employees of Omnicom Media Group (OMG). Choucrallah Abou Samra, managing director at OMG KSA, says some of the media agency’s employees were also stuck

on the streets because of traffic jams and flooded roads. “Seven employees who delayed their departure [from work] were stuck in the office overnight with no food or electricity, and no running water; they managed with great difficulty to reach their houses the next afternoon,” he says.

Staff who flew to Dubai for last month’s OMG Media Innovations Forum were spared, he adds.

“The unlucky ones, including me and my wife, were stranded in flooded streets unable to reach home.

We had to cross the running water (we refer to it as Madina River now) on foot to reach the entrance of a hotel, where we stayed the night and managed to reach home only the second day in the afternoon.”

While creative agency Leo Burnett’s office in Jeddah wasn’t greatly affected, the lives of its employees were disrupted. Georges Barsoum, managing director of Leo Burnett Saudi Arabia, says, “We had employees who swam and formed human chains with other people on the street to survive being dragged away by the running waters.”

The agency arranged accommodation for employees who lived in unreachable areas. “Although hotels were full, we were able to secure rooms for around 12 employees,” he says. “Some of them spent one night; others spent three, depending on where they lived.”

The floods crippled movement around the city, so a number of organizations were forced to close their offices for a few days. Leo Burnett was fortunate, and continued work on Saturday, says Barsoum.

“We were lucky because the flooding coincided with

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after the storm. The floods caused massive loss; some 11,000 cars were damaged the Thursday-Friday weekend, so we re-opened as usual on Saturday, like most of the agencies and other businesses.”

Rouhana says Horizon’s employees couldn’t report to work until Sunday, when their offices had recovered from “a total shut-down of electricity and water in the building.”

“We had damage to the computer systems and in the UPS [uninterruptable power supplies],” he says. “Servers were also damaged because some water was leaking in.”

Abou Samra says, “Our building’s lower levels (underground parking, elevator, and electricity

control rooms) were flooded, with water almost reaching the ceiling. It took two days to pump all the water out, and another two days to repair the damage and replace the faulty electrical junctions, transformers, and circuit breakers.” OMG’s offices remained closed for a full week.

One of the biggest casualties of the flooding was time; “In our business, the most important thing is time; because as you delay, your budgets are moved forward,” says Rouhana. “But there’s nothing you can do about it; you just have to work harder.”

Barsoum says single-store retail businesses and warehouses suffered the most due to flooding, and Rouhana adds that some of Horizon’s clients’ factories were damaged because of water leaks. One car client saw around 270 vehicles damaged, he adds.

Abou Samra says businesses were affected most by power failure. “Sales representatives shifted their services to other offices, mainly in Riyadh. Some campaigns were delayed in coordination with the clients, either because of difficulty in sending the booking or receiving it. Urgent campaigns were booked the old fashion way: verbally.”

But some businesses made the most of a bad situation. “Insurance companies released print ads reminding people not to forsake the natural disaster premium,” says Abou Samra. He adds that TV news channels could expect a spike in viewership. “And we’ve noticed a spike in online,” he says. “But this cannot be solely attributed to the floods, since these coincided with the disruptions in Tunisia and Egypt.”

Almost a fortnight after the rains, agencies and clients alike were busy putting their businesses back on track. There were still pools of water and debris scattered around the city, but these were being cleared.

Everyone was hoping for clear skies.

counting the cost OMG’s Choucrallah Abou Samra on the background to the flooding

Choucrallah Abou Samra.

Managing director at OMG KSA

Jeddah has witnessed catastrophic flooding three times in less than two years.

The first flood was in Nov. 2009. The waters covered most of the districts east of the JeddahMecca expressway, killing more than 100 people.

The second one hit on Dec. 29, 2010, with rain and flooding concentrated to the east of Jeddah, causing the least amount of damageand no loss of human life.

The third one hit on Jan. 26, 2011, with 10 dead, four critically injured in hospital, and five still missing (at the time of writing). The third time around was the hardest in terms of intensity and damage, but thankfully there were fewer deaths than in 2009, since the population has learned to seek refuge on higher ground as soon as the grey storm clouds gather. Parents are asked to retrieve their children from schools and colleges, and businesses close down.

The latest rains and floods covered 60 percent of the geographical area of Jeddah, with 23 neighborhoods completely drowned and at least 14 considered disaster zones. The amount of precipitation we saw would not have caused such damage elsewhere in the world. However,

the situation was compounded by a combination of ground elevation (some parts of Jeddah are at sea level or slightly lower), the nature of the soil, and a lack of proper drainage channels and sewage systems (which service less than 10 percent of Jeddah).

To make matters worse, a badly maintained retention dam failed and the water rushed into the city using the main streets as channels. These roads became temporary rivers, concentrating the water in the lowest neighborhoods and completely flooding them in the south and the southeast of the city.

Below are some of the statistics published in the press in the wake of the flood (pun intended): Damaged cars: 11,000 Damaged shops: 2,500 Damaged houses: 50,000 Damaged schools: 216 Damaged universities: 3 Damaged hospitals: 4 Damaged streets: 90 percent Electricity blackout for more than 68,000 Loss of landline and Internet in most of the affected areas.

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MARCH 2011 | agencies

Bahrain counts cost of unrest

Life goes on as protests on the streets of Manama stop the grand prix and threaten to undermine the ad industry by Sidra Tariq and Austyn Allison

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Khamis Al Muqla.

Founder and chairman of Gulf Marcom Group

Fady Kamal.

Regional General manager of media agency UM

hen last month’s political protests reached Bahrain’s capital Manama, all aspects of daily life and business were disrupted. And the marketing and advertising industry was no exception.

On Feb. 22. the Bahrain Grand Prix, central to the country’s sporting, social and marketing calendar, scheduled for March 11 to 13, was cancelled. A statement from Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), the race’s official venue, says the kingdom withdrew “so the country can focus on its process of national dialog.”

A statement from the crown prince on the same site says, “We felt it was important for the country to focus on immediate issues of national interest and leave the hosting of Bahrain’s Formula One race to a later date.” At the time of going to press there was no confirmation the event would be rescheduled.

Fady Kamal, general manager for the Lower Gulf for media agency UM, says the cancellation is “a big shock” for the ad industry in a small market.

“Formula One is like the heart of Bahrain. It beats, it shifts, and moves everyone in Bahrain,” he says.

Many campaigns have been put on hold until further notice. “When you have a major, major, major event like the grand prix, which the advertising industry depends on economically, waiting all year long for that month, that’s a big hit,” he adds.

The founder and chairman of Gulf Marcom Group and president of the Bahrain Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA), Khamis Al Muqla, says the first quarter of the year is usually a very active period for the ad industry in Bahrain.

BIC itself spends around $3 million to $4 million on advertising for the grand prix over the course of the year, adds Kamal, although he doesn’t say how much of that is focused on the main event.

Bahrain’s national carrier Gulf Air, the title sponsor of the grand prix, would not say how much it had invested, but issued a statement saying, “We fully support the decision by the kingdom’s leadership to reschedule the race and are looking forward to a new date being set and welcoming the fans and teams to the country’s biggest sporting event later in the year.”

Al Muqla expects Bahrain will see a slowdown of advertising in sectors such as entertainment (which commands 17 percent of spend), government (16 percent) and financial institutions (9 percent).

Retail and car advertisers will also be hit by the loss of the race, along with tourism and luxury products.

Bahrain has also been chosen to host the IAA World Congress next March. Al Muqla says this is unlikely to be affected. However, the IAA board is likely to discuss the situation at a meeting this month.

In the meantime, the ad business carries on.

“Our team is working, as are our clients,” says Al Muqla. “We are involved in a lot of campaigns and nothing has been stopped.”

Kamal says UM’s offices have been closed at times due to demonstrations outside the building, and clients and staff have been leaving early to make sure they can reach home safely. Outdoor campaigns are also suffering due to the awkward logistics of putting up billboards in mobbed streets. “It’s slow and cautious, but life is continuing,” says Kamal.

He adds that the protests are aimed at the government, and are not intended to make foreigners feel uncomfortable about doing business in Bahrain. “Bahrain depends majorly on expats and international events,” he says. “They cannot really alienate themselves.”

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MARCH 2011 | ADVERTISING

Cristal ball

Did the predictions ring true? We bring you the winners and losers from this year’s advertising festival

by Nathalie Bontems

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t has been a while since the MENA Cristal advertising festival has seen so much snow. The event, held at the Mzaar ski resort, from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4, enjoyed a one-day storm last year, but that paled in comparison with the heavy snow this year. And, despite the freezing temperature outside, the atmosphere inside was certainly hot – and not just because of the enjoyable spirits and all-night partying.

First the sleaze. Despite the political unrest that shook the streets of Beirut just one week before the four-day event, around 600 advertising, marketing and media players headed up the Lebanese mountains. This affluence translated into a busy, sometimes cramped gathering.

With companies such as Rotana Media Services, Drive Dentsu, Menacom, Y&R, FP7, and TBWA, among others, joining the competition or heavily increasing their participation, the festival, which had often been dominated by the likes of JWT and Leo Burnett, gained in diversity as reflected in the awards distribution.

But this didn’t happen without a cost: Early evenings were marked by a recurrent discussion on where to eat, as many of the official venues were fully booked.

Tensions started to run high when FP7 Bahrain and its client telco provider, Batelco, swept five of the eight Cyber Cristals, including the Grand Cristal, plus a handful of Media awards.

Whether resentment explains why so few people attended the FP7 debate on “The evolution will not be televised” the next morning is hard to tell, although Fadi Yaish, the creative director behind the campaign, seemed to think so, calling on fellow agencies, after FP7 was named agency of the year, to adopt fair play and applaud his team during the official awards night.

To give a general idea, Leo Burnett walked away with 17 Cristals and Grand Cristals, Impact BBDO 13, JWT 10, TBWA/Raad 9, OMD 8, and FP7 24, particularly impressive considering the ghost-ad scandal that hit the network in 2009 (FP7 Doha was stripped of seven of its Dubai Lynx awards as well as its Agency of the Year title for having submitted entries that had never

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run, plus one campaign for a client they didn’t have, Samsung). Yaish said FP7 was back and had much more in store for 2011.

Electricity was also in the air when a short film celebrating the achievements of the media businessman of the year, Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, represented by RMS’s president, Nizar Nagro, aired. The production received a fairly mixed response from a public more inclined to salute the recent upheaval in Egypt than the Saudi tycoon’s fortunes. And again, when a muchanticipated debate on controversial creativity, involving Fouad Abdel Malak, executive creative director at Impact BBDO UAE; Assaad Douaihy, group regional creative director at Intermarkets; Daniel Georr, chief creative officer at FP7; and Ramsey Naja, chief creative officer at JWT MENA, became heated, the crowd left disappointed and upset.

Wind of change. On the upside, the 6th edition of the MENA Cristal awards provided an excellent occasion to meet the industry’s new faces, and congratulate those who climbed a step higher on their career ladder. From Dani Richa, who had just celebrated Impact BBDO’s 40th anniversary, and named CEO of the network, to Bechara Mouzanar, who had recently been appointed chief creative officer at Leo Burnett MENA in lieu of Farid Chehab, who will act as honorary chairman, to name just a few.

Change was also at the core of various panels and discussions, much as it has been since the emergence of social media. In a presentation on online content optimization, Ahmed Nassef, vice-president and managing director of Yahoo Maktoob, warned against the downfall of newspapers, saying print papers reach 66 million individuals across the Arab world, including pass-over readers (people who read someone else’s copy), compared to the 64 million Arabs connected to the Web, with the prospect of reaching 100 million in a few years Many are content with sourcing their news from the Internet only. “Even though their audiences are the same, $2 billion is spent on print media in the Middle East, against $100 million on online. This means we’re missing a big chunk of people we’re not communicating with,” he said.

Jean-Charles Decaux, chairman of the executive board and co-CEO of outdoor supplier JC Decaux, explained that within his network (of 1,040,600 advertising panels in 56 countries), the number of digital screens jumped from 2,000 in 2008 to 6,300 in 2010, a figure set to double in the coming months.

Outdoor is “the only remaining mass media and [thanks to new digital technologies] will soon be able to operate on a one-to-one basis,” he said, describing JC Decaux’s latest interactive tool, an iPhone app called U snap, allowing online access to brand information when a consumer takes a picture of one of the brand’s posters.

Leading the way. FP7 Bahrain and its client Batelco took five of the eight Cyber Cristals In a world where more than 60 percent of the population will be living in cities by 2030, where time for leisure pursuits is expected to be double that of the 1960s, and where public transport and air traffic is expected to grow by 4.9 percent year-on-year until 2028, according to Decaux, outdoor has happy days ahead.

Talk the talk, walk the walk. Issues such as “the end of the interruption era” and “the transition to the on-demand era,” whereby for any ad to be effective people will have to enjoy it and want to hear what the brand has to say, were tackled repeatedly.

Calls for brands’ long-term commitment to consumers through digital communication instead of single-campaign based operations, for investment instead of spending, and for content instead of pure advertising, were repeated across the board.

“When competing with other pieces of content, it’s very hard to attract attention. So any kind of branded content [not to be confused with product placement] should be relevant, trustable and valuable, with a premium for innovation and quality,” said Hervé Cuviliez, CEO of digital media company Diwanee, reminding the audience that “the effort must be consistent, and the content must be spreadable.”

With each person on the Internet being potentially connected to 47,472 people (through Facebook and other social media, blogs, and websites), the multiplication rate is now what matters. Arto Joensuu, head of digital at Nokia MEA, concurred, calling for a move away from consumer relationship management to advocacy relationship management.

“Most brands try to operate in their old ways.

Stop replacing time with money. True business impact [today] comes from longevity. Social media is not about one campaign launch or generating a buzz; it’s about an ongoing commitment. Look beyond one-night stands,” Joensuu said.

“We got lost between James [Walter Thompson] and Mark [Zuckerberg],” said Roy Haddad, chairman and CEO, Middle East and Africa at JWT. “The audience is now creating its own audiences, and we are suddenly managing opinions. The consumer’s desire to share put us in crisis-management mode.”

The winds of change are indeed blowing, and not only in Faraya, because at the end of the day, as Jeremy Ettinghausen, creative director at BBH Labs in London, said, “We are the last generation that cares about the difference between digital and analog.”

Soon, digital will be a meaningless word, as it will have become the norm and our actual way of life. Adapt or die.

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decemBer march 2011 2010 | advertIsIng | cover storY - grand crIstal shoWcase

magaZIne

accessorIes reQuIred Harvey Nichols, Y&R Dubai

outdoor

all terraIn Ets. Kettaneh, Impact BBDO Beirut

fIlm

haJJ nadI, domIno’s pIZZa TBWA/Raad Dubai

prInt craft

musIcal creatures The Fridge, TBWA/Raad Dubai

corporate

louBnanI Bank Audi, Leo Burnett Beirut

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1

09/02/2011

10:04

The brightest minds Exchange views

David Sable Wunderman

Mark Tutssel

Rodney Fitch:

Leo Burnett Worldwide

If You Want Design, Go Shopping

Armin Jochum

Jung von Matt

William Rosen

Mouldbreaking

Arc Worldwide

Activating Ideas: Inspiring Creativity That Changes Behaviour

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Data, Data Everywhere – So What?

Dr. Naif A. Al-Mutawa

Connections

THE 99

Inspiration From Abu Dhabi To The World: Using Digital To Build Etihad’s Brand Globally

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Mobile³:

The 1-2-3 of Becoming a Mobile Marketing Rock Star

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Ronald Wohlman Lowe + Partners

Storytelling – A Lost Art?

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The Middle East Independent Agency Showcase

Simon Bond

Proximity Worldwide

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The Who’s Who of Advertising

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Prasoon Joshi

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MARCH 2011 | PRINT

I’m with the brand

Rolling Stone Middle East may have rock ’n’ roll roots, but publisher Waref Hawasli says it’s backed by a sound business model, including a comprehensive media audit by Sidra Tariq

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Waref Hawasli.

Publisher at HGW Media

ith legendary Beatle John Lennon on its cover, the third issue of Rolling Stone Middle East hit the stands in January. Launched in Dubai in November 2010, the regional edition of the “edgy” magazine (its publisher’s description) covers music, movies, culture, and regional affairs, including news on artists performing in English and Arabic in the Middle East and beyond.

Around 50 percent of the magazine’s content comes from the US edition of Rolling Stone. The rest is generated locally and regionally through the magazine’s editorial team, freelancers, and regional contributors, says Waref Hawasli, publisher of Rolling Stone Middle East and managing partner of HGW Media, the publishing house behind the title (HGW also publishes listings magazine FYI and offers branding and marketing services).

Targeting the 18- to 55-year-old age group, Rolling Stone has a 55 percent male and 45 percent female readership, by Hawasli’s

estimate. With music, artist news, film reviews, culture, politics, and regional affairs being relevant to, well, everyone, and a parent publication that is well established, the title has the potential to do well.

Currently, Rolling Stone Middle East’s advertisers are mainly multinational companies, says Hawasli. He flips through the pages of the magazine’s second issue, listing brands.

“Volkswagen, Nokia, Marc Jacobs, Ford, Sony, Philips, Cadillac, General Motors, Nissan, Pull & Bear… We’ve got some of the big players, the ones that have really seen the magazine as a unique title that fills a gap in the market and that can really attract the demographic they are looking at,” he says.

“We’re getting the brand names, and that’s essentially what the goal is: to make sure that when it comes to advertising we’re filling these pages with strong brand names and, obviously, local brands too that want to target a localized market here.”

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TICKET TO RIDE. Hawasli says he expects to attract more advertisements for consumer products, automotive brands, fashion, and retail. “These are going to be our main target, and they are already advertising in the magazine,” he says.

Rolling Stone Middle East has been in the market for around three months when we speak to Hawasli. While many magazines get little advertising in the first six months, he says, the number and caliber of advertisers the regional edition has attracted this early in the game has been encouraging.

“So far, I think, the best is yet to come,” he says. “Obviously, we are still operating in a very distressed market; it is still recovering. The next few months are when plans are in place and budgets are allocated, and from my understanding we’re at the top of a lot of lists.”

Hawasli says Rolling Stone Middle East circulates 15,000 copies in the UAE and the wider GCC, but he hopes to increase the figure within the next six to 12 months. His long-term goal is to circulate between 30,000 and 40,000 copies throughout the GCC and the Middle East.

“I want everyone in the market to understand that we’re not just a printed magazine; we are a brand,” says Hawasli. That is one of the reasons he is keen on having Rolling Stone Middle East audited.

Soon after its launch, the magazine announced that it had applied for a brand audit with auditing firm BPA Worldwide. “Brand audit is an approach where you take in not only your circulation figures, but also what else your magazine is doing and what other factors are involved,” says Hawasli.

Stuart Wilkinson, Europe, Middle East and Africa managing director for BPA, the firm carrying out the audit, says that as well as measuring a publication’s circulation (to provide a figure the title can then show to advertisers to emphasize its reach), a brand reach audit reviews interaction at multiple touch points such as websites, events, and newsletters. “The audit can measure how many people attended the publication’s event or visited, viewed, or read all these different media channels that the brand offers the marketplace,” he says.

TELL ME WHY. Auditing has become more important since the economic downturn, says Hawasli.

Clients and advertisers are now more focused on measurable return on their investments. “Budgets are much tighter now, so you make sure you allocate your spend in the right direction,” he says.

“Advertisers are thinking, ‘If I’m going to pay X amount of dollars, I want to know why I should advertise in this magazine. What is its official circulation figure, who is it targeting, and is it the target market that I want?’”

A brand audit goes a step further toward letting advertisers understand the titles they are buying space from. “As an advertiser, it is important to understand that you’re not only taking a page out in the magazine; you are associating yourself with a brand, and you want to make sure you

© Getty/Gallo Images

PRINT | MARCH 2011

smash hit. Rolling Stone has provided pop culture commentary for decades align and position yourself with the right brand that represents your own brand.”

Hawasli says he wants all Rolling Stone Middle East’s channels audited, including its website, newsletters, and events. “BPA is working right now to try and find a way to get SMS audited too,” he says.

“One of the biggest positives that occurred because of the economic downturn was that it essentially filtered out a lot of the madness that was going on,” he adds. “The publishers that are left are the very transparent ones. The magazines that are left are the strong ones and the ones that have the support. And I think to move forward in this market today, it is very important to get audited. I just don’t foresee a publisher succeeding these days or moving forward without being transparent.”

As Lennon sang, there’s “Nothing you can know that isn’t known, nothing you can see that isn’t shown.” He probably wasn’t thinking about Middle East consumer magazines’ advertising sales strategy, though. (There’s not a media planner out there who could agree that there’s “Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be.”)

But if the musician had been advising Rolling Stone Middle East, his chorus might have been, “All you need is auditing.”

Thankfully, it wasn’t.

Stuart Wilkinson.

Regional managing director, BPA Worldwide

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march 2011 | Marketing

Hitting the BTL

Alcohol marketers aren’t allowed to sell through regular advertising channels in the UAE. We see how they use below-the-line tactics to get their messages across by Rania Habib

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Rayan KarakY. General manager of digital operations at Vivaki MENA

ou can consume it. You can buy it (with the required alcohol license, of course). You can serve it. You can mix it. You can PR it. You can talk about it on social media. You can use an alibi logo (a brand’s logo without its name). You can even experience it. But you can’t advertise it.

Marketing alcohol, and doing a good job of it, in what insiders call a “dark market,” is a delicate task, akin to juggling the right component ingredients to make the perfect cocktail.

With the UAE being one of the more lenient markets in the region when it comes to alcohol, Communicate took a look at booze brands, the people who market them, and where alcohol marketing trends are headed.

Monique Bouwer, brand manager for Bacardi Martini in the Gulf (her remit covers the UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain) compares the UAE to markets such as France – a country that restricts alcohol advertising.

“It’s not just because the UAE is a Muslim country that you can’t advertise spirits. It’s the same regulation as cigarettes,” she says. “But you can still activate it, because it’s all about the point-of-sale. When you operate in a dark market, you’re not allowed to do any advertising, and you cannot display the brand or the product where it’s

not sold. No billboards, no magazines, no television; the entire strategy has to be rotated around below-the-line (BTL) marketing, such as events, sponsorships, and activation.”

Other countries – including Ukraine, Kenya, India, and Norway – have put a ban on advertising alcohol on television and billboards, while it is also heavily regulated in the United States, much of Asia, and even Sweden. But operating in predominantly Muslim countries is a different ballgame, one where sensitivities must be taken into consideration.

Rayan Karaky, general manager of digital operations at Vivaki MENA, Publicis Groupe’s media division, says as long as consumers have a choice to see or not to see any BTL alcohol marketing, brands are fine. “I don’t think the aim is to block it here,” says Karaky. “The restrictions aren’t here to block alcohol marketing, just to avoid being offensive to other cultures.”

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? Bacardi Martini threw what Bouwer calls an “experience event” last year, bringing a South African band to popular Dubai nightclub Chi, in a bid to promote Bacardi Cola, a new product at the time.

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© 1985 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; ©V&S Vin & Sprit AB 1999 / Francesco Clemente

Absolut ART

The Absolut Art Collection comes to Dubai For over 30 years, Absolut has collaborated with the creative world, and today the ABSOLUT Art Collection

Venue: Carbon 12

comprises more than 800 works from artists including Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Damien Hirst.

Dates: 3rd to 6th March 2011

Now you can see a selection of some of the finest pieces from this collection on display for a limited period in Dubai.

Time: 2:00 to 7:00pm daily

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Admission: Gratis

Also announcing the ABSOLUT ARTICULATION Art Competition

ABSOLUT_ART_COMMUNICATE_330x240.indd 1

For competition information visit www.absolut articulation.com

22/02/2011 08:57

march 2011 | Marketing

taste test. The Johnnie Walker pod at Dubai International Airport “There were 3,000 people at the event,” she says. “As you walked in, everything would be branded Bacardi, the hostesses greeting guests were dressed in Bacardi-branded clothes, and big screens were circulating the newer Bacardi television commercials.”

Other BTL marketing strategies include smaller details, Bouwer says, such as how a particular brand looks on the shelf. “In a bar, you’re playing in an environment that is very competitive,” she says. “For us, you have to stand out from the competition at the point-of-purchase and have back-bar visibility. We launched a new program for Grey Goose vodka [another Bacardi brand] a couple of months ago, where we’ve taken 4.5 liter and 1.5 liter bottles and decorated them with Swarovski crystals. So, when you look at the bar, it says, ‘I am Grey Goose, I am premium, and I am standing out from the competitors.’”

Dominic Andrews is managing director of Aquavitae magazine, which is part of the Dubaibased Pinpoint Media Group and bills itself as “the region’s first and only magazine devoted specifically to the discerning connoisseur of premium spirits.”

He says getting a license for the magazine was a tough task. “While we are able to enjoy some of the best wines and spirits available in the world here, we still have to do it in a controlled and sensitive environment,” he says.

“We had to go through great detail in order to demonstrate the direction of the magazine, and demonstrate our incredibly controlled distribution, as it’s not just available out in the market for everyone to pick up. The magazine is not for sale and not available on any newsstands. We are available directly to consumers through private subscription only, and in certain duty-free outlets and first- and businessclass lounges. The last thing we want to do is cause offence to the country where we’re operating from.”

THE FINER THINGS IN LIFE. Aquavitae is a bimonthly magazine that focuses not only on pre-

mium spirits, but also on the lifestyle that comes along with the “finer things in life,” Andrews says.

The trappings of this lifestyle include premium spirits, luxury goods, arts, and style.

“Obviously, we carry advertising from certain alcohol companies, but we also have fashion brands, fragrance brands, apparel, and lifestyle brands that advertise with us. This supports the editorial content, but doesn’t drive the content,” Andrews says. He adds that while the magazine is established and operates on restricted circulation, some businesses are still reluctant to advertise with the title. “Some brands that are held by locally-owned holding groups might not want to support the magazine, and we respect that hugely.”

Getting in “on the ground” and talking directly to consumers remains one of the best ways to market alcohol brands, Andrews says. And that’s just what LightBlue, an “experiential” branding

agency based in Dubai, does with its alcohol clients. One of their ventures last year was for Double Black, the latest whisky from Johnnie Walker. “We created a pod at the airport where consumers could be engaged by looking at the products and sampling them,” says David Balfour, managing partner at LightBlue.

“There are promoters and, inside the pod, there are mentors who tell the consumers about what they are tasting; so this mentorship takes the brand to a one-to-one level with the consumer. And in case the consumers are too shy to engage with the brand and don’t want to go inside, we created an augmented-reality touchpoint outside, as technology is very high on the agenda for us.”

Balfour says it is important to localize alcohol marketing. “It’s not about looking to the UK and at what they’ve done,” he says.

“This is very much our own market; it’s such a melting pot, and we have to make sure we’re speaking to people in their language, in their lifestyle, and their way of thinking.”

The biggest challenge in marketing alcohol in the region, says Balfour, is for brands to understand localization can be achieved.

“You don’t need to be frightened of using local agencies that come up with great ideas,” he says.

“Our clients are seeing the benefits of not just adapting international campaigns all the time.”

Despite all the challenges alcohol brands face in the region, Karaky says, online space is opening up conversations and making marketing easier. “I think we’re starting to notice the flexibility we have with the social space,” he says.

LightBlue is also moving toward digital, but the road is long and winding. “It’s taken a long time to understand digital when it comes to alcohol brands,” Balfour says. “There’s still little understanding about why we are spending on digital; but we are breaking down those barriers.”

Bottles on the wall Absolut vodka is bringing its own brand of art to Dubai.

From March 3 to 6, 20 pieces from the Absolut Art Collection, which is owned by the Historical Museum of Wine and Spirits in Stockholm, will come to Dubai’s Carbon 12 gallery.

“The Collection comprises more than 800 pieces of work,” says Anna Malmhake, vice-president of global marketing at the Absolut Company.

Alexandra Bohl, the Company’s project manager of global marketing, adds, “With artworks by the likes of Andy Warhol, Louise Bourgeois, and Francesco Clemente on show, the appeal of this Dubai exhibition is being able to view the Absolut Art Collection in an eclectic lounge environment.”

Absolut is also organizing a competition for artists and creatives, based on an advertising brief given to Andy Warhol in 1985. “Our first art-inspired campaign, Absolut Warhol [pictured, above], was immediately recognized as a classic advertisement,” says Malmhake. “Since then we have had a longstanding and fruitful relationship with the creative world. This exhibition allows us to showcase an important part of our heritage and also support the local art world.”

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MARCH 2011 | MEDIA

How one scammer snared a small shop Online fraudsters hijack agencies – and their sites – to harvest identities, seed malware, and commit crimes by Brian Steinberg

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t’s a small agency with a big-sounding name, which is probably why Dallas-based Agency Creative was targeted in a state-of-the-art scam: Fraudsters impersonating an agency, probably to disseminate malicious codes to consumers through advertising.

CEO Mark Wyatt thought something was amiss when he received a call from 24/7 Real Media about a 20-million-impression buy his firm had attempted to place for another Dallas company, and one of the Web’s biggest advertisers: Travelocity. One problem: Travelocity is not a client. Wyatt’s agency handles accounts for a local Hilton, the Dallas Fort Worth YMCA, and area healthcare clients.

But the imposter purporting to work at Agency Creative looked legit, with e-mails, an identical website, and a negotiating style that showed he knew what he was doing.

His pitch, from an e-mail:“If you can provide a $1.50 CPM rate, we will purchase 20M impressions. Let me know if you work with these CPM rates. Our primary goal is to expand advertising reach with new partners, thus we will need 1/24 frequency cap and optimization

toward unique visitors. Campaign is targeted to US IP addresses. No specific age or demo targeting. I look forward to working with you!”

Choosing Travelocity was another stroke of genius; a big advertiser looking for lots of cheap impressions is an order an ad network such as 24/7 Real Media would be likely to fulfill quickly with the fewest questions.

“My first thought was a little bit of a panic, because I thought we were going to be financially liable,” Wyatt says. “We also contacted the FBI. Within an hour, four other media houses had contacted us.”

Thorough job. The imposters set up their front on a plausible-sounding Internet domain, agencycreative.net (as opposed to the legitimate site at agencycreative.com). That’s an old trick: When scammers targeted Gawker and The New York Times a little more than a year ago, they used faux e-mail suffixes such as @spark-SMG. com and @Hyundai-inc.com. But a year ago the scammers hadn’t bothered to reproduce the agency’s website on their faux domain; this time

they had. “The individual purchased a domain name, agency-creative.net, hosted that domain, and then through frames technology basically told it to grab our website and place it inside,” Wyatt says. “They hijacked our website.”

Online ads have emerged over the past few years as the weakest link – the easiest way for criminals to harvest identities, spread malware, or even hijack computers into an organized “super cloud” to commit crimes. Scammers will impersonate agencies and advertisers to push orders through more quickly, with less scrutiny, and to mask their identity under the guise of something more legit.

But placing the order with 24/7 Real Media, using fake e-mails, names, and an almost-identical copy of the agency’s website, is also probably what led to the scammer’s undoing.

When 24/7 Real Media’s Midwest sales vicepresident followed up on the order by calling the number on the website, it became clear the contact, Joe Clark, didn’t really exist at the agency, even though he had negotiated via e-mail for the buy.

Wyatt subsequently learned the imposters had attempted to place ads using fake credentials

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MEDIA | MARCH 2011

© Getty/Gallo Images

on CareerBuilder, Traffic Marketplace, Synacor and Sustainlane. He quickly changed the code on his agency site to prevent it from being repurposed on a different URL. But it’s quite likely the scammers succeeded on other sites. Since scammers generally pay their advertising bills – sometimes in advance – these scams can go on for some time before they’re discovered. Scammers use a host of tricks that have evolved to stay ahead of the technology, such as geo-targeting, or running the ads on weekends, or only after many impressions, to throw off publishers, networks, and their technology solutions.

Bigger risk. At a time when a lot of attention is focused on online tracking, the bigger risk to consumers is that publishers, advertisers, and tech firms aren’t doing enough to protect them from real crimes commit through advertising.

“People are so concerned about cookies and IP, and people tracking them, but what about someone busting in the back door and stealing their stuff?” asks Michael Caruso, CEO of online security firm ClickFacts, which works with News Corp. and several other portals and social networks he can’t disclose due to confidentiality agreements.

ClickFacts estimates that about 3 percent of all Web pages with advertising had some form of malware in the fourth quarter of 2010, with a slightly higher percentage among the top 250 ComScore sites that are more likely to work with multiple networks and vendors – a scenario that can make it difficult to know where the malware came from. Industry estimates put the number much lower, at 0.5 percent.

Those attacked – agencies, publishers, networks, and exchanges – tend to keep it quiet, although Mike Nolet, chief technology officer of Appnexus, says it comes in waves as improvements in scanning technology force scammers to adapt. “It’s a constant cat-and-mouse game,” he says. “We see a new threat and it will come across multiple networks for a month or two, and then quiet down.”

Weak link. In a prior wave, scammers were directly calling on publishers, such as Gawker and The New York Times, posing as agency execs and making buys for ads that installed malware on their visitors’ computers. Now, the proliferation of middlemen gives them many more opportunities to find the weak link in the chain, which is most often human.

“What you’re seeing is a new level of sophistication on the part of the bad guys,” says Bennie Smith, vice-president for platform policy at Yahoo’s Right Media. “They’ve found it’s easier to trick a person than it is to trick an algorithm.”

The ability to look and sound legitimate is the killer app for the scammers, who negotiate like pros and know-how and when to approach a

publisher to get their ads up fast. They no longer have to know any code: There are state-of-theart developer kits available for purchase, and the cost keeps coming down. It might not work long, but it will work long enough to harvest enough identities, say, to make it worthwhile.

“We’re seeing a lot of malware coming through Flash advertisements,” Caruso says.

“Malware writers are making it so Flash and Quicktime automatically upgrade to another version so they can get in. They prepare the users’ computer for the malware.”

Since a malicious ad can activate at any time, it takes constant observation to detect.

Scammers can even switch out a benign fake ad with one loaded with malware. By the time a scam is discovered, the malware has generally done its job and the scammers have moved on.

The key is to catch the ad before insertion, or at least before it activates.

“What’s the nature of this creative? If it contains a script or code you wouldn’t expect, there’s a reason,” Smith says.

Wyatt will probably never know who hijacked his website and why they picked his tiny agency.

In 2002 he picked a name for his agency with pleasant keywords and locked down the .net, .org and .com variations, but he didn’t think to register a hyphenated version. The registrar for the domain is based in China. The reason for the impersonation “might have been based on domain availability,” he concludes.

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MARCH 2011 | ADVERTISING

Apple crumble?

Could Jobs’ absence affect Apple/TBWA ties? We take a look at the dynamic behind one of the most storied matchups in advertising history by Brian Steinberg

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ith a question mark hanging over Steve Jobs’ position at Apple, will the company continue to “Think Different”? And will it do so with long-time agency partner TBWA? The “Think Different” motto helped bring Apple back to popularity after a fallow period following Jobs’ forced departure from the tech concern in the mid-1980s. When Jobs returned in 1997 he immediately rehired TBWA/Chiat/Day, the agency that put Apple on the map with what has long been recognized as the best Super Bowl ad of all time: An eyebrow-raising 1984 riff on George Orwell that showed a female warrior shattering a TV screen broadcasting a “Big Brother” type keeping viewers under tight control. In the process, the ad introduced the Macintosh computer to the masses.

At its core, Apple’s ad business has long been based on a marriage of top client executive and top creative. Jobs and Lee Clow, chairman and global director of TBWA’s Media Arts Lab and chief creative officer of the TBWA network, have been joined at the hip for years. Mulling the longterm stability of the alliance is, simply put, natural.

Now, Jobs’ health is returning to the headlines, and Clow is handling fewer day-to-day responsibilities.

There’s precedent to consider. After all, Pepsi and BBDO (like TBWA, owned by Omnicom Group) once had an alliance forged in steel by executives who moved in lockstep: Phil Dusenberry and Allen Rosenshine at the agency, and Roger Enrico and Alan Pottasch at the beverage

maker. As the executives moved on, the account ties grew weaker. In 2004, upset when BBDO ousted creative executive Ted Sann without officially notifying Pepsi first, the beverage maker moved ad duties for Diet Pepsi to Omnicom sibling DDB Worldwide. (These days, TBWA handles significant work for PepsiCo beverages.)

Yet there’s little to suggest Apple sees reason for looking elsewhere. TBWA has, in recent years, worked to provide a deep bench of talent for the Apple account. More than 300 employees are said to work for the iPod and iPad maker, housed in TBWA’s Media Arts Lab under president James Vincent and chief creative officer Duncan Milner.

In recent years, Apple has scored advertising hits such as the famous “silhouette” campaign for the iPod and iTunes; the clever-but-needling “Mac vs.

PC” ads that took pot-shots at Microsoft; and iPad print ads that depict the tablet screens as tailored environments for different consumer demographics.

CHALLENGING CONVENTIONS. Together, Apple and TBWA have challenged all sorts of conventions.

In 2001, for example, the two launched a TV ad starring musical luminaries ranging from Chuck Berry to Liz Phair to George Clinton, telling consumers to “Rip. Mix. Burn” their own discs using Apple technology – and this after the record companies had gone to war with Napster. Just three years later, Apple pushed harder, giving U2

the chance to debut the rousing single “Vertigo” in a commercial for iPod and iTunes.

Jobs’ role in all this is said to be dominant. He has long maintained a presence in Apple’s image, design, and ad strategy, overseeing everything from ads for a Cingular phone that used iTunes to approving the use of actor Justin Long to play “Mac” in the now-legendary ad series that had Long make fun of John Hodgman’s stuffy “PC.” Apple’s importance as an advertiser has increased over the past several years, as the company has moved aggressively from being a maker of high-end computers to reworking the music and telecom industries. For the first 10 months of 2010, Apple boosted its measured US ad spending by 13.6 percent, according to Kantar Media, to about $220.2 million, from about $193.8 million in the 2009 period.

Apple is getting more of its revenue from overseas. It generated 44 percent of revenue from the US in the year ending September 2010, the first year that its home market accounted for less than half of its overall revenue. The US accounted for 52 percent of Apple’s revenue in fiscal 2009.

Obviously, an account of that size is important to TBWA, but how crucial is it to Omnicom’s bottom line? An Omnicom spokeswoman says the company does not want to comment on individual businesses. One Wall Street analyst suggests Apple’s business alone is probably not of material importance to Omnicom’s financials.

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MARCH 2011 | Digital

Game on

Marketers take note: Time spent on casual games has gone up, while the average age of players has gone down by Irina Slutsky

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hey do it at the bus stop, at the doctor’s office, in line at the grocery store. They do it anywhere they can.

The number of people playing casual games, and the amount of time they spend playing, is unprecedented.

Angry Birds alone sucks in users for 200 million minutes a day and Zynga’s CityVille entices close to 100 million people a month.

This no longer sounds casual.

The reason people have become so committed is easy to identify: the proliferation of mobile devices. The Casual Games Association reports how the industry earned $3 billion in mobile revenue in 2009.

Mobile devices and social networks have resulted in more people playing more games, giving advertisers an opportunity for innovation and huge new audiences.

“Casual games have been growing thanks to the explosion of mobile – largely the iPhone – and social networks, primarily Facebook,” says Mari Baker, CEO of PlayFirst, creator of the Diner Dash games.

Baker says casual doesn’t refer to the player’s relationship with the game, but means the game is easy to learn, can be played in short bursts, and is relatively inexpensive and fast to develop.

Angry Birds, for instance, cost Rovio $100,000 to make and is bringing in more than $2 million every month.

The reason these games are so attractive to today’s consumers is that players can get in and out in five minutes or less. Unlike games such as World of Warcraft or Grand Theft Auto, which can take hours or more to complete just one stage, casual games gives people the satisfaction of completing a level without a huge time commitment.

So what can advertisers do with this huge audience? Peter Vesterbacka, creator of Angry Birds, says brands first have to let go of the idea that they need their own game. “We get a lot of requests like ‘You made Angry Birds, can you make a game for us?’ Sure we can. But the smart brands are the ones who will work with the apps that already have the audiences, and create experiences that will be integrated into the app.”

Sponsored items.Vesterbacka says he is looking to TV as an advertising model for casual games.

“In TV, there’s free-to-air, there’s cable, there’s ad-supported, there’s pay-per. This is still early days, but we will be much bigger than TV.”

A good way for advertisers to integrate with casual-game content is to sponsor items inside the game. Unlike several years ago, when casual games were mostly for sale, gamers have more choices for free games than ever before.

“That’s a huge shift in gaming,” says David Madden, CEO of game marketer Wild Tangent.

“It used to be a software business, but now it’s a content-access business, and users are paying for items inside the free content.”

Madden says his company creates campaigns for Clorox, Axe Body Spray, and Dove. For interacting with a brand inside the game, players get virtual goods that would normally cost money.

“In the social-game space, less than 3 percent of users are spending real money, so there’s a 97 percent opportunity here for advertisers to sponsor social-game access.”

Another opportunity to innovate with casual games is merging online and offline experiences. PlayFirst’s Chocolatier game created a campaign for Charles Chocolates in which users could opt to purchase real-life versions of the chocolates they made in-game.

Players have since created 135 million pieces of Charles Chocolates for their virtual shops – not a bad name recognition for a small San Francisco brand.

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MARCH 2011 | Advertising

Wieden & Kennedy: Agency of the Year

It’s always been about the work – and Nike. But these days the indie shop is forging fruitful relationships with other clients to win this Advertising Age accolade by Rupal Parekh

M

“

David Kennedy. Co-founded Weiden & Kennedy with Dan Wieden in 1982

Dan Wieden. The co-founder of Wieden & Kennedy coined Nike’s “Just do it” tagline

y dad was in this business and I thought it was the most whorish thing a man could do,” says Dan Wieden, perfectly seriously. “He was working late at night and trying to be nice to people he didn’t like and he’d sell people stuff. It felt like one of the lower callings.”

But sometimes a man must admit his mistakes.

In 2010, Wieden & Kennedy did a bit of that, too.

The indie network has always been admired for its passion and ironclad hold on the biggest running shoe brand, Nike. But apart from its founding client, the agency hasn’t been known for tight relationships, and it took a hard look in the mirror to realize the shop needed to improve on that important part of the equation.

Not that W&K has suddenly decided to join the 4As – the American Association of Advertising Agencies – or that it would ever consider relinquishing its independent status. Wieden is certain that he sees no reason to join an agency trade group, and on the subject of acquisition, says, “We’ll blow this thing up before we sell.”

But Wieden & Kennedy has found it can remain counterculture and still change course.

“For a long time there, we didn’t understand why every client wouldn’t come from the same perspective… we learned that not every client was Nike,” says Wieden.

“We have a bunch of clients now that we’re really in sync with.”

The engine of growth for Wieden last year was undoubtedly its Oregon headquarters, but it’s an exciting time for other parts of the micronetwork too.

Late last year, the agency added a crucial dot on the map with the opening of an office in Sao Paulo, Brazil, just in time for the Olympics and the World Cup. Its Delhi office led Wieden’s move into publishing by launching an Indian version of The New Yorker, Motherland.

Stateside, the oft-rocky New York office has been getting a refresh under new managing director Neal Arthur, moving the needle for clients such as ESPN and Delta. Wieden is again confident about the hub’s prospects. “The Delta business has really livened that office up and given us new credibility with really complicated business propositions.”

Target’s brand was known for a cheap-chic positioning that led consumers to treat the retailer more like a department store than a go-to for lower-priced goods. One problem: When the economy sank, consumers feared the store was more expensive than it actually was. To regain foot traffic, Wieden embraced the low prices, but meshed them with a lighthearted, human voice.

The work it produced in 2010 – which ranged from humorous spots pegged to the series finale of Lost to comedian Maria Bamford playing a demented shopper – hit the bull’s eye. The agency’s business with Target has now quadrupled, leading the retailer to officially name Wieden its lead

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MARCH 2011 | Advertising

agency. That’s historic for a marketer that previously preferred to cherry-pick partners.

black-and-white “Earl and Tiger” saw the athlete questioned by his father [Earl died in 2006 following a lengthy battle with cancer], while the cheekier “Rise” showed James donning a Miami Vice suit and asking the public, “What should I do?”

“It is not about making ads,” says Todd Pendleton, global director of brand communications at Nike. “It is about serving the needs of athletes and making a deep personal connection with them.

A much newer client for the agency is Chrysler, which invited Wieden to pitch work for Dodge that was so well received it wound up launching on last year’s Super Bowl.

Satisfied with the results, the automaker went back to Wieden to handle Chrysler’s important rollout of the year, the new Jeep Grand Cherokee. “‘The Things We Make, Make Us’ has resonated very well on a macro level as well as internally,” says Olivier Francois, president and CEO of the Chrysler brand. “The sales have demonstrated the consumer’s positive reaction.”

“I admire their strategic thinking and they have a strong desire to protect the truth in communicating the brand values and objectives, while keeping a unique voice in a crowded market,” Francois says. “Quite honestly, they’re very much like us.”

A descriptor like that isn’t one that most agencies that have historically worked with Chrysler would use; the carmaker is known to be a notoriously finicky client. But Wieden seems to have found a kindred spirit of sorts.

More disciplined. “We have gotten smarter and more disciplined in how we bring clients to market,” says Tom Blessington, managing director of Wieden’s Portland office.

As in the case of Target, most of Wieden’s big wins last year came from its current roster.

“The success of this agency has always been organic in nature,” says Blessington. “We do not do well in pitches that include pitch consultants.

I think it’s because when a pitch consultant gets involved, you bring in an intermediary who is engineering a process. And that’s not a good thing for an agency that’s more organic in its approach… we are not slick by any stretch of the imagination.”

Indeed, slickness is nowhere in the DNA of the agency that Wieden, at the time coming off a freelancing gig at McCann, co-founded in 1982 with David Kennedy. “I went, ‘Jesus, this advertising thing is pretty darn interesting.’ It was like doing crossword puzzles for a living.” When Nike agreed to be the shop’s founding client, its total ad budget was $1.2 million, and, astonishingly, the company wouldn’t permit any ad to be run more than once.

In 2010 the agency was tasked with helping Nike address the messy situations created by two of its biggest athlete endorsers – Tiger Woods’ infidelities to his wife and LeBron James’ less-thangraceful exit from Cleveland (James announced his free-agent decision to head for Miami in a widely criticized, national-television special).

The TV spots for each generated tons of talk value and millions of media impressions. The

Massive hit. And then there was Old Spice, by far the most talked about work of 2010.

Through its history, P&G has relied on vetting and copy-testing every marketing execution for every brand under the P&G umbrella. But its Old Spice “Responses” campaign, which lit up the social-media sphere for 48 hours last July, eschewed that norm – and became the digital hit of the year.

What’s different with Wieden is there’s no need to hold the agency’s hand, says James Moorhead, the soft-spoken brand manager for Old Spice.

Talking to Ad Age at the company’s Boston beauty and grooming headquarters, Moorhead says,“Our team has developed chemistry over time together, and trust,” Old Spice is now the No. 1 most-subscribed-to brand on YouTube, well on its way to two billion impressions since its February 2010 Super Bowl spot. And since that time, bodywash sales are up 50 percent – not without the help of other efforts, such as couponing. But the buzz around that Isaiah Mustafa “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign has had a halo effect on sales of other Old Spice products too, such as deodorant, which is up by between 10 percent and 20 percent on last year.

“For a long time, [clients] saw us only as a left-brain solution,” Blessington says.

“Clients are seeing the strength of the left brain coupled with the right brain. We weren’t the easy option. It’s a point of pride that I think we’re an easier option now.”

Run-away success. Nike has been a key Wieden & Kennedy client from the start

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MARCH 2011 | PRINT

Sporting chance

Communicate pitches questions at Michael Chalhoub, the man behind Sport 360, to see if he’s match-fit in a down market by Sidra Tariq

I

. Love. The state of the economy. Three things you’re unlikely to have heard together in a sentence over the past couple of years. Here’s three more: A sports daily. In print. In the UAE. After a late-September launch, Sport 360 – published by Abu Dhabi-based Gulf Sports Media – is slowly making its presence felt.

Distributing a claimed 40,000 copies a day, the newspaper covers a wide range of local, regional, and international sports, with analysis being one of its key selling points. As well as the print version, Sport 360 boasts a website that carries live results and statistics on sporting events from around the world.

But when news of its launch first broke amid a media bloodbath that had seen many titles disappear in the Middle East, more than “What?” and “How?” the question on everyone’s lips was, “Why?” In a region where sports news is available via websites and newspaper supplements, one would expect a lukewarm response to such a

daily. Sport 360’s CEO, Michael Chalhoub, however, says the publication has received positive feedback.

“We’ve been receiving a lot of compliments on the editorial side and design of the paper. People were surprised by the quality. The marketing side has also shown a lot of good successes,” says Chalhoub. “We’ve been present at more than 30 events in less than three months. What we try to do is get this newspaper in people’s hands, for them to judge for themselves if this is a newspaper for them.”

Chalhoub says Sport 360 launched at a time when – according to proprietary research – around 92 percent of readers in the UAE got their sports news from newspaper supplements.

Chaloub describes these as being of “poor quality.”

Newspaper sports content is “all wire-serviced, and non-opinionated.” Sports enthusiasts are not newspapers’ main target, he says.

What is Sport 360 doing differently, then?

How is it doing it, and why? We ask Chalhoub.

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MARCH 2011 | PRINT

with it. We are not a newspaper. Sport 360 is a multi-platform media. Our digital and print platforms complement each other.

match winner. Chalhoub says Sport 360 offers advertisers a specialized target audience why Why launch a sports newspaper in the UAE? On the readership front, there was a gap in the market. There was an opportunity, and there was a need for people to learn more about sports – whether internationally or even in terms of what’s happening in the region. And I don’t just mean Formula One or the big tennis championships. I also mean all of the grassroots events, academies, tennis clubs, golf clubs, health centers, and fitness centers. All of these lacked media attention.

People were looking for them without really knowing where to look. We are recapturing what happens in the UAE, and even more so on our listings pages. We want to service readers and users on the Internet and show them there are a lot of things related to sports that they can do during their free time.

On the event-organizing fr ont, there is a need for event organizers to have a good communications system. We are that perfect marketing and communication tool for these events – big or small – that are happening as more and more investments are being made in the UAE on sports. The UAE is becoming a sports capital, and the whole region is developing itself as the new sports hub.

On the advertising front, advertising appeared to be slowing down. However, I think in 2009 and 2010 it wasn’t that advertising was slowing down, but it was targeting and specializing in core markets. Research shows that advertisers are looking to make a real impact on their core target audience, and they need out-of-thebox creative thinking. Sport 360 offers them a unique tool, and I think a lot of advertisers will recognize in our audience a core market that is theirs.

The economy is still recovering from the financial crisis. Why launch Sport 360 during a recession?

There is no better opportunity to launch such a product than during a recession. We’ve seen what happened with other publications that launched during the boom years, that had over-budgeted and over-financed, and then began to face cashflow troubles.

We’ve been very conservative with our approach, because we have based ourselves on the figures that we’ve seen in 2009 and 2010 – which are not the biggest in the UAE. Besides, during a recession, you have an incredible amount of talent in the market, and I think as long as the quality is there, recession or not, we’ll be making a great impact. In short, we’ve been budgeting this on a recession year and recruiting the best talent in this world because they found themselves in a delicate situation following the recession.

Why not launch in Arabic?

The opportunity to attract bigger numbers, thanks to our English publication, was huge. We were trying to go past any nationality or cultural segmentation, and launching in Arabic would have restricted us to a certain market.

Most people who are passionate about sports go online to get news. Why didn’t Sport 360 launch online only, especially since some once-daily publications (such as Emirates Business 24/7) have gone that way over the past year?

We’ve realized the joy of having everything in one paper is much bigger than looking it up on various websites all around the world. We never would have had such an impact if it wasn’t for our print publication and our design. And our willingness to be on the digital platform grows

how How has advertising been?

Advertising was something we needed to be patient with. However, I think that a lot of brands recognize themselves with Sport 360. A lot of brands are targeting what is today the most prominent part of the population, and probably in future will be the fastest-growing part of the population: young male enthusiasts.

Big advertisers are beginning to realize that Sport 360 is an opportunity to communicate to a certain segment of the population that they can’t reach otherwise. It’s a segment of the population that barely watches TV, wants to learn more, is very active, wants a change from daily business and political news, and doesn’t get all the news it requires about sports from the supplements of other publications.

So we’ve managed to attract not only sports brands – and sport-related brands – but also all the brands that want to communicate to our target audience.

How does Sport 360 expect to compete with websites and supplements in newspapers – the main sources of sports information for enthusiasts in the region?

For all I know, we are not competing with anyone, and yet we’re competing with everyone.

We are not competing because you won’t find something else in the region that gives complete sport information, analysis, and breadth and depth about each and every one of these sports.

At the same time, the reason you might find we are competing is that we are offering advertisers a better, more specialized target audience that might attract them more. Moreover, we have brought into this market a lot of creativity, through our design and flexibility. what What challenges has the newspaper faced since its launch?

It has been a challenge compiling the best circulation for the paper, and strong marketing, and keeping up the quality of the editorial and design.

What has Sport 360 learned?

Sport 360 has learned that when you are unique, and when you offer something that is needed and doesn’t exist on the market, you have a great chance of succeeding and making an impact. Another thing Sport 360 has learned is patience.

What does the future hold for Sport 360?

Currently, our core market is in the UAE, and our website has been visited [by people] in the region and the wider world. We’ve always believed that we need to walk before we run, and take things one step at a time, because we’re here for the long term.

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MARCH 2011 | DEPARTMENTS

Guest Opinion

The first “phygital” revolution

© Getty/Gallo Images

Tom Roychoudhury, chief innovations officer at Middle East Communications Network, says the virtual and the real worked hand-in-hand in Egypt

N

Tom Roychoudhury. Chief innovations officer, Middle East Communications Network

ecessity was the mother of intervention. When all else failed, they went bluetooth and memory stick. As communication doors closed day after day, the people in Egypt, tired of “no you can’t,” and did the “yes we can” through new doors.

They combined intervention and invention. When all electronic channels were shut down, it went physical. Tahrir Square, #Jan25, #Egypt, was the first “phygital” revolution in history.

You’ll hear two sides to every story (and sometimes even three). One side will claim that it was a bread-and-no-butter revolution. The people in Tunisia and Egypt had tolerated enough of being have-nots and, unable to tolerate any more, stood up to injustice and poverty. Change doesn’t happen on a social network alone; change happens on the street. It’s physical; it’s blood, sweat, fire, rocks, bullets.

There’s a set of the urban hip in Cairo who pounded the streets in Tahrir Square in their Converses. They will claim it all started on their BlackBerrys and iPads, that this was a modern-day revolution, with keyboards and mice instead of guns and Molotov cocktails or sticks and stones.

“We’re winning this on information,” claimed a young advertising executive who was involved.

Shared information kicked off and mobilized this uprising with where-to and how-to tips. It started, we are told, on Facebook, then picked up momentum across various channels of communications, across multiple media including Twitter, BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), voiceto-tweet, open IPs, and the sharing of physical memory sticks.

An uprising is a mass thing, and the mass doesn’t go critical until it involves a cross-strata of society. This time around, the young, socially adept, technologically-enabled urban youth got involved – and helped activate the mass because they felt empowered and enabled.

“What’s different this time around here in Egypt is that this isn’t just a bunch of disgruntled, unemployed young men hurling rocks,” a colleague told me. They’re educated, aware, and unhappy. They’re hurling Tweets. The walls being torn down are firewalls.

One poster boy of Tahrir Square was Google’s marketing head for the Middle East and North Africa, Wael Ghonim – blogger, activist, and Tweevolutionary. When he disappeared off the streets, locked up by the authorities for socially mobilizing the uprising, helping push #Jan25 to unprecedented trending, the social networks were rife with anger.

If you blog, they arrest you. You are known by your handle. And then, on his release, there was widespread celebration and a whole new momentum fueled by victory.

The other thing we’ve noticed this time is that people intervened and invented in amazing ways beyond text. People turned not working into networking. We’ve seen dozens of photos and handheld videos shared on the Internet, but often passed on physically to start with. Digital cameras and camera phones have enabled the street-citizen journo. There are a thousand words in a photograph, and many times these were handed over to foreign journalists – in various formats – directly on the street and in hotel lobbies.

When Al Jazeera was allowed back on air, their Creative Commons (a copyright license allowing members of the public and other organizations to use the network’s footage) helped the people of Egypt find their audio/video voice.

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Knowledge Zone Partners

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MARCH 2011 | DEPARTMENTS

Regional Work

BBAC takes care of you.

Advertising Agency: Adrenalin, Lebanon. Production House: The Talkies. Director: Nicolas Salis. DOP: Luke Palmer.

Fashion is for the taking.

Advertising Agency: Tonnit Design, Dubai. Creative Director: Tonnit Thomas.

Art Director: Tonnit Thomas, Shinil Damodar. Copywriter: Sheetal Rajan.

Illustrator: Farm Works Studios. Photographer: Adam Browninghill.

Account credits: Sujit John, Evelyn Lobo, Naveed Zacharaia.

Financing your dreams.

Advertising Agency: Wellsbox, Egypt.

Creative Director: Ibrahim Barakat.

Art Director: Ibrahim Barakat.

Copywriter: Ahmed Nabil.

These ads (and more) can be found at adsoftheworld.com

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DEPARTMENTS | MARCH 2011

Regional Work

The Axe Effect.

Advertising Agency: Lowe Mena, Dubai. Creative Directors: Mark Lewis, Marwan Saab.

Art Director: Mansoor A. Bhatti. Group Account Director: Tej Desai. Senior Account Manager: Prashob Ravi.

Why should people visit Ski Dubai? Because it’s the biggest, most thrilling indoor snow experience in the GCC: in fact, it’s as close as you can get to the great outdoors while staying indoors.

Client: Ski Dubai. Agency: Expression, Dubai. Creative team: Chris Hubert & Phil Ramage.

These ads (and more) can be found at adsoftheworld.com

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MARCH 2011 | DEPARTMENTS

International Work

The Land Rover S1 Phone. Incredibly tough.

Advertising Agency: Y&R Lima, RKCR/Y&R, London. Regional Executive Creative Director: Guillermo Vega. Head of Art: Christian Sánchez.

Copywriter: Daniel de León.

Imagine taking as much shit as your car. We have everything you need to take good care of your vehicle. Welcome to our petrol stations.

Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Stockholm, Sweden. Creative Director: Björn Ståhl.

Art Director: Per-Olov Lundgren. Copywriter: Richard Baynham.

Photographer: Petrus Olsson.

Viagra – See The World Differently.

Executive Creative Director: Dave King. Art Director: Dan Fastnedge. Copywriter: Olivia Wagner. Retoucher: Lightfarm Studios. Photographer: Mat Blamires. Account Director: James Johnston. Account Manager: Amy Ivancic.

These ads (and more) can be found at adsoftheworld.com

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DEPARTMENTS | MARCH 2011

International Work

Play tough. Official partner of England Rugby.

Advertising Agency: RKCR/Y&R, London. Executive Creative Director: Mark Roalfe.

Copywriter: Mike Boles. Art Director: Jerry Hollens. Photographer: Nick Georghiou.

Let your room shine in perfect light with the TRILUX Torso.

Ad Agency: Serviceplan Sales, Hamburg Creative Directors: Alex Schill, Peter Harasim, Harald Gasper.

Art Director: Michael Wilk. Copywriter: Marc Vosshall.

Think of who’s along for the ride. If it affects you, it affects your family.

Advertising Agency: Calder Bateman Communications, Edmonton, Canada.

Creative Director: Kevin Barclay.

Facile. The new high pressure washer from Electrolux. Just pull the trigger and finish with all the mess. Pretty much like Hollywood movies.

Ad Agency: Heads Propaganda, Curitiba, Brazil. Copywriter: Marco Pupo.

Art Director: Ricardo Madeira Peroza. Illustrator: Joe Bennett.

These ads (and more) can be found at adsoftheworld.com

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MARCH 2011 | Off the record

The Dish Don’t gnocchi it Lawson Dodd is a London-based PR agency. Their website also appears to be available in Chinese. We have no idea how they got our e-mail address.

And even less idea why they might send us a press release beginning, “Just wanted to get in touch about a possible really cute little feature that I thought might work for you.”

Communicate doesn’t do cute.

Especially when the topic of the proposed feature is about how, “On the 29th of every month, the Argentineans celebrate Gnocchi Night.”

Well, this section is called “The Dish.”

PUB-lic service In other appetite-whetting news, we received a mouthwatering invite to a “Gala Dinner & Medical Symposium on Peptic Ulcer Bleeding (PUB) in the UAE.” Yum. Putting a damper on things When Aldar Properties invited us to its National Environmental Day and World Wetland Day celebrations at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Links Golf Course, we went running for our bucket and spade. Aldar promised, “It would be our great pleasure to welcome you and your family to help continue this vision of a Sustainable Emirate by planting a mangrove seedling.” We were also tempted by the mangrove drawing competition and educational mangrove quiz. Who wouldn’t be.

Mangroves grow in wet sediment.

And the event was celebrating World Wetland Day. So we couldn’t help but wonder if we were alone in noticing the irony when the event was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Cole sore What’s worse than receiving pitches from consultants and social-media gurus offering “marketing lessons you can learn from the Egyptian revolution”?

This Tweet from the Kenneth Cole Twitter presence: “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit. ly/KCairo -KC.”

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That “KC” is supposed to indicate thoughts from Kenneth Cole himself – and not some keyboard-pounding intern. Whatever the case, the Tweet immediately following reads: “Re Egypt tweet: we weren’t intending to make light of a serious situation.

We understand the sensitivity of this historic moment – KC.” Our friends at Ad Age suggest this might suggest Kenneth Cole and others in the media and marketing industries not only suffer from a lack of tact, they suffer from a lack of historical knowledge…

Just because you have an opinion on everything doesn’t mean you should be sharing it.

Release me Communicate is not against press releases. We use them for information in our news pages as well as in The Dish. There’s a place for them to give background information, and even full news stories, to busy hacks.

But we do feel that they should at least be refined before publication.

And if there’s a chance to add extra quotes, insight, and angles to what’s sent out by a PR agency, so much the better. Most savvy marketers feel the same.

When du arranged a meeting with the trade press to discuss its new campaign, we discussed it in detail with the UAE telco’s top branding bods, the creative team from Leo Burnett, and a representative from media agency OMG. That meeting gave us much more than any e-mailed statement could, and we’ve done our best in our news pages to refine an hourlong discussion to around 200 words.

Not all the media had the same plan. At the end of the press conference, we were asked if there was anything else we needed. A journalist from a rival publication (we won’t name them, but they also cover Arab ads) piped up with a straight-faced, “I just want you to give me a press release without me doing it. I just want your point of view on what are you expecting from your campaign – by e-mail, so I can just publish it.”

We’re not sure if he was Woodward or Bernstein.

Poet’s corner Galliano Spring Summer 2011 takes its cue from the late 1920s, when an actress named Maria Lani appeared on the Paris Art Scene.

Over the next two years she cast her spell over Paris, and convinced over fifty leading artists of the day to paint her portrait, on the pretext that their work would star, with this ingenue, in a Horror Movie about ‘the painting that came to life’… Henri Matisse, Jean Cocteau, Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger, Chaim Soutine, Giorgio de Chirico and Tsuguharu Fujita were amongst the names she charmed.

All agreed this intriguing character could, no must, sit for them.

Each outfit in this collection is as individual as each portrait.

Pieces are worked to interpret the artist; the muse and her unique persona layering shapes and combinations of fragile fabrics. Fine inverted pleats open into brush stroke draping and puffed out nuage collars, asymmetric layered ruffles evoke the refractions of her subtly ever-changing pose, while tailoring is belted high under the bust echoing Modigliani’s line.

Devoré floral jacquard is layered with mousseline, gauze and tulle to create a subtle shadowy impression of the lady’s spirit.

Oversize circular-cut trousers are veiled in black tulle and trenches are cut in X-ray-like organza exposing the inside/outside construction. For evening the draped and embroided dresses are inspired

by Brancusi’s metallic sculptures.

But there is a twist to this true story…

Maria Lani was not an actress. There was no movie.

She took her paintings, sold them, and fled to the United States… and all we are left with is the memory of her spirit as she leaves…

– A press release from Galliano. After reading that last paragraph, Communicate suggests paying cash on delivery for the new collection.

Rolling back the years Thanks to Ian Hainey from Custard Communications, the Dubai-based PR independent that launched last year. He sent us a catch-up e-mail saying, “Custard’s team has expanded and we are looking to push towards an even more successful 2001.”

We’d not even noticed his deliberate mistake till he pointed out in a second e-mail, “We also have a Custard time machine, so are working on projects a decade ago too.”

Stop living in the past, Ian. Kick the can In December, on our way out of the Media and Marketing Show, Communicate popped in to the Dubai Drinks Technology Expo next

door. Now we’re not saying that there’s anything more interesting than media and marketing, but it had been a long time since we’d seen test tubes with smoke coming out of them and a machine that made bottles.

So perhaps can manufacturer Crown had heard of our newfound love for the drinks packaging industry when it decided to start sending us press releases.

But they could perhaps learn something from marketers when it comes to making their releases timely. On Jan. 25 we received an e-mail titled, “Coca-Cola kicked off World Cup promotion with cans from Crown.” That’s the football World Cup. That took place in June.

Communicate cannot guarantee the accuracy of the rumors, innuendo and idle gossip that appear on this page.

Send your anonymous Dish tips to editor@communicate.vg

2/24/11 2:40 PM