Communicate June 2010

In association with

The marketing and advertising resource • June 2010 • Issue N° 66 • www.communicate.ae Action station: Randa El Daher on LBC’s ongoing restructuring Page 68

ROI rethink: OMG’s Elie Khouri on how media is Page 74 changing

The man from Cannes: Jury president Mark Tutssel on the region’s Page 36 chances

ADVERTISING The lion game We speak to creatives and heads of agencies to find out what they are sending to Cannes and what they hope will bring them glory. Then we make them sum up the region’s chances in three words. (Page 30)

DIGITAL New look The UAE’s daily newspapers are rethinking their websites. Communicate finds that a successful daily’s online presence does more than mimic its print edition. We see how titles are integrating multimedia, and who’s doing it best. (Page 40)

MOBILE Who’s asking?

A Dubai start-up aims to answer all your questions by text, and push some advertising to your mobile as well. We make a few inquiries to find out how the business model is shaping up, and discover who’s asking what. (Page 52)

CAMPAIGN Ready, Jedi, go

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT How advertisers are getting in on the act with branded content

(Page 80)

A MediaquestCorp publication

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COVER STORY | JUNE 2010

just need the right resources.”

That’s why Douglas and co. are currently seeking other Swedish sponsors to not just boost the budget for any future iterations of (DV\ WR $VVHPEOH, but also preserve the uniquely Ikean vibe that has come to inspire the vast majority of Douglas’ storylines (“Co-worker of the year,” a contest pitting the show’s creator against Bateman, came out of the Ikea-favored word for “employee”).

That limits the pool substantially to Swedish brands that could be integrated without too much intrusion – Volvo and Skyy Vodka among them – but opens up the show to more storylines, including flashbacks to the 1970s for fictional in-house band Sparhusen.

“I could see them riding around in an old Swedish Volvo, or show them in a kind of modern house where they could have Ikea furniture from the ’70s and have us relaunch products like some really groovy chair in today’s market,” Douglas says.

But despite the influx of new fans, there’s no rush to take (DV\ WR $VVHPEOH on the traditional TV route just yet – especially when the Webto-TV track record has been disastrous. ,Q WKH 0RWKHUKRRG, the first Web series to be remade into a network show, was canceled after less than half a season by ABC, which abandoned the

BIG HIT. Easy to Assemble KDV EHFRPH WKH PRVW ZDWFKHG VSRQVRUHG ZHE VKRZ LQ LWV VHFRQG VHDVRQ show’s sponsors Sprint and Unilever as well as the user-generated storylines from real moms.

Repurposing Web content hasn’t been any easier, either, as NBC famously proved when it re-aired episodes of MySpace drama 4XDUWHU /LIH and canceled the show after two episodes.

Instead, (DV\ WR $VVHPEOH is being syndicated to more websites and cable platforms to generate more guaranteed impressions for Ikea. This month, the show will be available on Hulu and Roku, as well as Hotel Networks’ DoNotDisturb network in more than 2 million hotel rooms.

Amazon and iPhone/Boxee applications are also in the works.

“I’d love to get to a point where this becomes a series that starts to reference Ikea less and less but is bridged by an Ikea commercial in between – like the ,” Douglas says. “Eventually all entertainment will just be one big box, and all your entertainment will be taken off that box.

But advertisers will still want to come to the best entertainment providers, and I want us to be one of the best content providers out there.”

&RPPXQLFDWH I 27

June 2010 | Letter from the editor

All in a day’s work I

n many ways I’m like Jack Bauer, hero of Fox’s hit television series 24. Like Bauer, I thrive on the kind of splitsecond decisions that lead to grimly resolute determination.

(At least I think I do; let me get back to you on that.)

I exist on a knife edge of concentrated alertness. I seldom sleep. I’m not afraid to use torture to extract information (how else would Communicate learn about agency rebrandings, account wins and product launches?) and I’m always fighting bad guys (or at least dodging calls from pushy PR agencies).

I might go to the loo more often than Bauer, and my fitness levels have recently dipped below his Delta Forcehoned physique. But other than that we could be brothers, albeit working in different fields.

While the Counter Terrorism Unit officer has to handle attempts on his daughter’s life, heroin addiction and the occasional nuclear bomb, as editor of Communicate I have to chase tawdry freelancers and fill pages left by pulled ads. We can relate.

Many of my male friends feel the same. Bauer is a character we can all feel empathy with.

Strangely, though, the girls I know aren’t such big fans.

Something to do with too much violence and testosterone, they say.

Which is a pity; if they joined the party, they would realize why it’s important to drive a Ford Expedition, use an

4 I Communicate

Apple computer to patch data through to a Palm PDA, make calls on a Cisco IP phone, and occasionally torture people.

24 is riddled with product placement. There are more brands in the series than there are dead bodies, yet it feels no more forced than the plot.

That’s the joy of good branded content, the subject of this month’s cover story (see page 16). It’s not invisible, you know it’s there, but you don’t mind it. It can even make the show better. We’ve all tried to put the CTU ring tone on our work phone. Haven’t we?

Of course, branded content goes beyond product placement – far beyond. There are TV and radio programs made entirely by brands. And online is proving a goldmine for the discipline. Look at GM’s Hiroshi and Osamu in the region, and Ikea’s Easy to Assemble (see page 26), for example.

It’s all proof that if you make good, engaging content, people will spend time with your messaging, and could even enjoy it.

Alternatively, you can torture them until they give in.

That’s what Jack Bauer would do. Just like me.

Austyn Allison, managing editor editor@communicate.vg

CONTENTS | JUNE 2010

Contents

COVER: Branded content 16 22 26 28

50

Show time: Advertisers are breaking through the clutter of commercials by generating their own material. We explore the world of branded content The long game. Why over-length TVCs could be the shape of things to come Packing it in: Ikea’s online video series has all the component parts to pull in the punters Love at first bite: Kraft harnesses power of crowd sourcing to boost chocolate sales in Greece

10 12 14

56 58 60

NEWS 8

52

Media. Rotana Media Services to help promote Korean medical tourism Agencies. Rufus Leonard rebrands Agencies. New hires at Start and TBWA/Raad Marketing. Notes on a sandal: Brazilian flip-flop manufacturer Havaianas tailors its product to international World Cup supporters

61 62 64

Advertising. Time machine: A selection of vintage ads to take you back to the 1960s and 1970s Mobile. Question time: A Dubai start-up claims to have all the answers. We put The Question Company to the test Digital. Just like that: Facebook goes for global data-mining dominance with its universal button Advertising. McDonald’s is lovin’ it: The fast food giant seeks a bigger bite of the market by tweaking its iconic campaign Digital. Breaking free: How much liberty of language will new media provide?

Digital. Numbers up: A round-up of the stats, secrets and speculation that have emerged since Twitter announced sponsored tweets Digital. Organic chemistry: When fans meet brands on Facebook, profits aren’t far behind Advertising. Dead man talking: Nike hits a hole in one with its “Earl & Tiger” spot

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

30

68

36 40 43 44

Advertising. Great expectations: Regional ad chiefs hope to make a splash at Cannes Advertising. View from the top: What the president of the Cannes Film and Print jury thinks of the region’s chances Digital. Online gamble: As UAE newspapers revamp their sites, we log on to see what they are offering Research. Riyadh only: How one blogger is mining Facebook’s freely available data on Saudi Arabia Advertising. Battlefield Egypt: A downturn in the Gulf market has made the land of the Pharaohs a territory worth fighting for

74

75 76 82

Q&A. Smart solutions: LBC’s press-shy first lady, Randa el Daher, tells Communicate how she’s restructuring the broadcaster Guest Opinion. The commitments: Omnicom boss Elie Khouri explains why media buying is moving from 360-degree strategies to 365-day strategies Media Work. How Twitter and an iPad boosted sales for online store Nahel Work. Selections from the regional and international creative scenes The Dish. A blog, a Bentley and a boozy bus ride

JUNE 2010 Published by: Medialeader FZ/MediaquestCorp Medialeader, P O Box 72184, Dubai Media City, Al Thuraya Tower 2, Office 2402, Dubai, Tel: (971) 4 391 0760

CO-CEO Alexandre Hawari CO-CEO Julien Hawari MANAGING DIRECTOR Ayman Haydar CFO Abdul Rahman Siddiqui CREATIVE DIRECTOR Aziz Kamel DISTRIBUTION & SUBSCRIPTION DIRECTOR JP Nair, jp@mediaquestcorp.com MARKETING MANAGER Joumana Haddad, joumana@mediaquestcorp.com KSA GM Tarek Abu Hamzy, tarekah@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

6 I Communicate

FOUNDER Yasser Hawari MANAGING DIRECTOR Julien Hawari EDITOR Nathalie Bontems MANAGING EDITOR Austyn Allison CREATIVE DIRECTOR Aziz Kamel ART DIRECTOR Janett Kheil SENIOR JOURNALIST Rania Habib SUB EDITORS Samuel Potter, Salil Kumar ART CONTRIBUTOR Aya Farhat ART CONTRIBUTORS Alvin Cha, Jean-Christophe Nys, Aya Farhat EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Manuel Dias, Maguy Panagga, Catherine Dobarro, Randa Khoury, Lila Schoepf, Laurent Bernard PRINTERS Raidy Emirates Printing Group (Lebanon) ( U A E ) ADVERTISING The Gulf MEDIALEADER, PO Box 72184, Dubai Media City, AlThuraya Tower 2, Office 2402, Dubai, Tel: (971) 4 391 0760, Fax: (971) 4 390 8737, sales@mediaquestcorp.com Lebanon Walid Ramadan, walid@mediaquestcorp. com, Tel: (961) 339 9087 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Tarek Abu Hamzy, tarekah@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 WEB SITE www.communicate.ae

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5/23/10 11:35 AM

JUNE 2010 | Regional news

RMS to promote Korean medical tourism Deal with Korea Tourism Organization will see Star Academy participants pampered in Seoul

© I print Green magazine hits GCC Dubai. Dubai-based OZ Communications is launching a green-themed magazine, Eco Power, in Arabic and English. It is described as “the first bilingual magazine in the Arab World to educate the masses on the uses of renewable energy, energy saving, and eco-friendly products.”

The magazine’s publishers have attained approval to become a member of The World Renewable Energy Congress, which is affiliated to UNESCO. It will be distributed free-of-charge through the GCC, and will have a circulation of 28,000. Communicate’s parent company, Mediaquest, will handle Eco Power’s ad sales.

OI public relations

Dubai. Media representation group Rotana Media Services (RMS) and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) have signed a memorandum of understanding to help promote and raise awareness of Korea’s healthcare services among patients in the GCC. Rotana’s various media vehicles and TV programs will feature coverage and segments on Korea’s medical tourism. Star Academy’s participants will visit Korea, and the reality show will feature them experiencing local cosmetic and

beauty treatments, says RMS in a release.

“The GCC region is a huge market for Korea’s medical tourism,” says Nezar Nagro, president of RMS, in the release. “Through sufficient marketing, their medical proficiency will be introduced to our region. The geographical distance would not be a major problem for patients seeking affordable and proficient treatment.”

Lee Charm, president of KTO, adds, “Among many specialties, early cancer detection and treatment have

been very successful. Also, applied robotic surgery is very effective and has shown a quicker recovery time.”

RMS says the GCC region is seen as a huge market for the Korean medical tourism industry, and is projected to spend around $60 billion by 2025 on “various medical expenses.” KTO hopes to attract 10,000 patients from the Middle East by 2013.

Korea is currently a popular destination for patients from the US as well as Asian countries, and is known for its expertise in ophthalmology, dental care and plastic surgery.

Á I digital BeirutNightLife and Eurosport Arabia partner for World Cup Dubai. BeirutNightLife, a tourism website, and Eurosport Arabia, the new Web and mobile sports portal developed by du and Eurosport, have announced a partnership to bring Web users the latest developments from the South African World Cup 2010, says BeirutNightLife in a statement.

This partnership contributes to BeirutNightLife’s strategy to bring the best coverage of the international tournament to its Web users. (Full disclosure: Sales representation for both websites is handled by dotmena, a subsidiary of Communicate’s parent company, Mediaquest Corp.)

The agreement includes updates through Eurosport Arabia widgets, and live coverage from South Africa through RSS feeds.

Jean Ghalo and Anthony Rahayel, founders of BeirutNightLife, say in a statement, “We are pleased to have such a partnership with Eurosport Arabia.

“The portal is a reputed media link providing the best live coverage of the international event in South Africa. We at BeirutNightLife seek to provide the best to our users, and this partnership with Eurosport Arabia does just that.”

8 I Communicate

Landmark PR wins Kaya Skin Clinic Dubai. Kaya Skin Clinic, the largest international skincare clinic chain in the Middle East, has signed up Landmark PR & Events as its public relations consultancy in the region.

Samir Srivastav, Kaya’s business head, says in a release, “Landmark PR has a thorough understanding

of our sector and the competitive business landscape in which we operate, and we are confident that they are the right consultancy to help us achieve our business objectives, which are very exiting over the next three years – going deeper into UAE, Saudi Arabia and the GCC.” Kaya operates 12 clinics across the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Our bad Dubai. In last month’s regional news, an article entitled, “Venture launches branding company” was erroneously datelined “Beirut.” The news, about the launch of the ad agency’s branding arm, re-brand-ing, was in fact from Dubai. We regret the error.

Regional news | JUNE 2010

V I ADVERTISING TBWA/Raad celebrates 10th anniversary Dubai. TBWA/Raad last month celebrated its 10th anniversary with 250 clients, media, and business partners at the newly opened Armani Hotel, in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

TBWA/Worldwide’s executive committee was in town to hold its quarterly meeting in TBWA/Raad’s offices in the same week.

Ramzi Raad, chairman and CEO of TBWA/Raad, says in a statement, “At the heart of our 10th anniversary celebrations is the business success of all our clients and the strong partnerships that TBWA/Raad has been able to forge during this short period.”

He adds, “In the past decade, TBWA/Raad has played a very fast game of catch-up, as most global agencies were already operational in the region for years before our launch. The race to establish ourselves was challenging, but thanks to the dedication of our employ-

ees and the support of TBWA/ Worldwide, I’m delighted to say we have broken into the advertising big league by being one of the top three MENA networked agencies in such a short time.”

C I agencies Executive changes, Pencil wins at Y&R Dubai. Shahir Zag has been appointed chief creative officer of Y&R MENA. In the newly created position, Zag will oversee the creative operations of the network.

Nassib Boueiri has been appointed as the chief executive officer of Y&R MENA. He will focus on the development of the network’s business around the region.

Nadine Ghossoub has been promoted to the position of managing director at Y&R Dubai, and Komal Bedi Sohal has become executive creative director at Y&R Dubai.

Y&R Dubai has also picked up three Pencils and seven Merit Certificates from the One Show in New

Communicate I 9

JUNE 2010 | Regional news

Very Briefs Fleishman-Hillard PR agency appoints Annalise Coady as regional managing director Abu Dhabi Media Company to launch Anazahra.com portal for Arab women Active PR wins MSi’s regional PR Nokia partners with singer Mohamed Hamaki York. It took a Gold Pencil for the Harvey Nichols “Cause & Effect” Print campaign (pictured, above), a Silver Pencil for the Outdoor execution of the same campaign, and a Bronze for a single Print ad, Fire Extinguishers, also for Harvey Nichols.

Rufus Leonard rebrands Dubai. Branding agency Rufus Leonard has celebrated its 20th anniversary by rebranding. In a statement, the company says, “The rebrand includes a new corporate identity, refreshed internal and external décor, website and digital communications. Social media and online PR also play a big part in the company’s communications mix, harnessing the power of video, blogs and microblogs.”

Richard Bowcott, regional head for the Middle East, says, “Rufus Leonard’s development in this region is gaining recognition in our specialist area of finance; we are now showcasing our digital and branding excellence in lifestyle and consumer brands.”

The firm has had offices in the region since a client in the UK, Lloyds Banking Group, asked it to launch a presence in Dubai. It also handles property firm Aldar and alcohol retailer African and Eastern in the region.

The company’s founder and CEO, Neil Svensen (pictured, above), visited Dubai, and says of the rebrand, “If

10 I Communicate

you’re a comms company, a branding company yourself, the last people you look after is yourselves. It’s a case of, ‘Doctor, heal thyself.’ So we’ve probably done the thing that we should have done three years ago in terms of trying to get our message out.”

He adds, “It’s not really about a re-brand; it’s actually about trying to establish our message in the market a bit clearer than we have done, and celebrate some of the things that make ourselves a bit more unique.”

These include the firm’s digital capabilities, which it has been honing since it first produced manuals on CD for oil company Shell in the UK back in 1994.

“Often during that period we debated whether or not to dump the branding side of the business,” says Svensen.

But spend on the company’s services swung back from being digitaldominated, and Rufus Leonard’s £9 million turnover is now split equally between digital and branding work.

New social media tool launched Dubai. Dubai-based digital and new media agency Sphinx Group has announced a partnership with US-based tech and analytics company Serendio.

The deal means Sphinx will be launching a technology called Customer Experience Analytics, or CxA, which allows users to mine social media platforms for customer feedback.

The company says it can be used by market researchers as much as marketing departments.

Vinesh Nair, director of the Sphinx Group, says in a release, “It is extremely critical to have a sound evaluation system that allows marketers to make decisions through tangible results based on numerical evidence and audience sentiment.”

Google launches Google for Agencies Yahoo announces new offices in Amman and Dubai Euro RSCG wins Value Retail’s PR Group Plus shuffles staff TBWA/Zeenah retains Omantel Media agency Optimedia wins three new accounts Perla Aoun becomes regional director of marketing for Golden Tulip chain of hotels Abu Dhabi Media Company unveils new headquarters

Memac Ogilvy hires Saada Hammad as PR director Dubai. Communications agency Memac Ogilvy has appointed Saada Hammad (pictured, below, right), previously communications manager at General Motors (GM) Middle East, as regional director of public relations.

Edmond Moutran (pictured, left), Memac Ogilvy’s chairman and CEO, says in a statement, “Saada brings a tremendous amount of experience to what is already one of the leading PR agencies in the Middle east and North Africa. She is truly one of the best in the business and I am confident she will provide leadership to the organization and excellent counsel to our regional clientele.”

JUNE 2010 | Regional news

Very Briefs SocialEyez partners with Alterian MS&N Lifestyles launches Intellevent events company Heels & Deals TV channel for female entrepreneurs launches in UAE Media EYE Middle East unveils new media monitoring system

New hires at Start Dubai. Branding and digital agency Start Creative has announced two new appointments in the region. Dave Macmillan (pictured, above, right) has been appointed as international business director, and Darren Cooke (above, left) is regional director for the Middle East.

A company statement says, “The new team will work together to identify regional business opportunities, open

up further territories for expansion, and capitalize on successful long-term relationships with major clients including adidas, Barclays and Virgin Group.”

Start’s managing director, Jen McAleer, says in the statement, “Start is going from strength to strength, both in the UK and internationally, with the Middle East a particular area of growth. … Dave and Darren make

O2 awarded at Arab Investment Summit up a new business ‘dream team,’ and their combined, extensive experience will be invaluable in Start’s development in the Middle East.”

Macmillan has worked internationally with brands including Vodafone, Tesco and Xerox, and Cook ehas worked for companies including 3M, Royal Jet and Lastminute.com, says the release.

Standard Chartered launches new TVC Twofour54 unveils Mena Zayed campus North55 works with GulfSport Racing for motorsport launch Scientific publisher Springer moves in to IMPZ Insight Scouts research agency launches Google launches Ahlan Online Go to our Web site for the full stories: www.communicate.ae

New appointments at TBWA/Raad Dubai. Creative agency TBWA/Raad has announced two new appointments, both from within Omnicom’s TBWA network.

TBWA/Raad/Saudi Arabia’s former regional creative director Saadi Alkouatli has joined the agency’s Dubai headquarters as a senior creative director.

Before his five-year stint in Jeddah, Alkouatli (pictured, above,

12 I Communicate

right) worked for McCann-Erickson in New York, and before that Saatchi & Saatchi in Beirut. He will work with senior creative director Malek Atassi, under executive creative director Milos Ilic.

Julia Foster (above, left) has been promoted from director of business development to brand leadership director. She has been with TBWA for more

than eight years, working in TBWA itself and in the agency’s relationship marketing arm, TBWA/Tequila.

Reda Raad, TBWA/Raad’s group managing director, says in a statement that the agency “is committed to investing in creative and brand leadership, growing our capabilities and offering the agency’s clients a broad skillset to tackle innovation challenges.”

REGIONAL NEWS | JUNE 2010

9 I ADVERTISING TBWA/Raad celebrates 10th anniversary Dubai. TBWA/Raad last month celebrated its 10th anniversary with 250 clients, media, and business partners at the newly opened Armani Hotel, in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

TBWA/Worldwide’s executive committee was in town to hold its quarterly meeting in TBWA/Raad’s offices in the same week.

Ramzi Raad, chairman and CEO of TBWA/Raad, says in a statement, “At the heart of our 10th anniversary celebrations is the business success of all our clients and the strong partnerships that TBWA/Raad has been able to forge during this short period.”

He adds, “In the past decade, TBWA/Raad has played a very fast game of catch-up, as most global agencies were already operational in the region for years before our launch. The race to establish ourselves was challenging, but thanks to the dedication of our employ-

ees and the support of TBWA/ Worldwide, I’m delighted to say we have broken into the advertising big league by being one of the top three MENA networked agencies in such a short time.” & I AGENCIES Executive changes, Pencil wins at Y&R Dubai. Shahir Zag has been appointed chief creative officer of Y&R MENA. In the newly created position, Zag will oversee the creative operations of the network.

Nassib Boueiri has been appointed as the chief executive officer of Y&R MENA. He will focus on the development of the network’s business around the region.

Nadine Ghossoub has been promoted to the position of managing director at Y&R Dubai, and Komal Bedi Sohal has become executive creative director at Y&R Dubai.

Y&R Dubai has also picked up three Pencils and seven Merit Certificates from the One Show in New

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JUNE 2010 | INTERNATIONAL news

Watch the World Cup in flip-flops Brazilian marketer’s “Teams” collection sells a sandal for each soccer country in the tournament As FA marketers everywhere gear up their World Cup-related efforts, Brazil’s Havaianas has come up with a devastatingly simple approach – these are the flip-flops you should be wearing to watch soccer matches this summer in comfort and style.

Havaianas is launching the “Teams” collection, with a pair of flip-flops for each of the 32 countries competing in the World Cup. Each pair looks like a brightly-colored team jersey in flip-flop form.

In Brazil, the spot “Closet” broke last month, in which a well-known pair of actors, who are married in real life, try to decide which national team’s flip-flops the husband, Daniel de Oliveira, should wear that day.

Standing in a walk-in closet with dozens of pairs of Havaianas to choose from, De Oliveira ponders the merits of different countries – Italy?

Germany? Uruguay? – based on

how well they’ve done in previous World Cups. Wearing the Brazilian team’s flip-flops would be too easy, almost cowardly, he reasons.

Finally his impatient and hugely pregnant wife, Vanessa Giacomo, appears and grabs Serbia because that team’s flip-flops are red and match the color of her husband’s shirt.

The spot is by Almap BBDO, Sao Paulo, Havaianas’s ad agency since 1993, and is in keeping with a strategy of using Havaianas-wearing celebrities in commercials in Brazil.

Even in less soccer-mad markets than Brazil, the Teams collection is part of Havaianas’ strategy.

In the US, where the company opened its own office almost three years ago as part of an international expansion that has seen sales outside Brazil grow from 1 percent a decade ago to about 14 percent of total sales last year, Havaianas

will send about 400 mailers with Teams flip-flops to opinion-makers.

Cleverly playing on the idea that Brazil is often a soccer fan’s second favorite team, after his own country, each mailer will contain a

Brazil pair and a carefully-researched second pair.

Mexican-American actress Eva Longoria Parker, for instance, will get Teams collection flip-flops from Mexico and Brazil.

J&J global baby business up for review

J&J began reaching out to agencies last month, industry executives say, informing them that its Johnson’s Baby account would be under review.

A field of about 10 network shops, which could include nonroster agencies, is expected to be cut in half to five finalists. Lowe and Profero are both expected to defend the business.

Two people familiar with the situation pegged overall global revenue on the account at about $20 million, though one executive estimated it was lower.

J&J is a massive global advertiser. In the US alone it ranked as the fifth biggest marketer last year by ad spending, with a total budget of $2.5 billion, according to the Ad Age DataCenter.

Facebook’s ubiquitous “like” sign by labeling users as “oversharers.”

The plug-in allows anyone seeing a ridiculous Facebook or Twitter status update to shame their friend with just one click.

As well as the button, Pringles is also selling overshare merchandise, where you can create your own T-shirt bearing the TMI (too much information) posting of your choice.

There is also the option of creating a customized video, which includes a mock-up of the overshare posted into a newspaper headline or the lights of the big neon signs in London’s Piccadilly Circus.

Wunderman UK is behind the effort, based around the Pringles tagline “One of the few things worth sharing.”

Danone fights damaging viral slurs in Argentina A few months ago a viral e-mail circulated in Argentina, directing people to a Web page that described supposed facts about Danone’s Actimel, such as that the probiotic yogurt brand was addictive, destroyed the stomach’s natural flora and could harm children’s health.

Other blogs quickly picked up the story, and the damaging claims were soon the top ones returned in online searches for Actimel.

The company has now fought back in an innovative fashion with local digital agency Sinus and a campaign encouraging people to go to a new rumor-creation website called Creadorderumores.com.

At the site, visitors can generate rumors, and a list of friends to send the link containing the rumor and a photograph of the sender.

The site includes a sample rumor – Argentine woman wins a free 10-day shopping spree at the world’s best malls – followed by the takeaway message: “Don’t believe everything you see on the Internet. I’ll show you how easy it is to spread a rumor about you.”

Johnson & Johnson is re-evaluating its global agency relationships on its portfolio of baby products, a move that could deal a blow to both its longtime lead creative shop for that brand, Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Lowe, along with digital shop Profero.

The agency review, which will take six months to complete, follows other recent changes to the health-care giant’s agency roster.

It comes as the company is under tremendous pressure to boost sagging sales and faces US Food and Drug Administration scrutiny after repeated recalls for some of its over-the-counter medications.

14 I Communicate

Pringles combats oversharing on Facebook and Twitter Pringles is campaigning to rid Facebook and Twitter of “oversharers” – people who plague the social networks with too much information about their humdrum lives.

The P&G brand has introduced a branded tagging facility, which performs the opposite function to

JUNE 2010 | COVER STORY

16 I Communicate

COVER STORY | JUNE 2010

The medium is the message Branded content can provide levels of consumer engagement traditional advertising can only dream of.

But what is it and how does it work? Communicate investigates by Rania Habib

W

hen Ford felt it needed to spice up its image, it put James Bond in a Mondeo, driving around the Bahamas. The car is featured for a total of 44 seconds in Casino Royale, and Ford paid a reported £14 million to feature the Mondeo in the film.

Apple’s 2000 iMac was shown drowning in a scene from Jennifer Lopez’s debut single “If you had my love,” and Mac laptops are a regular staple in the Sex and the City television series as lead character Carrie Bradshaw’s column writing tool of choice.

American Idol judges sip from Coca-Cola cups every week.

In her madcap, nine-minute Telephone video, Lady Gaga features nine different brands, including the Miracle Whip mayonnaise she uses to make sandwiches for people she plans to poison.

More recently, Absolut launched its Spike Jonze-directed short film, I’m Here, as part of the vodka brand’s “Ordinary is no place to be” communication strategy.

From simple product placement to brand integration, and all the way through to branded entertainment, branded content is undoubtedly a popular form of communicating a brand’s values – and selling more of its products. In an increasingly cluttered and fragmented advertising space, the practice of brands creating their own content

is shaping up to be an enticing proposition for marketers looking to interact with their consumers on a more intimate level.

Marketers in the region haven’t remained indifferent to the wily ways of branded content.

While industry experts say the market is still in its infancy, there has been an increased interest in – and understanding of – the branded content medium.

THE NEW BLACK. Fuse – media agency OMD’s sponsorship, branded entertainment and contentcreation division – worked with Henkel to create the “Black Abaya” competition in partnership with MBC1 last year. Persil Abaya Shampoo – a Henkel brand – had been launched to maintain the black color of the traditional abaya worn by many women in the GCC, and in June 2009, the brand announced a competition for the design of black abayas during MBC1’s morning show, Sabah Al Khair Ya Arab. The show was so successful the TV station and the advertiser both signed on for a second season.

“Very simply, branded content is entertainment content provided by a brand,” says Christian Fedorczuk, group director of strategy and development at OMD Dubai. “It allows you to engage with your

audience, create a more in-depth connection, and communicate more cost-effectively. As a brand, to capture your audience and connect to consumers, you must provide them with a compelling piece of information: content. More often than not, this is not a 30-second spot or print ad.”

Fuse has also worked on projects for Kellogg’s Special K. One involved product placement on the Perfect Bride show on LBC in 2008, a Big Brother-type show where brides-to-be shared a house with their future mothers in law, and a nutritionist appeared to discuss the importance of a balanced diet. The second project, in 2009, was product integration on MBC’s Be Saraha Kteer Ahla show with TV personality, stylist and makeup artist, Joelle Mardinian. The cereal brand ran a segment where three women try three different weight-loss programs, one of them being the Special K Two-Week Challenge, which promised to help women drop a jeans size in a fortnight.

“The Perfect Bride project was great because we got a lot of exposure, and the product was seen on television a lot,” says Will Brockbank, marketing director at Kellogg’s for the Middle East and Mediterranean.

“But the Joelle show was really a lot better because we totally integrated our campaign and the Two Week Challenge in the segment,” he adds.

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JUNE 2010 | COVER STORY

black to front. Persil’s Sabah Al Khair Ya Arab show asks women to design abayas “By integrating a product, you’re giving consumers a message about your brand without it being an overt ad, and you’re placing the product in a context they can relate to. So it seems more credible to the consumer.”

Layal Takieddine. Manager of OMD’s branded content division, Fuse

Christian Fedorczuk. Group director of strategy and development at OMD Dubai

Ziad Abou Khalil. Director of client leadership at Mindshare

WAEL HATTAR. Head of core, Publics Groupe Media’s branded content division

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CORE BLIMEY. In 2008, Publics Groupe Media created core, its branded content division. Wael Hattar, who heads up core, says the market was barren at the time. “Basically, someone had to start it,” he says. “So we didn’t just open up and start; we had to be credible. We did research for six months to understand the market, and worked on smaller projects like sponsorships and product placement. Once clients and the media owners began to understand the value of doing branded content, we got to do stuff like the Hiroshi and Osamu campaign for General Motors [GM].”

Between August 2009 and January of this year, GM’s Chevrolet brand ran this integrated campaign featuring Hiroshi and Osamu, two fictional employees from “Japan’s largest car maker,” who had been sent to the Middle East to figure out why Chevrolet is so much more popular than their own brand. Along with a social media campaign, the carmaker ran branded content across several mediums.

“We created a kind of online comedy show for Hiroshi and Osamu. There were eight episodes weekly, which lasted three to five minutes,” says Hattar. “After that, we created a comic strip revolving around the two characters. It carries on with the series, and we distributed it in universities. On the radio, we had a “Learn Japanese” segment, and the characters would teach listeners a Japanese word every day. That covers a lot of mediums.”

Facebook fans were integrated into the story, says Hattar. “We asked them to send pictures of themselves and their favorite hangouts in Saudi.

From those, we chose five and placed them in

our story.” Speaking to Communicate last month, Hattar said Hiroshi and Osamu “have people still asking to be in the story even last week.”

Fadi Ghosn, chief marketing officer of GM Middle East, says GM has been using branded content for a long time, and that it has presented many opportunities for the car manufacturer to push its brand message.

“We actually started working with Rotana artists [media conglomerate Rotana manages musicians in the region and beyond], and we did product placement with them,” says Ghosn. “We had Cadillacs and a couple of Chevys involved in video clips, so they were highly visible opportunities. We did that a couple of times, and it worked extremely well with Rotana.” But when it came time to shake up Chevrolet’s image in the Middle East and appeal to younger consumers, Ghosn says branded content worked wonders with the Hiroshi and Osamu campaign.

STRENGTH OF CHARACTERS. “We really used the characters,” says Ghosn. “We created situations around these two guys to convey messages about the brand. I think online and viral did extremely well for us, because when you search for these guys online, you can find so much and it will drive you to the website. There are things you can do with branded content that you will not be able to push in a 30-second commercial. So it’s a huge opportunity to expand and talk more about the brand.”

While branded content might seem most at home on television, experts say it cannot – and should not – be limited to the silver screen. “It just depends on your piece of content,” says Fedorczuk. “It might as well be a radio show, as we have developed for Pepsi in Egypt, or it can be an online lifestyle show as we are currently developing for Beiersdorf.”

JUNE 2010 | COVER STORY

Campaign trips. The Perfect Bride, featuring Kellogg’s While branded content is branching out into different mediums, Brockbank from Kellogg’s says doing branded content work on television in the Middle East is far easier than in most other regions. “That’s because television channels are open to doing it,” he says. “They’re still feeling their way in terms of how they’ll let you do it, but they are very open to suggestions.”

Ziad Abou Khalil, director of client leadership at Mindshare, says that while branded content can travel across many mediums, the region isn’t fully exploring its potential yet.

“It can be radio, online, video games, or even mobile content, which are all becoming very popular, but we are still in an immature market when

it comes to branded content,” he says.

“However, this will soon become the trend of the market.” He adds that it is challenging to find the right platform and to design a perfect fit between a program and a brand. If done wrong, a branded content campaign will not create the right “synchronization” between the communication and the platform.

THE RIGHT FIT. While branded content has been on the rise internationally for a while, and is becoming a more widely used medium in the Middle East, practitioners warn that it should be handled with care. “Branded content on its own will not

PUTTING IT IN PRACTICE Layal Takieddine, manager of Fuse, OMD’s sponsorship, branded entertainment and content-creation division, discusses the branded content work done for the Pepsi radio show, Agmad Sabah in Egypt, and Beiersdorf’s Nivea Angel Star range.

Pepsi was sponsoring a morning radio show in Egypt, but was unhappy with its content, as the tone of the show didn’t match the personality of the brand. We designed a new morning show format around the passions of young Egyptians and the tone of the Pepsi brand. We recruited new, young and exciting presenters and created a three-hour “program clock.”

This means we broke up the three hours into entertainment, football, and music segments. We drew guidelines of what lifestyle news should dominate the entertainment hour, developed radio football formats, and provided a Pepsi music playlist.

We also designed a digital strategy to increase interaction between listeners and the presenters throughout the show.

To launch the new Nivea Angel Star range and make it appealing to teenagers, we were looking to engage the audience through an advertiserfunded programming format. We communicated how the brand empowers teenagers to shine by giving them the opportunity to make their style the official look of Nivea Angel Star in the region.

They are recruited, promoted and judged through

20 I Communicate

deliver exceptional return on investment,” says Abou Khalil.

“However, if coupled with the right off-air marketing and commercial activity, as well as multimedia communication, it will definitely boost brand awareness, campaign weights, and cut-through factor.”

He says it is of utmost importance that a client should not rely on branded content alone; it should be supported by other communication and marketing activities to provide “a 360-degree experience for consumers.”

Hattar says that core would never suggest clients choose branded content over advertising.

“Advertising brings the awareness that consumers should have to know your brand and what it carries,” he says.

“With branded content, you take an existing idea and show consumers what it’s like in the real world, but you can’t do it the other way round.

If you don’t know why a character is using a certain brand, it won’t register with consumers.

So you need to have advertising, to fuse it into the mainstream.”

Engagement is key. Fedorczuk says branded content should always be compelling for consumers. “It needs a clever idea, an excellent execution, and guaranteed exposure,” he says.

“If you don’t have all three, stay away. To be successful, it has to be able to exist as a form of entertainment in its own right; consumers might sit through your boring 30-second ad, but they won’t sit through your boring 30-minute television show.”

The burden of proof

an online TV show format: Search for the Nivea Angel Star.

The show is promoted through a multimedia campaign and the young Angel Stars are directed online, where they apply. From this online community, a jury selects five girls and each of them will be given the chance to promote her own style and looks through various online episodes.

The winner of the show will replace the international Nivea Angel Star and will become the face of the brand in the Middle East.

Core’s Wael Hattar on some of the challenges facing branded content in the region It can be hard getting both media owners and clients to trust in something new for the region when the competition isn’t doing anything similar.

Everybody is naturally skeptical at first, so we work with that pace, basically taking small projects and guiding the client through in detail to understand how this is beneficial, as well as safeguarding the media owners’ entertainment property and showing them how this can be beneficial for both without compromising either party.

It was tricky – and still is – to create a monetary stamp on the work, as there was nothing to compare to, in order to cost things out. But we have seen some repeat projects, and the stations, clients and media agency are starting to adapt as each project is unique and has to be costed out per project.

The value of branded content is in brandbuilding and connecting with the audience. ROI isn’t very numerical here, as it isn’t a straight science and there are so many variables to include.

Take a TV show, for instance: It isn’t really about how long the brand is on screen; it is mainly how the viewer perceives it. The more smoothly a product fits in, the better the show is. Having said that, there are always ways to measure what we want, from a brand tracker to actual numbers if it was an online interaction.

JUNE 2010 | COVER STORY

Why long-form ads are the wave of the future

If they provide entertainment, brands can engage with viewers by featuring products in short films and music videos by Rupal Parekh

S

ince Lady Gaga’s nearly 10-minute video Telephone made its debut recently, it’s garnered more than 28 million views on YouTube, been watched on MTV.com 500,000 times, and been shared on Facebook and tweeted directly from the pop star’s site some 150,000 times.

The video/short film is easily one of the most popular pieces of longer-form content in recent times, boosting visibility for brands that made appearances in the video, like Miracle Whip and dating site PlentyofFish.com. But it’s also just one in a growing batch of examples that signal marketers’ desire to engage with consumers for longer than the standard 30 seconds.

“We’ve definitely seen an upswing in longerform ads,” says Matt Miller, president and CEO of AICP. “While advertisers are looking for efficiencies in short-format/multiple platforms, they are also looking for new ways to engage consumers.

“One way to do that is through short films and fun pieces that create awareness of the brand and reward consumers.”

matt miller President and CEO of AICP

22 I Communicate

RECENT REVIVAL. While long-form certainly has precedent – from Michael Jackson’s Thriller in 1983 to BMW Films in 2005 – industry-watchers all agree there’s been a spike in such pieces.

Kraft Foods recently created a 27-minute crowdsourced film to advertise its Lacta chocolate bar

in Greece; electronics brand Philips collaborated with Ridley Scott Films to create Parallel Lines, a set of short movies that acted as a global ad campaign to tout the cinematic viewing experience offered by Philips’ range of TVs; and UK grocery store chain Waitrose ran a three-and-a-half-minute spot that took up the entire span of commercial breaks and featured celebrity chefs Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal.

That’s in addition to the laundry list of luxury fashion brands – from Oliver Peoples, Pringle of Scotland, Opening Ceremony and Rodarte – that are increasingly using movie-like ads featuring celebrities donning their clothing and accessories.

“We are all learning the rules, and entertainment is king,” says Roger Camp, chief creative officer at Publicis & Hal Riney.

That insight is a key one that agencies and their clients are using in their quest to triumph over consumers’ shrinking attention spans, a particularly acute challenge with younger demographics.

A Kaiser Family Foundation report earlier this year found that while media consumption is increasing overall – it’s gone from six hours and 21 minutes spent with media in 2004 to seven hours and 38 minutes today – more multitasking is going on as media gets more fragmented.

In fact, the foundation estimates that, because more people are using more than one medium at a time, consumers are actually managing to pack

JUNE 2010 | COVER STORY

10 minutes and 45 seconds of media content into those seven and a half hours.

PAY ATTENTION. Shrinking attention spans have dictated the shrinkage of media segments too, from 60-second spots to 30-, 15-, five-, and even one-second spots to a degree that now there’s a bit of a pushback to create work that really stands apart, according to industry execs.

“That common rule of trying to keep it under a minute and a half at the long end of the spectrum is being demolished and now it’s about making sure that the entertainment value is there,” says Camp.

“And rather than having the brand talk about itself for a minute and a half, what we’ve learned as advertisers is that a hard sell can’t be a component of something you watch for a long time.”

Luxury eyewear maker Oliver Peoples recently released its third branded film, an online ad in which rock star Shirley Manson and actor Elijah Wood model a variety of sunglasses and fancy frames while swimming in a pool and walking about a posh home (pictured, right). “The feedback was incredibly positive and people genuinely seemed to enjoy getting to experience the brand in a new and different way,” says Michelle Lynn Walnum, senior director of brand image and communication at Oliver Peoples.

“Cut to today, where the Internet, social sites and viral media in general are growing wider and faster. We found that this was an opportunity to engage with our current customers as well as introduce our brand to new potential clientele. This film gives us the opportunity to create marketing with discreet branding that has always been central to our brand.”

When Hulu did an experiment about 18 months ago, giving consumers the choice to watch either a two-minute ad before an online program or a couple of 30-second ads in the midst of a program, a whopping 88 percent of Hulu viewers opted for the two-minute ad.

Three reasons you should consider doing more long-form ads

A bevy of marketers bought the long-form opt-in ads on Hulu, including Sprint, Capital One, Hyatt, Paramount Pictures, American Express and Columbia TriStar. The high opt-in rates suggested that because consumers are selecting the ads, they are more likely to be engaged with them. “The opt-in rate is proving this is something people want,” Hulu told Ad Age at the time. practical factors. Besides consumers’ willingness to watch, there are other practical factors fueling the growth of long-form ads, industry execs say, citing the ease of distribution of long-form content in the digital era and a growing number of case studies marketers can point to that allow others to jump on the bandwagon. And then there’s the cost. At a time when marketers’ ad budgets are squeezed and agencies are being asked to do more work for less, the cost proposition of longform work becomes more favorable.

According to Matt Bijarchi, executive producer of media arts at TBWA/Chiat/Day, the average cost of a 30-second ad today is about $380,000, and Brands get creative with long-form Brands are learning that even though media segments are getting smaller and smaller, consumers enjoy engaging with long-form content – when it’s good, of course.

Here are some recent examples of what brands are doing when it comes to making advertising that’s longer than a 30-second spot, and a lot more subtle to boot.

PRINGLE OF SCOTLAND. The iconic brand presented • It’s a way to stand out among the sea of 30-second spots and deliver entertainment value to consumers.

• The economics are changing; longer spots don’t necessarily cost more, because they can be repurposed and there’s less need to buy media.

• There are a number of good case studies to reference in making your long-form ads more successful.

Says Matt Bijarchi, executive producer of media arts at TBWA/Chiat/Day: “With the proliferation of media, very few things are good, and when it’s good, you get more attention.”

24 I Communicate

agencies are learning that longer ones don’t have to be looked at as more expensive, particularly if they are spread on the Internet and the cost of buying media is negligible. “It doesn’t have to be looked at as more expensive. You’re spending the money on the long-form stuff and then you’re cutting to make the commercials,” he says.

TBWA recently created a 30-minute film for Absolut Vodka, shot by celebrity director Spike Jonze, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival but was later repurposed into 30-second and 60-second segments to be used as trailers, or for other ad purposes.

So, with all this increased time consumers are spending with ads, is it really driving connections with brands and, more importantly, purchases?

According to Walnum of Oliver Peoples, yes.

“The traffic to our site has doubled each of the last three years and we attribute this in part to the demand for our short films,” he says. “More importantly to us, the time a potential consumer is spending on the site continues to go up, which we believe leads to a better and deeper brand experience, and of course an increase to our e-commerce sales.”

the spring/summer collection with a film starring Academy Award-winning actress Tilda Swinton, who walks through the Scottish highlands wearing the expensive clothes.

ABSOLUT VODKA. The booze brand created a 15-minute commercial for Absolut featuring Jay-Z. The ad/documentary, which was called NY-Z, was by TBWA/Chiat/Day and directed

by Danny Clinch.

RODARTE. Photographer Todd Cole created a thriller-cum-high-fashion drama called Aanteni as a way to promote Rodarte’s spring 2010 collection. Set in California on property belonging to

PayPal founder Elon Musk, it shows the designer clothing throughout the film.

NIKE. In a ploy to reach its fans who are also music lovers, Nike, with the help of agency Wieden & Kennedy, Tokyo, created a three-minute ad that shows us the art of dropping beats using sneakers.

WAITROSE. In March, high-end British grocery store chain Waitrose broke an ad that took up an entire three-and-a-half-minute commercial break.

It took the form of a mini cooking show featuring celebrity chefs cooking a meat dish, and offered tips on how consumers can make it (pictured, left).

KRAFT FOODS. For Lacta, a chocolate brand popular in Greece, Kraft and Ogilvy One crowdsourced a 27-minute branded movie that initially was going to run only online but spurred so much talk that a local TV station offered to air it for free.

OPENING CEREMONY Jason Schwartzman and Kirsten Dunst star in this short film featuring clothes by hip store Opening Ceremony and music by Schwartzman’s label, Coconut Records.

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JUNE 2010 | COVER STORY

A bit of quality can help sell “crap” Ikea support for Easy to Assemble may direct future of branded video by Andrew Hampp

T

o many brands (not to mention Hollywood actors), the Web is still considered a dumping ground for content not considered good enough for traditional TV. And in the early stages of what is now Easy to Assemble, a Web series sponsored by Ikea and created by actress Illeana Douglas, that dictum was true. But after the series became the most-watched sponsored Web show in its second season, garnering 5.1 million views and counting, Douglas and her all-star cast are rewriting the rulebook on how to create quality content for the Web with a TV-like viewership.

That Easy to Assemble found such a large, organic audience in a relatively short amount of time (the second season premiered in late September) is no easy feat. The previous most-watched Web series, the Suave- and Sprint-sponsored In the Motherhood, achieved its audience in large part because of prime placement on MSN.com’s well-trafficked home page.

MyDamnChannel.com, the main distributor of the second season of Easy to Assemble, has had a growing following from shows such as Wainy Days, but hardly enough to put up MSN-like numbers.

The show has garnered increased investment from Ikea, which has seen it as an incubator for the future model of its $300 million global media budget.

“Today’s marketing landscape still calls for traditional media to play a role, but three to five years from now, we’ll be in a period where we need a stronger mix of nontraditional,” says Magnus Gustaffson, Ikea’s marketing chief and an executive producer of Easy to Assemble. “Because of the fragmentation of the media landscape, it’s important for us to reach as many people in as many relevant touch points as possible.”

But just as it’s reinventing the way brands invest in sponsored content, it’s also creating new compensation models for casts and crews in Web video. One of the biggest stigmas against online series is that they look like home videos

26 I Communicate

and pay actors far less than TV – if at all.

But the second season was shot in highdefinition, and Douglas’ famous friends, such as Ed Begley Jr., Tom Arnold and even Keanu Reeves (who stars in spinoff Sparhusen), are being paid in more than just goodwill – a pact with the Screen Actors Guild ensures that everyone from the guest stars to the assistants is compensated for their efforts at near-TV rates.

BRAND AFFINITY. Douglas compares her show’s unique path to her early days in independent film, and seems to be relishing the chance to help Ikea sell more crap (that means “quilt” in Swedish).

“If you have a well-liked brand that you really enjoy working with, it ends up working out. People will find the show on their own,” she says.

The origins of Easy to Assemble date back to 2004, when Douglas was shopping around a network pilot called Supermarket, in which she played a fictionalized version of herself – a Hollywood actress who found fame in independent film (To Die For, Cape Fear). When she takes a job at a small Los Angeles supermarket, Douglas is surprised to find it’s become a breeding ground for other Tinseltown refugees – several of whom (Justine Bateman, Jeff Goldblum) have since returned for the show’s latest iteration.

Supermarket never got past the pilot stage, leading Douglas to look to the Web for alternative distribution and a sponsor to foot the production bill otherwise covered by a TV network. Enter Ikea, a Swedish superstore with a do-it-yourself approach to furniture that lent its quirky brand to the show’s new title and its Burbank store for shooting key scenes – not to mention a rabid fan-base that readily consumes any Ikea-related content.

Roughly 20 percent of the second season’s 5.1 million views have come from syndication to sites such as Ikeafans.com, where users ate up new episodes faster than Ikea’s signature meatballs and lingonberry sauce. (So far, Easy to Assemble has amassed 6.1 million views when you combine the audience for the first two seasons; In the Motherhood reached a collective 5.5 million views for its two seasons.)

Ikea and its social-media agency, CJP Digital Media, promoted the show by doing marketing outreach to key Ikea fan sites and Web video blogs, syndicating clips for fans to share with their friends or comment on Ikea message boards.

Within two weeks, Ikea fans racked up 500,000 views for the show’s second season.

INVESTING IN QUALITY. “We want to establish new ways of making a Web series as a statement to respect the art, respect the actor and pay them accordingly. We as content providers are the ones that need to lead the way,” says Dominik Rausch, the series’ executive producer.

“Everyone is aware there’s not as much money in the Web world yet, but by showing what kind of result you get with Easy to Assemble, you need a certain amount of money to be able to get that quality.”

Bateman, a broadcast TV veteran of Family Ties and Men Behaving Badly, had been waiting for the Web to catch up to TV both economically and creatively. “There’s been an incredible amount of money spent on stuff that’s just not good on the Web,” she says. “Everybody dismisses that concern with, ‘It’s just the Internet.’

“But if people are fronting that they are content creators, let’s see your best work. You can still have a compelling narrative, still hire actors who know what they’re doing and still get a talented director of photography – you

COVER STORY | JUNE 2010

just need the right resources.”

That’s why Douglas and co. are currently seeking other Swedish sponsors to not just boost the budget for any future iterations of Easy to Assemble, but also preserve the uniquely Ikean vibe that has come to inspire the vast majority of Douglas’ storylines (“Co-worker of the year,” a contest pitting the show’s creator against Bateman, came out of the Ikea-favored word for “employee”).

That limits the pool substantially to Swedish brands that could be integrated without too much intrusion – Volvo and Skyy Vodka among them – but opens up the show to more storylines, including flashbacks to the 1970s for fictional in-house band Sparhusen.

“I could see them riding around in an old Swedish Volvo, or show them in a kind of modern house where they could have Ikea furniture from the ’70s and have us relaunch products like some really groovy chair in today’s market,” Douglas says.

But despite the influx of new fans, there’s no rush to take Easy to Assemble on the traditional TV route just yet – especially when the Webto-TV track record has been disastrous. In the Motherhood, the first Web series to be remade into a network show, was canceled after less than half a season by ABC, which abandoned the

Big hit. Easy to Assemble has become the most-watched sponsored web show in its second season show’s sponsors Sprint and Unilever as well as the user-generated storylines from real moms.

Repurposing Web content hasn’t been any easier, either, as NBC famously proved when it re-aired episodes of MySpace drama Quarter Life and canceled the show after two episodes.

Instead, Easy to Assemble is being syndicated to more websites and cable platforms to generate more guaranteed impressions for Ikea. This month, the show will be available on Hulu and Roku, as well as Hotel Networks’ DoNotDisturb network in more than 2 million hotel rooms.

Amazon and iPhone/Boxee applications are also in the works.

“I’d love to get to a point where this becomes a series that starts to reference Ikea less and less but is bridged by an Ikea commercial in between – like the ,” Douglas says. “Eventually all entertainment will just be one big box, and all your entertainment will be taken off that box.

But advertisers will still want to come to the best entertainment providers, and I want us to be one of the best content providers out there.”

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JUNE 2010 | COVER STORY

The Kraft of crowdsourcing

A branded movie telling the story of a romantic encounter on a train scores big in Greece by Emma Hall

K

raft Foods has scored a hit for its Lacta chocolate bar in Greece by crowdsourcing a 27-minute branded-entertainment film, involving the audience in everything from writing the story to casting the film and styling the actors. Some even popped up as extras in the finished film. And in a down market for chocolate bars, Lacta’s sales are growing.

Created with OgilvyOne Worldwide in Athens, the “Love in Action” campaign started with a series of traditional TV spots inviting people to submit their own personal love stories, one of which would be made into a movie. In response, people posted 1,307 entries.

Panos Sambrakos, executive creative director of OgilvyOne Worldwide, Athens, says, “In a way this was our most valuable and popular content, since people loved reading the stories, or to share their own, even if it wasn’t made into a movie. Some even did it in order to express their love to current or past lovers.”

George Kapoutzidis Screenwriter

28 I Communicate

THE JUDGES’ DECISION. After a month of reading and selecting entries, the top five were judged by three Kraft executives, three OgilvyOne executives and the screenwriter, George Kapoutzidis.

The winning story was about a musician and a new army recruit who meet on a train journey. Online polls decided casting (full screen tests were put up online), the characters’ names and even what they wore. A total of 11,500 people registered and voted on pre-production decisions, and some were invited to be extras in the film. Updates were posted on Facebook and Kraft’s blog during the two-week shoot.

The plan was to run the film online, but the making of the movie created such a buzz in Greece that the country’s leading TV station, MEGA Channel, offered to screen it free of charge on Feb. 14 as part of its Valentine’s Day programming. Love in Action, which is 27 minutes long, includes only three shots of Lacta.

“Our client didn’t want the audience to be distracted by the product,” Sambrakos says. “He wanted it to be entertainment first.”

The film attracted a 12 percent share of viewers and was seen by more than 335,000 Greeks on television.

In the first few weeks online, it was viewed 150,000 times and attracted more than 20,000 fans on Facebook. And the song featured in the film became a hit.

The “Love in Action” campaign ran at a difficult time for Lacta: Greece’s warm winter was bad for chocolate sales. In the last quarter of 2009, the start of the campaign helped to raise sales by 0.6 percent in a declining market. Figures for the first quarter of 2010, when the campaign reached its height, are not yet available.

AT FIRST SITE. OgilvyOne did an earlier branded content effort for Lacta last year, called “Love at First Site.” It told the story of an English girl meeting a young Greek man while on vacation on the island of Paros. “Love at First Site” was an interactive Web experience, where users who made the correct choices online advanced the love story to a happy ending. The story was integrated with sales by including codes on Lacta wrappers, which gave tips on how to develop the story.

Sambrakos says that the agency is redesigning the Lacta website and will soon start work on another project with the brand. “By popular demand, we will continue the concept of making movies out of real love stories,” he says. “For the next one, I would like to go back to interactive storytelling.”

Lacta is, according to Sambrakos, the bestselling chocolate bar in Greece. It was originally a Greek product launched in the 1970s, and was bought by Kraft in the 1980s. Ogilvy has been working on the brand for about four years, and created its long-running endline, which translates as “Lacta is the sweetest piece of your life.”

JUNE 2010 | ADVERTISING

Vive La France

Rejoice: The global ad industry has survived another year. Now all eyes turn to Europe as ad players the world over hear the distant roar of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival by Rania Habib

I

t’s that time of the year again, the time when advertising professionals set their sights – and hopes – on the south of France. Cannes, to be precise.

Only a few short months after the Dubai Lynx Awards, the region’s creative directors have entered work they believe stands a chance to win at the 2010 Cannes Lions.

Last year, Leo Burnett Beirut won the PR Lion for its “Khede Kasra” campaign for the Hariri Foundation’s Women Empowerment program, while TBWA/Raad Dubai and Y&R Dubai won bronze awards in the print category for Hansaplast and Harvey Nichols, respectively.

The general feeling in the region’s advertising industry is that this year is the time for the Middle East to shine in Cannes, as most feel that the region is beginning its ascent to a creative peak.

As noted at the Dubai Lynx earlier this year, any work with a local edge was favored over more generic advertising. The words “local insight” or “regional insight” have been the buzz words of the past few months, particularly after locally relevant campaigns such as Saatchi & Saatchi’s Dubai Metro “I Haven’t Left” and Melody Aflam’s “The Mother of All Foreign Films” by Leo Burnett won big at the Dubai Lynx.

But, while some think the regional and local insights that were so strongly displayed at the Dubai Lynx will work in agencies’ favor at the Cannes Lions, others think an international jury may not fully understand the intricacies of the region.

Communicate asked the region’s leading creative directors to tell us what they think will pick up awards at Cannes, and to sum up the region’s expected performance on the French Riviera in three words.

30 I Communicate

Andrew Durkan, creative director, The Tribe How many entries will you have at Cannes?

Very few. A radio campaign at most.

Which entries do you think have the most potential to win?

I really don’t know how much of a chance we have.

The Radio judging can be very odd.

What other work from the region do you expect will be awarded?

Something will win something, I imagine, just by pure numbers, but the quality of work is down this year. The Melody stuff, maybe. I don’t see a definite Gold though.

What three words will sum up the region’s performance at Cannes?

Must do better.

Ali Ali, creative director, Elephant Cairo How many entries will you have at Cannes?

We’ve sent a total of 12 entries; that’s all we could afford. We wanted to send more stuff, but the entries are terribly expensive.

Which entries do you think have the most potential to win?

We’re hoping our campaign for Lika Gum will win something. Anything.

What other work from the region do you expect will be awarded?

We particularly like the Dubai Metro stuff that was done by Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai.

What three words will sum up the region’s performance at Cannes?

Anything is possible.

JUNE 2010 | ADVERTISING

Nick Tapley, director, OMD Ignition How many entries will you have at Cannes?

OMD will be submitting six entries to this year’s Cannes festival, including HP, Doritos and Mercedes-Benz.

it’s the best. So I don’t want to make any prognostic.

But we have good entries, so one should at least be shortlisted. We hope so, because Cannes is an international festival and it’s great.

Which entries do you think have the most potential to win?

We’re excited about all our entries because all performed well at this year’s Dubai Lynx. One campaign we’re particularly proud of is the launch of TouchSmart for HP. As the only media agency to win Gold in a category dominated by ad agencies at the Lynx, it’s already created a bit of a first in the region, so we’re looking forward to seeing how this fares at Cannes.

What other work from the region do you expect will be awarded?

I honestly don’t know, because I don’t know who will enter. At the Lynx, we saw some good stuff, but they were global campaigns that were localized for the region. But I don’t know if those will enter Cannes, because they’ll just enter the global campaigns. So I don’t want to make any predictions.

What other work from the region do you expect will be awarded?

Creative ideas are somewhat subjective, but from a media perspective the smart money has to be on Starcom’s Hiroshi and Osamu campaign for Chevrolet.

What three words will sum up the region’s performance at Cannes?

Oh my God. No, that’s not the three words. Expecting good surprises.

What three words will sum up the region’s performance at Cannes?

Confident, surprising, different.

Malek Ghorayeb, regional creative director, Leo Burnett Dubai How many entries will you have at Cannes?

I am not sure yet how many entries will be sent to Cannes this year from Leo Burnett as a network, but I would say around 10.

Which entries do you think have the most potential to win?

Melody TV Aflam in Television, Alpha in Radio might have a small chance.

What other work from the region do you expect will be awarded?

I personally think that the Dubai Metro Outdoor/ Ambient campaign that was done by Saatchi Dubai should come back with a medal. I personally like the Colgate and LG campaign done by Y&R, the Aldar work from JWT, and the bubble gum campaign by Elephant Cairo.

What three words will sum up the region’s performance at Cannes?

Bring [the] metal [back] home.

Yves-Michel Gabay, general manager, Mediaedge CIA MENA How many entries will you have at Cannes?

We will have 12 entries, and we are mainly entering two categories: Media, and Promotion and Activation. This will mainly be with our client Sony Ericsson.

Which entries do you think have the most potential to win?

I was so surprised at the results of the Dubai Lynx, as it was not at all what I was expecting to win.

From eight entries, six got shortlisted, so we were very happy. We got two Silvers, and we were happy about that too. But they weren’t the ones we thought would win. Sometimes you enter things and you don’t think they will have a great impact, but at the end of the day the jury chooses because they think

32 I Communicate

Ronald Howes, managing director, Memac Ogilvy & Mather How many entries will you have at Cannes?

We’ve got about 10 or 12 entries in Cannes. And the ones that we’ve put forward are based on their success at the Dubai Lynx. We had an international jury at the Lynx, and they represented a pretty broad spectrum of creative talent. If it won a Gold or above at the Lynx, it has a pretty good chance of being noticed at Cannes.

Which entries do you think have the most potential to win?

There are two areas I think are interesting for us, and they’re born out of local insight and are very relevant to the region. We won the Grand Prix at the Lynx for our “Dustvertising” campaign for BP Castrol, and it’s not something you see everywhere in the world. The other one is the Berlitz Language School. It’s a simple idea that will resonate with an international jury, wherever that may be, because it’s very relevant to the region. Those two might be slated, in my view, to win several awards.

What other work from the region do you expect will be awarded?

It’s difficult for me to judge what I think will be winning work. I don’t particularly want to comment on this one further.

What three words will sum up the region’s performance at Cannes?

It’s about time [the Middle East shines at Cannes].

Milos Ilic, executive creative director, TBWA/Raad How many entries will you have at Cannes?

Around 30 entries altogether.

Which entries do you think have the most potential to win?

The print ads for DAC that picked up Gold at the Dubai Lynx might have a chance, and The Fridge campaign (it just won a One Show Merit).

What other work from the region do you expect will be awarded?

I think the stuff for Melody Aflam that won the Grand Prix this year at the Dubai Lynx should pick up something.

JUNE 2010 | ADVERTISING

What three words will sum up the region’s performance at Cannes?

We will see… (Because we still don’t know how the region will perform).

Pooja Chandani, creative director, Wunderman How many entries will you have at Cannes?

We will have 10 to 15 entries, as we will be entering everything that won at the Dubai Lynx.

Which entries do you think have the most potential to win?

To be honest, I really can’t say this year, because they’ve turned the categories around in the Direct and Promo and Activation categories, and they’ve allowed one-off and data-based work to win. This year is so different because categories are completely different, and the split is very different. Of course I’ll be hopeful and optimistic.

What other work from the region do you expect will be awarded?

I think the whole region has a lot of potential this year. The only conflict in my mind is that there are a lot of locally relevant campaigns, and I don’t know how they will do at Cannes, because I don’t know if the guys will get the local language and culture. But there’s lots of great stuff.

What three words will sum up the region’s performance at Cannes?

Good, good, good.

What three words will sum up the region’s performance at Cannes?

It’s about time.

Marc Lineveldt, executive creative director, Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai How many entries will you have at Cannes?

We’ve got nine entries in total: Seven outdoor, one print, and one direct entry. They include the Dubai Metro, the Philippines flood disaster, and campaigns for P&G. Which entries do you think have the most potential to win?

I think the most favorable potentially winning one is the Dubai Metro abandoned cars. Firstly, based on its Grand Prix win at the Dubai Lynx.

Secondly, it’s locally relevant and has good local insight. That works in its favor, because the Cannes jury has historically looked for campaigns from around the world that are interesting and original based on the country they come from, because it makes things unique. When they’re universal and you’re not sure where they’re from, the ads are at a disadvantage.

Which entries do you think have the most potential to win?

We believe that our work on Emirates, P&G, General Motors and Birell are on par with the best.

Their performance at the Dubai Lynx is testimony to our anticipation, though we would put most of our chips on the GM-Chevrolet Integrated entry, which won a Grand Prix at the Lynx.

What other work from the region do you expect will be awarded?

I would think there will be several pieces from Ogilvy, like their AC Delco campaign that won a Grand Prix at the Lynx, and it was very strong.

Stuff from Elephant could win, their Coca Cola integrated campaign, and their print ads for Lika Gum. And maybe for the first time Melody TV campaigns from Leo Burnett will win. It’s a strange thing: All their strong work for Melody in the past, which has won Grands Prix at the Lynx, hasn’t won anything at Cannes. Maybe this time. The campaign is fresh and a lot of fun, so I reckon it could do something at Cannes.

What other work from the region do you expect will be awarded?

I am not sure who submitted what, but I know

What three words will sum up the region’s performance at Cannes?

Hard to tell.

Rayan Karaky, general manager, digital operations, Publicis Groupe Media How many entries will you have at Cannes?

Twelve in Media and 12 in Cyber.

34 I Communicate

that OMD has very strong entries (Doritos is one that I remember well). I hope as many agencies as possible from the region get rewarded, because we need to be on the map from now on. There is great work being done but never represented.

AP-Lionel Messi-PR-24x33.pdf

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JUNE 2010 | advertising

Q&A

President’s address

Mark Tutssel, head of the Print and Film juries, says the region’s looking good for Cannes.

But is it good enough? by Rania Habib

M

ark Tutssel, global chief creative officer of Leo Burnett, was in the region recently. As he is also the president of the Film and Press jury at the 2010 Cannes Lions Awards, Communicate cornered him to get his take on his agency, our region, and the ad world’s biggest prize night.

You were at the Dubai Lynx earlier this year. What did you think of the regional work you saw, and, based on that, what do you think will do well in Cannes?

I got a good line of sight on the quality of work from the region, and it’s remarkably high. There were some very interesting print campaigns, which may do well at Cannes, but you never really know with print because of the very nature of it. You don’t get to see the quality of the work on a global scale.

I think the one thing that history has taught us

36 I Communicate

from Cannes is that visual ideas seem – for some bizarre reason – to do better than copy-led work.

But that might be because of the make-up of the jury, and English not being the first language of many of the jury members.

It seems to me that the one piece of work – just gauging the reaction from the room at the Lynx – that everybody believed was fresh and breakthrough was the Melody Aflam campaign from Leo Burnett Cairo. It has won Grands Prix at both the MENA Cristals and the Dubai Lynx. It’s the type of work that, once you understand the insight into Egyptian culture and the nature of the idea, should do very well. It is beautifully shot, beautifully cast with great performance, and bang-on-brand for an entertainment company like Melody. I think it’s an exquisite piece of work.

JUNE 2010 | advertising

year at the Lynx, so our expectations are very high.

The industry has completely changed. Today, we operate and think about amplifying and activating a brand story in different channels, and I expect to be present in every one of the channels. I expect to have a very strong presence in Promo, Direct, Cyber, Print, Outdoor, Ambient, Film, and bigger innovative integrated ideas, or Titanium-esque ideas [the Cannes award which honors bold and new ideas].

So I wouldn’t say I was disappointed with the performance of Leo Burnett; it’s just that we need to populate each of the channels with work that really demonstrates the power of the network and the creativity that resides in this region. Our expectations will just always be high. This is a very important region, one of our stronger regions in terms of business. I’m pleased with the direction we’re taking, and I always want to be the best.

Good work. Melody Aflam campaign by Leo Burnett Cairo and Harvey Nichols by Y&R Did you find that the region was stronger in the Print or the Film categories?

Personally, I think the stuff that Melody did was world class, and I thought the print work was very good, but there was nothing within the print world that gave the industry a clue to new ways of thinking about print.

The one print campaign I thought demonstrated a real understanding of the importance of craft was the Harvey Nichols campaign by Y&R: It’s bang on brand, it’s beautiful shot and visually arresting, and the craft detail is excellent. That’s the type of work I suspect will do well in Cannes.

Given that the Cannes jury is international, do you think the fact that some of the best work in the region is based on local insights will work for or against agencies?

If a campaign is rooted in a cultural insight that’s relevant and pivotal to the comprehension of the idea, then you have to furnish the jury with that information, which they need to evaluate the work.

So in the case of Melody Aflam, you only need to understand the Egyptian love of terrible films. Once you’re furnished with that fact, you know that it’s a celebration of Egypt’s own films. So you quickly understand the idea, involve yourself in it, and you are hugely entertained by it.

What did you think of Leo Burnett’s performance at the Dubai Lynx?

Given the presence we’ve had in the Middle East and Africa and the standard we’ve set ourselves, we always expect to perform well. If you look at our history, we have constantly won major accolades over past few years. We’ve won Grands Prix every

38 I Communicate

What do you see as the biggest challenges in this region?

The challenge is to keep the momentum going.

There’s huge growth in the region and in terms of business, which is fine, but we can’t rest on our laurels and expect it to go one till the end of time.

Obviously what’s happened in the economy here has had an impact on our business, so we need to be richer in terms of how we think of modern-day communication.

We have to evolve, and we have to really make sure we maximize the growth potential and the power of new ways of thinking and don’t rest on tried and tested methods of communications. We intrude on people’s lives so we have a duty to reward them accordingly. Technology is changing with rapid velocity; people are empowered now, and they can choose to invite you into their world or not. We have to constantly change and evolve and keep pace with society.

Regional agencies seem to be of the opinion that this year’s Cannes awards will be the region’s chance to shine, with one managing director saying, “It’s about time” the Middle East started to do well.

To me, it’s only a matter of time; it’s not, “Will it happen?” it’s “When will it happen?” India dominated Cannes a few years ago, as did China a couple of years ago, so I think it’s only a matter of time before this region is up there with the best.

If you put the very best of the best from the region alongside the best in the world, the gap is closing very, very quickly. Cannes is an international show with an international jury, so cultural insights are really important, because you’re talking to very broad cross-section of people. I’m not a clairvoyant so I don’t want to tempt fate, but there’s work that people in the region should justifiably be excited by and have hope for.

You never really know at awards shows. You go with high expectations sometimes and you’re disappointed. Or sometimes the stuff you think is borderline does really well. These are exciting times, and the most important thing is this dogged determination to be world class on the world stage and to be acknowledged for creativity that’s of the highest order. It’s only a matter of time.

2010

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mena

Prove it Deadline for entries: 19th September, 2010

GALA AWARDS CEREMONY: 4th November 2010 - Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai For more information, please contact: basma@mediaquestcorp.com www.gemaseffie.com Effie® and “E Logo” are registered trademarks of Effie Worldwide, Inc. and are used under license by MediaquestCorp. All rights reserved.

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JUNE 2010 | DIGITAL

Paper chase Newspapers in the UAE are revamping their websites. Communicate logs on to find out how these digital offerings differ from print by Rania Habib

W BEN DAVIES. Assistant editor, online, The National

RICKY GHAI. Executive director of digital media, Abu Dhabi Media Company

YOUSEF TUQAN TUQAN. CEO, Flip Media

40 I Communicate

hen Communicate caught up with Mark Finney, The Guardian’s head of client sales, last month (see “Revolutionary read,” page 63, Communicate, May 2010), his top tips for a successful news website were: Build communities, encourage interaction, experiment, invest in journalism, and be flexible enough to redesign your website around the way people are consuming your content.

That’s sound advice, especially coming from a Guardian insider; Guardian.co.uk counts 36 million readers internationally, making it the second biggest online English newspaper in the world, after The New York Times. That’s not too shabby for a paper with a falling print circulation of 400,000. The death of print has been a hot topic for a few years now, and while print hasn’t died yet, it is undeniably losing the vitality it once possessed.

Yousef Tuqan Tuqan, CEO of Dubai-based digital agency Flip Media, says newspapers in the UAE have to figure out “this Internet thing.”

“The Internet is going to kill your business, but at the same time it can save your business,” says Tuqan.

When Gulf News and Khaleej Times redesigned their websites earlier this year, they were met with varied reactions, from “love it”

to “hate it.” But the relaunches signaled the newspapers’ desire to be relevant online, and to catch up with more advanced news websites.

Abu Dhabi newspaper The National is currently revamping its offering too.

Brian Buchanan, portal editor at Gulf News, joined the paper’s publisher, Al Nisr Publishing, after the website redesign, and says today’s site is a “huge jump” from what it used to be. “It’s a far better presentation, as the older one was all boxed in,” says Buchanan. “Now there are plenty of different ways to encourage people to get into the site, and it’s a lot easier to navigate.

It’s a challenge to encourage people to get into the site and stick around, but we’ve found that the stickiness stats have improved.”

SAME BUT DIFFERENT. One of the tricks to get readers to “stick” to a news website is to display the content in a way that reflects the newspaper but doesn’t mimic the format exactly, says Ben Davies, assistant editor, online, at The National.

“The new website will reflect the clean design of the newspaper, but where it’s altering is that I don’t feel the need to be totally faithful to each individual section of the newspaper,” he says. “At the moment, we have

© Photolibrary

JUNE 2010 | DIGITAL

Paper chase

Newspapers in the UAE are revamping their websites. Communicate logs on to find out how these digital offerings differ from print by Rania Habib

W Ben davies. Assistant editor, online, The National

Ricky ghai. Executive director of digital media, Abu Dhabi Media Company

Yousef Tuqan Tuqan. CEO, Flip Media

40 I Communicate

hen Communicate caught up with Mark Finney, The Guardian’s head of client sales, last month (see “Revolutionary read,” page 63, Communicate, May 2010), his top tips for a successful news website were: Build communities, encourage interaction, experiment, invest in journalism, and be flexible enough to redesign your website around the way people are consuming your content.

That’s sound advice, especially coming from a Guardian insider; Guardian.co.uk counts 36 million readers internationally, making it the second biggest online English newspaper in the world, after The New York Times. That’s not too shabby for a paper with a falling print circulation of 400,000. The death of print has been a hot topic for a few years now, and while print hasn’t died yet, it is undeniably losing the vitality it once possessed.

Yousef Tuqan Tuqan, CEO of Dubai-based digital agency Flip Media, says newspapers in the UAE have to figure out “this Internet thing.”

“The Internet is going to kill your business, but at the same time it can save your business,” says Tuqan.

When Gulf News and Khaleej Times redesigned their websites earlier this year, they were met with varied reactions, from “love it”

to “hate it.” But the relaunches signaled the newspapers’ desire to be relevant online, and to catch up with more advanced news websites.

Abu Dhabi newspaper The National is currently revamping its offering too.

Brian Buchanan, portal editor at Gulf News, joined the paper’s publisher, Al Nisr Publishing, after the website redesign, and says today’s site is a “huge jump” from what it used to be. “It’s a far better presentation, as the older one was all boxed in,” says Buchanan. “Now there are plenty of different ways to encourage people to get into the site, and it’s a lot easier to navigate.

It’s a challenge to encourage people to get into the site and stick around, but we’ve found that the stickiness stats have improved.”

SAME BUT DIFFERENT. One of the tricks to get readers to “stick” to a news website is to display the content in a way that reflects the newspaper but doesn’t mimic the format exactly, says Ben Davies, assistant editor, online, at The National.

“The new website will reflect the clean design of the newspaper, but where it’s altering is that I don’t feel the need to be totally faithful to each individual section of the newspaper,” he says. “At the moment, we have

JUNE 2010 | DIGITAL

multimedia platform. Launch editor Martin Newland in The National’s newsroom sections of the paper that don’t necessarily have relevance with an audience that reads us online.” Davies also believes The National’s current website is not as user friendly as it should be, and that one of the goals his team hopes to achieve with the revamp is to create a community around the site.

“We want The National’s website to become a one-stop shop for people who are interested in coming to the UAE,” says Davies. “They can come to the website, find business or tourist information, or cultural happenings; it’s important to see our website and newspaper as a portal into the region. We also want people who have read about the country before moving here to continue using our website as an information and news resource, so we’re developing online listings. We’ll have information on how you can engage with the different governmental departments here, and we’ll have a more sustained blogging effort. We’re expanding, investing, and training staff, and we’ll have a more consistent and quality multimedia effort.”

Multimedia has become the hottest commodity for newspapers looking to integrate their print content with their online offering.

The National’s website, which already offers multimedia in the form of videos, blogs, and photo galleries, plans to capitalize on its experience so far. “You’ll see documentaries, news reports, analysis, podcasts, and quick-response commentary,” says Davies. “We’ll bring a lot of added value that builds on the fantastic content we have in the newspaper and online.”

MULTIMEDIA MAKEOVER. At Gulf News, the recent redesign also involved a heavier multimedia offering, steering away from the copy-

42 I Communicate

© Arabianeye.com

the story first: the website, the newspaper, or the television channel,” says Davies.

“The test of maturity of a news organization is when it’s gone past those debates; the important thing is to get the information out there. It seems to me that if you build your brand across different platforms, you’ll have much more impact and more people will read you, so you’ll become a reference for information. It seems foolish to me that if we get a story, and we know it’s exclusive, we don’t put it up on the most relevant platform as fast as possible.”

paste format of content pulled straight from the newspaper to the website. “The website is very much meant to provide a digital media experience, whether it’s through video, picture galleries, Google Maps, or anything that is going to help tell the story; it is going to be used,” says Buchanan.

“It is part of the Gulf News family, but the site is meant to be its own entity and do what it should be doing on the Web: offering a broad multimedia experience. Video is becoming extremely important to us, as we saw with two key stories: the Hamas assassination, where we published extended video of the CCTV footage on the website, and the Dubai Mall aquarium leak, for which we got a film clip of the crack [in the tank]. Both videos told the story effectively by themselves, and to us that’s a vital component of what we do.”

Including readers in its online offering is crucial to a news website’s success says Tuqan, and the rise of citizen journalism through the likes of smart phones and social networks has made engagement much easier.

“Readers helping to contribute to news stories is a growing phenomenon,” says Tuqan. “I don’t think kids with iPhones will ever really take the place of journalists, but it’s important for content producers to tap into the power of citizen journalism. This represents an opportunity for content owners, and encourages deeper engagement with readers and more on-site time.”

As for The National’s own journalists, Davies says that many are trained to produce a variety of media, making it easier to push multimedia content. News organizations need to be responsive to consumers’ expectations of news delivered round the clock, “but you’ll find that there’s a debate within news organizations as to who should get

WHO’S IN CHARGE? This integration of content on news websites poses an interesting question, says Tuqan. “Who’s in charge? IT? Editorial?

The Web team?” he asks. “It can be tricky to figure out who is really affecting change within the publication. But it’s all about how to get the maximum value out of the content newspapers produce.” Tuqan says reader engagement is “incredibly important,” because the more time people spend on a news website, the more the relationship between the news organization and the reader will deepen, fostering loyalty. Readers will also be exposed to more advertising, but websites should re-think their advertising models. “It’s not just new media that’s required, it’s new thinking,” he says. ”You can’t just stick banner advertising on a website.”

Ricky Ghai, executive director of digital media at the Abu Dhabi Media Company, the government-owned company that owns The National, says that with the revamp of the newspaper’s website will come more opportunities to experiment with online advertising.

“We’ll have the ability to experiment with the standard use of mid-page units and banners,” says Ghai.

“We’re working very closely with The National to see how we can experiment with these models in innovative and creative ways, to entice advertisers to support their brands on our websites. The National has a premium perception and, two years on, that premium has become very established in the physical newspaper (see “Can posh be profitable?” page 10, Communicate, May 2010). So you won’t see a radical change in opening up our advertising inventory, but you will see a far more flexible and creative approach to how we challenge our business model.”

Tuqan says the region has been increasingly resistant to change when it comes to what he believes is the inevitable death of print. “But the reality is that it’s coming soon,” says Tuqan. “So magazines and newspapers have to embrace new media channels in order to succeed.”

Following the advice of The Guardian’s Finney, it seems there is no better time for news websites to experiment. And experiment again. The region may have been resistant to change for a while, but the redesign of the UAE’s top three Englishlanguage newspaper websites signals that the media is indeed experimenting.

DIGITAL | JUNE 2010

Stats the way to research

Why one blogger has been sifting through Facebook’s user stats, and what they can tell us about the social network in Saudi Arabia by Rania Habib

I

t may all be publicly available information, but Samer Marzouq, chief blogging officer at Jazarah.net, has taken the time to sift through it professionally. Facebook information, that is.

Though occasionally known for its TMI (too much information) moments, the social networking site is a goldmine for researchers and advertisers (not to mention folk who are just plain curious).

While he’s already compiled general information about the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Tunisia and Iraq in one report, Marzouq has focused only on Saudi Arabia for his latest investigation.

“You can define the country to get the number of users in that country, and the more you dive into the world of Facebook and the more metrics you add, you can, for example, figure out how many female users in Saudi Arabia are in their twenties and speak English,” says Marzouq.

According to his numbers, Saudi Arabia counts 2,062,160 Facebook users, with a majority of male users (65.53 percent). While English is the most widely used language (50.13 percent), Arabic follows very closely, with 48.91 percent of users networking in their native tongue.

More than half the Facebook users in Saudi Arabia are between the ages of 19 and 29, somewhat unsurprisingly, and more than half of those use the social network’s Arabic version. The second largest age group is the 30- to 45-year-olds, who predominantly use Facebook in English, while the third largest age group – 18 years old and under – is dominated by the Arabic version.

The smallest age group, those between 46 and 64 years old, overwhelmingly uses Facebook in English. “English seems to have a strong presence in the older age groups, but Internet users in Saudi Arabia are known for being purely Arabic-

oriented,” says Marzouq. “But we can notice that younger generations use Arabic more.”

USING USER DATA. But what’s all this data good for? Marzouq says that all of this information is available through Facebook’s advertising system, a platform that enables users to run and manage ads targeting Facebook users and allows them to create and manage “Fan pages” (now “Like”) for their brands and websites. You just need to click the “Advertising” link at the bottom of a Facebook page and you’re in, says Marzouq.

“Users share a lot of personal information, and these details matter to everyone, not to advertisers only,” he says. “They matter to anyone who wants to study communities and cultures, and at the same time they help in understanding the size and diversity of the network itself.”

According to www.internetworldstats.com, Saudi Arabia counts 7,761,800 Internet users (as of Dec. 31, 2009), which means that around 25 percent of the kingdom’s population uses Facebook.

“Having such information about a quarter of Saudi Arabia’s Internet users through Facebook gives a lot of insights about that audience,” says Marzouq.

“Personally, I believe it’s an effective tool to target the right audience, especially through social ads.”

However Marzouq, who is also partnerships manager at Ikoo, the region’s largest online ad network and a part of the Jabbar Internet Group, realizes that the information available on Facebook is not entirely accurate.

“The accuracy of the information is affected by the accuracy of users,” he says. “Some users might enter some incorrect information about themselves, but no research is 100 percent accurate. There is always a margin of error.”

Marzouq’s Facebook numbers can be found at Jazarah.net.

samer marzouq Chief blogging officer, Jazarah

Communicate I 43

www.menacristal.com

Discover new talents!

Every year, the MENA Cristal Festival organizes contests for young talents in the region.

The Poster Contest: Young Creatives create the official poster of the event deadline for entries Sunday 6 June 2010 - free registration - prizes worth 15 000 USD The international Young Directors Forum: Young Directors present their short films & clips to begin in advertising deadline for entries Friday 29 October 2010 - free registration Contact : ingrid.anfray@cristalfestival.com T : +33 1 42 04 97 76 www.menacristal.com

© Arabian Eye

JUNE 2010 | ADVERTISING

Take a walk on the client side

Communicate casts an eye over Cairo’s advertisers to see who’s spending, what they are spending on, and what’s changing by Austyn Allison

S

karim khouri Managing director of Impact BBDO Cairo

44 I Communicate

top us if you’ve heard this before, but there’s been a financial crisis in the Gulf. Marketing money has been pouring out through a real estatesized hole, along with other perforations, and some of that money has been flowing towards Egypt. Clients there have been competing in a much more established market in ways that the free-falling GCC can only envy. Following on from April’s look at Egyptian agencies and media, Communicate takes a look at the country’s advertisers themselves.

Recession aside, Egypt comes with its own challenges to advertisers; Communicate decided to try and find out what some of these challenges are, and how brands have succeeded in overcoming them.

The big spenders, according to Karim Khouri, managing director of creative agency Impact BBDO Cairo, are from the telecom, real estate and FMCG sectors, in that order. It’s no surprise to discover that carbonated beverages drive the FMCG advertising market, with Coca-Cola and Pepsi being the biggest spenders.

In fact, by some estimates – including that of Universal Media’s managing director, Dina Hashem – Pepsi is the biggest spender

in Egypt. But Khouri, whose agency handles creative for Pepsi, says it came in second to Vodafone last year.

Meanwhile, media preferences are shifting for clients (see “Engaging Egypt,” page 44, Communicate, April 2010). Although television is still the dominant form of media, one of the prime problems is how to break through in a cluttered market.

Clients are looking to more research, and are also starting to experiment with activation and digital, and other less traditional ways of reaching consumers. They often use two popular platforms: sports and music. Both have the potential to forge strong brand-consumer relationships in emotional Egypt.

Mohamed Riad Shahin, head of commercial communication and marketing services at Nestle in Cairo, tells us that the food company, like most advertisers in Egypt, focuses its media spending on television. Shahin won’t tell us how large his marketing budget is, or what percentage of sales it makes up, but he says that last year he increased his advertising spend in real terms and as a proportion of the company’s sales.

JUNE 2010 | ADVERTISING

Making a splash. Egypt is one of the many markets where the Pepsi-Coke rivalry is intense

Karine barakat Managing director of Starcom in Cairo

Wael Nazeem Client service manager at Saatchi & Saatchi

46 I Communicate

BIG SPENDER. “It’s good to spend more,” he tells Communicate. “Especially if people tend not to spend money.” In frugal times, consumers tend to spend on cheap products or on products they have good communications with.

Of course, even in advertising, brands can’t spend their way out of every problematic situation, and there are plenty of challenges above and beyond the recession facing advertisers in Egypt.

Illiteracy and poverty are part of the problem.

The CIA World Factbook estimates that only 71 percent of the adult population can read and write.

That means almost 30 percent of Egyptians are unable to read ads.

Even when they can consume messaging, Egyptians have to be able to afford the goods and services being touted. Karine Barakat, managing director of Starcom media agency in Egypt, says that the wealthiest 11 percent of the Egyptian population owns 77 percent of the country’s wealth. Which leaves the rest of the country with not much.

Dina Hashem at Universal Media says Egypt’s middle class – the bread and butter clientele of advertisers in many other countries – was growing until the 1980s, then vanished. Now, she says, “It’s the rich and the very poor. There is no middle class; it doesn’t exist. The middle class went down to the poor.”

WHO’S BUYING? Among the sectors advertising in Egypt are government departments, which are pushing civic services and even using advertising to persuade the country’s populace to pay taxes (see “Jingle all the way,” page 37, Communicate, April 2010).

Other advertisers include FMCG brands. The usual suspects, such as Nestle, are advertising, and those in the industry say that not only are newcomers entering the market, but those FMCG brands that have been around for a while are looking outside Egypt’s borders, using the country as a jumpingoff point.

“There is a lot of investment in new product

development,” says Khouri. “And we are seeing a lot of our clients going outside this market. Egyptian brands are starting to look at other markets, and are exporting to places like Sudan and Ethiopia.”

When the recession arrived, advertising markets in the Arabian Gulf were hit hard by the collapse of the region’s real estate sector. These effects have been cushioned in Egypt, where there is still a demand for housing, rather than for properties to be flipped, traded and invested in. Giant developers such as Palm Hills are still spending. There was a dip, says Wael Nazeem, client service director at Saatchi & Saatchi in Cairo, but it wasn’t drastic.

Unlike heavily mortgaged, over-leveraged markets elsewhere in the Middle East, the property business in Egypt is largely cash-based. This helps negate cash-flow problems.

This is less the case with cars. Egypt has traditionally been a cash economy, even for big-ticket purchases. But since the start of the 21st century, people have started to borrow more. “A lot of people are buying cars now because of loans,” says Nazeem.

LOAN RANGERS. This is good news for the banks, which are launching new products to meet this rising demand. And advertising them. Nazeem says one of his agency’s clients, ABC Bank, has even started advertising during Ramadan, “which is not a banking sort of month.”

Egypt’s state religion is Islam, and between 80 and 95 percent of its population is Muslim, depending on the statistics you read. However, alcohol is tolerated and sold openly. And advertised, although this is more undercover. “It’s a dark market,” says Barakat. Magazines can accept alcohol advertising, and Starcom uses periodicals for its hard beverage clients.

Soft drinks, on the other hand, keep more than magazines afloat. Egypt is one of the many battlefields where the rivalry between Coca-Cola Co. and Pepsi Co. is intense. The two carbonated-beverage brands go against one another hammer-and-tongs on a regular basis, with exaggerated spend that is driven – critics say – more by pride than numbers.

“There are a lot of personal egos in this market,” says Barakat. “Sometimes you think it doesn’t make sense for brands – it is the brands and the people who run the companies. You don’t see this in a developed market.” Media owners make the most of this, though, she adds. They can capitalize on the rising prices for space and airtime driven by a bidding war that goes beyond rational planning.

UM’s Hashem disagrees, however. Her media agency handles Coca-Cola. She says that in 2009 Pepsi put more into the Egyptian advertising market than any other brand, but that talk of a rivalry with Coke that goes beyond business is more hype than reality.

“This is what they say to make it look like there is competition there,” she says. “But I see it from the Coke point of view. Coke is very focused; they know exactly that they want from the beginning of the year, with a very clear plan.” She says Coke’s marketing director, Ahmed Nazmy, also makes sure that he integrates media, creative and PR, more so

JUNE 2010 | ADVERTISING

than other clients, by forming teams across Coke’s different agencies. “He does this with every project, no matter how small it is,” she says.

dina hashem Managing director of Universal Media

48 I Communicate

CROWDED PITCH. One reason Coke and Pepsi are seen as being at each other’s throats is that they both choose to market themselves on a sporting platform, specifically soccer. “This is where it looks like they are following each other,” says Hashem.

“But they are not. It’s simply because of the fact that there are very few good football events that take place each year, and both of them want to be part of it.” The same is true, she says, of music.

But soccer is more vicious.

Telecoms companies are in a similar situation, with each of the operators trying to gain more coverage than its rivals. They also position themselves through either soccer (in the case of Etisalat and Vodafone, according to Barakat) or music (Vodafone and Mobinil) and have a tendency to indulge in what cynical buyers call “me-too advertising,” each trying to outspend its rivals.

However, the telcos at last came to a gentleman’s agreement in 2009, says Hashem. “For the first time on the media front it is cooling down; they are no longer fighting with each other to block each other,” she says. “They are no longer going to beat each other on exclusivities and sponsorships, and blocking each other.”

As well as more traditional advertising channels, telecoms companies have been using on-ground activations to reach an often-illusive target of nonCairene Egyptians, a demographic often overlooked by marketers. (The 18 million inhabitants of Cairo and its surrounding sprawl represent around a fifth of Egypt’s total population.)

Agencies – both creative and media – say that there have been more pitches since the credit crunch

began. This could be a result of clients looking to use the global financial crisis as a chance to shop around for better deals on their advertising work.

But it could also, say optimists, be a sign of the Egyptian advertising market welcoming new spenders.

“We see new entrants, smaller players, coming in,” says Starcom’s Barakat. “But I don’t think if we sit here in a year I will tell you this was a step change.” Newcomers entering the market include brands such as restaurants, not known for their advertising and previously kept out by high prices, and Gulf companies looking to target a more stable consumer base than their home market.

Agencies also say they are seeing a shift in the way clients approach marketing: They are gradually moving from tactical advertising to commissioning more brand-building work. “Brands are developing corporate identities and pure branding to compete on a global level,” says Saatchi’s Nazeem.

Clients are also starting to investigate the potential of digital, in addition to traditional forms of advertising. In the words of UM’s Hashem, a few clients who were feeling the credit crunch said, “‘I want to try something else. What else is there? We have digital or Internet, let’s look into it.’ Internet started to boom in 2009. Not a big boom, but it started to show.”

But in spite of these forward steps, agencies still feel clients aren’t as professional as in other markets. “I would assume big local companies will become more professional, because the market is becoming more professional,” says Barakat. “But the smaller players, I don’t think so. You can’t come from a very professional market even if you want to do things professionally.”

It’s a big market where change comes slowly, but at least clients in Egypt are adapting gradually.

This can only be a good thing for the clients, the agencies, and Egyptian advertising in general.

27593oc Communicate 330x240 10/05/2010 15:12 Page 1

JUNE 2010 | ADVERTISING

MAKING A SPLASH. Egypt is one of the many markets where the Pepsi-Coke rivalry is intense BIG SPENDER. “It’s good to spend more,” he tells Communicate. “Especially if people tend not to spend money.” In frugal times, consumers tend to spend on cheap products or on products they have good communications with.

Of course, even in advertising, brands can’t spend their way out of every problematic situation, and there are plenty of challenges above and beyond the recession facing advertisers in Egypt.

Illiteracy and poverty are part of the problem.

The CIA World Factbook estimates that only 71 percent of the adult population can read and write.

That means almost 30 percent of Egyptians are unable to read ads.

Even when they can consume messaging, Egyptians have to be able to afford the goods and services being touted. Karine Barakat, managing director of Starcom media agency in Egypt, says that the wealthiest 11 percent of the Egyptian population owns 77 percent of the country’s wealth. Which leaves the rest of the country with not much.

Dina Hashem at Universal Media says Egypt’s middle class – the bread and butter clientele of advertisers in many other countries – was growing until the 1980s, then vanished. Now, she says, “It’s the rich and the very poor. There is no middle class; it doesn’t exist. The middle class went down to the poor.”

KARINE BARAKAT Managing director of Starcom in Cairo

WAEL NAZEEM Client service manager at Saatchi & Saatchi

46 I Communicate

WHO’S BUYING? Among the sectors advertising in Egypt are government departments, which are pushing civic services and even using advertising to persuade the country’s populace to pay taxes (see “Jingle all the way,” page 37, Communicate, April 2010).

Other advertisers include FMCG brands. The usual suspects, such as Nestle, are advertising, and those in the industry say that not only are newcomers entering the market, but those FMCG brands that have been around for a while are looking outside Egypt’s borders, using the country as a jumpingoff point.

“There is a lot of investment in new product

development,” says Khouri. “And we are seeing a lot of our clients going outside this market. Egyptian brands are starting to look at other markets, and are exporting to places like Sudan and Ethiopia.”

When the recession arrived, advertising markets in the Arabian Gulf were hit hard by the collapse of the region’s real estate sector. These effects have been cushioned in Egypt, where there is still a demand for housing, rather than for properties to be flipped, traded and invested in. Giant developers such as Palm Hills are still spending. There was a dip, says Wael Nazeem, client service director at Saatchi & Saatchi in Cairo, but it wasn’t drastic.

Unlike heavily mortgaged, over-leveraged markets elsewhere in the Middle East, the property business in Egypt is largely cash-based. This helps negate cash-flow problems.

This is less the case with cars. Egypt has traditionally been a cash economy, even for big-ticket purchases. But since the start of the 21st century, people have started to borrow more. “A lot of people are buying cars now because of loans,” says Nazeem.

LOAN RANGERS. This is good news for the banks, which are launching new products to meet this rising demand. And advertising them. Nazeem says one of his agency’s clients, ABC Bank, has even started advertising during Ramadan, “which is not a banking sort of month.”

Egypt’s state religion is Islam, and between 80 and 95 percent of its population is Muslim, depending on the statistics you read. However, alcohol is tolerated and sold openly. And advertised, although this is more undercover. “It’s a dark market,” says Barakat. Magazines can accept alcohol advertising, and Starcom uses periodicals for its hard beverage clients.

Soft drinks, on the other hand, keep more than magazines afloat. Egypt is one of the many battlefields where the rivalry between Coca-Cola Co. and Pepsi Co. is intense. The two carbonated-beverage brands go against one another hammer-and-tongs on a regular basis, with exaggerated spend that is driven – critics say – more by pride than numbers.

“There are a lot of personal egos in this market,” says Barakat. “Sometimes you think it doesn’t make sense for brands – it is the brands and the people who run the companies. You don’t see this in a developed market.” Media owners make the most of this, though, she adds. They can capitalize on the rising prices for space and airtime driven by a bidding war that goes beyond rational planning.

UM’s Hashem disagrees, however. Her media agency handles Coca-Cola. She says that in 2009 Pepsi put more into the Egyptian advertising market than any other brand, but that talk of a rivalry with Coke that goes beyond business is more hype than reality.

“This is what they say to make it look like there is competition there,” she says. “But I see it from the Coke point of view. Coke is very focused; they know exactly that they want from the beginning of the year, with a very clear plan.” She says Coke’s marketing director, Ahmed Nazmy, also makes sure that he integrates media, creative and PR, more so

We have just one thing to say to a re-rebrief.

Bring it on.

JUNE 2010 | ADVERTISING

than other clients, by forming teams across Coke’s different agencies. “He does this with every project, no matter how small it is,” she says.

DINA HASHEM Managing director of Universal Media

48 I Communicate

CROWDED PITCH. One reason Coke and Pepsi are seen as being at each other’s throats is that they both choose to market themselves on a sporting platform, specifically soccer. “This is where it looks like they are following each other,” says Hashem.

“But they are not. It’s simply because of the fact that there are very few good football events that take place each year, and both of them want to be part of it.” The same is true, she says, of music.

But soccer is more vicious.

Telecoms companies are in a similar situation, with each of the operators trying to gain more coverage than its rivals. They also position themselves through either soccer (in the case of Etisalat and Vodafone, according to Barakat) or music (Vodafone and Mobinil) and have a tendency to indulge in what cynical buyers call “me-too advertising,” each trying to outspend its rivals.

However, the telcos at last came to a gentleman’s agreement in 2009, says Hashem. “For the first time on the media front it is cooling down; they are no longer fighting with each other to block each other,” she says. “They are no longer going to beat each other on exclusivities and sponsorships, and blocking each other.”

As well as more traditional advertising channels, telecoms companies have been using on-ground activations to reach an often-illusive target of nonCairene Egyptians, a demographic often overlooked by marketers. (The 18 million inhabitants of Cairo and its surrounding sprawl represent around a fifth of Egypt’s total population.)

Agencies – both creative and media – say that there have been more pitches since the credit crunch

began. This could be a result of clients looking to use the global financial crisis as a chance to shop around for better deals on their advertising work.

But it could also, say optimists, be a sign of the Egyptian advertising market welcoming new spenders.

“We see new entrants, smaller players, coming in,” says Starcom’s Barakat. “But I don’t think if we sit here in a year I will tell you this was a step change.” Newcomers entering the market include brands such as restaurants, not known for their advertising and previously kept out by high prices, and Gulf companies looking to target a more stable consumer base than their home market.

Agencies also say they are seeing a shift in the way clients approach marketing: They are gradually moving from tactical advertising to commissioning more brand-building work. “Brands are developing corporate identities and pure branding to compete on a global level,” says Saatchi’s Nazeem.

Clients are also starting to investigate the potential of digital, in addition to traditional forms of advertising. In the words of UM’s Hashem, a few clients who were feeling the credit crunch said, “‘I want to try something else. What else is there? We have digital or Internet, let’s look into it.’ Internet started to boom in 2009. Not a big boom, but it started to show.”

But in spite of these forward steps, agencies still feel clients aren’t as professional as in other markets. “I would assume big local companies will become more professional, because the market is becoming more professional,” says Barakat. “But the smaller players, I don’t think so. You can’t come from a very professional market even if you want to do things professionally.”

It’s a big market where change comes slowly, but at least clients in Egypt are adapting gradually.

This can only be a good thing for the clients, the agencies, and Egyptian advertising in general.

GRAPHIC DESIGNER If you are a Graphic Designer and think this ad has a bad layout...

Apply along with your version of how this ad should look

Send your portfolio to: graphic.designer60@gmail.com

JUNE 2010 | advertising

A good vintage Blogger Samer Marzouq has unearthed a collection of vintage ads from the Middle East.

Communicate couldn’t resist a trip back in time

C

ommunicate has been accused of living in the past on more than one occasion, and for the life of us we can’t figure out why. We’ve lost count of the hours we’ve spent pondering it, sitting on the old rocker on the porch, a Glenn Miller record on the phonograph, a pack of chewin’ tabbaccy and a glass of old Pappy-municate’s moonshine next to us. We wouldn’t have been called old fashioned in our day, no siree. This month we’ll at least know why we’re behind the times, and it’s thanks to blogger Samer Marzouq. Through a friend, Marzouq has discovered a collection of old Al-Arabi magazines. The Kuwaiti title is still published today (Alarabimag. com) but Marzouq was fascinated by the dated adverts he saw and immediately felt nostalgic for his youth. “I found it really funny to see how advertising used to be,” says Marzouq, who has featured the ads on his blog at Jazarah.net. Communicate loved them too, and decided to publish a selection.

50 I Communicate

Suzuki There will be no fancy wedding But who cares? They are young and happy, and that beautiful white dress will remain clean, the groom’s motorcycle Suzuki 250 cc – T20 with the new oiling system will ensure a clean ride, no oil stains or heavy rear-smoke.

January 1967

Datsun Good bye friend…

Camels used to have a lot of advantages, but now most people know that cars are more reliable, and definitely faster. And since cars are more reliable than camels, what car is more reliable than Datsun?

January 1973

Chesterfield In all Arab Countries… everybody likes Chesterfield You will enjoy the delightful taste of a Chesterfield cigarette. The best American filterless cigarette – the tobacco is handpicked from the best strains in the world, and carefully aged under the supervision of experts, which makes each Chesterfield cigarette so smooth that it doesn’t need a filter.

March 1964

Sony Double the fun with the two-in-one Sony Radio/Cassette Recorder It’s an FM/AM radio, it’s a cassette recorder, it’s two-in-one at the same time! Radio shows are transmitted loud and clear, and if you like what you hear, just hit the button and record the show from the radio directly, no extra wires.

1972

Sanyo This device is loaded with deluxe features, and is still unbelievably small Three power sources (electricity, regular batteries, or Cadnica batteries that can be recharged hundreds of times).

March 1972

Toyota Don’t believe all you hear The Toyota Corona’s fuel consumption ranges between 30 and 35 miles per gallon. It’s really amazing, given how big this car is.

The Corona can go from 0 to 60 miles/hour in 18 seconds. These features are almost miraculous.

January 1967

It’s a day in the life of a Eurosport Arabia fan. With live sports coverage in Arabic and French, arabia.eurosport.com is the online, mobile sports destination fo for or fans a across the Middle East and North Africa. For advertising o opportunitie opportunities es conta contact +97143901161 or sales@mediaquestcorp.com.

Our fa fans are now able to check Eurosport Arabia on the go via our iPhone and Blackberry apps.

© Corbis Image

JUNE 2010 | MOBILE

A questionable business

A new company in Dubai is fielding questions from across the UAE via text message.

Communicate caught up with the founder to ask a few questions of our own by Rania Habib

W

andrew meikle Founder and managing partner of The Question Company

52 I Communicate

hat came first: the chicken or the egg? That’s a million dollar question. Or a three dirham question if you ask The Question Company, the brainchild of Andrew Meikle, founder and managing partner, and a long-time Dubai expat, who says he came up with the idea for a mobile phone text-based question and answer service while at his last job.

“I was sitting at my desk and the lady across from me asked me to recommend a pest control company, so we started looking around on the Internet and eventually found one,” says Meikle.

“The conversation went to how difficult it is to get a straightforward answer or recommendation in the UAE, and from there I started thinking about different ways to get answers to people who have those kinds of questions.”

With so many people having at least one smart phone – and Google – at their fingertips, Meikle knew that anyone looking for an answer could find it, albeit not so easily. “If you go on the Internet, you can find thousands of listings,

and still try to find the answer to your question,” he says.

“Over the past 10 years, PDAs [personal digital assistants] and technology have improved, but that doesn’t mean it’s been easier for people to find answers. Also, some people can’t be bothered to spend time looking through those kinds of things.

And beyond that, I think there’s that element of gratification when people ask a question and receive an answer through text, especially with something quirky and trendy and fun to use. So it’s about the novelty factor of being able to receive it promptly and get a specific answer to your question.”

The way Meikle’s business model works is by attaching an advertisement to almost every answer The Question Company sends out. Advertisers are split up into different categories, including arts, community, children, body and mind, and hotels.

“We answer the person’s question, but then we put the advertisement at the bottom of the SMS,” says Meikle. “We choose an ad within one of our categories because it’s related to the person’s

JUNE 2010 | MOBILE

interest, so it’s a very direct form of advertising; you’re communicating with someone who’s shown interest and who’s initiated contact.”

The Question Company currently works with 15 advertisers, and Meikle says that while he accounted for a lack of advertisers when setting up his company, possible clients have quickly recognized the potential of advertising with solicited SMSs. Meikle also explains that rates differ with every advertiser, depending on the deal that they agree on, but one constant is that Etisalat – until May the only provider through which SMSs to The Question Company could be sent – takes 35

percent every time someone sends a text message.

“Etisalat just came along quicker,” says Meikle of the delay in developing the service on du. “And du did not offer this system to companies when we set up, except to banks. But they’ve developed it now and our number for both Etisalat and du users is 4644.”

The Question Company is currently manned by a team of 14 people working on a 24/7 rotation basis. Meikle says (at the time of the interview in April) the company has received 1,983 questions, and that he was expecting to hit 2,000 the same day. “The first week we launched we averaged 36

questions a day, and now we average 95 questions a day,” he says. “When we get generic questions, we try to educate the public about what kind of questions they can ask us, and so we fill the advertising space with some of our ads.”

Meikle says his staff’s average response time is currently 6.72 minutes, and that if they feel the question could take longer to answer, they will acknowledge receipt and revert later. More difficult questions may take a little longer to answer, says Meikle. “The strangest question we’ve had is how much live cattle is exported from Darwin, Australia, to the Middle East every year,” he recalls. “We’ve also gotten ‘How much does a fry weigh?’ and ‘What is the meaning of life?’ So you’ve got to have a sense of humor.”

Meikle and his team have noticed, after observing customers’ history, that their questions become more sensible as they keep using the service. “What we noticed is that at the beginning, people will ask daft questions as they’re trying to push our boundaries and see how far we will go,” he says. “But questions become more sensible over time and people actually start asking for recommendations. But our most popular question still remains, ‘What came first, the chicken or the egg?’”

It sounds like a useful service, so Communicate decided to test it out for ourselves (see box, below). Our conclusion? Good, but we think The Question Company needs to brush up on one or two of its answers. By suggesting a rival magazine for in-depth features and analysis of the region’s advertising scene, it showed there are still a few glitches to be ironed out. Although perhaps that answer had more to do with the fact that one of the service’s sponsors, Motivate Publishing, is behind that title in the region.

Incidentally, Motivate might also like to ask the company, “What is the GCC’s leading business magazine?” We hope the answer doesn’t match its adverts (Gulf Business), as does the editorial team at our sister title, Trends.

Communicate asked The Question Company one question a day over the course of a working week On Sunday, we needed a life coach.

Q: I’m feeling a little sluggish at the office today after a busy weekend.

What should I do to re-energize?

A: Listen to some uplifting music, drink hot chocolate, walk on the grass or beach, eat an ice-cream!

What’s On magazine – for the best in leisure & entertainment!

(15 minutes later…) A: Also, you could have some green or chamomile tea if there is some available @ your’re [sic] office. ASK US ANYTHING – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

On Monday, we needed a little discipline.

Q: I tend to get sucked in by things like Facebook and Twitter while I’m at work. What do you recommend I do to stay focused?

A: Facebook & Twitter are overly hyped. Set a FB & Twitter ‘time’ & login @ only those times. 8-9 pm?

Read Gulf Business – The GCCs leading business magazine (7 minutes later…)

A: Also, FB socializing is hardly real. Rather get talking to (& knowing) ‘real’ people around you!

What’s On magazine – for the best in leisure & entertainment

54 I Communicate

On Tuesday, we really needed a friend.

Q: How do you solve a problem like fickle people?

A: Fickle people R all around. Stay aware & tackle such ppl diplomatically. U have to be street smart.

What happened today in history? Ask your 4646 team!

On Wednesday, we were in the mood for a little flattery.

Q: Where can I read in depth features and analysis about the region’s advertising industry?

A: Thank you for your question. We will get back to your shortly!

Read Gulf Business – The GCCs leading business magazine.

(18 minutes later…)

A: Campaign Mag is the world’s leading mag in advertising, also check communicate.ae & gmr-online.com Read Gulf Business – The GCCs leading business magazine On Thursday, we really wanted the answer to this question.

Q: So what did come first, the chicken or the egg?

A: Has to be the chicken, as the chicken had to be around to lay the egg! Thanks! What happened today in history? Ask your 4646 team!

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JUNE 2010 | DIGITAL

With universal “Like” button, Facebook spreads across Web Recent development reveals platform designed to draw in vast data by Kunur Patel

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ith the launch of its universal “Like” button, Facebook is extending its tentacles across the Internet, setting up pipes to gather user data from anywhere on the Web. And now that users can add what topics, products or content they like to their Facebook profiles, the social-networking site will soon sit on a data treasure chest.

At the f8 developers conference in April, CEO Mark Zuckerberg (pictured above) announced a platform that aims to connect the entire Internet through the social network. With those “Like” buttons appearing on major publisher sites directly after the announcement, users can thumbs-up individual pages with one click and publish that to Facebook.

Meanwhile, that “Like” is stored for later. “[Zuckerberg] is using the like button as the glue to link Facebook to everything else and understand his users much more,” says Shiv Singh, Razorfish’s global social media lead. “It’s a data goldmine.”

Facebook’s new tools, including the like button, activity feeds for other Facebook users and recommendation engines, are designed to embed Facebook functionality on outside websites. With like buttons on 75 sites, including publishers CNN and The New York Times, from day one, Facebook expects to serve more than 1 billion buttons in the first 24 hours. Once a user likes a page, the publisher gets a link on the user’s page, and means to later publish to that user’s newsfeed.

A Facebook spokeswoman says its policy on

56 I Communicate

developers or publishers targeting ads on their own sites has not changed with the new policies. Facebook will allow developers to apply user data to target ads on their own sites, but not elsewhere. Even though sites can’t share data, Facebook will be sitting on the mother lode.

NEW GIANT. “Facebook potentially could power an all-knowing behavioral-targeting platform the likes of which we’ve never seen before,” says Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus.

Short-term, the platform could mean more time spent on publisher sites and traffic from Facebook.

Zuckerberg also hailed the “open social graph” as a way to create personalized Web experiences where publishers will be able to tailor content to a user based on his or her like history.

With one launch partner, Pandora, a new user to the music site can automatically be served a playlist of bands he or she has liked elsewhere on the Web. Then, once that user visits a concert site, band preferences are ported over from Pandora to tell that user when favorite bands will be playing nearby.

But how expansive is access to that data? While it’ll feed recommendation engines to serve users relevant content, its implications on ad targeting even within publisher sites are still unclear.

According to a blog post from Bret Taylor, co-founder of social-sharing startup FriendFeed (that Facebook acquired last year), publishers

will also get analytics from Facebook’s insights product, although one launch site, USA Networks, which started with embedding the like button, the recommendation engine and activity feed, is not yet looking at Facebook for ad targeting. Its main focus for now is turning fans into ambassadors for its shows.

“This is about getting our brands and our shows in the communication flow,” says Jesse Redniss, vice-president of digital for USA Networks. “It doesn’t have to drive back to our core property; we want to push our brand out.”

So far, access to Facebook’s trove of data will include top-line psychographic information that will help serve relevant content to users. Beyond that, implications for ad targeting are not clear.

“For us, we are not going to start data-mining that information,” Redniss says. “We are more interested in user habits today.”

“Google just found its nemesis,” says Schafer.

“Instead of targeting people based on their click behavior or search behavior, it’s targeting based on their relationship to people and to brands and content.” And with relationship-targeting instead of just contextual-targeting, Schafer anticipates higher ad rates for publishers.

“They’re both after the same behavioral information,” he says. “Google has tried to capture information on social graph through Orkut [Google’s social network] and Buzz [its Twitterlike service], but it just can’t do it the way that Facebook does.”

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McDonald’s unveils “I’m Lovin’ It” 2.0 Fast-feeder reboots campaign in wake of massive sales and share gains by Emily Bryson York

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Mark Tutssel Chief creative officer, Leo Burnett Worldwide

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fter more than a year of consumer research and agency brainstorming, McDonald’s global chief marketing officer unveiled an updated take on the company’s iconic, seven-year-old “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign in April before an audience of 15,000 franchisees, marketers, and suppliers.

“I’m Lovin’ It” is now the company’s most successful and longest-running campaign, surpassing the iconic “You deserve a break today,” and “Food, Folks and Fun,” both in longevity and sales gains. The tagline actually predates chief marketing officer Mary Dillon, who took over McDonald’s global marketing in 2005.

“If you look at the business success, there would have been no reason” for changing the campaign, she said in a subsequent interview, “except for ego.”

“All across our system, our marketing leaders and agencies in the US, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Latin America, and Canada, we’re building on our multibillion-

dollar asset – ‘I’m Lovin It’ – and making it even better,” Dillon told the audience, according to prepared remarks. “We’re bringing it out from behind the arches and into the action to better brand and celebrate those uniquely McDonald’s moments.”

New spots end with the tagline appearing by itself, and the arches appearing later.

“Even more importantly,” Dillon continued, “we’re making sure that we build brand equity and drive sales with every piece of advertising.”

She describes an approach that’s more authentic, more saturated in consumer insights and emotion, and within “a framework that gives us a consistent point of view about our brand.”

Besides, with different iterations in 117 countries and dozens of languages, wholesale changes are very expensive.

“Launching and seeding awareness of a new tagline is a major financial undertaking,” Dillon said. “You’d have to be very sure that you needed to do that” to ensure future success of the business.

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You will nurture your team, inspiring their best work to develop leading Omani & international brands. You would also be actively involved in the development of campaigns, working alongside a Senior Copywriter. bear necessities. A Leo Burnett spot features a father bear treating his son to a McDonald’s LIFTING THE BAR. While news of the upcoming reboot sparked speculation that McDonald’s may be scrapping the campaign and starting fresh, Dillon said the campaign was still working, and charged the chain’s biggest agency partners with making it better. Those included are: Omnicom’s DDB Worldwide, TBWA and OMD, Publicis Groupe’s Leo Burnett Worldwide, Publicis Brazil’s Taterka (in which Publicis owns a 5 percent stake), and independent Cossette in Canada.

The result is advertising expected to lift the bar on McDonald’s creative around the world, says Mark Tutssel, global chief creative officer, Leo Burnett Worldwide. The work also appears to be funnier, more emotional and better grounded in a storyline.

For example, a Leo Burnett spot for the US market, which is sure to garner attention, features a father bear treating his cub son to McDonald’s after getting all A’s on his report card (subjects include fishing and mangling). For them, that means using the cub as a decoy to attract a passing car so the father can then scare the passengers away. The pair eats McDonald’s french fries that the tourists had been munching on along their scenic drive. There’s even a lesson: Papa bear shakes the car to get a stray fry from the floorboard, and then tosses the vehicle.

“There’s always an extra fry at the bottom,” he says.

And while this is a different take on what’s been McDonald’s everyday communication, Tutssel says it communicates key points such as family bonding, and fun with food. It also helps with the unenviable task of getting marketing up to speed with the “I’m Lovin’ It” promise.

Another US spot, from DDB, depicts a woman returning from a trip, looking for her boyfriend at the airport, but spotting another man with a bag of McDonald’s. When her boyfriend arrives, with flowers, she is polishing off her meal with the stranger. She looks at him and shrugs contentedly.

Also in April, McDonald’s reported first-quarter earnings that confounded Wall Street expectations: Same-store grew 3 percent globally, and surged 2 percent in the US. Dillon says she and her team take this as a sign that the advertising is doing what it’s supposed to do.

Interested?

Please send your CV, salary expectation & a sample of your best work to elizabeth.mcghee@zeenahgroup.com

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© Cobis

JUNE 2010 | DIGITAL

Free for all?

How much freedom of information can we expect in the new media world?

by Nat Ives

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ocial media is opening up communication around the world, delegates to April’s Festival of Media in Valencia, Spain, heard, but censorship in China and growing power at a certain tech company in Cupertino, California, imply that information still can’t always be free. The line about some information’s desire to be free, of course, really refers to its pricing, but recent developments raise another line of argument: How much freedom, as in liberty, can we expect for information in the new new-media world?

Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, suggested that information would only become more democratic as events unfold. Almost nobody in the auditorium raised a hand when Wales, delivering the opening keynote, asked how many people present had actually edited an entry on Wikipedia. But when he asked the same question in a London high school, he said, 60 percent of the students present put up their hands.

Take another example: Later his audience at the festival chose social media as the big game-changer in communication’s near future, but Wales chose broadband access. The audience of media-agency executives, marketing heads, and similar types take broadband for granted, Wales argued, but the next few years will see millions of people in the developing world get high-speed access to the Web. “We’ll hear from people we’ve never heard from before,” he said.

Whether social media or greater access to the Internet plays a bigger role, communication and media will become less centrally controlled and more widely participatory.

Jimmy wales Founder of Wikipedia

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FORCES OF CONTROL. But China’s censorship of Wikipedia – something Wales also brought up – is a reminder that there are still forces working to retain traditional control. He compared media companies’ operation in China to American companies’ business in apartheid South Africa, both cases in which some argued that participation, rather than isolation, was a

more effective way to improve the situation. “Reasonable people can differ,” he said.

Later, in a very different way – this is not to equate Apple with an authoritarian government – festival conversations about the Apple iPad reminded attendees just how much control a technology company can exert over the flow and exchange of information.

The most important moment to remember from the iPad’s launch event was Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ boast that the company already has 125 million consumer accounts with credit-card information, Ad Age columnist Simon Dumenco said in a presentation. The newspaper and magazine publishers now hoping the iPad can inject their businesses with new energy are accustomed to controlling their relationships with readers. Now Apple, even if it shares consumer information with publishers on the iPad, is the one controlling those relationships, Dumenco said.

Apple’s introduction of its iAd mobile advertising platform seals its hold over the media and consumers using its devices more firmly still, he said.

LANGUAGE LIMITATION. And then there are the requirements over media products themselves that Apple can set. Witness its ban on apps programmed in any but a few Apple-approved languages, which disrupted Conde Nast’s plan to build a Wired magazine iPad app using Adobe, whose software Conde uses to publish its traditional print products.

The good news about Apple’s power, however, is that competition is coming. Tablet computers that aren’t so restrictive will be along soon, letting consumers compare the Wired edition on the newcomers, perhaps, with the Wired edition on the iPad. When the audience was polled, moreover, 64 percent called the iPad “fantastic,” but still 36 percent called it a “fad.” And, of course, anybody can edit Wikipedia from an iPad. So media freedom, like free media, seems to still have momentum.

DIGITAL | JUNE 2010

Chat, stats and secrets about Twitter What’s been reported – and what hasn’t – since site’s sponsored-tweets announcement

by Edmund Lee

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t was the announcement heard around the digital ad world: Twitter revealed at Advertising Age’s Digital Conference that it would be accepting sponsored tweets. Here is a roundup of what’s been reported and what hasn’t since then about Twitter’s announced business model.

The ad system. What we know: As told to Ad Age, it’s Google’s AdSense. Twitter’s version appears on searches against its website, and a single ad appears at the top of a search. The ad is itself a tweet, and users can “re-tweet” the ad to pass it around, make the ad a favorite, or reply to it. Twitter’s first advertisers were Starbucks, Bravo and Virgin America.

They’re currently auctioning promoted tweets on a cost per thousand (CPM) basis, but will later use a return on investment (ROI) model based on what chief operating officer Dick Costolo calls “resonance,” a metric combining various types of data, including re-tweets, replies, links, and hashtagging.

What we don’t know: How much is it auctioning these CPMs for? How are they being auctioned?

When, exactly, will it move to the ROI model and how will it be priced? How much are Starbucks et al. paying for being early adopters?

Speculation: To address that last question, we think they’re paying nothing – for now.

Twitter stats. What we know: The company has long kept secret the number of its registered users. Released at the company’s Chirp Conference April 14, here is the figure, along with a few other key stats: • 105,779,710 registered users • 60 percent of those are from outside the US • 180 million unique monthly visitors • 75 percent of all Twitter traffic comes from outside Twitter.com

• 3,000,000,000 requests per day to Twitter’s API • 19 billion searches per month That last stat was crunched by Searchengineland. com’s Danny Sullivan, who tracked down CEO Evan Williams right after his Chirp presentation to suss out more details. Comparing Twitter searches against Google, Yahoo, and Bing, Sullivan figures the avian arbiter ranks a distant second to Google, which is significant now that it’s planning to sell ads against Google.

What we don’t know: Exactly how many searches live on Twitter.com.

Speculation: As Sullivan, and later AllThingsD’s Peter Kafka, made clear, most of those 19 billion searches are performed from Twitter clients, which means Twitter.com owns far less of that 19 billion figure. Still, presuming most, if not all, Twitter publishers will accept promoted tweets to get 50 percent of that revenue, 19 billion is still a lot of searches to sell against.

Ads across the Twit-verse. What we know: So promoted tweets are already running against searches on Twitter.com and will eventually run within Twitter clients who want that 50 percent. In the fourth quarter, Twitter may start pushing those promoted tweets to individual content streams.

What we don’t know: The big question on the minds of all those 105 million Twitter registrants (and counting) is what the threshold is for pushing promoted ads to an individual’s content stream. Costolo says, “Are [promoted tweets] great in search and horrible in the timeline? We are going to test and test and test.”

Speculation: Twitter will probably ask users to opt in to its promoted streams, and most of them will do so, as long as Twitter offers the same 50/50 revenue share. More to come as things develop.

dick costolo Twitter’s chief operating officer

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JUNE 2010 | ADVERTISING

Too big to fail

Why the Tiger Woods brand had to continue for Nike by Jeremy Mullman

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n the viral video that rocked adland in April, Tiger Woods’s dead father declared that he was “more prone to be inquisitive and to promote discussion,” and, boy, did he succeed: Millions of people are, in fact, discussing what Nike was thinking.

There’s no question that Wieden & Kennedy’s “Earl & Tiger” created a genuine phenomenon. According to Visible Measures, in less than 48 hours, the ad was viewed online more than 2.2 million times, drew 6,700 comments and generated more than 40 parodies that themselves drew more than 200,000 views. The ad also ran on ESPN and CBS (not to mention all of the free media impressions it generated by making news internationally).

The ad, critics charged, exploited a dead man to go through the motions of chastising Woods in order to get over the scandal and back to the business of selling Swoosh-bearing items. Yes, it went viral, but – given the scandal’s unprecedented juxtaposition of tawdry sexual details with the world’s most famous athlete and golf’s most prestigious tournament, the Augusta Masters – what ad wouldn’t have?

“Someone at Nike should have said, ‘Just don’t do it,’” reads one of 70 mostly negative comments about the spot on AdAge.com.

But senior agency executives queried about whether they’d recommend a similar approach to clients took a more positive view. After all, Nike has typically been rewarded for standing by controversial athletes and – in the case of Charles Barkley’s famous “I am not a role model” ad – using its ads to make them even more controversial.

Val DiFebo CEO of Deutsch, New York

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BRAVERY. “It’s not something I’d recommend for all of my clients,” says Val DiFebo, CEO of Interpublic’s Deutsch, New York, which handles brands

such as Kodak and PNC Bank. “But if Nike was my client, I’d have hoped to have thought of this.”

Michael Hart, co-founder of MDC Partners’ Mono, Minneapolis, says, “They’re brave to put it out now rather than to wait until he wins.”

Standing by Woods most likely didn’t risk anything with the target demographic of male golf fans.

Footwear analyst Matt Powell, of SportsOneSource, says that Nike Golf’s loyalists were likely to find the pseudo-flogging/apology compelling enough to keep buying Nike apparel. In fact, they may not have needed the apology at all: His study of scanner data from golf retailers showed that sales of Nike Golf footwear, apparel, and equipment declined by 3 percent in the 13 weeks before the scandal began in November, and fell by the same amount in the following 13 weeks.

“It’s the sort of thing that lets you put your own spin on it,” he says. “If you thought he was dirt before, you still do. But if you were inclined to forgive him or move on, you did.”

But the scandal could complicate Nike’s attempt to boost its sagging sales to women (some of whom still remember how the marketer stood

by Kobe Bryant during his sexual assault trial).

Nike’s share of women’s footwear declined by a whopping 15 percent in March as its sales slipped and its competitors (led by Reebok) surged, according to SportsOneSource.

And then there’s the issue of the dead man narrating the ad. Many critics of the spot have lashed out at the exploitation of Earl Woods to sell shoes, but virtually everyone agrees that it poured gasoline on a fire Nike was looking to start – and did.

“It’s a fascinating, creepy document, and I don’t know whether I love it or hate it,” says Steffan Postaer, chief creative officer at Euro RSCG, Chicago. “But I do wish I’d made it.”

JUNE 2010 | DIGITAL

Ads working well for Facebook When social ads collide with stated interests, awareness goes up by Jack Neff

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t pays to have fans on Facebook if you want your ads to work there, according to the first public study to come out of a collaboration between Nielsen Co. and Facebook.

The study of more than 800,000 Facebook users and ads from 14 brands in a variety of categories shows a marked increase in ad recall, awareness and purchase intent when home-page ads on the social network mention friends of users who have become fans of the brand in the ad.

The impact on awareness and recall is even more pronounced when a home-page ad coincides with what Facebook and Nielsen term “organic” social advocacy, i.e. an item in a user’s news feed indicating a friend has become a fan of a brand.

In short, so-called earned media generated when people mention or advocate brands makes the paid media considerably more effective, according to the study.

rex briggs CEO of analytics firm Marketing Evolution

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INCREASED RECALL. Facebook home-page ads on average generated a 10 percent increase in ad recall, a 4 percent increase in brand awareness, and a 2 percent increase in purchase intent

among users who saw them, compared with a control group with similar demographics and characteristics who didn’t.

But the increase in recall jumped to 16 percent when ads mentioned friends who were brand fans, and 30 percent when the ads coincided with a similar mention in users’ news feeds. Brand awareness saw similar bumps: up 2 percent from just a home-page ad, 8 percent with a “social ad” bearing mentions of friends who were brand fans, and up 13 percent when a home-page ad appeared along with a mention of friends who were brand fans in the users’ news feeds.

Purchase intent was 2 percent higher among viewers of home-page ads versus nonviewers, but got a four-time-bigger bump, up 8 percent either from social ads or when ads appeared alongside organic mentions of the brand in the news feed.

EARNED AND PAID MEDIA. One major takeaway from the research is that paid and earned media work together in ways that could have implications well beyond Facebook, says Jon Gibbs, vice-president of media analytics at Nielsen.

DIGITAL | JUNE 2010

“The market has been talking very much about how to buy paid media and earn earned media, but there’s been very little attention to the types of hybrid impressions and hybrid experience that blends these two,” says Gibbs.

While Facebook’s social ads present a fairly unique way of blending the paid and earned impressions, Gibbs notes that it’s not a totally isolated example. He cites rich-media vendors that allow for Twitter feeds, social commentary or other kinds of consumer input within their ads. But he says having specific friends linked to a brand, as Facebook does, appears to have more impact than just incorporating social commentary broadly.

The recall levels for home-page ads on Facebook appear “slightly higher than standard norms we’ve done on other projects,” says Gibbs.

“What we’ve seen in both social ads and organic [mentions] are much higher than we’ve seen in other campaigns along these lines.”

UNREMARKABLE RESULTS. Rex Briggs, CEO of the analytics firm Marketing Evolution, which has conducted numerous online advertising effectiveness studies, calls results for Facebook’s regular home-page ads “unremarkable and in line with banner ads [generally],” but he adds that the results for social ads and the impact of organic mentions make for “a really interesting story.”

Nielsen appeared to employ a good methodology used since the first online ad effectiveness

studies in the mid-1990s, Briggs says.

“It does what Facebook wanted to do, which is legitimize the advertising and business model of Facebook,” he says. “What it doesn’t do is give the cross-media understanding of how does this piece fit into overall marketing plans.”

What Facebook also hasn’t done, he says, is open its doors and data to a variety of research companies as others, such as Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL have done. That its internal data remains largely under wraps, and its template for creating fan pages remains relatively limited compared to what marketers can do with their own sites or other networks may also be limiting revenue for Facebook, he says.

PAID MEDIA CHEAPER. In all, Nielsen projects around 18 million Facebook users saw ads measured as part of the study, of which around a million also saw organic mentions of their friends in social ads. Roughly another million saw organic mentions of the brands featured in the study without seeing the ads.

Based on those numbers, it’s still a lot easier – if not necessarily cheaper – to buy scale on Facebook than earn it by winning fans. It’s also an indication to Gibbs that marketers need to focus on winning Facebook fans over the long haul if they want to improve their odds of success when advertising there.

Of the 18 million users exposed to the ads, only around 130,000, or less than 1 percent, “engaged” with them by clicking on them. But

around 40,000, or around 4 percent, of users who saw organic mentions of their friends becoming brand fans clicked on those news items. The higher click-through on organic impressions is another indication of the power of earned media on Facebook, Gibbs says.

“I do think it requires a level of ongoing investment in social media,” says Gibbs, as opposed to a series of short-term projects. He also says marketers who have large e-mail databases should probably be encouraging consumers in e-mail programs to join their Facebook pages.

Gibbs says he doesn’t believe Facebook’s plans to move from “become a fan” to the more clickprone “like” as a means of joining brand pages will have much impact on the numbers in the study. And he believes, though it wasn’t part of the survey, that users by now have been exposed to enough of Facebook’s social ads to realize that when they become fans of a brand, they may also become endorsers in that brand’s Facebook ads.

The Nielsen BrandLift polls used to survey Facebook users were “lightweight” polls, generally with only two questions, aimed at maximizing response rates.

Nielsen didn’t incorporate actual purchases, as opposed to purchase intent, “because this is the first generation of this research,” Gibbs says.

“We wanted to stick to branding because it’s language the market is very comfortable with.

In next generations, I would assume we will start incorporating offline purchase and other transactional data as part of the analysis.”

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JUNE 2010 | DEPARTMENTS

Q&A

Woman with a plan

Halfway through LBC’s major restructure, the broadcaster’s Randa el Daher tells Communicate about her career, why she left the firm in 1985, and what brought her back? by Nathalie Bontems

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anda el Daher doesn’t do interviews. But the deputy chairwoman and CEO of LBCI, and deputy CEO of LMH Group (shareholder in LBC Sat and production company PAC), agreed to meet Communicate. She tells us about her career alongside prominent media man and husband Pierre el Daher (chairman of LBCI and LMH), and explains the recent restructuring of the famous broadcaster.

You’re a very private figure. Can you tell us about your background?

I went to study in the US when I was 16 and a half years old, which was a daring decision for the eldest of a family of four girls. This is when I consider I started creating my own path and not following anyone’s. I graduated in interior design, although I had started in architecture. In 1983, I started work-

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ing on my own on some interior design projects in Lebanon.

Early in 1985, I met Pierre through common friends, and soon he asked me to join him in his LBC adventure. We got married in 1987, but in the meantime I had already started working with the station. I designed the studios and the premises of LBC. Such projects kept me going in my initial field while I was learning media, one step at a time.

A shift from interior design to media is quite unusual.

How did it happen?

I was head of the set design department when I went to London to undergo training on animation and 3D. Back in Lebanon and on top of set design I formed a graphics team and became in charge of the arts department. We created, among other

JUNE 2010 | DEPARTMENTS

What do you mean by smart solutions?

Smart solutions come from thinking outside the box; be creative when identifying the ingredients for success at a low cost. This is valid for any business.

For example, LBC Sat was launched at a time when there was a massive regional audience for the Fawazir Ramadan [short daily variety shows including riddles (“fawazir” in Arabic) enacted in song and dance], mostly from Egypt.

For me, there was no need to buy these shows at a prohibitive price – we could do our own concept for LBC Sat and LBCI. It was Tekhsar iza ma Btelaab [“You lose if you don’t play”] in 1997, the first interactive game concept in the region. Instead of a live audience, people would call on the phone; all the country’s phone lines were jammed during the program, which was a hit for several years.

Why did you leave the group in 2005?

I felt then that the time had come for me to go my own way.

Grid expectations. Some of LBC’s programming things, the famous “break in/break out” concept, a terminology that everybody uses today but that we had come up with.

We also introduced the concept of special events, celebrating occasions that were non-existent or nonpopular in Lebanon at that time: Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, Children’s Day and so on.

How did you get involved in management?

It was a long learning process; working with content, creating new concepts, understanding grid structure, getting acquainted with production and finance. In 1996, when LBC Sat was launched, I was offered the opportunity to head the channel, and I took it.

How has the fact that you are married to the group’s head affected your work within the company?

It was the hardest part. People put you under so much pressure. It seems so hard for them to admit you are good without attributing your accomplishment to someone or something.

It’s like there should always be a reason for success other than your own value. “She‘s the daughter of, the wife of, the mother of, the relative of…” That’s probably why, when I left in 2005 and started working on my own, I felt so liberated. For me, efficiency and deliverables were my best allies.

How would you describe your approach to work?

I’m a strong believer in creative and smart solutions in general (in television it should be smart programming).

I believe in efficiency and productivity, in good and fair balance between the business interest and the interests of the people doing it, in evolution and not revolution (although it’s sometimes needed), in good and clear communication, and in achievements.

Although I like dreamers, I love doers.

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What did you do during this hiatus of almost four years, and what got you back onboard?

I established my own media consulting and implementation firm, called RED MI (Media Intelligence). I insist on the implementation part of our work, as I don’t want to restrict myself to mere analysis and advice – I believe in owning the study I make. Within a couple of months I received a very challenging project in Lebanon that I declined for personal considerations. Soon after, the company started getting clients across the Middle East, mainly ministries of information and media companies.

This recognition came as a surprise to me, and I must admit it was very rewarding because, although I’m a media person and a strong believer in marketing, I had chosen to remain in the shadows [while at LBC Group]. I had no idea people outside the inner circle knew about me. Then, LBC Group called upon my service, which was also very rewarding.

Hadn’t the group approached you as a client? Why did you return as part of the management?

It’s not that simple. During all my time away, Pierre and I had been talking about the work beyond the usual level of discussion between a husband and a wife. So, in fact, I was still involved somehow.

In April 2009, Pierre officially asked me to do the restructuring of the two companies and I accepted because it was very challenging.

Pierre had been trying to restructure the stations for several years, calling on many foreign companies as well as professional recruits, and it wasn’t working out for multiple reasons. But I had the conviction it could be done.

What are the various stages of this restructuring?

We started in April 2009, dealing with the LMH Group and LBCI. Given that I had been away for a few years, I first needed to review the vision.

I conducted an in-depth analysis of the companies, trying to understand the ongoing practice.

I indentified the strengths and weaknesses, and made my recommendations and the road map to move forward.

JUNE 2010 | DEPARTMENTS

star turn. Star Academy is one of LBC’s success stories Once approved, we started the implementation process with a timetable for deliverables.

One of our main objectives was to increase staff efficiency and reduce irregularities, so we worked on a key measure. This is why there was a series of layoffs last October. We had over 700 employees at the end of 2007; today the company stands at 520.

It was important, as well, to work on cost reduction, introducing smart programming and reducing expenses without affecting quality. In some programs, we managed to cut production costs by 35 percent for the same level of quality.

But the decrease is in fact more important, because we also stopped the continuous 15 percent increase in production costs year-on-year that we had been suffering from. We worked on putting new rules and regulations in place internally and for dealing with third parties.

We are also developing a new organization plan with clear lines of responsibility, bringing in new blood in different fields as well as in key positions – head of HR, head of PAC, head of strategy, and so on. We are working on internal regulations, putting efforts into breaking the old habits and practices by introducing a new culture and enhancing the way we work.

After careful analysis, we also revised a new salary scale, and last month, Pierre announced it to the staff, which contradicts all the rumors that have been circulating. Back in September, we tried to explain that we were trying to make this company functional in the most effective way, for everybody’s benefit.

Many people were skeptical, for different reasons.

At the time, I couldn’t promise anything that I wouldn’t deliver, so I had to ask people to give me time and work with me hand-in-hand; they needed to own, somehow, the decisions to be taken. They did, so I thank them for their trust, help and cooperation.

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What about the revamping of LBCI? For a year-and-a-half, foreign companies had been working back and forth on this and it was going nowhere. In September, an internal team came up with a creative concept and LBCI started the process in January 2010. It started by changing the logo and the look of the station; presenters were removed, and some changes were made to the news. But more is coming at different levels.

What are your deadlines?

For the restructuring, I needed a year and we are on target. As for the remaining work, it’s an ongoing process.

Did you have carte blanche?

Pierre, as the CEO and the project owner, strongly believed that it should be done. The plan was presented to him for approval, and he fully trusted me in implementing it.

What are the financial targets of this restructuring?

All I can say is that we met them and did even better.

Some of these measures were highly unpopular. How do you feel about the reactions they generated?

Change is not always pleasant, especially for people who live in a comfort zone. We tried to make all this happen smoothly. But maybe for some people it wasn’t smooth enough, and they considered that I should have waited a couple of years and not a couple of months before starting implementation.

In my opinion, all reactions were normal, the positive and the negative ones. I personally tend to take into account only the constructive ones. It’s more about action than reaction. What matters is to do what’s in the best interest of the company and the people working in it, and I believe have done that.

JUNE 2010 | departments

Guest opinion

Return on intelligence

Elie Khouri, CEO of Omnicom Media Group MENA, says the downturn has pushed media down the road to accountability. And that means more compelling planning

L

ast year was a difficult one for the media industry, with advertising investments going in reverse regionally and globally. Some categories, such as real estate, vanished overnight, while others made severe cuts. This created a major gap in demand for advertising space, leading to an over-supply in the media and, therefore, discounting in order to sell the available inventory.

Active advertisers were driven by buying efficiencies – in other words, lower rates or added values. This was in sharp contrast to previous years when high advertising demand forced clients to pay a premium for performing media.

If print and outdoor suffered badly, TV and social media were, and still are, top of advertisers’ shopping lists, while radio and cinema remain roughly at their traditional levels.

This year, even though the downturn is not over yet, the mood is different. The focus is no

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longer just on minimizing investments – it’s also on renewing sales growth. So the impact of these brand investments on sales is high on the agenda.

Today, as good deals are still being offered thanks to the over-supply in the media, effectiveness is the top priority, as companies seek to capitalize on the recovery. The new flexibility shown by media owners and sellers allows us to prioritize performing media again, rather than just efficient media. In other words, it’s the best of both worlds, as we can better balance performance with value.

The downturn has also pushed us further on the road to accountability, specifically with the goal of quantifying the results generated by media investments. Both these aspects have played into the hands of digital media. We’re seeing a greater level of not only comfort but also excitement in digital media, be it online, mobile or even gaming.

While experimenting is somewhat off the agenda,

we’re still witnessing interesting and groundbreaking operations such as PHD’s award-winning work for Canon and the augmented reality game for Majid, Abu Dhabi Media Company’s kids’ magazine. Our assessment is that around 5 percent of real media spend is now in digital media, and this figure will grow rapidly in the next five years. We expect digital media investments to overtake those in cinema and radio over this period.

As digital and user-generated media take hold, our work is decreasingly about campaigns with a start and an end. Instead, we’re moving towards “commitment planning,” where brand communications are a series of messages, experiences and conversations that cumulatively build over time to produce a compelling brand story. You could say that we’re going from 360-degree strategies to 365-day strategies.

Understanding and being able to exploit the relationship between paid, owned and earned media to maximize the return on every dollar has given media specialists an opportunity to clarify and justify their purpose and business impact based on quantifiable and measurable objectives.

Be it through channel-planning decisions or improved measurement systems, in future the majority of media investments will be made in channels offering real-time performance reporting.

The possibilities of investment optimization this creates are mind-boggling. Data mining has become a critical differentiator for us, as our analysis supports our clients’ and teams’ decision-making process. A lot of this can now be automated since technology allows a firm to capture more data through automation and efficiency.

But intelligence doesn’t stop at capturing information; you still need the human brain to analyze the information and make it usable in order to make an impact on clients’ business. Business intelligence combines business technology with analytics in order to quantify and enhance our clients’ performance. This is clearly very high on our and our advertisers’ agenda today and will increasingly be so in future.

Business intelligence is about forming better connections between core business issues, our systems and data, and our clients’ own research and data. Marketing and advertising have always been about data, consumer research, market share, prices, optimization, negotiations, audience figures… At the top sits return on investment, the ever-important, yet often elusive measure of marketing performance. It’s no surprise, therefore, that marketing is increasingly seen as the new finance.

DEPARTMENTS | JUNE 2010

Media Work Nahel.com twitters chance to win an iPad Dubai-based online retailer Nahel.com was founded in 2008. In what might be seen as a homage to Google’s “Don’t be evil” slogan, Nahel has a pricing policy of, “Don’t be greedy.” Its customer service policy is “Bend over backwards.” And its PR policy might be “let the people tell the story,” if its recent drive to build brand awareness and increase visitor numbers to the site is anything to go by.

The e-commerce site offers 10,000 products in 1,500 categories, but could do with some more customers to buy them.

So it launched a competition to win an iPad. Between 10pm on Monday April 11 and 10pm on Wednesday, April 13, anyone who followed @naheldotcom on Twitter was entered into a draw. If they re-tweeted details of the competition, they were entered three times.

Over 48 hours, Nahel.com racked up just under 1,000 new followers,

thereby growing its Twitter following by 200 percent. Followers were counting down to the draw, posting poems, and putting up pictures of themselves, and even their kids making puppy-dog, give-me-an-iPad eyes.

Nahel.com was re-tweeted more than 4,200 times, exposing it to tens of thousands of twitterers.

The draw itself (with the winner drawn from a selection, raffle-style) was broadcast on YouTube, and before 11.45pm on the Wednesday, 127 had re-tweeted the link and 150 people had viewed the draw.

In real terms, Nahel says that within one day, it hit twice its monthly sales target, and over the course of that day, iPad sales became 32 percent of total orders through the site.

The site sold out of iPads, re-ordered the same amount, plus 25 percent more, and sold out again. And all for the cost of an iPad and a few tweets.

Communicate I 75

JUNE 2010 | DEPARTMENTS

Regional Work

Client: Emirates. Agency: Optix Digital Pictures. Location: Dubai, UAE. Original Concepts: Andreas Pohl, Petra Delitsch. Creative Director: Brian Shepherd. Director of Photography: Shane Daly. Director: David Ward. Executive Producer: Brian Shepherd.

Producer: Grace Magsino. Art Director: Amin Faramarzeyan. 3D Animation: Ramtin Ahmadi, Geoffrey Dela Cruz, Nicholas King, Halle Faramarzeyan, Florin Besleaga. Sound Design: Eggplant. Facilitation: Central films.

All of these ads (and more) can be seen at Adsoftheworld.com 76 I Communicate

JUNE 2010 | DEPARTMENTS

Regional Work

Animation to raise awareness of UAE’s ecological footprint Client: Emirates Wildlife Society – World Wildlife Fund (EWS-WWF).

Agency: AYA Middle East. Location: Dubai, UAE. Creative Director / Copywriter: Kal Dreisziger.

Art Direction: Asylum Films. Photography: Asylum Films.

All of these ads (and more) can be seen at Adsoftheworld.com 78 I Communicate

JUNE 2010 | DEPARTMENTS

International Work

Client: Indian Premier League 2010. Agency: Ogilvy. Location: Mumbai, India.

Creative Directors: Piyush Pandey, Anup Chitnis, Anuraag Khandelwal.

Art Directors: Priyank Bengali, Anuraag Khandelwal. Copywriter: Satish Desa.

Illustrator: Illusion Co. Ltd. Bangkok.

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“A world of furniture for online shoppers.”

Client: Connect Furniture. Agency: GPY&R. Location: Melbourne, Australia. Art Director: Paul Meates. Brand Director: Joseph Bruzzaniti.

dEpartmENts | JUNE 2010

media Work Nahel.com twitters chance to win an iPad Dubai-based online retailer Nahel.com was founded in 2008. In what might be seen as a homage to Google’s “Don’t be evil” slogan, Nahel has a pricing policy of, “Don’t be greedy.” Its customer service policy is “Bend over backwards.” And its PR policy might be “let the people tell the story,” if its recent drive to build brand awareness and increase visitor numbers to the site is anything to go by.

The e-commerce site offers 10,000 products in 1,500 categories, but could do with some more customers to buy them.

So it launched a competition to win an iPad. Between 10pm on Monday April 11 and 10pm on Wednesday, April 13, anyone who followed @naheldotcom on Twitter was entered into a draw. If they re-tweeted details of the competition, they were entered three times.

Over 48 hours, Nahel.com racked up just under 1,000 new followers,

thereby growing its Twitter following by 200 percent. Followers were counting down to the draw, posting poems, and putting up pictures of themselves, and even their kids making puppy-dog, give-me-an-iPad eyes.

Nahel.com was re-tweeted more than 4,200 times, exposing it to tens of thousands of twitterers.

The draw itself (with the winner drawn from a selection, raffle-style) was broadcast on YouTube, and before 11.45pm on the Wednesday, 127 had re-tweeted the link and 150 people had viewed the draw.

In real terms, Nahel says that within one day, it hit twice its monthly sales target, and over the course of that day, iPad sales became 32 percent of total orders through the site.

The site sold out of iPads, re-ordered the same amount, plus 25 percent more, and sold out again. And all for the cost of an iPad and a few tweets.

Communicate I 75

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JUNE 2010 | dEpartmENts

International Work

Client: Indian Premier League 2010. Agency: Ogilvy. Location: Mumbai, India.

Creative Directors: Piyush Pandey, Anup Chitnis, Anuraag Khandelwal.

Art Directors: Priyank Bengali, Anuraag Khandelwal. Copywriter: Satish Desa.

Illustrator: Illusion Co. Ltd. Bangkok.

80 I Communicate

“a world of furniture for online shoppers.”

Client: Connect Furniture. Agency: GPY&R. Location: Melbourne, Australia. Art Director: Paul Meates. Brand Director: Joseph Bruzzaniti.

JUNE 2010 | Off the record

The Dish Literally watch “Thanks to a pioneering spirit and a ‘can do’ attitude that envelops all members of staff, the airline is paving the way in profitability. It is literally flying in the face of competitors by being successful, competitive and profitable in very trying market conditions.”

– That can’t be safe. Gulf News reveals Emirates’ complexion-threatening corporate strategy.

You talking to me?

Renno Communications sent Communicate a press release last month entitled, “Xerox Emirates signs up first product distributor.”

The e-mail confusingly introduced the release, then added, “Which I hope you would publish in the National Newspaper, with many thanks for your cooperation.”

We suspect the e-mail might have been based on another one. Perhaps Xerox’s pasting abilities aren’t as good as its copying ones.

Worn out Imagine our excitement at this news, sent by the General Marketing Corporation in Riyadh: “I’m writing to inform you that Australian actor Hugh Jackman wore a total look Ferragamo to the 5th annual benefit gala A Fine Romance, held on Saturday, May 1st at the 20th Century Fox in Century City, California.”

We decided to ask which section of Communicate this might be featured in. Our bitter, rhetorical question might have been misinterpreted, as we received this reply: “Thanks for your email and this up to you and you can divide all the materials which send you for many fashion brands on 4 or 5 issues, please find below what I prefer for every brand…”

We decided to come clean: “Communicate actually covers media, marketing and advertising in the Middle East. Which means that I might find it a little hard to cover what Australian actors wear in America.”

No problem, apparently: “It can be published under: Fashion & Moda section; Shopping Section; Stars news

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section for celibierties [sic].”

We thought the Dish was the most appropriate section in the end.

Poet’s corner

Gone with the wind We’d heard from friends who attended the UAE’s recent WOMAD music festival that it was a great event. It must also have been a gusty one if the organizers’ claims are to be believed: “Over 110,000 people blown away by WOMAD Abu Dhabi 2010.”

Blogger off “Blogs can be seriously dull as they are often written by people with an over-inflated opinion of their opinions,” branding agency Atom tells us in an e-mail. We’ve noticed. Especially when it comes to agency blogs.

Communicate finds they tend to think they are much more clever, funny and wacky than they are. So we were glad that here was an agency that agreed with us.

Atom must have gone out of their way not to make their blog a soapbox for the agency and its friends to just make noise for the sake of it.

“The Atom blog is different, a sort of Toy Story of the blogging world. A little bit clever and a little bit funny whatever your likes, dislikes, age or clothing preferences,” continues the e-mail. “This year we are inviting contributions from clients, friends, colleagues and Rosie the Border Terrier. Whatever you want to say grab the soapbox and make some noise.” Woof.

London, UK based C Squared team including CEO Charlie Crowe [pictured, above] and one of the Festival speakers Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, boarded a bus on Saturday to guarantee their arrival in Valencia, Spain, on Sunday before the Festival started. Andrew Sibley, Head of Brand & Awareness for Europe at Cisco was there too, working out ways to use their video conferencing tools to bring those grounded by the ash to the screens of the auditorium in Valencia… 24 hours and three bus drivers later, the team arrived at their destination.

A crisis point for the team was when they couldn’t find any alcohol to buy in France – they had to settle for a nightcap of vanilla vodka that someone had brought with them instead. But by morning, on arriving in Spain, found you could buy a bottle of wine for breakfast!

The Fox One Stop Media team followed the C Squared team in Lady Gaga’s old tour bus – they had individual beds, flat screen TVs, PlayStation, bar, kitchen etc – over 2 floors. By comparison, the C Squared team bus had a loo, tea and coffee making facilities and vanilla vodka. Rock and roll.

– From our favorite press release of the last month, about how the organizers of the Festival of Media made it from London to the Festival’s venue in Valencia, Spain.

Hard times We’ve been skeptical about all the financial naysaying going on recently.

Sure, our friends have been laid off, and we’ve had to work long hours, and all the construction’s stopped, and nobody’s paying us and we’re living in cardboard boxes. But none of that provides real proof that times are hard.

We were unconvinced until, on a trip to Lulu Hypermarket in Dubai’s Al Barsha, we found this note. How could things have got this bad?

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