Communicate | September 2011 by MediaquestCorp.

The marketing and advertising resource • September 2011 • Issue N° 81 • www.communicate.ae Power to the people: Kipp readers vote OMG’s Elie Khouri to top of the list Page 8

TELEVISION Live from Qatar As Al-Jazeera English celebrates its fifth birthday, the Doha-based news channel is starting to broaden its base with expanded distribution in the US, and a branding campaign to “get journalism to as many people as possible.”(Page 44)

OPINION Phrased out

Game on: Google+ adds the likes of Zynga, but makes opting out of Page 12 updates easy

Draft plan: Horizon’s Mazen Jawad shares his strategy for the agency with us Page 66

SHOW ME THE MONEY

In this month’s Communiquestion, we ask the industry: What phrase would you ban from meetings? It turns out there are a lot of people around who aren’t fans of thinking outside of the box. And even those (Page 14) who would ban trust.

MARKETING Trickle-up effect As marketers turn to emerging regions for development, “reverse innovation” is seeing products flow back to traditionally pioneering geographies. But why would the rich want a poor man’s products? Plenty of reasons, as it turns out. (Page 56)

CAMPAIGN Don’t take a fence

(Page 69)

The Communicate salary survey: See what you should be earning

Cover Image: Corbis

MediaquestCorp Egypt.................... E£ 10 Jordan.................... JD 4 Kuwait................. KD 1.2

Lebanon.........L£ 5 000 Morocco.............DH 22 Oman................ OR 1.5

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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SEPTEMBER 2011 | LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

I’ve been expecting you B

efore I sat on my Kindle in Manila airport, I got a lot of reading done this summer. I was largely plowing my way through the original James Bond novels. There’s a lot to learn about advertising and marketing from the shameless product placement that went into Ian Fleming’s books as much as the films that would later be based on them. But there’s also something to learn about how much people were worth back in the days of post-war spy rings and super villains. In Moonraker, the third James Bond novel, published in 1955, for example, we discover that Bond “took no holidays, but was generally given a fortnight’s leave at the end of each assignment – in addition to any sick leave that might be necessary. He earned £1,500 a year, the salary of a principal officer in the Civil Service, and he had £1,000 a year tax-free of his own. When he was on a job he could spend as much as he liked, so for the other months of the year he could live very well on his £2,000 a year net.” Nowadays £2,000 isn’t much; it’s about 12,000 dirhams. But as this month’s cover story is about our annual salary survey, I felt it was a justified use of company time and bandwidth to figure out what Bond would earn now. According to something called the retail price index, which compares purchasing

4 I Communicate

power in the past and today, Bond would have been taking home a little more than £40,000 a year. That’s the equivalent of 240,000 dirhams, or 20,000 dirhams a month. If you turn to our cover story on page 22, you’ll find that this would put him on a par with a senior copywriter at a creative agency, a buying manager at a media agency, or a junior account director at a PR agency. Of course, there are major differences between 007 and a buying manager. One has a libido like a bunny in a Viagra lab, and spends lavishly in casinos and on cocktails, fast cars and fast women. By contrast, Bond was only a spy. So mix yourself a martini, holster the Beretta, and turn to page 22 to see if you’re licensed to make a killing. Austyn Allison, managing editor editor@communicate.vg

CONTENTS | SEPTEMBER 2011

Contents

COVER: Salary survey

FEATURES

28 34 38 40 42

NEWS 8

10 12

We find out from creative, media and PR agencies what they pay their staff State of pay: See who’s looking for what type of talent, and what the experts say about maximizing your earning potential Pay roll: Who’s earning what? The facts and figures from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon View from the top: The region’s top marketers on how to get ahead in advertising Create expectations: What are Lebanon’s creative directors after in new recruits Appeal to a HR power: What do Lebanon’s agency heads look for when hiring? States of the market: What US shops want from their staff Media. Elie Khouri wins the people’s choice as Kipp Report readers choose their Power List. But who’s been taking part? Media. Carat opens Riyadh office and eyes Cairo and Abu Dhabi for further expansion Digital. Google+ adds games

THE COMMUNIQUESTION 14

We ask the industry: What phrase would you ban from meetings?

50 52 56 60

Television. Al that Jaz: Al-Jazeera English launches US ad campaign Digital. Rooms with a view: How does the hospitality trade handle review sites such as Trip Advisor? Agencies. All together now: Enter a new breed of holding company Marketing. Into Africa: Why multinationals are making inroads into the continent Marketing. Back to front: Why marketers are looking to developing countries for reverse innovation Digital. Surfer little children: Kids are taking to the social Web, but advertisers are loath to follow

DEPARTMENTS 54

64 66 67 68 74

X-pert Files. Nothing complicated: Consumers will pay more for simpler brands, according to a Siegel+Gale survey. The agency’s Tarek Sultani explains X-pert Files. Type measure: Prototype’s Alexander Rauser on what Web fonts mean to digital marketers Interview. Draft ideas: New Horizon Draft FCB boss Mazen Jawad reveals his plans for the agency Communicruitment. Turn to our jobs section to find out who’s hiring Work. Selections from the regional and international creative scenes The Dish. Lathes, locks of hair, and an admiral’s line of sight

SEPTEMBER 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 REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Bassel Komaty CREATIVE DIRECTOR Aziz Kamel 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

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FOUNDER Yasser Hawari MANAGING DIRECTOR Julien Hawari GROUP MANAGING EDITOR Siobhan Adams MANAGING EDITOR Austyn Allison JOURNALIST Sidra Tariq SENIOR SUB EDITOR Elizabeth McGlynn ART DIRECTOR Sheela Jeevan ART CONTRIBUTORS Aya Farhat, Jean-Christophe Nys 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 El-Zyr 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

SEPTEMBER 2011 | REGIONAL NEWS

OMG’s Elie Khouri tops people’s Power List More than 300,000 clicks on Kipp Report for ‘people’s choice’ version of Communicate rankings – but who’s been voting?

Dubai. The people have spoken. Communicate’s sister title, Kipp Report, asked its readers to vote on Communicate’s Power List. And they did. OMG MENA’s CEO Elie Khouri (pictured, above) came out on top. Some background first: In June, Communicate released its Power List, a ranking of the 50 most powerful people in the media, marketing and advertising industry. We used a long and complex formula that took into account the turnover of people’s companies, the number of years they had been in the industry, and many other factors. MBC’s Sheikh Waleed Al Ibrahim was at No. 1; OMG’s Elie Khouri was at No. 2. To view the full list, where there is also a description of our methodology, log on to our website, Communicate.ae. Our ranking was done according to data, numbers and stats, and Kipp decided to see how that would tally with public opinion. For a month, KippReport.com hosted a page where

it listed the power players, and members of the public could vote them up and down. After the votes were tallied, the top 10 looked like this: OMG’s Elie Khouri was at No. 1 (he was 2 on our list); 2: Menacom’s Joseph Ghossoub (4); 3: TBWA’s Ramzi Raad (8); 4: Leo Burnett’s Raja Trad (6); 5: Pepsico’s Ahmed El Azizi (26); 6: Saudi Research and Marketing Group’s Dr. Azzam Al Dakhil (28); 7: GM’s Fadi Ghosn (18); 8: MCN’s Akram Miknas (3); 9: JWT’s Roy Haddad (7); 10: MBC’s Sheikh Waled Al Ibrahim (1). You can find the list at KippReport. com/vote-results. That page will also tell you how many people voted for each person to be promoted, and how many voted for them to be demoted. Khouri, for example, got more than 80,000 promotions, and just over 800 demotions. At the bottom of the list, at number 50, is Rotana Media Services’ Nezar

Nagro (down from 31 on the Communicate list). He was promoted 4,141 times on Kipp, and demoted 4,543 times. Not only did the poll attract disinterested members of the public, though. One of Nagro’s people called up our colleagues at Kipp and complained about an apparent vendetta against her boss. How did she know? Apparently, every time RMS’s staff tried to vote him up, someone else was voting him down. Now with more than 300,000 votes cast, there might have been some scope for cheating, perhaps asking your friends – colleagues and staff, even – to vote for you. But we’d suggest not admitting doing so. Even if you are afraid others might have been voting vindictively against you. Communicate is pleased that the people have spoken. But we’re raising our eyebrows when we think about who those people might be.

Moreover, 50 percent of respondents indicate they check their mobile before going to work, with almost a third (31 percent) doing that before getting out of bed.

Nassir Nauthoa, Intel’s general manager for the GCC, says, “The research shows that people’s tolerance levels are rising and the use of mobile devices is now so pervasive in our society that 70 percent of respondents felt it’s necessary to have its own code of conduct.” Meanwhile, 86 percent of respondents said they check their social media status daily, with 43 percent of these checking more than three to four times a day.

 I RESEARCH Intel releases mobile etiquette survey for the UAE Dubai. Texting while driving, talking loudly on the phone in public, and losing awareness of surroundings or conversations are among UAE residents’ pet mobile technology peeves. This is according to Intel’s Mobile Etiquette Survey, conducted among 500 respondents.

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 I AGENCIES Cheil Worldwide announces new COO for MENA region Dubai. Azmi Yafi has been named marketing and communications company Cheil Wordwide’s chief operating officer for the Middle East and North Africa region. Yafi (pictured), who will work at Cheil’s Dubai headquarters, was a former CEO for UAE operations at FP7 and a regional managing director at Impact BBDO. Andrew Yi, regional president and CEO of Cheil, says, in a statement, “Cheil is strengthening its regional structure and growing the agency capabilities. Azmi has a proven record of achievements in the region [and] we are confident he will help us achieve our goals and take Cheil MENA to new levels of excellence.”  I PR Hotwire teams up with Active PR and others Dubai. Hotwire, the international communications consultancy, recently launched its enhanced global affiliate network incorporating Active PR (Middle East), East Side Consulting (Eastern Europe), Influencer PR (China), Northern Link (The Nordics), Rice Communications (SE Asia) and Six Degrees PR (India). Andy West, Hotwire’s newly promoted group managing director for global client development, is spearheading the initiative, a press statement says. Under his remit, the affiliate network goes beyond the agency’s existing global relationships and delivers a tried and tested network of partners that will ensure a consistent high level of service, backed by a common ethos and working methodology, it adds.  I DIGITAL Vivaki launches research into KSA Internet habits Dubai. Working in an exclusive partnership with GlobalWebIndex, Vivaki’s research and analysis company, Business Compass, has launched an Internet research project – the GlobalWebIndex – in the Saudi Arabian market. The company has

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | REGIONAL NEWS

Carat MENA on expansion drive

Riyadh. Media agency Carat MENA has opened an office in Riyadh to support its current Saudi Arabia operation that has been based in Jeddah since 2006. Ahmed Haidar (above, left), previously managing director of the Jeddah office, is now MD for Saudi Arabia, and JeanClaude Gholam, previously at MEC, is head of operations in Riyadh. Carat’s chief financial officer and head of corporate services, MENA, Antonio Chedrawy (above, right), says Riyadh is “the biggest potential market in Saudi.” He adds, “Mostly the growth is from local Saudi brands. Within banks, mobile operators, and across all industries there is growth among the infrastructure development companies.” Carat’s regional strategy, by contrast, is based primarily around rein-

 I AGENCIES Dabo & Co. hires and promotes Dubai. Comms agency Dabo & Co. has promoted commercial director Jason Leavy to MD. It has recruited Alex

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forcing the agency’s presence for its global clients, which include Nokia, Kellogg’s and Philips, and make up the majority of Carat’s business. “In addition to that,” says Chedrawy, “by expanding our network to service our current international clients, we will be developing our local footprint for local client portfolios.” Carat currently has a presence in around 20 markets. Roughly half are through affiliates, and half are owned by Carat’s parent holding group Aegis, based in London. Chedrawy says the next step will be to strengthen Carat’s footprint in Cairo (where it currently operates with a local affiliate) and Abu Dhabi, which is serviced by the Dubai office. The expansion could happen as soon as the end of this year.

Hutley (second from right) as senior digital strategist, Hanna Roche (left) as consumer account director, Abdallah Touqan (right) and Randa Kamal in PR, and Lisa Flanagan (second from left) to spearhead the Visa team.

Continued from page 8 also developed an infographic that explores the behavior of Saudi Arabia’s 9 million Internet users. (You can find the infographic in our Data Center at Communicate.ae.) “We found that most of Saudi Arabia’s online community are young, and are more likely than not to be highly educated, which in itself challenges the misconception that clients have in the region about the profile and background of users,” says Racha Makarem, general manager for MENA at Business Compass, in a release. These Saudi users have a markedly different profile from the average global Internet user and social networker. A key distinction is that they are far more active in voicing their opinions online and are more than twice as likely to upload videos online than the global average. “What’s most interesting of all is the Internet consumption versus TV consumption figures, where nearly twice as many Internet users are online more than three hours a day as watch more than three hours of TV,” adds Makarem.

32 percent devote up to 20 percent of their marketing budget to social networking activity. Meanwhile, 69 percent agree that without social media activity marketing strategies they cannot hope to be successful, yet 82 percent say that without a combination of traditional and digital techniques marketing campaigns won’t work.

OMG appoints first social media director Dubai. Omnicom Media Group (OMG) has appointed Meredith Tuqan (pictured) as its first director of social media for the region. Tuqan joins OMG, which includes media agencies OMD and PHD, from Action Global Communications, where she was head of digital for the Middle East. Her focus will be on group consolidation, with a remit to further strengthen service levels.

BPG group wins Al Rawabi account

Gulf businesses increasingly use social media Dubai. The past year has seen half of Gulf companies successfully use social networks, blogs, microblogs and forums to win new business, says a global survey from Regus. It found that 50 percent of firms in the Gulf were successfully winning new customers through business social networking activity. The research looked at more than17,000 managers and business owners across 80 countries. Sixty-two percent of Gulf business used websites such as Twitter and Weibo to engage, connect with and inform existing customers, while

AudienceME launches advertising platform Dubai. AudienceME, a digital media sales firm, launched a brand advertising platform last month to service the MENA region. The firm says it will represent ad space on international sites to advertisers in the Middle East, where ad spending is growing at “a phenomenal rate” across existing clients.

VERY BRIEFS Lenovo hires Hill & Knowlton as PR agency MEPRA to host awards on Nov. 30

Y&R reorganizes EMEA structure TMH bags Abu Dhabi Mall account

The Entertainer launches website Rufus Leonard made digital creative partner for Dubai World Championship site Twofour54 ibtikar signs deal with Tahadi Games and Jawaker online games companies Memac Ogilvy holds internal training for digital communication Go to our Web site for the full stories: www.communicate.ae

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Google adds Games button to Google+ profiles Google has announced it is creating a new Games button for Google+ profiles. Google+ users will be able to play the games, but – having learned from Facebook that spammy game notifications are a bad thing – only see invitations, games and updates if they want to. Social gaming was an early driver for Facebook, and built the fortunes of Zynga, which recently filed an amended report in preparation for its initial public offering, revealing – among other things – that it has taken out a $1 billion line of credit as it prepares for its own IPO. Besides Zynga’s products, other games on Google+ include Angry Birds, Diamond Dash by  I AGENCIES

 I MEDIA

McCann New York to reinvent Ikea catalog

John Sheehy moves from Leo Burnett to SMG Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) has hired John Sheehy, the lead on the Kellogg’s business at sibling agency Leo Burnett, as its president of global operations. As part of his new role – which is an expansion of the post filled by his predecessor, Andrew Swinand, who left in May to start a venture partnerships firm – he will focus on growing SMG’s footprint in emerging markets.  I AGENCIES

Swedish retailer Ikea says it has turned to McCann New York – and its Swedish chief creative officer Linus Karlsson – to help redo its 200-million-circulation catalog. Previously, the catalog’s design and marketing had been handled by ICOM, Ikea’s in-house team at its headquarters in Almhult, Sweden. Interpublic Group of Cos.-owned McCann’s new global assignment doesn’t affect the role of WPP’s Ogilvy & Mather, as Ikea’s US creative agency of record, or other assignments in regional markets. “By bringing technology to the paper catalog, we will be able to tell the Ikea story in new ways, while driving a more seamless connection to purchase,” says Mark Fallows, executive vice-president of creative technology at McCann.

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Nokia splits with Wieden & Kennedy Nokia and its global agency of record (AOR) since 2007, Wieden & Kennedy London, have parted ways. From now on, the mobile giant – which has been outpaced by competitors – plans to stop using an AOR model. “The last six months has marked an important shift in Nokia’s business and marketing strategy,” a Nokia spokesman says. “This has naturally resulted in us continuing to evolve the relationships with our wide roster of agency partners. While it would be inappropriate to speculate about future plans, I can say that, moving forward, we plan to move away from an agency of record model and leverage our wide network of agency partners.” Nokia is a top-100 global advertiser with $278.6 million in measured

media spending in 2009, according to Ad Age Data Center. “We leave this partnership with tremendous respect for the Nokia brand,” says Neil Christie, managing director of W&K London. The split comes amid serious turmoil for the largest global handset manufacturer, which is quickly losing market share to smartphone leaders Apple and Google. Low-cost Chinese cell phone makers are imposing a threat to its business too.  I MARKETING DraftFCB loses SC Johnson account after 50 years After a protracted review, DraftFCB has lost the entire marketing account for SC Johnson, according to sources. Much of the business had been housed at Interpublic Group of Cos.’ DraftFCB, Chicago, and other Interpublic agencies, so the loss delivers a serious blow to the agency. US spending is estimated at more than $400 million; globally it exceeds $1 billion. Sources confirmed the account handled by DraftFCB will be split between WPP’s Ogilvy & Mather and Omnicom Group’s BBDO.  I DIGITAL Google to buy Motorola Mobility Search titan Google has agreed to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, its largest acquisition to date, giving it a wide-ranging portfolio of patents that allow it to compete more directly against Apple and Microsoft.

game maker Wooga, and Bejeweled by PopCap. Zynga is the biggest developer of social games on Facebook (such as Farmville and Mafia Wars) according to research firm AppData.com. The games are free to play, with the company making money by selling virtual goods as well as advertising in the form of branded virtual goods and sponsorships. Now that Zynga is also on Google+, its dependency on Facebook may continue to lessen. Google+ is a long way away from Facebook’s 750 million users, but at 25 million accounts, its growth has been explosive. Google and Zynga declined to disclose the terms of the deal.

Motorola Mobility is a unit spun out of the parent company in January that makes mobile phones, tablets and set-top boxes. Motorola shipped 8.5 million Android-powered smartphones and 700,000 tablets in the first half of this year, compared to the 38.9 million iPhones Apple sold in the same period. Motorola has been bleeding money, losing $137 million in the first six months of the year on $6.37 billion in revenue. Of all mobile devices sold globally last quarter, 2.4 percent were Motorola handsets, according to Gartner. Samsung sold 16.3 percent and Apple sold 4.6 percent of all global mobile devices. Motorola is the No.3 handset manufacturer in the US by total mobile subscribers above age 13, according to ComScore. By this measure, Motorola trails Samsung and beats Apple. This is largely a deal to acquire software patents and has no nearterm implications for advertising. Google insists Motorola will operate as a separate unit and will continue to make mobile phones and tablets under the Motorola badge. In other words, don’t expect Google phones and tablets – for now.

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | OPINION

The Communiquestion

Don’t mention it

We ask the industry: What phrase would you ban from meetings? HUBERT BOULOS Head of strategic planning, JWT “I want out-of-the-box thinking.” Most of the time I’ve heard it, it meant exactly the contrary: “I want the most conservative and bland thinking, and make sure I do not see an ounce of creativity.” ZOYA SAKR Editor-in-chief, anaZahra.com “…to be honest with you.” As if the person I am meeting was lying before. YOUSEF TUQAN TUQAN CEO, Flip Media “I’ll call you back. I’m in a meeting.” Nothing is ruder to me than bringing a phone into a meeting. It shows everyone else just how unimportant you think they, and their time, are. FADI CHAMAT General manager, PHD Abu Dhabi The phrase I would ban from meetings is “Trust me habibi.” I don’t think it’s an understatement when they say “trust is earned and not given.” Some people take it for granted and use it as an excuse not to come armed with the right facts and research.

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TONY ORSTEN CEO, twofour54 Consultant speak: Touch-points, value-chain. Saying long words which we don’t understand does not make you worth more per day. Just saying… LIANNE RIVETT Senior designer, Rufus Leonard Middle East At the end: “OK, let’s schedule in another meeting about this.” No, let’s just agree on what we’re doing, and do it. LIZA MEDD Regional manager, Rufus Leonard Middle East “Let’s think outside the box.” Once quite a fresh phrase, now pretty outdated. Also “Let’s quarterback it” and all other sporting terminology. CHOUCRALLAH ABOU SAMRA Managing director, OMG KSA There are quite a lot I can think of, but if I have to choose only one, I would ban the use of the word “exactly.” I feel this completely hijacks the speaker’s credit and intellectual property if used at the end of someone else’s statement. Let me guess. You are saying “exactly” in your mind right now, aren’t you?

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | OPINION

ROY BARGHOUT Senior manager – exchange, Mindshare UAE “We think...” (Mainly because we don’t.) TALA MINAWI Client leadership director, Mindshare UAE “Subtle exposure,” “subtle branding,” “subtle placement,” “subtle anything.” Where clients have become allergic to the word, instead they prefer to hear words like “maximum,” “ultimate,” “multiple,” “total everything.” Now our best medicine to this phenomenon is the “smart something.” HOMAM ABUSHABAN Senior Exchange executive – digital, Mindshare UAE “Creative ideas.” Everyone is talking about creative ideas without defining what creativity is. I think everyone is creative in his field and in his position. Sometimes the office boy is the most creative person in his company. “Motivational ideas” sounds like a better phrase to me. HANAN HAMMAD Executive – Exchange, Mindshare UAE I’d ban the phrase “Arpu,” meaning “average revenue per user.” Why, you might ask. I dare anyone to say that with a straight face. DAVID PORTER Media director, Unilever MENA “No” or “That won’t work…” – because good ideas generally look like bad ones until they are given a little love. “I leave digital to my media team” – because digital is a marketing discipline, not just a media space. “If it isn’t broken don’t fix it,” – because innovation needs tension to flourish. Better to say, “If it isn’t broken, break it.” “But,” because we all know that everything before “but” is bullshit.

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SUNIL JOHN CEO, Asda’a Burson-Marsteller “Out-of-the-box thinking.” No one should be allowed to describe innovation in clichéd terms. MOUNA AJAM Regional PR manager, Mindshare MENA It is not really a phrase, but I would love to ban PowerPoint presentations from meetings. Everybody now has some PowerPoint slides with fancy 3D effects and great color combinations but nothing behind them; people get bored after the third slide and start playing with their BlackBerrys. Some presenters even get obsessed with the design and forget about the idea they want to present. GAVIN DICKINSON Executive director of publishing, Abu Dhabi Media “Manage expectations.” I don’t like this phrase as it assumes failure. MICHEL BORT Client relationship director, Kassab Media “It is not my job!” Or “I can’t do it.” An organization/company is a perfect circle created by its people. To keep it a circle there should be a positive, smooth flow among the people. To achieve this, there should be respect, understanding and teamwork. When you have teamwork, “it is not my job” or “I can’t do it” should become obsolete. HERMANN BEHRENS CEO, The Brand Union Middle East “It needs to be done yesterday.” Simple; if we had been briefed yesterday we may have been able to do it yesterday.

SEPTEMBER 2011 | OPINION

LOUAY AL-SAMARRAI Managing director & partner, Active PR Well, here is one that we hear all too often and that – when all is said and done – does not always indicate that we actually managed to make an impression. “Can we have a proposal…” especially – especially – when this is said five minutes into a phone conversation or in the third line of an e-mail. This infuriating phrase usually means that either the person you are speaking to/corresponding with does not really understand what you do, why they are asking for it or what the point of talking to you is; they are shopping around without any real intention of really using you or any other poor agency that submits a “proposal,” or they are really only interested in the costs and continuing the discussion with the cheapest one, and possibly just persuading them to use the ideas that you submitted because they loved them, but weren’t willing to pay for them. YVETTE MADI Exchange manager – digital, Mindshare UAE “As soon as possible.” YVES-MICHEL GABAY General manager, MEC MENA “...to be honest with you...” – because does it mean that most of the time the people who are saying this are lying? It leaves me puzzled. “It’s not the way it works; we never did that before...” I just hate the lack of imagination, and the way people wallow in their habits. Innovation needs energy. MARWAN QUTUB CEO and co-founder, 3Points Advertising The phrase I would ban from meetings is “No way we can do that within the available time we have,” because if there’s a will, there’s a way. We’ve seen it over and over again where we’ve done a big amount of great work once the mindset is right and with positive energy.

18 I Communicate

MOUNIR HARFOUCHE CEO, Lowe MENA I’ll start by banning the word “meeting.” I hate it and it means nothing. I’d replace it with “thinking session,” “sharing ideas time,” “let’s inspire each other hour,” “sorry, I’m going to have to let you go gathering!” At least they set expectations for different occasions. RONALD HOWES Regional managing director, GCC, Memac Ogilvy “That’s impossible.” Professionals are hired to give me options of what is possible. DAN CHAPMAN Regional digital director, UM I would definitely ban the very common line that begins with “Playing devil’s advocate,” as more than often it comes from the guy in the meeting that hasn’t contributed anything and just feels that he has to say something. AZHAR SIDDIQUI General manager, Magna Global The words “I,” “but” and “however.” ZEINA AKKAWI Managing director, Paz Marketing I think the most absurd phrase that I personally wonder if it can be banned or excluded from a meeting is when someone pops out and says “We just don’t like it. Think out of the box.” After spending days or weeks evaluating an X-product, putting a team effort to create something, meeting with clients back and forth discussing ideas, brainstorming and understanding their needs, strategy and visions to build a campaign, it’s kind of annoying to hear this phrase bang in your face.

24437-2 360 Sport 33x24 FPC-communicate Ad.indd 1

5/15/11 2:42 PM

Umm Kulthum: The Legacy

Where The Extraordinary Happens

by Acclaimed Diva

Riham Abdul Hakim “Once Upon a Time…”

Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company

The World of Magida El Roumi

presents

Inaugural Season

Plácido Domingo sings to Oman

“The Power of Love”

“A Memorable Music Affair”

14 & 15 October

17 November

Shim Chung The Blindman’s Daughter

& Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

“Voluptuous Voice & Melodic Sensations of the Sublime People’s Diva”

“A Fairy Tale from the Far East” 28, 29 & 30 November

21 October

28 November

30 November

The Mariinsky Ballet

Accompanied by

The State Hermitage Orchestra

presents

Opera Carmen

“Love, Italian Style”

Swan Lake

“The World Famous Ballet”

“Passionate, Hilarious & Witty!”

London Philharmonic Orchestra

& World-Renowned Cellist

Yo-Yo Ma

presents

Don Quixote

Christoph Eschenbach

“The Universe of Outlandish Fantasies”

“The Enchanting Cello”

Conductor

1 November

“Experience Ellington’s Harlem”

Universal Ballet of Korea

Andrea Bocelli

26, 27 & 28 October

Wynton Marsalis

The Aspen Institute

Renée Fleming

American Ballet Theatre

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with

In Partnership with

Celebrated Soprano and Musical Ambassador

18 October

23 November

ROYAL OPERA HOUSE MUSCATASPEN CREATIVE ARTS WORLD SUMMIT

Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra

Music: Giacomo Puccini Libretto: Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni Production: Franco Zeffirelli Conductor: Plácido Domingo Chorus, Orchestra and Extras: Fondazione Arena di Verona Commissioned for: Royal Opera House Muscat

“Mesmerizing & Hypnotic”

10, 11 & 12 November

Gala Concert

Accompanied by

Magida El Roumi

“Imagine the Dance of Life”

14 October – 31 December 2011

Opera Turandot

featuring

Giselle

5 November

Tickets for RO 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 are available at: • Crowne Plaza Muscat, tel. +968 9512 9049 • Grand Hyatt Muscat Hotel, tel. +968 9512 9608 • Intercontinental Muscat, tel. +968 9512 8449 • Royal Opera House Muscat Box Office, tel .+968 2440 3332/3/4 • Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah, tel. +968 2477 6788/6789 • The Chedi Muscat, tel. +968 2452 4400 • The Ritz-Carlton, Al Bustan Palace, tel. +968 2479 9666

Music: George Bizet Libretto: Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novel by Prosper Mérimée Production: Gianni Quaranta Conductor: Maestro Patrick Fournillier Chorus,Orchestra and Extras: Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi Coro Sinfonico di Milano Giuseppe Verdi and Coro di Voci Bianche de la Verdi Commissioned for: Royal Opera House Muscat

17, 19 & 21 December

New Year's Eve Gala by

The Mariinsky Ballet “Rejoice & Recharge!”

27, 28, 29 & 30 December

31 December

For enquiries: e-mail: boxoffice@rohmuscat.org.om or call +968 2440 3310 For online ticketing:

www.rohmuscat.org.om

Umm Kulthum: The Legacy

Where The Extraordinary Happens

by Acclaimed Diva

Riham Abdul Hakim “Once Upon a Time…”

Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company

The World of Magida El Roumi

presents

Inaugural Season

Plácido Domingo sings to Oman

“The Power of Love”

“A Memorable Music Affair”

14 & 15 October

17 November

Shim Chung The Blindman’s Daughter

& Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

“Voluptuous Voice & Melodic Sensations of the Sublime People’s Diva”

“A Fairy Tale from the Far East” 28, 29 & 30 November

21 October

28 November

30 November

The Mariinsky Ballet

Accompanied by

The State Hermitage Orchestra

presents

Opera Carmen

“Love, Italian Style”

Swan Lake

“The World Famous Ballet”

“Passionate, Hilarious & Witty!”

London Philharmonic Orchestra

& World-Renowned Cellist

Yo-Yo Ma

presents

Don Quixote

Christoph Eschenbach

“The Universe of Outlandish Fantasies”

“The Enchanting Cello”

Conductor

1 November

“Experience Ellington’s Harlem”

Universal Ballet of Korea

Andrea Bocelli

26, 27 & 28 October

Wynton Marsalis

The Aspen Institute

Renée Fleming

American Ballet Theatre

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with

In Partnership with

Celebrated Soprano and Musical Ambassador

18 October

23 November

ROYAL OPERA HOUSE MUSCATASPEN CREATIVE ARTS WORLD SUMMIT

Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra

“Mesmerizing & Hypnotic”

10, 11 & 12 November

Gala Concert

Accompanied by

Magida El Roumi

“Imagine the Dance of Life”

14 October – 31 December 2011

Opera Turandot

featuring

Giselle

5 November

17, 19 & 21 December

New Year's Eve Gala by

The Mariinsky Ballet “Rejoice & Recharge!”

27, 28, 29 & 30 December

31 December

For enquiries: e-mail: boxoffice@rohmuscat.org.om or call +968 2440 3310 For online ticketing:

www.rohmuscat.org.om

SEPTEMBER 2011 | COVER STORY

22 I Communicate

COVER STORY | SEPTEMBER 2011

It’s all about the money What the experts say about salaries in the Middle East, and what we learned from our survey by Sidra Tariq

s a graduate we look for a job that would kick-start our career, give us a deeper understanding of the tools of the trade and let us earn our worth. As a working professional, we look for career development and growth, and expect a salary that matches our skills and experience. And when we look for alternative jobs, we always look for greener pastures – a step up. All this while, one question stays in our mind: Am I getting paid enough? This year’s Communicate salary survey tries to find out just that. We received salary figures from advertising, PR and media agencies in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, and calculated the average salaries for people in different positions across the industry (see salary tables, page 28). The information we found was interesting, with average entry-level salaries in the UAE ranging between 9,500 dirhams and 13,500 dirhams. A junior account executive in an advertising agency in the UAE can expect a salary

of around 9,750 dirhams while a PR agency junior executive can expect an average of 9,667 dirhams. These figures are almost consistent with the average provided by marketing recruitment consultancy Kingston Stanley, which manages recruitment for advertising, PR and other marketing clients in the MENA region (see table, page 32). “Salaries have gone up at the lower end,” says Alex Koumi, director of Kingston Stanley. “Now the typical starting salary for an account executive is 12,000 dirhams – for good people. If you want top quality account executives, you’ll need to pay [that much]. The days of paying 8,000 dirhams to 10,000 dirhams for the best talent in the market have changed. And obviously [the salary] for good senior account executives has jumped as well; [clients are] looking to pay 14,000 dirhams to 15,000 dirhams. Whereas through 2009 and 2008, you would get account executives for 8,000 dirhams to 10,000 dirhams, and senior account executives for 10,000 dirhams to 12,000 dirhams.”

According to Communicate’s salary survey, junior planning executives in media agencies appear to get paid more than their buying counterparts, with a junior planning executive getting an average of 11,500 dirhams and a junior buying executive getting 9,500 dirhams. This may be a low starting figure for ambitious graduates, especially when compared to engineering graduates who often start on about 14,000 dirhams. However, with limited job opportunities, the after-effects of the recession still being felt and advertising expenditure being one of the first things reduced in a crisis, it is a figure many are willing to accept. LOOKING BACK. Last year was difficult in terms of recruitment. Fresh graduates, experienced professionals and recently laid off employees had trouble finding jobs. “Last year there was very, very limited growth and [agencies were] only replacing employees

Communicate I 23

SEPTEMBER 2011 | COVER STORY

NADA DEHNI. HR manager, JWT

ALEX KOUMI. Director of Kingston Stanley

24 I Communicate

who had left,” says Kingston Stanley’s Koumi. In contrast, the year 2011 “has seen a dramatic increase in the amount of recruitment that has been happening, particularly in Dubai,” he adds. Another trend the industry has seen over the past year is that instead of hiring a replacement for an employee who leaves, agencies tend to divide the work among the remaining employees, says Koumi. “People were working more and doing more, whereas now if someone leaves they are looking at replacing in terms of hiring new people. There was a little bit of a freeze [in] 2009 and 2010. This year clients are now replacing immediately, and growing.” So after a lot of cutbacks and hesitation on clients’ and agencies’ sides, hiring is back on track in the regional industry, and Dubai is leading the pack. Being a business hub and with new ad opportunities arising, the city has become a haven for jobseekers. “Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar – those are the three main strong markets,” says Koumi. “Close behind is Saudi, and I think as of next year Kuwait will start to climb as well.” “The hub is going to be in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but within the region, what clients are looking to do is expand within Saudi, Qatar, and Kuwait… to have a satellite office in these locations to give a fuller spread in terms of people on the ground,” he adds. Nada Dehni, HR manager at advertising agency JWT, says this can be tough, but has its advantages. “This year was a particularly tough one on the region and many of our colleagues had to be relocated with their families to other JWT offices,” she says. “But it’s also during times like these that a network’s true capabilities and potential come into play. This

migration of talent led to an unexpected but more-than-welcome cross-fertilization of knowledge and ideas.” At the same time, Abu Dhabi, which often pays very high, is looking at dropping salaries, says Koumi. The government is making cutbacks as well, which eventually makes Dubai more attractive to jobseekers. NEW PROJECTS. Umran Mehmood, director of HR Source Consulting, which handles recruitment for clients in IT, media, sales and marketing, and exhibitions and events, lists a few reasons agencies are hiring: “Organic growth in a company, dealing with client needs and wants, attrition – candidates leaving the Middle East to go back home; but in the main it has been growth, because their clients are channeling more work.” As business grows, agencies look for more people to strengthen the team and have the required manpower to handle new projects. “[In advertising in particular], there are a lot of agency merry-go-rounds going on where agencies are winning new pitches and a lot of [them] are doing new retainers. There is an awful lot of business development, and so a lot of the trends in terms of recruiting in advertising are to hire people who can drive new business,” adds Kingston Stanley’s Koumi. Dehni at JWT, says, “The combination of new trends and changing markets has redefined some positions and their roles within the agency. Most new roles require a mix of skills that were considered a ‘plus’ earlier but are a ‘must-have’ now. An example would be the new breed of planners who are able to work within a traditional and digital environment.”

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8/29/11 6:39 PM

SEPTEMBER 2011 | COVER STORY

HOME-GROWN TALENT. Today there is a growing emphasis on hiring candidates from the region

NATALIE ROUND. Head of recruitment division, MacKenzie Jones

26 I Communicate

THE NEW AGE. The effect of technological advancement continues to grow in the advertising industry and has made room for different job titles and skills. In this day and age, the wide web of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other online communication platforms has deepened the demand for the techno-savvy and digitally astute. Digital and social media have emerged as the most noticeable trends in the industry, says Natalie Round, who heads the agency and recruitment division at MacKenzie Jones, a marketing and sales, HR, finance, agency and creative recruitment consultancy. “There is a lot of digital on the account handling side, and then on the PR side there is a lot of digital PR and social media PR. They seem to be the two most popular types of role at the moment.” “[Employers] are looking for everybody to have some digital influence or some online influence, so even when they are looking at designers [they are looking for] ones that have online and print skills,” she says. “Online is the biggest skill set over here at the moment,” she says. Mehmood agrees, saying, “We have seen a massive shift toward digital-related skills, from planning to strategy.” Social media managers, strategists, search-engine positioning (SEP), search-engine marketing (SEM), and digital marketing are in great demand, he adds. A candidate’s background has also become ever more important this year and, instead of a broad approach, agencies are making their hiring more targeted. “What you are finding now is companies aren’t looking for the best talent available; they are now looking for the

best specific talent available,” says Koumi. “For example, we need a client servicing account manager with automotive experience; we are looking for a regional account director with fast food and retail experience. It’s very much specific requirements now to meet those needs of specific clients.” The situation appears to be similar for PR agencies. “In PR, rather than looking for jacks of all trades, agencies are taking people on who’ve got very specific skills,” says Round. In other words, candidates suited to a sector or with experience in the sector they are looking for a job in are more desirable now. “The reason for that is because you’ve got your little black book of journalists that you speak to and… media that you speak to. So it’s easier to develop your media relations if people are very industry specific. You’ve got the oil and gas industry that there is quite a decent demand for, and technology over here is growing massively, so from a PR point of view there is a big need for candidates who’ve got a PR-technology background.” However, Koumi says that PR employers are more flexible than advertising agencies in hiring people from different industries. “You can move from working with consumer clients to working with corporate clients to working in B2B [business-to-business], B2C [business-toconsumer], as long as you’ve got good language skills and good Arabic writing skills.” He adds that good Arabic language skills are on the top of the list for PR employers. Being able to write good Arabic press releases is as important as having good Arabic communication skills, he says.

COVER STORY | SEPTEMBER 2011

IN DEMAND. According to Koumi, senior account executives and account managers are most in demand in the region. “Simply because these guys actually do a lot of the leg work and they are very hands-on in terms of the work they do and writing the press releases.” Account directors and general managers would go out and win the business and then need support from senior account executives and account managers, he adds. According to our salary survey, a typical senior account executive in an advertising agency can expect a salary of around 12,542 dirhams, while one in a PR agency is looking at an average of 13,167 dirhams. Account managers seem to have the better end of the deal, with average salaries for juniors in advertising around 14,979 dirhams and PR around 16,333 dirhams. Senior account managers get about 3,000 dirhams to 5,000 dirhams more than juniors. “From what I’ve gathered [salaries] have either stagnated in some agencies and in others have dropped to be more realistic compared to what they were around 18 months ago,” says Round. “But that’s only what I have heard through hearsay.” “[An] account executive is looking at anywhere between 10,000 dirhams and 14,000 dirhams. Account managers are probably looking at anywhere between 16,000 dirhams and 20,000 dirhams. And [for] account directors, you’re probably looking at between 24,000 dirhams and 28,000 dirhams or 30,000 dirhams; That depends on how long they have been an account director… the accounts that they have worked on and their agency background.” She adds that in some positions there are also grey areas such as senior and junior levels. Koumi adds that “the demand is pretty much at the bottom end,” and that Arabic talent is attractive to non-PR agencies too. Strong business development skills are also sought after by agencies. HOMEGROWN TALENT. The advertising industry in the region is awash with European and Western talent – particularly in the UAE. Skill sets and experience make it attractive to hire foreign talent. However, nowadays there is a growing emphasis on regional talent. “Clients are a little bit less willing to invest in flights, relocation and the risk that is associated with bringing a candidate from London, Australia or Europe,” says Koumi. “Their preference is now looking for candidates based in the Middle East, so that has made it harder for overseas candidates. My advice for those guys is come to Dubai/the Middle East, try and spend a week or two here, try to set up meetings with line managers, and then you can hopefully go back with a couple of job offers.” On the other hand, Mehmood says, “where there is a skills shortage, clients will hire from Europe, the US and Australia; the fishing in the UAE is familiar to lots of our clients. They want fresh talent, with new ideas, new ways of working, new dynamics, [etcetera].”

Moreover, when it comes to certain skills such as digital, foreign talent is more experienced than local. One of the challenges facing agencies and recruitment companies is that the required skill set isn’t there. In such cases, what agencies need to do is look at what the majority of the work consists of, hire candidates specializing in that line of work and then train them in other areas, allowing them to grow, says MacKenzie’s Round. However, on-the-job training is very limited in the region, she adds. “Agencies do not invest enough in people’s training and development. One of the things I have noticed here more than when I was in the UK – the big difference – is that people move more for promotion, rather than being promoted internally.” Mehmood from HR Source agrees, saying that one of the challenges agencies are facing is retaining staff. “They should focus on more training and development,” he says. “Some agencies hire too last-minute without any real planning of hiring strategies; some agencies are too slow to hire – that is to say, they take two to three months, which is not good enough unless you’re in a C-level role; they will lose candidates during this lengthy process.” Round expects to see more internal investment in people and training in the next 12 months. “A lot of the HR managers I’m talking to are very much into that,” she says. Koumi says it has become even more difficult to find quality candidates, as candidates are reevaluating what is important to them. “Job security is usually now number one. Career progression is number two in terms of: What opportunities do

I have to learn, develop and grow where I currently am? If they haven’t got that then they’ll move. But they will really look at what they’ve got at the moment in terms of their current role. And third would be money.” In addition to that, more and more candidates these days are being counter-offered by their current employers. UP AHEAD. Round expects salaries to remain stable for the rest of the year. “Clients are going to have to become flexible, but they don’t necessarily have to become flexible on salaries, they just need to become flexible on skills and training people,” she adds. As far as recruitment is concerned, Koumi says the rest of 2011 looks good. “Q4 is going to see a big spike in recruitment in terms of actual feet on the ground. Q3 is seeing a lot of interviews… But, that said, I think clients are still being cautious because they are still not 100 percent certain what is going to happen in terms of medium- to long-term growth. It is very much a pace of hire-as-we-need-it as opposed to historically where agencies have hired because they know they are going to grow, win more pitches, win new clients and retainers, so let’s get the headcount in and then when we get the business we will be there to supply it. Now is the case of: Let’s win the business and then we’ll get the staff.” So now that you know what you could be earning and that agencies are hiring, do you think it is time to ask for a raise?

Communicate I 27

SEPTEMBER 2011 | COVER STORY

SALARY SURVEY* UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

advertising agencies

Media agencies

positions

average (aed)

positions

average (aed)

Junior Graphic Designer

8,800

Junior Planning Executive

11,500

Senior Graphic Designer

15,400

Senior Planning Executive

15,500

Junior Copywriter

13,250

Planning Manager

24,000

Senior Copywriter

21,354

Head/Director of Planning

35,000

Junior Studio Manager

9,167

Junior Buying Executive

9,500

Senior Studio Manager

17,733

Senior Buying Executive

14,500

Traffic Manager

18,917

Buying Manager

21,000

Junior Producer

8,938

Head/Director of Buying

30,000

Senior Producer

25,667

Junior Research Executive

9,500

Junior Production Manager

9,730

Senior Research Executive

15,500

Senior Production Manager

21,431

Research Manager

22,000

Junior Account Planner

11,583

Head/Director of Research

32,500

Senior Account Planner

29,375

Business Development Director

35,000

Junior Account Executive

9,750

General Manager

—

Senior Account Executive

12,542

CE0/Regional MD

—

Junior Account Manager

14,979

Senior Account Manager

20,548

Account Director

25,831

positions

average (aed)

Group Account Director

33,417

Junior Account Executive

9,667

Junior Art Director

14,833

Senior Account Executive

13,167

Senior Art Director

23,083

Junior Account Manager

16,333

Junior Creative Director

26,150

Senior Account Manager

19,333

Senior Creative Director

41,083

Junior Account Director

21,833

Client Services Director

41,750

Senior Account Director

26,833

72,371

Director

37,000

Managing Director

41,000

Managing Director

PR agencies

LEBANON

advertising agencies positions

average (US$)

positions

average (US$)

Junior Graphic Designer

992

Group Account Director

4,667

Senior Graphic Designer

1,741

Junior Art Director

1,465

Junior Copywriter

1,160

Senior Copywriter

2,464

Senior Art Director

2,549

Junior Studio Manager

1,250

Junior Creative Director

4,000

Senior Studio Manager

2,740

Senior Creative Director

6,927

Traffic Manager

1,791

Client Services Director

5,300

Junior Producer

1,128

Managing Director

8,677

Senior Producer

2,796

Junior Production Manager

1,433

Senior Production Manager

3,113

Junior Account Planner

1,459

Senior Account Planner

3,300

Junior Account Executive

997

Senior Account Executive

1,477

Junior Account Manager

1,789

Senior Account Manager

2,675

Account Director

3,780

* To find the salaries, we asked agencies to tell us what they pay for each position, then took an average.

28 I Communicate

COM 80-TABLE salary.indd 28

8/25/11 12:40 PM

Ecopia Communicate FP.ai

CMY

6/23/11

10:23 AM

SEPTEMBER 2011 | COVER STORY

SALARY SURVEY LEBANON

Media agencies

PR agencies

positions

average (US$)

positions

average (us$)

Junior Planning Executive

960

Junior Account Executive

900

Senior Planning Executive

1,530

Senior Account Executive

1,233

Planning Manager

2,550

Junior Account Manager

1,500

Head/Director of Planning

3,950

Senior Account Manager

2,167

Junior Buying Executive

875

Junior Account Director

2,500

Senior Buying Executive

1,363

Senior Account Director

3,250

Buying Manager

2,910

Director

4,500

Head/Director of Buying

3,888

Managing Director

6,500

Junior Research Executive

833

Senior Research Executive

1,400

Research Manager

2,267

Head/Director of Research

3,167

Business Development Director

3,583

General Manager

7, 625

CE0/Regional MD

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

SAUDI ARABIA

advertising agencies

Media agencies

positions

average (SAR)

positions

average (SAR)

Junior Graphic Designer

6,456

Junior Planning Executive

8,333

Senior Graphic Designer

11,341

Senior Planning Executive

13,000

Junior Copywriter

10,453

Planning Manager

17,333

Senior Copywriter

21,475

Head/Director of Planning

23,667

Junior Studio Manager

10,125

Junior Buying Executive

9,833

Senior Studio Manager

16,852

Senior Buying Executive

14,667

Traffic Manager

15,118

Buying Manager

18,667

Junior Producer

10,308

Head/Director of Buying

23,333

Senior Producer

19,645

Junior Research Executive

9,167

Junior Production Manager

8,711

Senior Research Executive

15,333

Senior Production Manager

17,744

Research Manager

18,667

Junior Account Planner

11,375

Head/Director of Research

27,167

25,668

Business Development Director

32,500

Junior Account Executive

8,722

General Manager

52,833

Senior Account Executive

12,248

CE0/Regional MD

102,500

Junior Account Manager

14,482

Senior Account Manager

20,226

Account Director

27,211

positions

average (sar)

Group Account Director

34,125

Junior Account Executive

7,750

Junior Art Director

12,183

Senior Account Executive

10,500

Senior Art Director

18,796

Junior Account Manager

13,000

Junior Creative Director

23,625

Senior Account Manager

16,500

Senior Creative Director

40,802

Junior Account Director

22,000

Client Services Director

34,167

Senior Account Director

28,750

Managing Director

62,030

Director

41,250

Managing Director

53,750

Senior Account Planner

PR agencies

30 I Communicate

COM 80-TABLE salary.indd 30

8/25/11 12:40 PM

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8/24/11 4:14 PM

SEPTEMBER 2011 | COVER STORY

Average salaries according to recruitment consultancy Kingston Stanley UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

SAUDI ARABIA

advertising agencies

positions

average (aed)

positions

average (SAR)

Junior Graphic Designer

8,000

Junior Graphic Designer

8,000

Senior Graphic Designer

12,000

Senior Graphic Designer

12,000

Junior Copywriter

11,000

Junior Copywriter

11,000

Senior Copywriter

14,000

Senior Copywriter

16,000

Junior Studio Manager

18,000

Junior Studio Manager

20,000

Senior Studio Manager

20,000

Senior Studio Manager

22,000

Traffic Manager

20,000

Traffic Manager

25,000

Junior Account Executive

10,000

Junior Account Executive

10,000

Senior Account Executive

14,000

Senior Account Executive

16,000

Junior Account Manager

14,000

Junior Account Manager

16,000

Senior Account Manager

20,000

Senior Account Manager

25,000

Account Director

25,000

Account Director

30,000

Group Account Director

35,000

Group Account Director

40,000

Junior Art Director

22,000

Junior Art Director

25,000

Senior Art Director

25,000

Senior Art Director

30,000

Junior Creative Director

32,000

Junior Creative Director

35,000

Senior Creative Director

40,000

Senior Creative Director

45,000

Client Services Director

40,000

Client Services Director

45,000

Managing Director

50,000

Managing Director

60,000

PR agencies positions

PR agencies average (aed)

positions

average (SAR)

Junior Account Executive

10,000

Junior Account Executive

11,000

Senior Account Executive

14,000

Senior Account Executive

15,000

Junior Account Manager

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The situation in Saudi by Sidra Tariq Opinion on working in Saudi has long been divided, especially among foreign nationals. The cultural limitations in the country may be a discouraging factor for some jobseekers, but the tax-free income and relatively low cost of living (when compared to Dubai) gives them a solid reason to work in the kingdom. The situation of Saudi’s advertising market is very positive, says Alex Koumi, director of marketing recruitment consultancy Kingston Stanley. “A lot of companies out there are recruiting and they are seeing increased growth,” he says. The agencies are increasingly looking out for local talent: “Ideally they want

people with an understanding of the region – that is to say, the Middle East and North Africa.” He adds that the kind of candidates who are in most demand are Arabic speaking males, to get the best from communication. And like the UAE, Saudi agencies are also looking for specific talent that matches the needs of their client. However, the Saudi salaries are slightly lower than those in Dubai, according to Communicate’s figures. A junior account executive at a Dubai ad agency is paid an average salary of 9,750 dirhams, while his/her Saudi counterpart gets paid around 8,722 riyals (8,542 dirhams). The difference seems largest higher up in the ladder. Dubai ad

agency managing directors receive an average of 72,371 dirhams, while a Saudi MD gets about 62,030 riyals (60,748 dirhams) – a difference of more than 10,000 dirhams. One explanation could be that Dubai is often the base for agencies’ regional headquarters, which is why the salaries are typically higher than other countries. Another could be the amount of business Dubai agencies handle. Yet Saudi remains to see an influx of jobseekers, and a lot of locals tend to stay and work in the country. As agencies increase their hiring outside their UAE headquarters (see main story), the appeal of working in Saudi looks set to grow.

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A step in the right direction We ask agency leaders: What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into advertising? ELIE KHOURI CEO, OMG MENA If you want to be in the business, you want to have the passion and you want to be caring, because if you don’t care, you’ll never be successful in our business. It’s a people’s business, and people come first. AKRAM MIKNAS Chairman, MCN You’ve got to have a lot of passion, a lot of love (for what you are doing and for the people) and you’ve got to have a lot of energy. If you don’t have these three ingredients, then you are not going to be able to succeed in this business. That’s for sure. JOSEPH GHOSSOUB Chairman & CEO, Menacom Group First of all, be passionate in what you do, or be passionate in what you have to do, and about what you have to do. If you are not passionate – really, really, sincerely passionate – don’t even attempt it, because you’ll fail. And don’t be afraid of any failures, because without failures, there cannot be successes. So if you are passionate and you really like what you are doing in this business, you’ll positively, definitely succeed. Other than that, don’t even try it.

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RAJA TRAD CEO, Leo Burnett Group of Companies MENA My advice is: Go in, live it. Either you love it or you don’t, because in advertising if you do not love it, if you are not passionate about it, you’ll not be able to make it into the future. Make sure that this is what you want to do in life. ROY HADDAD CEO, JWT Middle East and Africa First and foremost, be curious. Cultivate your knowledge. And have the courage to express your ideas. RAMZI RAAD Chairman & CEO, TBWA\Raad This is the advice that I have been giving over the years. Normally, a lot of candidates come from business schools and I tell them if you are going for interviews with banks, etcetera, you get into a certain routine; you join a bank and there are a number of operations that you will keep repeating day in, day out, while if you come to an advertising agency, at one stage you are sitting with an airline client and learning about airlines and the next day you are sitting with a perfume manufacturer, and after one hour you are sitting with a baby diapers

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | COVER STORY

manufacturer, and so on. So it is fun, it’s the variety, it’s the change, and if you like that then certainly close your eyes and jump into this fascinating ocean. EDMOND MOUTRAN CEO, Memac Ogilvy and Mather Make sure you have the passion for it. Don’t enter the business because it is a job, enter the business because it is a mission. People forget sometimes that the commissions that we earn, the fees we earn, are there for a purpose and that purpose is to sell our clients’ products and make them succeed in the marketplace. Sometimes agencies don’t work as hard as they should for those clients who are paying the fees. My advice would be: If you don’t have the passion or the stamina to do that, you shouldn’t be in this business. DANI RICHA Chairman and CEO, Impact BBDO I would advise not to get into the advertising business, but to get into the creative technology business where advertising could be part of that; so to not narrow too much, not to specialize too much, but to try to bridge technology and creativity; the opportunities there are immense. ALEX SABER Chairman, Vivaki MENA This is a very promising industry, very interesting industry, very challenging, but it is tough work, hard work, long hours. But definitely I encourage people to join this industry, both from the client and media side.

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We are all proud [of] where we are right now, and what we have achieved in the past few years is remarkable. SAMIR AYOUB CEO, Mindshare MENA Be honest to yourself, to the people within the organization, your clients and your suppliers. MUSTAPHA ASSAD CEO, Publicis First of all, make sure that you like it, because it is not a given that everybody will like this kind of thing. Second, I would encourage mainly the new generation to go into this business because it is full of creativity, of technology, of ideas, of planning, of synergies, of strategies and of networking, and living with the society. So it’s very, very interesting. And it is not a hobby; it is a major business. So be very, very serious about it, and really commit the resources into this field. MOHAN NAMBIAR Regional managing director, MEC MENA Don’t come into advertising just to make money. Come into advertising if you are passionate, come into advertising if you are creative, come into advertising if you can do that extra mile by understanding the audience, and don’t look at it as another job. You’ve got to be really passionate if you are to take this forward, and my advice would be that you’ve got to enjoy what you do; but in this particular area of profession, a lot of people tend to like it because it is communication; so you are creating a dialogue all the time, and you are understanding the audience,… doing communication planning, and so on.

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | COVER STORY

Creative collective

Lebanon’s advertising world is bountiful for creatives, if they have the passion it takes by Samer Zoueihid

C ALAIN SHOUCAIR. Regional executive creative director, Drive Dentsu

MAYA SAAB. Regional creative director, Spirit

IYAD ZAHLAN. Executive creative director, JWT

RAMSEY NAJAR. Chief creative officer, JWT

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reativity – be it design or copywriting, the two key ingredients of a good concept – will always be what recruiters look for in fresh graduates. Advertising is not like most industries; it’s not like creatives can learn a set of specific skills that will make them a success. Of course, the basic tools are required to ply a trade in graphic design, but tools do not a creative make. “Nowadays, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator [are the tools you need to master]. But not everyone who knows how to work on these programs is a graphic designer, just like not everyone who knows how to work on AutoCad is an architect,” says creative director and partner of creative agency Fluid, Ranwa Hakim. Of course, mastering some techniques, such as drawing, can give one candidate an edge, as regional executive creative director of Drive Dentsu Alain Shoucair explains: “Knowledge of drawing is a big plus because it teaches you the sense of composition, perspective and proportions, which are crucial to art direction.” But it is in fact graphic designers’ ability to think conceptually that makes them succeed in the industry. “The concept is behind everything we ‘create’ in life. Be it a logo, a brochure, a website, or a press ad, a TV commercial, a slogan, a radio spot… Any creation should have a concept behind it. We expect from any creative mind to work, think and live conceptually,” says Maya Saab, regional creative director at advertising agency Spirit. So if learning the basic tools at university is not enough to make you stand out from the pack, what catches the attention of agencies? For executive creative director of JWT, Iyad Zahlan, it is the look in a candidate’s eye that tells him that person can make it. “It goes without saying that we are all looking for talent: mainly individuals who are driven, motivated and passionate about what they do and/or create. Design, art direction, dancing, copywriting, drawing, head-banging, hair-pulling, cooking, day-dreaming,

etcetera, are just skills that these individuals possess or would like to excel at, and it’s our responsibility to mold them and nurture them in order to ensure solid organic growth in every department. An experimental-fearless-sparkle-in-the-eyes-hungryfor-success-full-of-ideas kid beats any senior with a polished portfolio,” he says. As for copywriting, the issue is quite different in a market where candidates are rare and not always performing up to expectations. “We had some bad experiences with fresh graduate copywriters, and that’s the reason we insist on hiring only experienced candidates for this particular creative position,” says Saab, who’s concerned about the fact that “There are few skilled copywriters in town that do have experience in advertising and that are not already hired by other agencies.” “It is extremely hard to find a good ‘advertising’ copywriter. You can either find somebody who writes well, but has no experience in advertising or somebody who has a creative background but doesn’t fully master the language. To find both in the same person is the challenge. Advertising copywriting can’t be taught; it comes from passion and experience,” says Shoucair, who adds, “What I want from my copywriters is the ability to turn a boring proposition into an original and interesting one.” But as the industry evolves, maybe recruiters should no longer look for graphic designers and copywriters but for innovators, according to Ramsey Najar, chief creative officer at JWT. “Just as we cannot stick to the traditional channels in our communication, we can no longer recruit using oldfashioned recruitment methods and sources. Much of the advertising today being technology-driven, solution-driven innovators can represent a major leap in the way we advertise a brand or even an offer. And the way you use these innovators can vary dramatically, as the creative process in itself is no longer confined to the usual suspects,” he says.

SEPTEMBER 2011 | Cover Story

HR in demand

We speak with agency decision makers in Lebanon to see what they look for in potential recruits by Samer Zoueihid

Carol Hanna. Director, Leo Burnett

Mark Daou. COO, TBWA/Rizk

KATIA YASMINE. Managing director, TRACCS PR

ebanon used to be known as a pool of talent for employment, and somehow it still is. But as the marketplace is increasingly demanding specialized professions, companies are finding the pool is fast being drained. With hundreds of new graduates fresh out of universities every year, Lebanon stands out in a region where talent is often imported. “It is an absolute pleasure to see the fresh new faces of each generation as they pass through the agency doors and push the limits of advertising to establish Lebanon as a global creative hub,” says Mark Daou, chief operations officer for overseas operations at TBWA/Rizk. “The recent achievements at an awards level regionally, and globally at Cannes, have proven that even with all the challenges, the rich Lebanese cultural mix remains a source of great creative juices.” According to Katia Yasmine, managing director of TRACCS PR, it is the hard working ethos of the Lebanese that sets them apart from the rest of the region. “The Lebanese talent pool is unique in the region it operates in. Lebanese culture always strives to work its hardest and be number one. That’s what our employees and what many people seeking a job set their goal to be. As long as everyone is putting in their utmost effort to succeed, then it is something unique. You may travel to other countries where their nationals may seem to dislike work and responsibility; however, here in Lebanon the nationals seek that,” she says.

Not specialized enough. Enjoying high numbers of available graduates on the market is all well and good, but it is unfortunately not enough. Firstly, most communication curriculums do not include specialized skills that are severely lacking in Lebanon. Secondly, recruiters would rather hire joiners who have already earned some experience in their respective field, if only by having undergone training – which remains the exception rather than the rule in Lebanon’s academic routine. As a result, some specific positions are particularly hard to fill, as Daou explains: “Strategic planners are a rare kind, and at a certain stage you need to have agency-grown planners who can lead and apply [TBWA’s] ‘Disruption’ approach. Once inducted, a planner needs to have a good foundation in different sectors of the industry, and that in itself is rare to find. Agencies do not invest extensively in their strategic planning units, so the pool of capable talent is very limited, and given the size of the budgets of the local clients, the expense of a strategic planner is unaccounted for; as for multinational clients, planning is handled on a regional level, and that means not in Lebanon.” Daou adds that as a result, because of the lack of experience in certain specialized fields, some agencies end up having to outsource the job to their regional network. In the PR field as well, employers are suffering unsatisfied needs – for media relations specialists among others. But Yasmine says the problem lies beyond experience. “There is a lack of competent

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available candidates in media relations with the necessary experience and soft skills to deal with people and be able to identify with each publication and media representative personally. It is more than just a job; it’s a real relationship, so finding that right candidate can be challenging at times,” she says. New positions, no candidates. The growth of digital communication is complicating matters further, with new jobs being created and fast becoming in demand, says managing and creative director of Purple Advertising Ghada Chehaibar: “New developments in IT and the online marketing industry have translated into the recent creation of a lot of new job titles and positions that simply weren’t around a few years ago,” she says, adding that finding new recruits is a challenge due to the nature of such new roles, which require experience and skills that not many people can get. “Our team lacks a good social media strategist. It’s a position for which a keen sense of timing, creativity and in-depth knowledge of the Web are more essential than any particular degree or qualification, although skills in professional writing, marketing or advertising could be an advantage. It’s a new generation of media, another vision, and another target. The demographics and facts and figures that are used in traditional media cannot be applied to social media. It will require specific formation in social media, encompassing all social networking sites as communications and marketing tools,” she says. However, managing director of media agency OMD, Chadi Farhat, explains that his company is tackling this problem by moving away from specialized positions and focusing on integration. “We are keen on moving from individual positions to integration. For example, instead of having one person for digital and another for offline planning, we see a better scenario by bringing one who excels in both. This adds more value on so many fronts with the client,” he says. One of the side effects of communication companies integrating roles is that all employees now have to catch the social media bug. In fact, many agencies are beginning to make digital knowledge a prerequisite for any role in the company. Senior account director from advertising agency Adrenalin May Nasrallah says, “The new skills we are looking for in new recruits include familiarity with the constantly evolving technology and a good grasp of the online tools, especially those related to social media; the ability to make use of such knowledge.” And Leo Burnett’s director of people and culture in the Levant Carol Hanna adds that in this day and age, digital knowledge is essential if you are looking to get recruited. “Simply, we no longer hire people who are not attuned to the digital sphere. We have all been through extensive digital training and this has become a key skill required for anyone joining Leo Burnett. Communication nowadays is not complete without social media. This is where the experience happens with the people.”

finger on the button. Social media is increasingly being used to recruit people Recruitment toughens up. As the demands on professions grow and evolve under the pressure of online, so does the recruitment process to find the right candidate. Not surprisingly, one of the tools increasingly being used to recruit people is social media platforms such as LinkedIn. Traditional methods such as referrals, recruitment agencies, and hiring interns are not outdated, but as Nasrallah explains, it’s now a lot more efficient to use LinkedIn. “The rise in social media and professional networking websites gives us access to a large database of candidates and allows us to screen the professional profile of the applicants,” she says. And the system works both ways, with job seekers using online social media as a method to track down HR managers to the point that Hanna says she’s been “drowning with requests of people connecting with me on LinkedIn.” On the other hand, agencies are making candidates go through a longer corridor of questions before they can walk through the door. “The list of key performance indicators is becoming longer. In the past, the recruitment used to be based on a couple of criteria and then we roll the wheel of fortune hoping to get lucky. Today, we are able to identify the weaknesses and strengths before employing that person on the basis of clear and strict criteria that leave no room for failure,” says Farhat. According to Daou, a more stringent interview process was necessary, and could help lower the high turnover in the industry. “As the agency culture matures, it becomes necessary to have several levels to the recruitment process, from the initial qualifying to the first interview, followed by the senior interview, and finally the team induction. These guarantee that a chosen candidate will have the most chances to succeed in the agency, can integrate easily, can build a career and grow with the agency. The high turnover that marks industry recruitment trends is a big challenge to retain the teams intact for the medium term,” he says.

may nasrallah. Senior account director, Adrenalin

Ghada Chehaibar. Creative director, Purple Advertising

chadi farhat. Managing director, OMD

Communicate I 41

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Finding creativity Strong understanding of digital and social media, knack for versatility, solid storytelling abilities and a good heart top list of most-desired traits for CCOs by AdAge staff

sk any creative person – heck, ask any agency person – what their three biggest challenges are, and one of those is consistent every time: talent. Creativity is, at its heart, a human business and finding people who can adapt to a changing world is on the minds of every chief creative officer. We asked several what’s important in scouting the next great creative star and whether they would have hired themselves fresh out of school.

ROB SCHWARTZ. CCO, TBWA/Chiat/Day, LA

PJ PEREIRA. Co-founder and CCO, Pereira & O’Dell

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Lots of creatives now are focused on “the big idea” or integrated work. Is this something you look for in a young creative’s book? Rob Schwartz, CCO, TBWA/Chiat/Day, LA: We always look for the big idea. The issue I see now is that a lot of books have an integrated bunch of tactics, fleshed out from a mediocre idea. I’m thrilled that kids are thinking in terms of media arts, but media arts without an idea is like a lot of ingredients in search of a recipe. PJ Pereira, co-founder and CCO, Pereira & O’Dell: Big ideas ... another overrated concept. Not because a big idea isn’t important, but because it’s very easy for us to oversize our own ideas, or even our own judgment of the size of someone else’s idea. Why would size matter, though? Sometimes a series of “smaller ideas” is much bigger than a single one that will make a splash then get tired.

What about basic skills such as copywriting and art directing? How do people with those skills rank, compared to coming up with big ideas? Susan Credle, CCO, Leo Burnett USA: We have underestimated the need for brilliant writing and art direction. I have a saying: Just because you can type fast does not make you a great writer. For the past 10 years, technology has been so all-consuming that we have been a bit distracted. It has been necessary, but as technology becomes more second nature, the craft of creativity will gain importance again. I have seen many people who didn’t know they wanted to be in advertising succeed because they simply were fantastic storytellers. Con Williamson, CCO, Saatchi & Saatchi, New York: What are really cool are the tools we now have make it easier for us to execute, and the more industrious younger folks know how to use these tools. So if they have an idea they can execute it. We see this with younger creatives – how they pull it off for, like, $7. Schwartz: We like people who come up with big ideas and can tell stories graphically. Art directors need to show us impact and guide us through executions. Writers need to write. I like to see at least two long-copy ads in a book. I like to know that the writer can frame

an argument and persuade me. Although these days, sentences and paragraphs are as rare as Haley’s Comet. What stands out in a portfolio for you? Credle: Confidence to tackle the hardest territories. Tor Myhren, president and COO, Grey, New York: Versatility. I really like portfolios and bodies of work that show a good range. We’re a very big agency with a lot of different types of brands. That’s not necessarily true for every agency. I look for a sort of modern approach to problem-solving. If things are feeling dated, that’s a bad sign in a skill set, but also in how you approach a business or creative problem. Things really are changing so much that I just really look for a forward-learning point-of-view aesthetic and skill set. What was the last portfolio that really attracted your attention or got you excited? David Droga, founder and CCO, Droga5: An entire novel about a young writer’s life and their desires to work for me. Beyond the ego stroke, it was well-written, funny, honest and displayed cover-to-cover dedication. Linus Karlsson, CCO, McCann, New York and London: A guy named Zack McDonald from Kentucky. He’s a writer but I didn’t find anything written in the whole portfolio. I could see his point of view in his portfolio pictures and films and projects – interesting stuff. What are the most important skills you look for in a new hire? Karlsson: A good heart. We’re in the business of working together, so I think being a good person is essential. It’s always important to find lots of different people with different backgrounds. That’s when it gets interesting. I really don’t like to label creative people. I am looking for people with interesting points of view on what we’re doing and life itself. The more interesting backgrounds with different points of view and different kinds of skill sets, the more interesting it gets. It’s important to find that versus trying to streamline everything and get the sea of sameness. David Lubars, chairman and CCO, BBDO North America: There are all the usual criteria about brilliance you would expect. A key thing, though, is that they must also possess soulfulness and not be an asshole. It’s crucially important and a major contributor to our success. Williamson: We’re looking for Swiss Army knives. You have to have idea people first, but we’re creating more unique combinations. We have a lot more digital creatives. Craft is first – being a great art director and writer means you can write; it means you can art direct. But when we get into execution, more digital creatives are being brought into traditional roles. We’re taking the traditional position and adding something new to it. We want creatives to see a whole world around an idea. People with digital experience tend to do that more. I’m tired of seeing case studies on reels.

ALL-ROUND REQUIREMENTS. Personality and skills are both important in landing a creative job How important is it for young creatives to be wellversed in technology, social media, etcetera? Jose Molla, co-founder and CCO, La Comunidad: To me, it’s a given. Someone who isn’t curious about technology or social media these days should probably work in a different industry. Participate or leave, those are pretty much the options. Digital/social media isn’t a position at the agency and it’s also not a three-month campaign. It’s a change of behavior that has to be embraced because it’s here to stay. Myhren: It’s mandatory. We have to be fluent in the digital space, and it’s not just young people. Everyone will have to be fluent. The question is how deep have they gone. It’s also really interesting – when you’re hiring from pure digital agencies for a place like Grey that’s much more brand-building and less digital-specific, there are some very different creative methodologies. Now I look for people who are idea first and technology second. I’m not crazy about things led by technology. I’d rather they be led by the idea and see that they use the technology really beautifully around that idea. For what we do, being brand architects from the brand up, we have to lead with ideas. If you look back on your first portfolio now, would you hire yourself? Credle: If I look back at my first portfolio, I might fire myself. Molla: No way. The only thing I had going for me was my conviction. Pereira: I wouldn’t. I was too sure of myself back then. And probably still am. Droga: Absolutely. I worked my arse off, was appreciative and not a dick.

TOR MYHREN. President and COO, Grey, New York

CON WILLIAMSON. CCO, Saatchi & Saatchi, New York

SUSAN CREDLE. CCO, Leo Burnett USA

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | TELEVISION

What’s their story?

Al-Jazeera English to launch US ad campaign to “get journalism out to as many people as possible” by Andrew Hampp

l-Jazeera English may be one of the only fastgrowing networks that doesn’t want to tell potential sponsors its growth story. The global news network has seen its profile escalate in recent months due to its leading coverage of major events such as Japan’s earthquake and the uprisings in the Middle East. Web visits in April 2011 surged past 66 million – 42 percent from the US – and talks to expand its limited distribution in major territories such as the US, the UK and India have accelerated. “They don’t go out very hard – they’re not sending fliers out or coming around knocking on the door saying you should be advertising on Al-Jazeera,” says Adrian Smith, international account director at Mediacom UK, which tried to buy ads for Shell. But Al Anstey, Al-Jazeera English’s managing editor, based in Doha, Qatar, says that’s not the priority right now for the network, which turns five years old in November (the Arabic-language Al-Jazeera started in 1996). “It’s not about revenue for us; it’s about getting our journalism to as many people as possible,” he says. “Yes, we do advertise on the channel, we do look for revenue opportunities. But that is not the driving force.” Al-Jazeera is, however, interested in doing a better job of telling its story to a broader US audience. US distribution is at around 2.4 million homes, while some key news programs, such as Witness, have

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broader distribution across 40 million-plus homes via deals with providers such as Dish, DirecTV and Link. Anstey says the network is talking to several ad agencies about a potential US branding campaign, similar to a recent effort in the UK with London agency MWI. “They would marry with the PR team we’ve got globally doing the job,” he says. “We’ve had a lot of really good pickup in the press in the US. That definitely helps us in terms of the recognition,” Anstey says. Unlike Al-Jazeera English, Al-Jazeera’s Arabic-language service has more than 20 channels – specializing in kids, documentaries and sports, as well as news – and some of the highest-rated programs across the Middle East. And the Arabic-language channels carry more ads. In 2010, spending on Al-Jazeera’s channels reached almost $650 million, but just $29 million was from Al-Jazeera English, according to data from market research firm Ipsos. The Al-Jazeera Sports channel the company has invested heavily in lately can command high ad rates for popular sports events such as the World Cup, says Elda Choucair, general manager of Omnicom’s PHD in Dubai, a center for Middle East ad sales. Al-Jazeera is also considering adding languages in addition to English and Arabic. Derek Baine, a cable analyst for US research firm SNL Kagan, says Al-Jazeera English still has

an uphill battle to win US-dedicated carriage from cable, satellite and telco TV providers, which are already overwhelmed with too many channels. “If they get launched, I would see it more as a channel block,” he says. “It’s pretty unlikely they’ll get a 24-hour feed in the US.” Anstey is equally focused on expanding Al-Jazeera English’s journalistic presence, particularly as his competitors at CNN and BBC World scale back their worldwide coverage. With backing from the emir of Qatar, where Al-Jazeera is based, there is less pressure to be profitable. Of Al-Jazeera’s 70 global bureaus, 35 are dedicated to English. He expects to open as many as five more in North America, in addition to others in Latin America, South Korea, Africa, Malaysia and Australia. Mediacom’s Smith cautions that Al-Jazeera is still perceived by some audiences as having a proArab stance, but several of its current distribution partners says its recent coverage of global events has been well received by viewers. “Our affiliates have been receiving accolades from their customers for bringing this to their region,” says Stephanie Misar, marketing director at MHZ Networks, the largest US distributor of the 24-7 Al-Jazeera English channel. “It’s a moment in the US and demographics as well where folks are looking for alternatives in their news programming.”

SEPTEMBER 2011 | DIGITAL

Managing great expectations

Negative reviews on travel websites can severely harm a hotel’s reputation if they are handled badly by Sidra Tariq “

PRAJWAL HALERY. Guest experience and training manager at Sofitel Dubai

MEREDITH TUQAN. Former head of digital, Middle East, for Action Global Communications

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uge disappointment.” “Clean your rooms.” “Poor service to the max.” “Five-star facilities with only two-star service :(” These are just some of the titles of reviews posted on travel website TripAdvisor.com about hotels in the region. But don’t judge too quickly. There are loads of positive reviews too. But what happens when negative reviews like these are posted on travel and hotel review sites such as TripAdvisor, Expedia.com and Time Out? While some reviews are harmless, others can have a major impact on a hotel’s reputation and the perception of prospective customers. “In today’s world it can be very damaging because everything is online and the world is pretty much just a click away. Reviews are posted online and people read reviews before they choose a hotel,” says Prajwal Halery, guest experience and training manager at Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach. Sofitel is part of French hotel group Accor, which owns more than 4,100 hotels in 90 countries. “With TripAdvisor, you have to take into consideration that it is one of the world’s biggest travel resources,” says Meredith Tuqan, head of digital, Middle East, for Action Global Communications, which overlooks digital and social media communication initiatives for brands in sectors such as travel and tourism. (Tuqan has since moved to OMG as regional director of social media.) “TripAdvisor attracts around 42 million users a month. It has approximately 40 million reviews of

hotels and restaurants from all around the world,” she adds. “Basically, a hotel can spend millions on a great big shiny marketing campaign and can have its reputation in tatters in only a matter of hours after a poor review which is not responded to on a site such as TripAdvisor.” Lina Vasiloudis, director of marketing and communications at Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi (owned by Rotana Hotel Management Corporation), agrees that bad reviews have an impact on brand perception, but says she doesn’t think “an individual bad review will influence this. But if you have more negative than positive reviews, you’ve got some work to do.” PURSUE OR SUE? However, Emma Fraser, director of marketing and communications at Raffles Dubai (part of Wafi Group and Singapore-based hospitality chain Raffles Hotels and Resorts), says that bad reviews are not damaging in themselves, but they must be investigated and pursued. Hotels and brands can’t stop guests from posting bad reviews on websites, so what eventually becomes important is how the organization reacts once the review has been posted. In December last year, the Kuwait franchise of the Japanese cuisine restaurant Benihana sued a popular blogger in Kuwait for a review he had posted on his site. Mark Makhoul had written about his experience at the then newly-opened Benihana franchise in Kuwait, sharing both positives and negatives. Makhoul’s review

DIGITAL | SEPTEMBER 2011

probably did not get as much attention as the news of Benihana suing him. Scores of people Tweeted and posted their alarm at and disagreement with the restaurant’s decision on Benihana’s Facebook page. The whole fiasco brought a lot of bad publicity to the restaurant. And to make it worse for the brand, Makhoul won the case. Hotels have to be careful in their approach to online reviews, whether they are on official review websites, blogs or social networking sites. Some reviews don’t even come to the attention of the hotels, while others are spotted during regular monitoring of such websites. Tuqan stresses that monitoring websites on a daily basis is important, as it can help address an issue at a nascent stage “rather than when it has emerged into a full-blown issue or crisis.” Halery says Sofitel has recently hired a specialist to monitor websites such as TripAdvisor and social networking platforms. The specialist is in charge of checking these sites on a daily basis, making sure complaints are investigated and responding to both positive and negative comments. COMPENSATORY MEASURES. “When we look at TripAdvisor, which is of course the most popular one, we read the reviews and go back to the guest profile within the system, and we identify the details of the guest, such as the e-mail address and the telephone number,” says Halery. “We then get in touch with the guest and find out the reason behind their negative or challenging stay. We then provide them with a suitable compensation after investigation if it is something that’s our fault.” The hotel might offer the guest a complementary, discounted or upgraded stay. “We received a few negative reviews during the pre-opening period of the hotel, which was mainly because of the delay in opening the property,” says Halery. “During that period we contacted guests directly based on the profiles we had in the reservations. We apologized for the delay (which was something that was not under our control, but due to licensing and other requirements of the UAE). We offered them an opportunity to stay at other [five-star] luxury properties within the area: The Address at Dubai Marina, Hilton and Westin. And we were footing the expenses for the guests to stay there.” Raffles Dubai also responds to each positive and negative review posted on websites such as TripAdvisor, says Fraser. “It’s usually our general manager, Peter French, and his office that reviews them, and then Peter responds in a very personal tone. They keep a record of those [reviews],” she says. This way the hotel has a record of the guest and “should that booking come through again, we would flag that up in reservations, and then French would liaise with that guest. So it becomes more of a personal touch.” “Our hotel has received some bad reviews on both sites – TripAdvisor and Time Out Abu Dhabi,” says Beach Rotana’s Vasiloudis. “We read every review out in our morning briefings so that everyone is aware of what went wrong. In some cases, if we know the guest’s name, our executive office will contact him or her directly.”

READ ALL ABOUT IT. Negative and positive hotel reviews can be posted online, instantly TAKING IT SERIOUSLY. She adds that Rotana has implemented a Rotana-wide procedure and a set standard to tackle negative and positive reviews online. “It is important to take every single comment seriously, be it positive or negative. Each comment is shared by the hotel’s general manager or assistant general manager in the daily morning meeting, and most of them [are] replied to within a time frame which we have set to be 72 hours maximum. The reason we don’t reply to every single (positive) comment is that it may become monotonous for the other users. For specific complaints or requests, we may ask the guest to get in touch with us on an e-mail address so we can handle it in a more personal way. The most important points for us are that the replies are relevant to all TripAdvisor users, professional and respectful.” Halery gives another example of how Sofitel handled a negative review. “We did have challenges where, for example, a guest must have written to us that his breakfast was something which was part of his package, but unfortunately due to some system errors and communication within the team the front desk employee had informed the guest that it wasn’t included. The guest ended up staying for three days with us without having breakfast and posted a review later. “After the investigations we realized that it was our fault,” Halery says. The hotel wrote an apology to the guest and offered complimentary breakfast and lunch for the next stay. “This way they [the complainants] also understand that we’ve made an error and we are trying to rectify it the next day.” However, in some situations guests may not return to the city or may choose not to stay at the hotel again. “If that is the circumstance, then we’ll offer a refund to the guest on the present day,” he says.

LINA VASILOUDIS. Director of marketing and communications, Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi

EMMA FRASER. Director of marketing and communications at Raffles Dubai

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LIKE A KING. Sofitel, Beach Rotana and Raffles use internal guest surveys as well. Beach Rotana’s Vasiloudis says, “We also have systems in place that ensure guest preferences are recorded, customer satisfaction surveys are completed, and feedback is gathered and shared with the team. I don’t think there is much else you can do to guarantee a good review. It just comes down to the guest feeling like a king.” “From a PR perspective we ensure our entire marketing and PR platform is integrated and therefore social media plays a massive part to us,” says Fraser. “We like to use and endorse the more positive TripAdvisor comments in our communication, we try to tie it into our Facebook and Twitter pages, and we include the comments across commercial platforms and presentations.” Hotels must understand that sites such as TripAdvisor are key purchase influencers, adds Tuqan. “They are often reviewed by travelers at or very close to a point of purchase. People essentially reference TripAdvisor to decide whether

they are going to stay at your hotel or the hotel next door. That is why reviews – good or bad – need to be given attention.” (See box below.) “The hotel’s communication team should be working closely with the customer service team and the front desk,” she adds. “They should be working in tandem to develop a modus operandi for addressing customer queries online. “It is not realistic that somebody is going to be available 24/7. And it is not realistic, for instance, that the PR person is going to necessarily know all of the customer service-related issues. [There has to be a] strong communication line between the PR and the customer service desk.” Hotels should also claim their official social media or TripAdvisor pages, adds Tuqan. Brands often find websites or pages on travel sites that are not owned by them but are claiming to be them, and this often presents a challenge to the brand. “Claiming their spaces is very important,” she says.

FACING THE WORST

Don’t confront customers: Another mistake that brands make and should avoid is arguing with customers online. It sounds like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at how often that happens. Watch your tone: Instead, hotels should interact with reviewers in a personalized and friendly manner and should be appreciative of feedback. Ideally a response should be posted within 24 hours. Contact directly; follow-up publicly: Hotels should recognize feedback, acknowledge it, but then take that feedback offline. In other words, get the customer’s contact details and talk to that person off the public forum. But then follow up on the outcomes publicly. Essentially, they need to demonstrate that they listen and care about customer service.

While hotels try to tackle reviews in their own ways, Action’s Meredith Tuqan says there are certain steps hotels can take when faced with a bad review online: Respond to each review: One of the worst things [hotels] can do is ignore reviews – both positive and negative. That just comes down to customer service and demonstrating that you are listening and that you care. Tailor the response: Hotels should not distribute a standard response to all reviews; that is just lazy. If you are going to have the time to respond you should do so in a way that is personable. People these days are very media savvy. They can see through a standard response.

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | AGENCIES

Big fish go fishing

New-school holding companies are lean, mean and hungry for acquisitions by Rupal Parekh

ast month, a snazzy black-and-silver invitation made its way to the mailboxes of ad types, requesting their presence at a celebration: the launch of Project Worldwide, a nascent marketing holding company based in Auburn Hills, Detroit. The bash (promising a performance by Train, responsible for the most overused song in advertising, “Hey, Soul Sister”) marks the arrival of yet another new player on the holding company scene. Adland’s Big Four holding companies – WPP, Omnicom Group, Interpublic Group of Cos. and Publicis Groupe – have long dominated the marketplace, and although they remain the largest, a number of burgeoning players are rising up. It’s an interesting post-recession development: new-school holding firms spending millions to swallow up indie shops and build mini-empires, each attempting to put its own spin on a concept pioneered nearly 60 years ago by Marion Harper. They include Project, London-based Engine, and Korea’s Cheil. There are also slightly more senior firms, such

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as MDC Partners and Dentsu, which are both acquisition hungry. Industry observers say there’s room in the marketplace for new players, but what isn’t clear is who will benefit the most from more agency networks – the umbrella organizations themselves, the shops selling to them or clients. Project Worldwide, formed last October, is home to George P. Johnson, Juxt Interactive, G7 Entertainment Marketing, and Partners & Napier, which Project acquired this month. All told, Project has 1,100 employees, 25 offices and projected billings for 2011 of more than $830 million. That’s relatively tiny by comparison to the Big Four, but Project is promising to ramp up fast. Chairman and CEO Bob Vallee tells Ad Age that Project wants to be home to shops that didn’t “grow up” on Madison Avenue; that it’s in talks with 50 different agencies; and that, by fall, it will ink two or three more deals. SALE SEASON. Many independent shops seem in a selling mood. In addition to Partners &

AGENCIES | SEPTEMBER 2011

Napier, deals in the past six months include Taxi’s sale to WPP, Dentsu’s acquisition of Firstborn, and MDC Partners’ buy of 72andSunny and Anomaly. “We’re talking with agencies about mergers and acquisitions – so we know that many of them are starting to get the itch,” says Ken Robinson, principal at Ark Advisors, New York. As both established and new holding companies continue to expand, the question of whether the model is a sound one for the future of the ad business is nagging many minds in the industry. Need proof? Here’s a query recently posted to the online community Quora: “Is the holding company structure detrimental to the evolution of agencies?” Ben Kunz, director of strategic planning at Mediassociates, an agency in Connecticut, replied: “Not detrimental, just a maturation that slows ideas, in my view. The trouble with holding companies that I see is they attract agencies at the mature end of the spectrum who may be furthest away from the innovation, fueling new media results. They also have higher cost structures (in my view) since they must draw profits out of the organizations in their tanks.” Kunz’s argument – that holding company agencies don’t foster as much innovation as independent shops – is why even some executives who built their careers (and filled their coffers) on the model are now souring on it.

“The structure of the holding company is outdated,” adman Jon Bond told Forbes a few months ago. “It’s inappropriate for today. Today a structure has to appeal to three disparate groups: It has to appeal to agency entrepreneurs, it has to appeal to clients, and it has to appeal to the financial community. The old model just had to appeal to the financial community. It doesn’t appeal to agency entrepreneurs. It doesn’t appeal to clients because agencies are competing with each other. … Structurally, it’s flawed.” PARTNER, NOT PARENT. Bond sold his agency, Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners to the Toronto-based holding company MDC Partners, now the 10th largest holding company – and one that distances itself from the term. Ask CEO Miles Nadal and he’ll say the company he founded 30 years ago is a “partner, not a parent,” and the distinction is not only one of semantics. “Implicit in a holding company is something that is passive, that is controlling, that implies a parent company relationship with offspring, and is completely counter to what we believe in,” Nadal says. “We are a provider of resources and capital that allows our partner firms to take their companies to the next level. We are there to help them seven days a week.” He adds of

his competitors, “Culturally, they are not as entrepreneurial as we are.” MDC expects to spend some $60 million to $80 million more in acquisitions this year. “There will always be agencies that want to sell and have cash infusion,” says Ark’s Robinson. “And the more holding company suitors the better. But when it comes to clients, it’s extremely rare that clients will ask or care whether or not an agency is part of a holding company. Clients will choose best-in-class over potential efficiencies from staying in network.” Investors like the concept, says Matt Chesler, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. “What investors like is that they’re buying the diversification of risk and stability. There isn’t a limited amount of dollars. It’s not as though the Big Four plus others have exhausted the funds that are available to invest; media investors are constantly reallocating.” For Vallee’s part, an IPO is not something Project is considering right now. But he’s sure about his view that Project has a rightful place in the market. “Us, Engine, MDC Partners… There is a place for small- to medium-sized holding companies that stay focused.” In the meantime, larger, more established competitors are focused on evolving. Omnicom CEO John Wren, at the 4As in Austin recently, put it best: “Our ability to survive and prosper depends on our ability to adapt.”

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | MARKETING

Marketers and agencies eye booming Africa for expansion Foreign companies seek local talent as KFC, Walmart and others increase business on continent by Emma Hall

he world’s second-largest continent is no longer the “next big thing.” Africa has arrived. It’s a huge and compelling market, three times the size of China, home to six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies, according to The Economist, and home to a billion people, 40 percent of whom are under the age of 50, half of whom have a mobile phone, and 40 percent of whom are living in urban areas. KFC, Walmart, Nestlé (whose CEO Paul Bulcke is pictured, above, talking with Nigerian vice-president Namadi Sambo), Danone, and India’s Bharti Airtel telecoms are among the companies taking African expansion seriously. KFC currently has around 655 outlets in Africa; by 2020, parent Yum Brands wants to have 2,100 KFCs across the continent. Walmart is in the middle of a $2.5 billion takeover of South Africa’s largest retailer, Massmart, which has 290 stores in 13 countries in Africa. Nestlé recently announced a $1 billion investment in Africa over the next two years. The company plans to build new factories in Angola, Congo, Mozambique and Nigeria, with the aim of doubling its African business – which already brings in 3 percent of Nestlé’s sales. The activity has spurred a local talent hunt by both marketers and agencies, the latter of which are gearing up their Africa operations. “It used to be that, when clients wanted to work with us in

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Africa, we’d find a local partner and assign the work to them,” says Loris Nold, vice-president of business improvement at Publicis Groupe. “But when big clients who spend heavily start showing explosive growth in Africa, you want to take control of those opportunities.” In January, WPP took a controlling stake in Ogilvy South Africa and acquired 50 percent of Mindshare South Africa. Last year WPP’s TNS bought a majority stake in RMS, the largest customresearch agency in West and Central Africa, and Ogilvy created a joint venture with Kenya-based Scangroup. Publicis Groupe recently changed the leadership in all of its South African-based agencies, filling every position with local talent. In Ghana, Kofi Amoo-Gottfried (nephew of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan) set up a Publicis agency in 2009, which now serves 20 markets in the region. “There’s a new breed of marketing talent, and it’s increasingly possible to find really good African marketers,” says Frank Braeken, Unilever’s executive vice-president for North Africa, the Middle East and Central Africa. “People are convinced that the continent offers them a future.” That’s not to say there isn’t still a learning curve. Distribution and pricing are, according to Braeken, “critical acts of marketing” in Africa. There are

other challenges, too. When hypermarkets make up only 5 percent of retail space, promotions are difficult to orchestrate on any scale, so a lot of effort goes into market development instead. To grow the toothpaste market, for example, Unilever is campaigning to get consumers to brush their teeth twice a day; and to grow Knorr – which is most often used in the traditional corn and beans dish githeri – it is persuading consumers to use it in other recipes. Unilever has been offering free rides in Knorr-branded buses, during which promoters tell consumers about the brand’s versatility. For the Omo detergent and Sunlight dishwashing brands, they entertain people in open markets with demonstrations and sampling. While billboards, press and TV are still the dominant media in Africa, digital is catching up. Undersea cables have been laid on the east and west coasts, bringing millions of homes online and reducing costs. Roughly 10 percent of Africans are online, and in Nigeria the figure leapt from 13 percent in 2009 to 22 percent in 2010, says Benedicte Kodjo, Lowe’s regional business director for North Africa and the Middle East. “Africans are late early adopters,” says Rick de Kock, TBWA’s director of Africa operations. “Once they get the technology, they run with it.”

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X-pert Files

Easy does it

Siegel+Gale’s Tarek Sultani says consumers are willing to pay more for brands with simpler experiences

e live in a world that is constantly changing. One that is increasingly global and where the proliferation of technology and the ubiquity of Internet-based communications is causing even more complexity. An aging population, Generation Y, and a diverse individualistic culture are but a few modern trends. Consumers are increasingly savvy – they have 24/7 Internet access and real-time access to global information. In this fast-paced and increasingly complex world, it’s a real challenge to create strong brands that stand out: Clarity, consistency and cohesive branding across all customer touch points have never been more challenging. Siegel+Gale is a global strategic branding firm that believes that simple, clear, transparent communications and interactions are at the heart of being a strong brand; one that is valued and appreciated. Belief is great, but not enough; we wanted proof. So we conducted a global survey among more than 6,000 consumers in seven countries to answer one question: Does simplicity matter to consumers? Included in our survey were questions on the financial services category and key consumer brands within that category and others in the UAE, Saudi Arabia ,and six other countries. The survey results were clear: Not only does simplicity matter, but despite a still challenging economy, consumers are willing to pay a premium for brands that deliver simpler experiences and interactions. More than 80 percent of the sample said they would be more likely to recommend a brand because it makes their life simpler.

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While there are many brands that have the opportunity to reap financial rewards by providing simpler experiences and interactions, the results revealed that the amount consumers are willing to pay varies by industry too (between 11 and 34 percent in the Middle East). The technology and media industries are seen as simplest in their interactions and communications with people in the region, with Apple topping the index, securing its position as a firm favorite in the Middle East. Banks, credit card and insurance industries are rated as the most complex and least clear. So what can brands learn from this survey? The top brands on the Simplicity Index make people’s lives ‘easier’ by: Communicating directly, clearly and without jargon   Reducing stress by providing savings/value Saving time by increased convenience and accessibility   Facilitating ease of use and interactions Enabling consumers to get more from life through deeper relationships and easier lifestyles Those that scored lowest make people’s lives more complex by:   Communicating in ways that are hard to understand or perceived as deceitful   Being perceived to intentionally overcharge  Being seen as “niche” or targeted to too select an audience, or not accessible Being found difficult to interact with, with poor customer service experiences or hard-to-use interfaces

Brands in all low-rated industries need to adjust the way they communicate and interact with their customers before they can regain consumer trust. How many times, for example, have you seen a bank advertise as “your trusted partner,” or “bringing you greater opportunities?” The research findings show that this type of messaging hurts brands rather than helps them. Trumpeting that you’re a trusted partner and customer-centric without first adjusting the way you go about business only adds to the perception of deceitful communication. The lesson for brands is simple: Clarity and transparency pays. Industries such as insurance and banking, in their excessive focus on money, metrics and legalese, have forgotten what they are really selling: trust and peace of mind. Brands that communicate simply, focusing on delivering outstanding customer experiences, can’t only justify a premium, but will gain loyalty (and lasting profits).

TAREK SULTANI. Managing director, EMEA, Siegel+Gale

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | MARKETING

Reverse innovation moves forward Marketers are increasingly creating products in the developing world and importing those ideas into more mature markets by Natalie Zmuda

ome of the most compelling innovations of our time are poised to emerge not in the US or other developed countries but in developing markets such as China and India. Dubbed “reverse innovation,” the concept encompasses any innovation that is adopted first in the developing world and then migrates into mature markets. It’s a new idea, but one that is gaining steam, as companies ranging from General Electric to Procter & Gamble, and Levi’s to Coca-Cola innovate and introduce products with global implications in the developing world. Vijay Govindarajan, a professor in the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in the UK, believes reverse innovation will permanently alter the way companies do business, as resources, talent and investment shift to poor and developing countries. It will also present major marketing challenges. “It’s logical to see where a poor man wants a rich man’s products. Reverse innovation is the exact opposite,” says Govindarajan. “Why would

a rich man ever want a poor man’s products? It requires some transformational thinking for marketing and advertising.” Govindarajan, General Electric CEO, Jeffrey Immelt and Chris Trimble, also a professor at Dartmouth, are credited with introducing the concept of reverse innovation about a yearand-a-half ago in a Harvard Business Review article entitled, “How GE is Disrupting Itself.” The article capped Govindarajan’s two-year stint as GE’s first professor-in-residence and chief innovation consultant. During that time he was charged with accelerating growth for GE Healthcare in India. GLOCALIZATION. “When I started working on that project, we quickly realized was GE Healthcare, just like other multinationals, was selling the same medical-diagnostic equipment it sells in the US, in India, with some adaptation,” Govindarajan says, noting that the approach is

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | MARKETING

Reverse innovations. Denizen, Procter & Gamble’s Pampers and Miniute Maid’s Pulpy known as “glocalization” and involves adapting to local market preferences rather than truly innovating. “Only 10 percent of Indians are rich enough to afford those products.” That insight led GE to develop a portable, battery-operated electrocardiogram machine that sells for $500. Intended as a solution for rural Indian markets where bulky, $20,000 machines made little sense, the product is now making inroads in the US as a solution for first responders. “Local companies in these markets are really smart,” Govindarajan says. “If you don’t do it, they will. And if they do it, not only do you lose the market in China or India, but they can bring those products here.” To avoid being one-upped by savvy challengers, hundreds of multinationals have already established research and development centers in India and China. Coca-Cola’s 14th billion-dollar brand was developed in the Atlanta-based company’s Shanghai R&D center, for example. The beverage giant moved to plug a gap it saw in the Chinese market with the 2005 launch of Minute Maid Pulpy, a juice drink that easily transitions beyond the breakfast table. It’s now the company’s first billion-dollar brand to be developed and launched in an emerging market. Pulpy, first tested in a region of China, can now be found in 19 countries across Asia, Africa and South America. Most recently it launched

in Turkey and there are plans to launch in six more countries before the end of the year. The success has encouraged further investment in the company’s R&D centers around the world, says Venkatesh Kini, vice-president of marketing of the global juice center. CUSTOMIZE, DON’T CENTRALIZE. “Because of the rapid growth in demand and scale in many of these emerging markets, such as Brazil, China, and India, the opportunity to create local, customized solutions is much more [pronounced],” Kini says. “Earlier it made more economic sense to create central innovations and scale them. Today, developing countries have critical mass and the capabilities to launch local, customized products across a range of categories.” Levi’s Denizen brand is another example of reverse innovation, with the company first launching the brand in Asia, targeting Indian and Chinese consumers. It sought to make inroads in those valuable markets, but also to learn how to best produce an affordable product, taking into account the features and fit details most important to consumers. Denizen jeans will retail for one-third to one-half the cost of a pair of Levi’s when they roll out in the US this summer. “Launching in India and China, which are two very different cultures with consumers who have different body types, style and customs,

gave us a chance to learn about how to make a brand relevant for the market,” says Lance Diaresco, vice-president of marketing for Denizen. “We learned about fit and how to work with our franchise and wholesale customers to help them select the fits most relevant for their consumers.” “Value is important to consumers regardless of where they live,” Diaresco adds. Indeed, Procter & Gamble developed a lower-price diaper line without all the bells and whistles for its Brazilian market a few years ago. Parents who couldn’t afford the company’s more expensive diapers were willing to pay for a solution that would keep babies dry overnight, given that many co-sleep with their children. Bryan McCleary, a Procter & Gamble spokesman, says that a basic tier of products now exists around the world under different brand names, such as Simply Dry in Western Europe. Govindarajan says plenty of companies are only at the start of the cycle. He cites PepsiCo, John Deere, IBM, and Cisco as examples of companies innovating in emerging markets. He also says companies playing in the mobile advertising, mobile banking and even the pharmaceutical space could soon be shining examples of reverse innovation as well. Developing countries that have less bureaucracy and regulation could spawn innovative new drugs. “The infrastructure in the US is both a boon and a curse,” Govindarajan says.

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | DIGITAL

Children flock to social Web, but few advertisers dare to follow

Sites such as Togetherville and Moshi Monsters are hot, but mostly ad-free; here’s why by Irina Slutsky

hildren’s social networks are a boom business – in every way but advertising. Online playgrounds with colorful names such as Everloop and Togetherville are popular, not only with small fry, but also investors. Everloop just raised $3.1 million and Togetherville was acquired by Walt Disney Co. earlier this year for an undisclosed sum. Moshi Monsters, a three-year-old social gaming network, has already raked in $100 million this year, but not one dime of it was from advertisers. “Believe me, we get asked to incorporate branding and advertising all of the time,” says Rebecca Newton, chief community and safety officer at Moshi Monsters, which expects to have 70 to 80 million members in 200 countries by the end of this year. “But it’s complicated. When kids tell their friends they just had a mocha latte at Starbucks, they don’t understand that Starbucks now has their name and knows that they went to a Starbucks in Des Moines on Third Street on a Thursday and had a mocha latte, and [that is why] they start getting coupons for 20 mocha lattes.” It’s not just kids’ understanding of advertising that’s a lightning rod of controversy for social

networks, which mainly rely on virtual and real goods and subscription business models. It’s the public perception of how advertising affects kids. Besides law enforcement and the government watching over anyone working with kids online, pediatricians are getting in on the act. A March report by the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests doctors ask kids how much time they spend online and warn parents and children about social media, including kids’ obsession with popularity and status, sleep deprivation, social anxiety, depression, bullying – and interactions with advertising. WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE? Companies such as Togetherville are also aware of the difficulties Facebook has been having despite the fact that its rules specify no one under 13 can sign up. At least four lawsuits have been filed nationwide against Facebook’s use of kids’ images in their social ads. A big part of Facebook’s advertising strategy is to turn user “likes” into ads that show the user’s name and image. A recent Consumer Reports survey found that as many as 7.5 million

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | DIGITAL

monsters’ ball: Becoming a brand in its own right, Moshi Monsters proves a success Facebook users in the US are under 13, despite its user policies. An additional 14.4 million are between the ages of 13 and 17, younger than the age of legal consent in most states. And Facebook has no controls in place to prevent a child under 13 years from lying about his age to join the site. Cognizant of the mess exposing kids to advertising can create, 50-million-member-strong Moshi Monsters avoids it altogether. Newton, who is very passionate on the topic, says exposing kids to sophisticated advertising techniques isn’t fair. “It’s exploitative on a high level – getting information from a kid who doesn’t know what they’re doing.” Instead of working with brands, Moshi decided to become a brand. The company just announced an exclusive line of toys and figurines with Toys R Us. In fact, most of Moshi Monsters’ $200 million-plus revenue comes from the offline sale of toys, cards and magazines, with every piece of merchandise driving kids back to the site. Moshi Monsters also makes money when members upgrade to the paid membership, earning $8 a month per member. Additional revenue comes from virtual currency called “Rox.” Games are “shortplay optimized,” meaning that after 15 minutes, the rate at which players earn Rox diminishes, encouraging children to do homework or play with friends.

“loops” – the network’s version of pages. “Our philosophy is to socialize kids to brands and not commercialize them,” says Everloop CEO and co-founder Hilary DeCesare. “Kids will face ads their whole life online, but our goal is to let them find brands they are interested in.” So while Simon & Schuster is sponsoring a loop built around a book, the kids don’t know the name of the publisher, but they know the name of the book – Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life, a series of children’s books by Rachel Renee Russell. A DISNEY SOCIAL NETWORK?

TEACHING KIDS TO ACT SMART Rather than avoid brands and advertising completely, Everloop maintains it’s creating a place where kids can learn how to behave around advertising. Everloop has sponsored

The publisher sees Everloop as an essential part of its marketing strategy. “We have found Facebook and other online outlets to be a successful tool when marketing to teens, but

to reach the tween market there are not as many vehicles,” says Lucille Rettino, director of marketing for the children’s publishing group at Simon & Schuster. “Everloop, with its community set-up, is a perfect place to have kids talk about books. Our goal is to create a book club where tweens are reading and discussing our books and talking about them to their friends.” Besides the millions of dollars in funding, the company recently announced that former senior vice-president of Disney marketing Sandy Barger is the company’s new CMO. Togetherville does not accept advertising or subscriptions. The business model is based on the “allowance” – parents pay for “T-bills” (Togetherville currency) that they give to kids to spend on goods, games and gifts. On Togetherville, before a kid makes a new online friend, she needs the approval of her parents. Even though Disney has owned Togetherville since February, CEO Bob Iger is approaching the space with caution. Recently, he spoke at the AllThingsD conference, and when asked if Disney can address demands from preteens for a social network, Iger said, “We have to be very careful with our brand. Until we are certain that we can live up to our brand attributes within that space, we’re not going to do anything there.” Disney has the numbers to create a huge stir – ComScore puts Disney Entertainment top in the kids’ category, with 17.1 million unique visitors in May. But when it comes to a Disney social network: “We might do that, but not anytime soon,” Iger added.

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COM80 social network kids.indd 62

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | DEPARTMENTS

X-pert Files

Differentiating brands online Prototypeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Alexander Rauser says Web fonts are a handy tool for digital branding

s communication is moving from print to digital, digital branding is becoming more important. Recent studies have shown that properly branded digital assets can increase brand recall and message recall, and generally make people more trusting of content. This is a natural behavior as we recognize a person, a message or any other sort of communication by its content and appearance. Digital branding is not easy at times, mainly due to technical limitations. Staying on-brand on social networks can be difficult due to customization limitations. When comparing branded pages, channels or social streams we see how brands cannot properly distinguish themselves from each other. This is why it will become more and more important to focus on digital branded assets where we have full control to make things appear the way we want â&#x20AC;&#x201C; on-brand. Web fonts are not only about consistency and looking good, but can increase positive brand opinion of consumers and mean that when consumers visit a corporate website, read a newsletter or watch a video online they create trust and positive affinity, and increase awareness at the same time. From a design and branding perspective, typography is one of the most important elements to create a level of differentiation and make things more recognizable for consumers. Previously designers had to choose from a handful of fonts that would render consistently across browsers and operating systems. This limited the amount of differentiation a brand could create

64 I Communicate

online. What not many know is that technology has advanced since those days and now allows designers to have more creative freedom when it comes to online typography. Due to new font licensing models, supported by major font foundries, as well as new online services that make the use of Web fonts extremely simple, we can choose from thousands of fonts and use them legally on the Web. Fonts.com, one of more than seven available Web font delivery services, has more than 10,000 Web fonts including those from Monotype, Linotype and ITC. The advantage of this new technique is that there are almost no drawbacks in terms of implementation. Web font delivery services such as Typekit.com make it easy to add custom fonts to your website, and with a little bit of tweaking you can be up and running in a few hours. Another advantage is that there is no implication for search engine optimization as there could be when using previous font embedding techniques. The text of a website is still plain text HTML; users can select your text, copy and paste, and search engines can simply index your site too. This is also important from an accessibility point of view as it does not influence the rendering of your website and lets visually impaired users still get the most out of it. The way Web fonts work is that the font is temporarily downloaded the first time a user visits a website. This adds a small amount for the user to download, comparable to the size of a big image.

Looking at todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high-speed Internet connections this sounds like a fair price to pay in order to get creative with online typography and create brand differentiation. Another advantage is that font quality is improving, as fonts originally designed for print media are not automatically optimized for screen usage. Web fonts render pixel perfect on devices and therefore provide much better results. In terms of Arabic content, designers need a little more patience. The number of Arabic Web fonts is limited, and Web browsers are still not rendering Arabic consistently. Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox do a good job, while Chrome is still lagging behind. Today Web fonts enable us to create branded online content that creates a high level of differentiation for brands and provide more creative freedom to designers.

ALEXANDER RAUSER. CEO of Prototype, a Dubai-based full-service interactive agency

UAE

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Qualiﬁcation: Degree in a relevant discipline Experience: 2+ years Experience Skills: Experience in the ﬁeld of graphic designing Ability to operate Macintosh computer Strong command of Adobe design softwares

Qualiﬁcation: Degree in Interior Design, Architecture Experience: 2+ year Experience Skills: Knowledge of local purchasing habits & trends Strong command of Arabic & English Strong customer services skills

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3D/2D VISUALISER

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Qualiﬁcation: Degree in a elevant discipline Experience: 2+years Experience Skills: Knowledge of 3D Max, V-Ray, AutoCad Command of Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketchup Previous experience in the same ﬁeld

Qualiﬁcation: Degree in Computer science Experience: 2-7 years Experience Skills: Strong command of English Experience in Web designing and developing Command of HTML, HHTML,DHTML, XSIT, CSS,

Qualiﬁcation: Degree in a relevant discipline Experience: 6-8 years Experience Skills: Ability to work under minimal supervision Track record in commercial/hospitality design In depth understanding of AutoCAD

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GRAPHIC &WEB DESIGNER

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Qualiﬁcation: Degree in a relevant discipline Experience: 2+ years Experience Skills: Experience in hand-coding CSS/XHTML Experience designing web sites Understanding of CSS & HTML design

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Executive Solutions

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Al Yanabie United for Advertising

Ali Abdulwahab Sons & Co (Kuwait)

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active media (Kuwait )

How to apply to jobs on Bayt.com 1. 2. 3. 4.

Visit our website at www.bayt.com If you are a new visitor, click on ‘Post a CV’ to create your Bayt.com CV Enter the job reference in the Search box on the homepage. Example, enter JB123456 When you view the job posting, click on “Apply to this job” and attach your Bayt.com CV. Your CV will go directly to the employer and they will contact you if you ﬁt their job requirements

SEPTEMBER 2011 | DEPARTMENTS

Interview

Fresh Draft

Mazen Jawad tells Communicate his plans to turn around Horizon Draft FCB by Austyn Allison

n January, Mazen Jawad took over from Eddy Azzam as deputy managing director of ad agency Horizon Draft FCB’s Dubai offices. Don’t let the “deputy” throw you off, though; Jawad is running the show. Communicate caught up with him to see how the agency has been shaping up since his arrival. He’s been busy, he tells us, with plenty of pitches, a few wins, and a restructuring of the agency. When he spoke to Communicate, his agency had recently won the United Al Saqer Group account through its Abu Dhabi office (which opened around the time he took the reins in Horizon Draft FCB’s regional hub). The consolidation of the Biersdorff account has also brought in more business (Horizon previously handled parts of it, including the men’s line, hair care and deodorant), as did winning Pizza Hut, Burger King and Taco Bell in Kuwait. Horizon Draft FCB also took on the business of Diner’s Club, and has taken on below-the-line duties on top of its above-the-line work for Kraft’s snack brands. The restructuring that Jawad has led is, he says, a move to make the agency closer to the way Draft FCB runs in Chicago. “I’m working

66 I Communicate

on getting a closer formula to what we have in North America,” he says. “[Before] we were above-the-line focused; we were a traditional agency dependent on other companies to support other things.” The all-encompassing, through-theline model was only rolled out four years ago. Jawad has appointed a new creative head, Gui Ranjel, who moved from Y&R. Most of the creative department in Horizon Draft FCB is also new. It’s been a big shake-up. The agency has moved offices, from Garhoud to Capricorn Tower on Sheikh Zayed Road, putting it in the same building as its affiliated media agency Brand Connection and its PR shop Golin Harris. When Communicate visited, those offices were preparing for the arrival of a new department. “We are in the final process of bringing in the digital interactive unit Blue Barracuda,” says Jawad. “Draft FCB just announced Blue Barracuda as part of the company, and now Draft FCB in Europe is called ‘Draft FCB fuelled by Blue Barracuda.’” Digital experts will come to Dubai to build up Horizon’s digital offerings through hiring and training staff.

At the same time, experts in shopper marketing will fly in from Chicago. “We are bringing the Draft FCB team to train and see how we can create expertise in the office here for that.” Shopper marketing’s not new to his agency, adds Jawad. Sony, for example, uses Horizon’s shopper marketing skills. “It should always have been extremely important,” Jawad says. “Clients are demanding more lately, but we’ve been doing it for a long time. We’re trying to be as up-to-date as we can.” The recession shifted the balance of Horizon Draft FCB’s client base, as local sectors such as real estate and government dried up. For three years the majority of its clients were local, but in the second quarter of 2009 that changed, and now international clients make up around three quarters of the agency’s work (Jawad won’t give more precise figures). “Ideally it should be 50-50,” he says. “For a while the local was more than 50 percent and now the international is more than 50 percent.” With expansion in Abu Dhabi, restructuring, wins and pitches, Jawad is hoping for growth all round.

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5/1/11 11:35 AM

SEPTEMBER 2011 | DEPARTMENTS

Regional Work

Salaam by Mashreq ·

Agency: Zaman Branding

Real fun anytime... anywhere Client: Tiffany Bites (IFFCO) Creative Agency: Blue Apple, Dubai Creative & Planning Team: Vishal Anand and Ravi Naik Production House: Dejavu FZ LLC, Dubai

Britain’s most memorable Snopake Sticky Notes Advertising Agency: Impact BBDO Dubai UAE Executive Creative Director: Fouad Abdel Malak Creative Director/ Copywriter: Amit Kapoor Art Director: Dinesh Tharippa These ads (and more) can be found at adsoftheworld.com

Reporters Without Borders: Censorship tells the wrong story Advertising Agency: Memac Ogilvy & Mather Dubai, UAE Executive Creative Director: Steve Hough Creative Director: Ramzi Moutran Art Directors: Leonardo Borges, Rafael Rizuto Copywriter: Sascha Kuntze Photographer: Atp

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DEPARTMENTS | SEPTEMBER 2011

International Work

Delete text driving Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett, Chicago, USA Chief Creative Officer: Susan Credle Executive Creative Directors: Jeanie Caggiano, Charley Wickman Art Director: Mikal Pittman Copywriter: Britt Nolan Executive Producer: Veronica Puc Producer: Donna Varichak Photographer: Chuck Shotwell

Paul Johnson just checked in @ the bottom of the River Thames. Driving and social media just don’t mix Client: Top Gear magazine Advertising Agency: N=5, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Art Director: Marco de Jong Copywriter: Thijs Bontje

Café 1820: UFO Advertising Agency: Garnier BBDO, San José, Costa Rica Creative Director: Tito Araya Art Directors: Ronaldo Peraza, Eduardo Loaiza Copywriter: Randall Vega Photographer: Alex Zuñiga

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

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | DEPARTMENTS

International Work

Advertising Agency: RobertsSmith, London, UK Art Directors / Copywriters: Daniel Roberts / Nicholas Smith

Think sharp Adertising Agency: JWT, Singapore Executive Creative Directors: Tay Guan Hin, Valerie Cheng, Jun Fukawa Creative Director: Koh Hwee Peng Art Directors / Copywriters: Karan Dang, Kenneth Chia Creative Group Head: Ed Cheong Planner: Malti Afridi Illustrators: Max Kostenko, Karan dang

The dinosaurs are here. Advertising Agency: Richter7, Salt Lake City, USA Executive Creative Director: Dave Newbold Creative Directors: Gary Sume, Ryan Anderson Copywriter: Gary Sume Photographer: Dave Stoker

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

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DEPARTMENTS | SEPTEMBER 2011

International Work

Bad breath isn’t you Advertising Agency: Young & Rubicam, New York Art Director: Lily Kim Illustrator: Allison Wight

Back to baby soft skin. UV protection with moisturizer and antioxidants Advertising Agency: Euro RSCG, São Paulo, Brazil Creative Directors: Paulo Gomes, Marcelo Bresciani, Sidney Braz Art Director: Alexandre Tommasi Copywriter: Monica Zimmermann Agency Producer: Paula Rinaldi

Beautiful, isn’t it? Wait until it gets down there. Launching fire balloons can cause fires, blackouts, environmental hazards and other severe damages. Do not commit this crime Advertising Agency: Agência3, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Creative Directors: Álvaro Rodrigues, Luís Claudio Salvestroni Art Director: Lucas Buléd Copywriter: Sleyman Khodor Illustrator: Pict Studio

Don’t make a big fuss about a small dent on your car. Go visit Mercedes-Benz SmallRepair Advertising Agency: Shanghai, Berlin, Germany Creative Directors: Stefan Karl, Heiner Baptist Rogge Illustrator: Heiner Baptist Rogge

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

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SEPTEMBER 2011 | DEPARTMENTS

International Work

Predator Ride Advertising Agency: The Smarts, Sofia, Bulgaria Creative Directors: Martin Markov, Radoslav Bimbalov Art Director: Martin Markov Copywriter: Radoslav Bimbalov Illustrator: Martin Markov

Stunning from every angle Advertising Agency: Droga5, Sydney, Australia Executive Creative Director: Duncan Marshall Art Directors: Roy Torres, Marcus Johnston Account Director: Nigel Seeto Photographer: Darren Capp These ads (and more) can be found at adsoftheworld.com

72 I Communicate

DEPARTMENTS | SEPTEMBER 2011

International Work

Don’t let bloating change your world. Gestiva Digestive Pills. Advertising Agency: Maksim Fulltime, Guayaquil, Ecuador CCO: Jimmy Landaburu, Chuck Vallarino Executive Creative Directors: Jimmy Landaburu Copywriter: Freddy Ordoñez

This is how your cat feel when you take him to a clinic for dogs. Felina, veterinary clinic exclusive for cats. Advertising Agency: Propeg, Salvador, Brazil Creative Directors: Ana Luisa Almeida, Ariston Quadros Art Director: Lucas Reis Copywriter: Ana Luísa Almeida Illustrator: Lucas Reis, Danilo Carvalho

There’s a story everywhere. Be a part of it Advertising Agency: David&Goliath, USA Chief Creative Officer: David Angelo Executive Creative Director: Colin Jeffery Creative Director / Art Directoy: Steve Yee Creative Director / Copywriter: Ben Purcell Art Directors: Steve Yee, Dan Madsen, Chris Cavalieri Copywriters: Ben Purcell, Justin Bajan, Mark Habke Sr. Photographer: Vincent Dixon Producer: David Safian / SaF Productions

Smart phones for smart cookies Advertising Agency: ArnoldFurnace, Sydney, Australia Copywriters: Tom Spicer, Cameron Brown, Mike Miller, Paul Fenton, Sam Bennet, Laura McWhinnie Art Directors: Paul Fenton, Darren Cole, Nic Adamovich, Tom Spicer

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

Communicate I 73

SEPTEMBER 2011 | OFF THE RECORD

The Dish Literally watch

Cut to black

Poet’s corner

“I can see progress literally in front of my eyes.” Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, tells Emirates 24/7 about the situation in Afghanistan. Presumably he doesn’t want to get confused with that other sort of seeing. You know, when you see things that are out of sight. What he said Thanks to “Rammohan, R” from Agencypress.co.cc (whatever that is), who got his hands on the Communicate e-mail address. He writes: Hello,Here again Very is important record,thanks. I have a suggestion,is a great news. Publicist Tiago Ribeiro launches an innovative consulting. Is @agencybrazil a company to help agencies in operation in Latin America. Specializing in new media, mobile, social media. Excellent. Presumably it’s the sort of agency that doesn’t push its communication credentials. Funny turn This month’s top unsolicited resume comes with the heading, “Lathe Turner CV.” The sender’s objective: “Seek the Position of Lathe Turner.” His summary: “Remarkably talented and skillful Lathe and Turning Machine with more than six years experience in setting up lathe and turning machines to turn, bore, thread, form, or face metal or plastic materials, such as wire, rod, or bar stock.” We know that sometimes we may bore our readers, but we try not to hire people just for that purpose.

74 I Communicate

Our spotter tells us they saw this ad on Reddit. Looks like it’s not just the hairdresser at this salon who curls up and dyes. Rolling back the years Tecom, the company behind Dubai Media City, is 10 years old this year. Communicate is proud to have been part of that 10 years. And Tecom is evidently proud too. It has put an ad across the sliding doors of the Thomson Reuters building in Media City. The ad reads, “Celebrating 10 years of creativity.” The text is mainly to the right of the ad, and the “10” is spelled out in butterflies. It’s a shame, though, that those doors are generally open at the moment. Meaning that the ad reads, “Celebrating 0 years of creativity.” Which isn’t the case at all.

Prestigious proofreading Now we’re not saying we set our standards high, but we are having to think twice about our response to a request for freelance writing work. “I am looking for freelance work, and would love to write for your presitgious magazine,” the e-mail began. “I have recently acquired my Master’s of Arts in Journalism and would certainly like to make a career into writing.” (We’re getting worried now.) “I will be more than glad to write under your.” And that’s where it ended. Our top tip to aspiring freelancers: Proof your covering letter; you just look silly when make you mstiakes.

‘I don’t really like the terms ‘bohemian’ and ‘eccentric’ when related to the Bloomsbury Set or, in fact, when related to Englishness overall, they can just be a bit reductive,’ clarifies Kim Jones. ‘What appeals to me is a Modernist way of thinking and being that applies to Bloomsbury and to the dunhill family during that period – a sense of experimentation and invention with both. There was a notion of tradition versus new technology – always an abiding theme at dunhill. It is one of the reasons it makes the archive a constant source of inspiration with the ability to easily bring it up to date. There is also a notion of subversion and tradition that is inherited by other English groups post-Bloomsbury and this collection is a nod to them as well, particularly to McLaren and Westwood. So whether it is the 1920s or the 1970s or right now there is always a maverick spirit in Englishness, and this is something that always applies to dunhill.’ With the starting point of one of the most precious items in the dunhill archive, Picasso’s dunhill lighter etched by the artist himself with a portrait of Dora Maar, the journey of this collection begins. A similar Dora Maar portrait by Picasso once hung in the painter Duncan Grant’s bedroom in Charleston – one of the preserved sites of the Bloomsbury Set – sold to fund the Group’s way of life there. … Clashing print inserts are placed subtly in the shirting as a nod to the make-do-and-mend attitude of the British artistic elite as well as a nod to McLaren and Westwood. It is also a reminder that dunhill clothes are for life, to be passed down to successive generations. Such precious items as signature sterling silver buttons should reinforce this point. The accessories are once more a witty take on tradition. Marquetry artist’s boxes are littered throughout the collection and there is even a sterling silver water-colour box, replete with paints and brushes. The leather notepads of last season are further transformed into i-Pad cases, again reinforcing the idea of tradition, innovation and subversion. Perhaps the centrepiece is the La Captive Clock, an exquisite piece from the dunhill archive reworked and available to order. The leather rucksacks of last season are transformed into a lighter weight canvas version and duffle bags also feature in this way for summer. – From a press release announcing the Alfred Dunhill Spring/ Summer 2011 collection

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