gmr | may 2011

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Bahrain 2.00 dinars | Egypt 18.00 pounds | Jordan 3.500 dinars | Kuwait 1.800 dinars Oman 2.00 riyals | Qatar 20.00 riyals | Saudi Arabia 20.00 riyals | UAE 20.00 dirhams MAY 2011 – NO 198 SECTOR ANALYSIS SECTOR ANALYSIS A MediaquestCorp Publication 18 Registered in Dubai Media City Social Media & Healthcare Marketing TOURISM & HOSPITALITY: SECTOR STILL BUOYANT DESPITE UNREST TOURISM & HOSPITALITY: SECTOR STILL BUOYANT DESPITE UNREST “Take two tablets and tweet me in the morning”

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For the past 17 years Gulf Marketing Review (GMR) has been the most authoritative and reliable information source for marketing professionals operating across the Middle East. An indispensable blend of robust analysis, meaningful insights and solid research spanning a broad range of marketing disciplines, issues and product categories has kept GMR at the forefront of the region’s business media for nearly two decades.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: GMR | May 2011

B a h r a i n 2 . 0 0 d i n a r s | E g y p t 1 8 . 0 0 p o u n d s | J o r d a n 3 . 5 0 0 d i n a r s | K u w a i t 1 . 8 0 0 d i n a r s O m a n 2 . 0 0 r i y a l s | Q a t a r 2 0 . 0 0 r i y a l s | S a u d i A r a b i a 2 0 . 0 0 r i y a l s | U A E 2 0 . 0 0 d i r h a m s

MAY 2011 – NO 198

SECTOR ANALYSISSECTOR ANALYSIS

A MediaquestCorp Publication

18

Registered in Dubai Media City

Social Media & Healthcare Marketing

TOuRISm & hOSpITALITY:SECTOR STILL BuOYANT DESpITE uNREST

TOuRISm & hOSpITALITY:SECTOR STILL BuOYANT DESpITE uNREST

“Take two tablets and tweet me in the morning”

Page 2: GMR | May 2011

the l e a d e r ’ s w a t c hNo other watch is engineered quite like a Rolex. The Day-Date, introduced in 1956,

was the first watch to display the date, as well as the day in its entirety. A powerful

expression of elegance and style, its classic design quickly became a favourite

among wor ld l eade rs . The 36 mm Day-Da te can d i sp l ay the day in a wide

choice of languages and is presented here in platinum.

the day-date

Page 3: GMR | May 2011

the l e a d e r ’ s w a t c hNo other watch is engineered quite like a Rolex. The Day-Date, introduced in 1956,

was the first watch to display the date, as well as the day in its entirety. A powerful

expression of elegance and style, its classic design quickly became a favourite

among wor ld l eade rs . The 36 mm Day-Da te can d i sp l ay the day in a wide

choice of languages and is presented here in platinum.

the day-date

Page 4: GMR | May 2011

4 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

MAY 2011 – Issue No. 198

www.GMR-Online.com

16

24

52

NEWS 8Group-buying site Cobone.com launches in Saudi Arabia. Carat MENA wins over toy car maker. Saudi Arabia SMS generates highest percentage of leads among media in Saudi Arabia for the least media budget, says study. Branding con-sultancy launches in Dubai. HTC announces six-strong product line-up. Qtel releases findings of study into growth of SMEs in Qatar. Cardwell joins the Brand Union. Study finds SMS outperforms online ads for lead generation. MasterCard Worldwide’s ZSL sponsorship kicks off. Paragon announces Oman office opening. User Vison opens in Dubai. Tonic chiefs team up to form company. Majid magazine is on the ball with Manchester City FC tie-up. Alokozay sets up $60m Pepsi bottling plant in Kabul. Pharmacy chain Al Image updates its look.

World NEWS 22Android is set to be the most popular operating system worldwide by the end of 2011. The global advertising industry is no longer in recession, posting a 10.6 per cent year-on-year increase to $503 billion. New lifestyle magazine Hella London launches in the UK capital. Hindus-tan Unilever opens its first café in Mumbai. Kotex launches range for tweens. Abbott is named company of the year. Nestlé eyes 60 per cent stake in Yinlu. Aston Martin opens its first dealership in India.

NEWS PluS 28GMR reports from The 2011 Dubai Lynx Awards and catches up with key industry figures to find out what they thought.

CovEr StoryHEAltHCArE 34Welcome to the world of social healthcare, a world where doctors can interact with patients in person and online via email, video chat, Twitter and Facebook. A cure or a curse? GMR investigates.

SECtor ANAlySiS trAvEl ANd touriSm 48Social unrest in the region harms the hospitality sector in what was predicted to be a growth year. Egypt’s tourism authority hopes promotions and deals will lure holidaymak-ers back to its shores. The UAE announces initiatives to put the capital on the tourist map. Saudi promotes summer staycations as the SCTA invest $89 million to encourage residents to holiday in the kingdom. As Qatar prepares to take position on the global stage, it announces a five-point plan to boost its awareness and appeal. Acquisitions and development in the hospitality sector need careful marketing. Low-cost carriers con-tinue to enjoy the high with flydu-bai pursuing aggressive expansion plans. Engaging with consumers is pivotal if airline brands are to ensure plane sailing. As the unrest sees tourists reroute from North Africa to the UAE, a battle for PR coverage begins. The UAE’s dispa-rate population produces a unique set of traveller, GMR analyses the facts and figures.

The sky’s the limit: Injaz’s Mohammed Itani discusses his plans for Saudi’s real estate sector.

ProFilE:

40

JuNE: CovEr StorySHoPPEr mArkEtiNg

04-07-GMR198-Contents.indd 4 4/28/11 3:53 PM

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6 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

48 SECtor ANAlySiS: Travel and Tourism

GROUP MANAGING EDITORSiobhán [email protected] SUB EDITORElizabeth [email protected] DIRECTORSSheela Jeevan, Alvin Cha, Aya Farhat CONTRIBUTORSAlex Malouf

ADVERTISING: MEDIALEADERUnited Arab Emirates [email protected]: +(971) 4 391 0760Saudi Arabia: Ghassan A. [email protected]

Europe: S.C.C Arabies18 rue de Varize75016 Paris, FranceTel: +(33) 01 47 66 46 00Fax: +(33) 01 43 80 73 62Lebanon:Beirut, LebanonTel: +(961) 1 202 369Fax: +(961) 1 202 369

PUBLISHED BY: Medialeader FZ/MediaquestCorp FZEurope:S.C.C Arabies, 18 rue de Varize75016 Paris, FranceTel: +(33) 01 47 66 46 00Fax: +(33) 01 43 80 73 62CO-CEO Alexandre Hawari CO-CEO Julien Hawari

CFO Abdul Rahman Siddiqui Managing Director Ayman HaydarCreative Director Aziz KamelHead of Circultion Haries [email protected] Manager Maya [email protected]: +971 4 3757527KSA GM Walid Ramadan [email protected] Tel: +966 1 4194061Lebanon GM Nathalie Bontems [email protected]: +961 1 492801North Africa GMAdil Hamed-Abdelouahab [email protected] Tel: +213 661 562 660France Sales Director Manuel Dias [email protected] Tel: +33 1 4766 46 00

MediaquestCorp.Dubai Media CityAl Thuraya Tower 2, 24th FloorUnited Arab EmiratesTel: +(971) 4 391 0760Fax: +(971) 4 390 8737www.mediaquestcorp.com

AUDITED BY

Reproduction in whole or part of any matter appearing in GMR is prohibited by law without the prior written approval of the publishers. Opinions expressed in GMR do not necessarily represent the views of the publishers and editorial staff of the magazine. The publishers do not hold out any guarantee as to its accuracy, neither do they indemnify any loss arising through use of the information.

All dollar prices ($) are US dollars, unless otherwise specified. All marketing data is subject to confirmation.

Printed by Rashid Printers, Ajman

04-07-GMR198-Contents.indd 6 4/28/11 3:53 PM

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8 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

MENA The world’s number one toy maker, Mattel Inc, has selected Carat MENA for its regional media planning.

Mattel – its brands include Barbie, Fisher-Price and Match-box cars – is one of the larg-est global buyers of TV space.

Aegis-owned Carat MENA fought off competition from four agencies, the terms of which were not disclosed.

Regional media was previ-ously booked direct through a distributor.

In 2007, Mattel awarded the European media planning and majority of its media buying to Carat. The account was reputedly worth $500 million.Regional value was not disclosed.

Immediate plans include all kids’ TV channels in Arabic and English.

In a separate pitch Mattel has named Carat as its media agency in South Africa.

The MENA win crowns a busy year for the agency un-der Michael Nederlof, CEO Aegis Media MENA, who took over in March 2010.

Since his arrival Aegis has launched Isobar which, it claims, is the world’s largest digital agency network.

Aegis is also rolling out its global proprietary Aegis Me-dia study, CCS (Consumer Connection Study).

“CCS will bring transparent, insight-driven business growth communication planning to MENA, says Duncan James, formerly executive consulting director, The Brand Union, and recently-appointed chief development officer, Aegis Media MEA.

Speaking to GMR, James says: “The investment into bringing CCS to MENA is further proof of our commit-ment to the region and our intention to bring increased transparency through data-driven thinking to clients’ businesses rather than relying on outdated models of com-munication.”

Nederlof added: “Carat is growing fast, winning busi-ness and has a focus on serv-icing international brands across MENA.

“Aegis is ready for the next step in development and has the ambition to be a top-three player in the MENA region as we are in many other regions in the world.”

Aegis clients include Philips, Johnson & Johnson and Kellogg’s.

Carat MENA wins over toy makerContract win coincides with new service launches for Carat

NEws

winning business: Duncan James of Aegis Media, owner of Carat MENA (inset) wins Matchbox cars contract

saudi Arabia Group-buying site Cobone.com has launched in Saudi Arabia.

Majority owned by e-com-merce ventures company Jab-bar Internet Group, Cobone.com offers significant savings across a range of services and products.

The web-based business model uses group purchasing to offer discounts of 50 to 90 per cent on a range of goods and services.

The Cobone UAE site has more than 200,000 members, says the company

“With one of the region’s highest internet penetrations and users, Saudi Arabia is ideally placed to benefit from the unique deals offered by Cobone.com,” said Thamer Bamieh, country manager.

“We want to support local businesses by increasing their exposure through this innovative way to shop. Cobone.com has been so successful in surrounding countries.”

The site wi l l be dua l language.

Cobone is now available in six cities in the Middle East, with more expected to join the network this month.

Group-buying site launches in saudi

Expanding reach: Thamer Bamieh

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J00869_EmiratesNBD_BB_SmartBus_GulfMrkt_280X215.ai 4/21/11 6:32:04 PMJ00869_EmiratesNBD_BB_SmartBus_GulfMrkt_280X215.ai 4/21/11 6:32:04 PM

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10 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

MENA HTC Corporation has picked creative shop Equity ME for the regional ATL ad-aptation of the global campaign for its six-strong new product line-up.

The original campaign was developed by McCann Erick-son EMEA.

The new line-up comprises five new smartphones, includ-ing the industry’s first phones built around social network-ing, says HTC.

It also features three new versions of its smartphones – including the new Desire S – and its first tablet, HTC Flyer. The dual-language, Pan Arab, integrated campaign will cover OOH, print, online and TV.

“The creative concept re-volves around the customer centricity approach of HTC and stems from the premise that HTC products are intel-ligent, intuitive innovations inspired by you – the cus-tomer,” says Vladimir Malugin, executive director, MEA .

“The focus is just not on

the functionalities – but a metamorphosis of how customers find new uses for our devices as an extension of themselves.

“This, today, is what defines us as a corporation, which is extended to our products and services. So today, be it a HTC’s Desire or the Flyer, these creations are innovations that have been inspired by our customers.”

Total regional marketing spend was not disclosed beyond being a ‘seven-digit figure. It

is handled by Mediacom.According to recent studies,

a significant number of users access the internet via mobile devices with more than 71 per cent ranking email as their biggest mobile internet activ-ity, says Informa Intelligence Centre. Estimated smartphone sales penetration in the Mid-dle East, meanwhile, is set to hit 28.8 per cent by 2015, ac-cording to Effective Measure.

All this implies that social networking and smartphones will play an increasing role in youth marketing and media trends, says HTC.

“We are progressing down a path, as an industry, when people will no longer be in a single device paradigm, but will use a variety of wireless devices ideal for all their dif-ferent needs and HTC will be supplying the best options available for all,” said Florian Seiche, president HTC EMEA.

According to internal audits, brand awareness across the UAE, Egypt and Kuwait is 40 per cent.

Region-wide campaign for HTC launchNew product line-up includes company’s first tablet

NEws

UAE A branding consultancy specialising in healthcare, hospitality, finance and SMEs has launched in Dubai.

Called Ranson, the agency is a partnership between Matthew Ranson, former brand director Omnia Middle East and his wife Helen, former managing director at HSBC.

They are supported by a network of independent specialist consultants across a variety of disciplines, Mat-thew Ranson told GMR, adding that social media is a core element of its offering.

Ranson has also developed a specific package for start-ups and SMEs.

Called Small Business Branding, it allows smaller, registered companies, with secured capital, to benefit from a strategic branding process, long been denied due to budgetary constraints, says Ranson.

Among Ranson’s SME clients is new healthcare portal Silla, founded by UAE-based entre-preneur Pam Wilson.

specialist brand agency debuts

Called to Ranson: Matthew and Helen

Ranson form own agency

Qtel has produced new research into the growth of SMEs in Qatar, which, says the telco, comprises 98 per cent of companies in the country.

The study shows that while concerns over the eco-nomic crisis hampered spending and expansion plans in 2010, the market is poised to pick up this year. The two key areas for growth in 2011 will be video – specifically video conferencing – and mobile data, the study found. Enterprise Qatar (EQ) is a QAR2bn initiative for SMEs, which will work with other agencies to en-hance public-private partnerships within the framework of the sustainable development strategy for Qatar.

ENTERPRISING

Highly Desire-able: HTC’s new models

10-21-GMR 198 News 2-6.indd 10 4/26/11 1:49 PM

Page 11: GMR | May 2011

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XJ V6 Marina GMR 28X21.5 En.indd 1 4/27/11 4:56 PM

Page 12: GMR | May 2011

12 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia SMS generates the highest percent-age of leads among media in Saudi Arabia for the least me-dia budget, according to a recent study by Acxiom MENA.

Acxiom found SMS outper-formed online ads, OOH and print ads for lead generation and overall campaign results.

The study compared print ads, OOH, online ads, SMS and email.

SMS led the way generating 35 per cent of the total leads, compared to 28 per cent by print, which came second, and OOH, which came third with 22 per cent.

“Everyone who works in marketing knows that insight is one of the most important things in our industry,” says Yousef Hamidaddin – Acxiom MENA’s CEO.

He added that the findings were part of a client case study, which revealed SMS as the most effective marketing com-munication for that client in terms of generating leads.

saudi Arabia MasterCard Worldwide has launched another element of its Zain Saudi League’s sponsorship; a football penalty shoot out across Jeddah and Riyadh.

The challenge gives Sau-di fans an opportunity to enhance their football skills and talent.

The follows the recent launch of MasterCard’s unit-ing football song ‘Everyone Can Play’.

Every football fan in the kingdom is invited to reg-ister for the challenge online, which takes place this month at Red Sea Mall in Jeddah and Granada Mall in Riyadh.

A computer will select 320 winners (160 Riyadh, 160 Jeddah), who will be di-vided into five-member teams

to shoot penalties. The grand prize consists of SAR100,000 for the first team and SAR20,000 for the runner-up.

A MasterCard red and yel-low football team will pro-

mote the challenge across universities and malls where branded footballs will be distributed. This will be supported by a nationwide marketing campaign.

sMs sends strong signals to saudi media

MasterCard’s ZsL sponsorship kicks off

Study finds SMS outperformed online ads for lead generation

NEws

MENA TBWA\RAAD Middle East has appointed Reda Raad to its newly created position of COO. He was previously group managing director.

Raad was one of the orig-inal eight founding members of TBWA\RAAD back in 2000. In 2003 he established TBWA\

RAAD\Saudi Arabia before returning to Dubai in 2005 to run the hub agency op-eration. He was named as an ‘Agency Innovators of 2010, by The International-ist and is on the board of the IAA UAE Chapter.

UAE Paul Cardwell has joined WPP-owned The Brand Un-ion as executive creative director for the Middle East.

An agency veteran, Card-well started his career at Y&R and Leo Burnett and for more than a decade was creative Partner at Doner Cardwell Hawkins.

Reda Raad is new TBwA\RAAD COO

Cardwell joins The Brand Union

Promotion: Reda Raad

Medium % of total ad spend % of total leads

Print ad 48 28.2Outdoor 32.4 22Online ad 15.6 1.8SMS 2.9 35.2Email 1.1 12.8Grand total 100 100

Yousef Hamidaddin Acxiom MENA’s CEO

Playtime: Teams will compete in Riyadh and Jeddah

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14 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

Oman Kuwait agency Paragon Marketing Communications is opening an office in Mus-cat. According to Paragon managing partner and chief creative officer Louai Alasfa-hani, the move followed a three-year feasibility study which highlighted the Sultan-ate’s impressive rapid growth rate outpacing most GCC countries, some-of-which have almost reached a saturation point, he said.

“One can easily be misled by Oman’s unfavourable me-dia market ranking in com-parison to neighbouring GCC countries as a direct result of the ranking being based on sheer size alone.”

Other contributory factors included: political stability, strong currency, favourable foreign investment laws, de-veloping infrastructure, oil prices, influx of tourists and increasing levels of internet penetration, a positive indica-tion for the digital division of Paragon, he said.

The Muscat office will ini-tially comprise a team of 12, including Omani nationals, ranging from graduates to seasoned professionals, and will be headed by Diana Dim-itrova, Paragon Oman opera-tion manager.

“I will be dedicated to fur-ther improving the Paragon network offices effective

creative output for the ben-efit of our clients.”

Asked about start-up clients, he said:” First we build the team, then we go after the business, not the other way round.

“So, here we are, ready for business in Oman. Although many of the business families in Oman own an agency (similar to Kuwait), there is still an abundant number of clients for us to approach, starting with the clients cur-rently importing their market-ing, media and creativity solutions from Dubai; for ex-ample those who value improved speed and reduced costs.”

Paragon has three offices: Paragon Kuwait, Paragon Bul-garia – as an SBU and creative hub for the network with competencies in digital, pro-duction, 3D animation plus corporate ID, branding, event management, PR – and Oman.

MENA User Vision, an inde-pendent company in cross-platform user experience re-search, usability testing, interaction design and web accessibility, has opened in Dubai.

The company tests and im-proves the user experience across a range of platforms including websites, interactive TV, software, mobile phones, keyboards, and consumer products.

It launched in 2000 with organisations including Emir-ates Airline, Jumeirah and the Government of Abu Dhabi.

“While User Vision has worked with leading brands and agencies in this region for six years, there’s a market need

which has compelled us to invest in the UAE and in the region,” said Chris Rourke, User Vision’s MD.

“Effective human interac-tion with a website or product is a critical commercial suc-cess factor, particularly in this

region, given its diverse na-tionalities, languages and technical skills.”

User Vision’s capabilities, such as eye tracking, can, for example, identify areas of ‘banner blindness’ as well as spot the areas on a site which actively engage the user and measure the dwell time.

This, added Rourke, identi-fies and measures the emo-tional activation of online advertising which can, in turn, inform better site design and business processes.

He added that many sites are not designed with acces-sibility in mind, especially in the Middle East.

Simon Duke will head the MENA operation.

Kuwait’s Paragon announces Oman office opening

User Vision eyes up regional business

Move follows three-year feasability study highlighting the Sultanate’s rapid growth

Eye on Oman: Louai Alasfahani

Foresight: simon Duke

NEws

The 43rd IAA World Congress scheduled for Manama next March will instead be held in Vienna. Sources indicate the decision was due to the short lead time.

Shopper marketing special-ist, Dallas-based Tracy Locke, is opening an office in Du-bai. The new office is owned by DDB FLZCC and will be headed by Paul Joseph. Initial focus is on the UAE and Saudi Arabian markets.

The service is also available to non-DDB clients.

LATE NEWS

10-21-GMR 198 News 2-6.indd 14 4/26/11 1:49 PM

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Burjuman 04 3513 352 | Deira City Centre 04 2950 861 | Dubai Festival City 04 2328 584 Dubai Outlet Mall 04 4259 884 | Dubai Mall 04 3399 070 | Mall of the Emirates 04 3413 151

Mercato 04 3447 124 | Mirdif City Centre 04 2843 328 | Abu Dhabi Mall 02 6452 377

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16 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

MENA Tonic International CEO Arnaud Verchère has part-nered with former global planning director Ogilvy Ac-tion and the CMO of Global Insights Group, Rafe Ring, to form a new company.

Called RealROI, it debuts this month to bring innova-tions that deliver real ROI to brands according to Verchère who i s CMO, w i t h R i ng as CEO.

Ring is also a partner in Tonic Asia.

“Since 2009, marketing professionals have been plagued by the financial cri-sis, the credit crunch, and the rise to power of procure-ment departments,” Verchère tells GMR.

“RealROI brings research and retail innovations to the marketers who want bigger and faster ROI, and regain their legitimate role in mak-ing their brands great.”

The company has been granted exclusive MEA li-censes from eYeka, Tribe and Wildfire.

First to roll out across the region is eYaka which is de-scribed as a global co-creation and co-innovation commu-nity that delivers innovations, insights and ideas.

It is powered by 150,000 creative consumers in 91 countries.

Wildfire comprises a base of hand-picked influencers that spread these ideas cost

effectively, amplifying the innovations through person to person and word of mouth to help brands drive sales.

The third partner is Tribe, which creates trade engage-ment programmes to train and incentivise staff as part

of the overall shopper mar-keting strategy.

“RealROI brings these in-novations on an exclusive basis to the entire Middle East, including Iran, and Africa, so Arabic, Farsi and English are a given,” Verchère says.

“Specific African languag-es will be tackled from our South African office.”

Asked about costs to clients, he says eYaka averaged between $50,000 to $100,000 for co-creation or co-innovation.

The Trade Engagement Programme from Tribe would cost between $25 to $50 per month, per salesperson, he adds.

UAE Kid’s magazine Majid will host more than 300 school children from UAE schools this month in the Majid Jun-ior Football Tournament.

The six-a-side tournament, involving more than 30 schools from across the Emirates, hopes to encourage children to adopt healthier lives and take up regular sports.

Majid is also running a writing competition in co-operation with Etihad Airways, in which readers share a story on what they imagine a trip to Manchester City’s home ground would be like.

The winner will visit Man-chester City FC for a VIP trip to the Premier League final.

The winner will also meet their heroes and walk onto the pitch with the players

before the start of the game.“Sport is an essential part

of Majid’s lifestyle and should

be an important part of every young Arab’s lifestyle too,” said Fatima Saif, editor in chief of ADMC-owned Majid.

The teams will compete in two age groups.

The young footballers will be cheered on by their fam-ilies and friends in a com-munity day sponsored by Etihad Airways, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Al Ain Water, Zayed Sports City, Shangri-La hotel, and the UAE Football Association.

Majid, a weekly, is the oldes t A rabic language magazine.

It launched in 1979 and has a circulation of 14,6000.

Tonic chiefs join forces to form marketing triumvirate

Majid magazine teams up with Manchester City FC

Triple licence deal to deliver marketing innovation and enhanced ROI, says Verchère

Real life: Arnaud Verchère

Field of dreams: Majid’s writing competition

NEws

10-21-GMR 198 News 2-6.indd 16 4/26/11 1:49 PM

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18 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

UAE/Afghanistan PepsiCo, has-signed an Exclusive Bottling Appointment (EBA) with the Alokozay Group of Companies to manufacture and distribute PepsiCo beverages in Af-ghanistan. The products will be produced at ABCO (Alokozay Bever-ages Company), its bottling plant, which will be set up in Kabul with an initial in-vestment of $60 million.

Alokozay, a consumer goods distribution and marketing company headquartered in Dubai, already has a strong presence in Afghanistan in the FMCG category.

As part of the EBA, the plant will distribute Pepsi Cola, Diet Pepsi, 7-UP, Mir-

inda and Mountain Dew. It will also enter the categories of energy drinks and bottled water by introducing Pep-siCo brands such as Sting and Aquafina.

The plant will come into operation in March 2012 and will create direct and indirect

employment for 3,000 people, including 800 direct jobs.

“The beverage industry in Afghanistan has grown tre-mendously and industry es-timates point to more than 30 per cent growth year on year. We are delighted to take the PepsiCo franchise into

Kabul as this will enable us to service the growing require-ment for beverages in the country, with one of the most internationally renowned brands” said Jalil Alokozay, CEO ABCo.

“We look forward to a long-term, successful and mutu-ally beneficial partnership between PepsiCo and the Alokozay Group of Companies, which are known across the world for their uncompromis-ing blend of quality and value.” said Saad Abdul-La-tif, CEO PepsiCo Asia AMEA. “We are confident that this partnership will allow us to offer consumers in Afghani-stan diverse and appealing world class beverages.”

Egypt Egyptian pharmacy chain Al Image Pharmacy has commissioned UK-based Portland to develop a brand and retail strategy for its new generation of chemist outlets.

As the smallest of the top four retailers in the sector with 16 outlets, Al’s point of differentiation is its pharmaceutical positioning, Portland says.

“In terms of market posi-tioning, it was clear that the new generation of pharmacies had to provide a more holis-tic experience for customers – a one-stop shop visit that would offer a professional consultat ive serv ice as well as a wide range of mer-

chandise,” said Portland’s director of environments, Lewis Allen.

The result, he adds, is a re-branded and radically re-planned store environment

anchored on a strong ethical platform: to give the best advice, provide “first-to-market” products, emphasis on own brand products and consultation areas.

The new design concept features a flexible, scaleable set of components developed to create an integrated and holistic environment where “guest” brands do not dominate.

The visual language, iden-tity and clarification will be carefully controlled with use of an on-line standards reference.

Multi-channel opportuni-ties, including home delivery, online promotion, online consultation and call centre protocols have all been in-tegrated into the new brand.

Al Image first opened in 1979. Today its annual aver-age revenue is $15 million.

Alokozay sets up $60m Pepsi bottling plant in Kabul

Egyptian pharmacy updates ‘Image’ through Portland

Pepsico awards ABCo franchise for production, bottling and distribution of range

Thirst-quenching: Production is expected to meet demand for aerated drinks

Makeover: Egypt’s Al Image Pharmacy rebrands

NEws

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22 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

World Ne W s

Global The global ad industry is no longer in recession, having posted a 10.6 per cent year-on-year increase to $503 billion, according to The Nielsen Company.

Strong performance in Asia Pacific, growth from emerg-ing markets, particularly MEA and Latin America, rebounds from the auto and financial sectors, and World Cup spending hauled the industry back into the black.

“2010 was the year of re-covery for the ad industry,” says Randall Beard, global head of Advertiser Solutions, The Nielsen Company.

“All global regions and every traditional medium recorded a positive turnaround, with highest percentage ad spend increases from MEA and Latin America, which rose by 26.7 per cent and 21.2 per cent respectively.”

Overall, 23 out of 37 global markets posted double-digit growth.

Auto and finance bounced back, increasing ad spend by 20.3 per cent and 17.9 percent respectively, with six auto companies being among the top-20 global advertisers.

Spend for FMCG rose by 14.6 per cent in 2010, and the sector’s share of ad spend also increased from 23.9 per cent to 24.9 per cent.

FMCG spend in MEA jumped by 34.3 per cent, Latin Amer-ica by 23.9 per cent and Asia Pacific by 16 per cent.

“FMCGs and emerging markets will continue to lead

global advertising trends,” says Beard. “One in every four ad dollars spent last year was on FMCG, and the focus remains firmly on key developing regions.”

All traditional media post-ed increases, particularly TV, which rebounded by 13.1 per cent and increased to 62 per cent of all ad spend share – the highest on record and up from 60.6 per cent the previous year.

Radio advertising rose by 8.5 per cent, followed by newspapers (+7%). Magazines recorded the slowest increase at 4.9 per cent globally, and only posted double-digit growth of 14.9 per cent in Latin America.

Emerging markets, with their younger populations, attracted advertisers to new booming markets in Egypt

(+40.8%), Pan-Arab (+43%) and Argentina (+38.9%), which recorded the highest percent-age advertising increases.

The US, the world’s largest advertising market, had one of the slowest growth rates of 5.6 per cent year-on-year, but is back in positive terri-tory after expenditure fell by nine percent in 2009.

The only market to experi-ence a decline was the UAE (-4.4%), while advertising remained flat in Japan (+1.3%) and Spain (+0.4%).

“The 2010 FIFA World Cup brought the attention of hun-dreds of millions of soccer fans and, not surprisingly, advertisers followed with significant spending,” adds Beard. “It presented an excel-lent opportunity for advertis-ers to jump back into the market, revitalising ad spend.”

Television dominates global ad spendGlobal Worldwide smartphone sales will reach 468 million units this year, a 57.7 per cent increase from 2010, according to Gartner Inc.

By the end of 2011, Android will be the most popular op-erating system (OS) worldwide, accounting for 49 per cent of the smartphone market by 2012. Sales of open OS de-vices will account for 26 per cent of all handset sales in 2011, and could surpass the

one billion mark by 2015, when they’ll account for 47 per cent of the total mobile market.

“By 2015, 67 per cent of all open OS devices will have an average selling price of $300 or below, proving that smart-phones have been finally truly democratised,” says Roberta Cozza, principal analyst, Gartner.

“As vendors delivering Android-based devices con-tinue to fight for market share, prices will decrease to further benefit consumers”, Cozza adds.

“Android’s position at the high end of the market will remain strong, but its greatest volume opportunity will be in the mid- to low-cost smartphones.”

Global smartphone sales set to dou

Ad industry no longer in recession, posting year-on-year growth

sales boost: smartphone

Television

Radio

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Magazines

0 2 4Source: The Nielsen Company

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Media – year-on-year % change

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switzerland/China Nestlé is eye-ing a 60 per cent stake in Chinese food company Yinlu Foods Group (Yinlu).

Yinlu’s chairman, Chen Qingyuan, will continue to lead the company in the new partnership. The transaction is subject to regulatory ap-proval in China. Other details are not being disclosed.

Family-owned Yinlu is a well-established household brand in China and a signifi-cant marketer for RTD peanut milk and RTD canned rice porridge, said a Nestlé press release.

The agreement builds on an existing partnership be-

tween the two companies, as Yinlu is a co-manufacturer for RTD Nescaé in China.

Yinlu’s 2010 sales totalled US$846 million.

Nestlé CEO Paul Bulcke says: “We will submit this partner-ship proposal to the Chinese authorities shortly. It demon-strates our long-term invest-ment in China and our com-mitment to further developing local brands.”

Nestlé has been in China for more than 20 years, oper-ating 23 factories, two R&D Centres and employs 14,000 people.

Nestlé sales in the China region totalled US$3.1 billion in 2010.

Main brands in China include Nescafé, Nan, Maggi and KitKat, as well as local brands such as Haoji and Totole.

India Aston Martin has opened its first dealership in India, bringing the British marquee’s luxury sports cars to Mumbai.

The auto maker has launched a new dedicated facility in the city in partnership with Performance Car, a division of Infinity Cars Pvt. Ltd.

The dealership offers cus-tomers a premium boutique environment where they can custom specify the cars to their needs. The showroom and after-sales facilities are specially designed to follow the international design elements that have identified the brand worldwide.

Aston Martin Mumbai strengthens the company’s global dealership network to a total of 134 dealers in 42

countries. As part of its ex-pansion plans, Aston Martin has recently entered into Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Taiwan and Turkey, while seeking con-tinued growth in new markets, as well as emerging markets including China and the Middle East.

Aston Martin’s chief com-mercial off icer, Michael van der Sande, said: “Our decision to bring the Aston Martin brand to India is driven by a strong level of interest and enthusiasm from potential customers in an emerg ing luxury market.”

UK A new lifestyle magazine has launched in London targeting the city’s Arab community.

Hella London is a 64-page bi-monthly glossy that will be distributed to more than 25,000 Arab residents in their homes and busi-nesses, said publisher MediaReach UK.

The editorial covers fash-ion, health, property, invest-

ments, education, food and lifestyle.

A strict advertising policy prohibits alcohol, tobacco and gambling brands from featuring.

According to Media Reach, London’s unquantified Arab population has invested $100 billion in property and busi-ness in the city.

In the summer, a further 100,000 Arabs visit London.

Saudi Arabian tourists are the biggest spenders, aver-aging $3,270 per visit, Ku-waitis are the next biggest spenders, averaging $2,900.

london says Hella to new magazine

Nestlé to strengthen China business

Aston Martin drives expansion in India

Proposed partnership to ‘further develop local brands’

long-term investment: Paul Bulcke

london calling: Hella magazine

en route: Aston Martin strengthens dealership network with Mumbai addition

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The Most Ever Watched Sport Channel In Qatar

According to IPSOS MEDIACTAl Kass Sport channel was ranked “The Most Ever Watched Sport Channel In Qatar” for the second year in a row according to the biggest research companies in the region thanks to the continuous trust of our loyal audience and our faithful sponsors which we always strive to satisfy with more than 400 devoted professionals.

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Us Kimberly Clark’s feminine hygiene brand Kotex has introduced a new range for tweens.

U, by Kotex, is smaller to suit younger girls, and is presented in tween-inspired, glittery packages containing an information booklet.

The brand has partnered with gynaecologist Dr Lissa Rankin and founder of on-line community Owning Pink, which encourages open communication between mums and their daughters.

The conversation is espe-cially important given the earlier onset of puberty than in previous years, says Ko-

tex, which is providing tools to help mums prepare for this time

Tools, available at Kotex.com/Tween, include conver-

sation starters, an interactive calendar, information on first periods and related top-ics, as well as a place to connect with other mums.

Kotex also worked with DisneyFamily.com to update the Story of Menstruation video featuring Dr Rankin and other parenting experts.

“We developed U by Kotex after seeing a need for a product in the feminine care aisle that would support mums in approaching this challenging topic with their daughters,” said Melissa Sexton, integrated marketing director, Adult Feminine Care.

India Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has opened its first café in Mumbai – The Bru World Café.

The initiative blends India’s coffee brands, and Unilever’s only coffee, Bru, with the growing café culture among young Indians who are spend-ing more of their free time socialising out-of-home.

Arun Srinivas, GM, Bever-ages, HUL, said: “Being the market leader, we are con-tinuously experimenting with formats to deliver products to consumers in new and exciting ways.”

In separate, but related news, Livemint.com has re-ported that HUL wants to cut advertising and marketing budgets by five to seven per cent, as part of its “efficien-cies programme”.

The Indian subsidiary of Unilever Plc spent Rs.2,391 crore, or close to 14 per cent of its Rs.17,500 crore sales in the fiscal year ending March 2010. Sales for the 2010 cal-endar year registered double-digit volume growth for the first time in 40 consecutive quarters.

Bru joins India’s café culture

Kotex U helps tweens talk to mums Mother-daughter conversation is key to brand positioning

difficult period: There for U

right blend: First Bru World Café opens

Us Abbott has been named Company of the Year by the Islamic Food and Nutri-tion Council of America (IFANCA).

The healthcare company received the award recent-ly at the 13th International Halal Food Conference in Schaumburg, Illinois. It is the first company in the food industry to obtain halal cer-tification for all of its products that are able to be certified.

The award is based on the company’s compliance of halal in its manufacturing practices and its work towards obtaining IFANCA certification globally. Abbott began the process to become Halal-certified in 2003 in Indonesia, Malaysia and

Singapore, and now imple-ments it in all of its manu-facturing plants.

“This award recognition should reassure Muslims around the world that Abbott

Nutrition products are tru-ly Halal,” added Muhammad Munir Chaudry, president of IFANCA. Abbott markets its products in more than 130 countries.

Halal body names Abbott Co of the Year

Fully certified: IFANCA recognises Abbott halal prudential

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Siobhán Adams revisits the 2011 Lynx to see if old ghosts have finally been laid to rest.

A Spirited defence

Not as sensational as the ‘Lynxgate’ scandal of 2009, but livelier than last year.

The 2011 Dubai Lynx Awards presentation did not pass without incident... although the incidents were not the ones so fever-ishly anticipated in the run-up.

Nor did they prove quite so dramatic.The Lynx has yet to fully exorcise the

spectre of ghost ads, so the return of FP7 after a well-documented 12-month exile proved a catalyst for feverish speculation.

Pre-event conversations – online and off – hummed with rumours over the alleged number of entries, particularly from FP7/BAH for its work on Batelco.

A record number of entries – 2,068 vs 1,364 in 2010 – added fuel to the fire.

On the night, however, a completely dif-ferent drama occurred. One that temporarily deflected attention from the finalists and which steadily drained the 1,400-strong crowd of its customary, rowdy exuberance.

A late start, coupled with a sadly un-fortunate AV malfunction, robbed the ceremony of momentum and dampened the atmosphere.

But, as the presentation lumbered on, the prospect of a powerful FP7 resurgence began to recede. The ultimate star of the show was Y&R, whose Dubai office was named Agency of the Year.

Y&R is also Network of the Year. Honourable mentions are also due to

Elephant Cairo, Advantage Marketing & Advertising Cairo; Leo Burnett Beirut and Memac Ogilvy Tunisia.

And FP7/BAH did indeed triumph with a Grand Prix, but not – shock horror – for its creative. It was named Media Agency of the Year, leaving regional behemoths such as Vivaki, OMG (whose OMD picked up a silver), Mediaedge and Mindshare standing, some might say quivering, in its wake.

So, in the end, FP7 emerged with a respectable clutch of gongs, including one for being the runner-up Agency of the Year. But it didn’t quite shed its mantle of controversy as many wondered how a small creative shop walked off with the top media award? (The question stands irrespective of FP7/BAH and is equally true of TBW\RAAD, which was third with the bronze in the same category.)

The win – although not without prec-edent – has instigated a wider industry debate over the validity of the category and suitability of non media agencies’ eligibility for entry.

IAA Kuwait Chapter president, Paragon Advertising’s Louai Alasfahani, who dog-gedly outed scams during ‘Lynxgate’, is not impressed.

In characteristically forthright fashion, he tells GMR: “It was a surprise indeed that the top-ranking market in terms of

News Plus

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media expenditure, which is renowned for its all-round creativity, has failed to produce a winner from Dubai’s plethora of media agencies.

“Welcome to the Bahrain Lynx.”Mindshare MENA CEO Samir Ayoub

believes that the process – not just the Lynx, but other regional awards includ-ing GMR’s Gemas Effies MENA Awards – should be revised.

“There are many holes in the system and more validations and filtering are needed,” he said.

“There should be complete separation between creative awards and media awards. Are we judging the use of creative in media, or the use of creative media?”

Elie Khouri, CEO of Omnicom Media Group MENA, whose OMD Dubai was inserted between FP7/BAH and TBWA/Dubai as runner-up, said: “Cannes has seen the same trend where creative agencies are entering work in the media awards and win in some cases. Media agencies can rarely return the favour, although we have had some success in this region with this approach, winning in the promo/direct and cyber categories.”

Vivaki declined to comment but speaking for the Lynx organisers, Amanda Ben-

fell, PR and press manager, said: “As the communication process and expectations from both clients and consumers change, becoming more integrated, the agencies are also changing to provide a cross-media service.”

But there is, of course, much more to the Lynx than the awards. There’s the conference and seminars. This also drew a mixed response from the 1,100 delegates.

For UAE IAA Chapter board executive and Leo Burnett’s managing director, UAE, Kuwait & the Lower Gulf Kamal Dimachkie, the speakers were not as inspirational as last year with the exception of Paul Lavoie’s, presentation on doubt as a catalyst for positive change, Mike Cooper’s session on social media and Mark Tutssel and Michael Canning’s ‘Speaking Human – the Language of People’ session.

Praise is also due to IAA UAE Chapter Lance de Masi for his efficient and highly focused moderating of the panel discus-

sion among four regional CEOs – JWT’s Roy Haddad, MCN’s Akram Mkinas, Leo Burnett’s Raja Trad, and M enacom’s Joseph Ghossoub – Creativity: What is Getting in our way? (Answer? Seems to be ‘the clients’.)

Overall it was a hugely well-attended, well-organised, informative festival – despite the glitches – but probably one that DDB, Impact BBDO, Saatchi & Saatchi, JWT, Lowe Mena and Euro RSCG, all of whom rarely surfaced above silver, would rather forget.

The last word, however, goes to Nadine Ghossoub, managing director Y&R.

“I predict that the next three years are going to be very exciting for this region,” she said. “I can only hope we’ve set the bar even higher, not just for ourselves, but for other agencies as well.”

Now that’s the sort of spirit that’s needed.For details of the winners, see www.du-bailynx.com/winners/2011. n

it’s a game creative agencies have played for longer than media agencies and are clearly better at it.

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So, how waS it for you?

We asked key industry figures what they thought. What follows is edited extracts from their responses.

louai alasfahani, MD, Paragon advertising, Iaa Kuwait Chapter presidentwere the awards a fair reflection of creativ-ity in the region?the Dubai Lynx gave everyone a “fairer” reflec-tion of creative talent in the region than any other “similar” festival.

were there any surprises?yes. Many. i was surprised that an industry renowned for being highly opinionated and stuffed with free thinkers trailed the path of least resistance, silently chanting forgive and forget towards the same individuals and the organisa-tion that (not so long ago) contributed towards the world’s largest advertising festival scandal.

i was somewhat surprised that some excel-lent work entered in the newly Design Category was not even shortlisted, while lesser quality work was awarded. But, then again, that is a matter of opinion.

any lessons for next year?lesson one: the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime.lesson two: attention spans are getting shorter and memory retention even more so.lesson three: Some will do anything for a price or a prize.lesson four: if you do not remove the root of the problem, new problems will blossom.lesson five: the internet never forgets. lesson six: Don’t get mad. Get evil =;-)

No winners from Kuwait, why do you think that is?the total number of entries increased, however there were no winners from Kuwait this year, just one shortlisted entry from Jwt Kuwait, which was a ghost ad and was dealt with in the appro-priate manner. that there were more entries is a sign of economic recovery, of Dubai Lynx’s high level of awareness but, at the same time, the fact that most of the entered work (from Kuwait) was either poorly executed or spoof/ghost ads are still haunting us.

samer Marzouq, chief blogging officer, Jazarah what did you think of this year’s event?it’s really great to see the festival becoming a bea-con of creativity in the region, but the categories should be reconsidered. for example, nothing is created especially for outdoor, it is more or less an extension to print. also, the interactive looks cluttered. it needs to restructured. Maybe split into two categories that tackle online presence – web-sites and social media – and online advertising.

and new categories should be added, such as photography, which could encourage agencies to do photography for clients. and it would be a good idea to reward creatives through special awards such as creative director of the year, and the same for copywriters, art directors and so on. this will definitely play on the ego and push creatives to the max.

lance de Masi, Iaa uae Chapter – chairmanHow did the event compare with last year?there are always ups and downs. Some (both speakers and topics) are more leading edge than others. the fact is, though, i don’t think that there is a higher or equal quality of dis-course at any conference focusing on commu-nications issues anywhere in the region.

Is it appropriate or desirable that a creative agency can win Media agency of the Year?Creative and media agencies in the same group often fight about who gets to enter a specific piece of work. which agency gets to submit it is really up to the group’s management. the fact is that ownership these days is very blurred. the purpose is really to award good work. that the agency that won the media award is not a “me-dia agency” doesn’t bother us, although i’m sure the consensus on that is not 100 per cent within the iaa or outside. Perhaps a renaming of the category is what is called for.

Nadine Ghossoub, managing director, Y&R Congratulations. How does it feel to be the ultimate winner?the double win didn’t happen by accident.

Louai Alasfahani

Nadine Ghossoub

Samir Ayoub

Lance de Masi

Samer Marzouq

Kamal Dimachkie

Ghassan Kassabji,

Nabil Moutran

Elie Khouri

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it was a culmination of a lot of hard work, sweat and tears. and while the process itself was very satisfying, to be recognized for it by your peers is an extremely rewarding experience.

we’ve been humbled by the recognition, applause and response we’ve received so far, be it from our clients, friends, partners or other agencies. this, by itself, gives us the momen-tum we need to push ourselves even harder.

Kamal Dimachkie, managing director uae, Kuwait & the lower Gulf, leo Burnett.How did the event compare with last year?it seems that the speaker line-up this year, while having a number of top international industry practitioners with interesting per-spectives and stories to tell, seemed to be not as inspirational as the year before. Mind you, we were still treated to some excellent presentations ...

on the other hand, the choice of regional topics this year, and personalities, were very good and covered wider ground than in 2010. i was particularly interested in the conversa-tion with Dr Naif al-Mutawa, creator of thE 99 and the Middle East independent agency Showcase. of note was the iaa’s CEo panel that was very engaging and treated the in-dustry to some unique views, rarely shared and less often in the direct manner we saw. this is one session that i would have liked to see go on for longer, allowing for greater in-depth discussion and audience participation.

what did you think of the awards ceremony?it is no secret that the awards ceremony was beset by two unfortunate matters. on the bright side, it was wonderful not be plagued by the usual scam accusations. while one cannot rule out the presence of initiative work within the limits of the rules, it is reassuring that we saw plenty of genuine work.

Is it appropriate or desirable that a creative agency can win Media agency of the Year?

a couple of thoughts here. the lines between creative and media continue to be blurred, es-pecially when it comes to creativity and where it lies. ultimately, in a creative industry and a creative awards show, the media expression will always be made on a creative foundation, independent of where the idea came from. at every Lynx a significant proportion of media agencies’ submissions were based on a crea-tive idea that originated at the creative agency. this year’s development is clearly demonstrat-ing that in many cases the idea will still come from the creative agency.

Secondly, we need to be clear on what it is that is being rewarded. is it creative ideas in any field independent of the originator? if so, the door must be open to creative agencies to submit entries in this area.

or, do we wish to reward specific discipline focus and reward practitioners in that area? if

yes, then one can argue that the award needs to go to the specialists independent, even if the ideas may not have originated from them, but were simply planned, booked and placed by them where media is concerned. assuming there is clarity about this, then one can also easily argue that other areas of specialty need to be recognised, such as Digital, Direct, … etc.

samir ayoub, Ceo Mindshare MeNaare the lynx elevating standards of creativity in the MeNa region?the process in the Lynx and other awards needs to be revised. there are many holes in the system. More validation and filtering are needed.

what sort of holes? are you including the

GeMas effie in this?Campaigns are judged purely on the idea, ir-respective if the campaign was a true one, approved and paid for by the client. instead, the agency releases one ad in one medium to qualify for entry. results are not audited by a third party. Many are exaggerated.

and there is no proper consideration for local market culture and restrictions, Saudi arabia, for example, and restrictions in Saudi media. it is much harder to come up with innovative and creative campaigns to execute locally than other markets in the GCC. there should be criterion given to “overcoming market restric-tions in a creative way”.

Plus, the jury should have the right balance between the local and international members. the head of the jury should never be from agencies and the majority of members should be from clients as agencies might abuse the

voting. and yes, the GEMaS Effies are definitely among the ‘other awards’.

we have reached a point where the awards are used to please the agencies rather than doing justice to creative and effective campaigns. irrespective of who wins or loses, there’s increased frustration in the industry from the current awards practices. there’s a need to set a committee under the iaa to sit with each award organiser and revisit their processes.

Is it appropriate or desirable that a creative agency can win Media agency of the Year?there should be complete separation between creative awards and media awards: are we judging the use of creative in media, or the use of creative media?

i’m really tired of international experts being condescending and trying to give us hope that one day we can win big at cannes.

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So, how waS it for you?

elie Khouri, Ceo, omnicom Media Group MeNaIs it appropriate or desirable that a crea-tive agency can win Media agency of the Year?the point of awards is to reward excellence, and in the case of the Lynx creativity prima-rily. Creative or brand agencies, who used to house media thinking in the past can, and do, come up with media ideas and are entering these awards. Should the media category of an award festival only be open to media agencies? the Cannes festival has seen the same trend where creative agencies are en-tering in the media awards and, in some cas-es, win. Media agencies can rarely return the favour, although we have had some success in this region with this approach, winning in the promo/direct and cyber categories.

Juries must make sure they reward an entry on the merit of its media thinking, the execution of its idea and the results it deliv-ered, not just (if at all) the media placement of a strong creative idea. the point is subtle, but nonetheless critical.

i would argue that since we don’t have the sole ownership of media creativity, all agen-cies should be allowed to enter their media work, as long as the media agency who ex-ecuted it didn’t come up with it or played a significant part in devising it. this means that media agencies need to raise their game in two ways: first, improve their creative prod-uct further, in skills and process. But we also need to get better at presenting that work for awards. it’s a game creative agencies have played for longer than media agencies and are clearly better at it.

what did you think of the event generally?it is clear from the number of entries and scale of the event that there is a grow-ing maturity and assertiveness in this in-dustry. if we suffered from an inferiority complex in the past, then it is becoming a thing of the past. we have, in the Lynx, and other awards in the region, a proper system to benchmark our work with that of others here and further afield. that’s to be applauded.

Ghassan Kassabji, managing director, tBwa\RaaD saudi arabiawhat did you think of this year’s event?Because of the technical problems and time delays, the event was disappoint-ing. Coming from the organisation that represents the Cannes Lions international festival, it just felt unprofessional. we ex-pected more – much more – especially given the hefty prices we paid for tables and entry tickets. also, i’m really tired of international experts being condescend-ing and trying to give us hope that one day we can win big at Cannes. this region has some outstanding creative talent, and we are certainly capable of winning at Cannes.

It’s the biggest GCC market, so why is saudi so underrepresented?Saudi agencies produce great advertising, but we lack the capability to package our work properly for international/regional awards – especially as most of the output is in arabic only. the creative spark gets lost in translation – linguistically or in a

cultural context. we have another draw-back in that local clients do not yet fully appreciate the value of creative awards, although they certainly understand the significance of the Gemas Effies.

Nabil Moutran business director, ogilvyone Middle eastHow did this year’s event compare to last year’s?we are all hyped and excited about the Lynx, as we not only get a chance to see our peers, but also some of the great work that impressed the judges. it was therefore a bit disappointing not to have had the opportunity to fully appreciate the work due to the techni-cal problems. the quality of work has shown even greater improvements and it was great to see more markets contribute some out-standing ideas and implementations.

Is there any aspect that should be revised before next year? the categories are fine and we are seeing some great talent from around the world coming to judge our work. i would like to see more local judges get involved in the future though.

Is it appropriate that a creative agency is also able to become Media agency of the Year? it is absolutely appropriate. Media agencies are winning creative awards and even selling creative ideas to clients. the world of media and creative agencies are so morphed these days, a great media or creative idea can and should come from anywhere. n

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Today’s e-Patients expect a large dose of digital interaction from their healthcare practitioners.

“Take Two asPirin and TweeT me in The morning”

“TakE TwO aspirin and tweet me in the morning.”

This is just one of the ways that Doctor Jay Parkinson and many other techno-savvy physicians use social media.

Brooklyn-based Parkinson, referred to as “The Doctor of the Future,” and one of the top 10 most creative people in healthcare, formed Hello Health – the paperless, concierge practice that deploys web-based secure social media network and electronic medical records enabling doctors to communicate, document, and transact with their patients in person and online via email, IM, video chat, Twitter and Facebook.

Welcome to the world of social healthcare.The rise of e-Patients has created many

opportunities for engagement for health-care providers.

(e-Patients are defined as those “who are equipped, enabled, empowered and engaged in their health and healthcare decisions).

By integrating e-patients into the healthcare marketing mix, organisations can engage patients, develop their brands or build

healthcare communities and much more, a trend that is certain to grow.

Social networking is empowering, engag-ing, and educating healthcare consumers and providers. While consumers use so-cial networks such as personal blogging and other formats for emotional support, they also heavily rely on them to manage health conditions.

Social networks represent a brave new world for healthcare. It offers a platform for individuals to communicate quickly, easily, broadly and inexpensively.

But can you really shop for by-pass surgery the way you shop for a tie? Will the successful pharma-practise of direct-to-consumer marketing work in other forms of healthcare? How can healthcare delivery practitioners prepare for consumer-driven selection? Marketers, advertisers, and PR professionals across the spectrum of health-care will be impacted by these questions as social media threats and opportunities pervade the healthcare sector.

Social media has revolutionised health-care. Patients turn to social networking groups to find others who are battling

the same diseases (for patients preparing for the same type of surgery, following the tweets helps demystify the process and ideally reduces anxiety about up-coming operations), share advice and recommend doctors, while clinicians con-nect to share information and learn from each other.

Hospitals all over the world are using social media as a marketing and communications tool to educate, publicise, entertain and establish themselves as the go-to place for consumers in need. With a Facebook fan page, patients are updated on day-to-day developments, while YouTube is used to upload educational videos. Similarly Twit-ter can link to the latest press releases or blogs about specific ailments; scheduling appointments, reminders, practice updates, or public health notifications.

Organisations also use social media to communicate their mission and vision, describe their services, offer advice on common diseases, how to cope and how to maximise the quality of life.

Some use social media to promote well-ness and sponsor online support forums ©

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where individuals with chronic conditions can find support from fellow sufferers.

Others use social media to encourage philanthropy; for recruitment and training.

Weaving social media into healthcare training can provide multiple benefits, including: Giving trainees a feedback fo-rum; providing presenters with immediate feedback from trainees; complementing marketing by sharing slideshows, video or pictures from training sessions on sites such as YouTube or Flickr.

In a recent survey from Capstrat-Public Policy Polling, however, 84 per cent of respondents said they would not use social media or IM channels for medical com-munication if it was offered by their doctor.

They prefer, instead, email and websites when they need specific consultations.

The results show that while social media has a strong and growing role in healthcare communications among peer communi-ties, it is not the communication vehicle

of choice when patients want to discuss medical issues with their doctors.

However, this doesn’t mean the use of all digital communication is out of the question. Respondents favoured email and online for appointments, medical record access, and nurse consultation.

As with all businesses, medical practices face stiff competition and budgetary con-straints. They must differentiate themselves by portraying value and quality to their prospective clients.

With the increasing cost of healthcare and increasing competition among hospitals, it’s essential for healthcare providers to include social media in the marketing mix.

Beyond communicating with patients and potential patients, many doctors are using online to collaborate with colleagues, research diagnoses and to enhance their medical knowledge.

Social media is a powerful and effec-tive tool for hospitals and healthcare organisations to stay on top of patients’ minds and maintain contact with other medical professionals, patients, and the general public.

The network effect of social media can cause word-of-mouth epidemics unlike anything that caregivers have seen before. Hospitals and healthcare units are realising that word-of-mouth is the most significant driver to influence patients and so social media offers an opportunity to humanise what can be a scary, complex situation.

One of the most famous healthcare facilities globally, the 118-year-old Mayo

COVER STORY

Making the point: websites and email is the preferred method for medical communication, a Capstrat-Public Policy Polling survey found

...the biggest mistake hospitals make is confusing social media with one-way communication tools...

Forward thinking: The 118-year-old Mayo Clinic claims to have used social media tactics right from its inception

healthy start

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YOU SAY YOU WANT TO REACH OUT...

WE SAY HOW FAR?

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Clinic, used social media tactics right from its inception.

When Doctors Will and Charles Mayo built Mayo Clinic with the Sisters of St. Francis, it was unusual for patients to survive a hospital stay. Quite often they succumbed not to the illness, but to an infection resulting from surgery. The broth-ers and nuns pioneered aseptic surgical techniques, allowing more patients to live and tell their stories. And when they went home, they spread the word.

According to Lee Aase, Mayo Clinic’s manager of syndication and social media, word-of-mouth has been a crucial part of building Mayo’s brand for more than 100 years.

“We see social media as the 21st Century version of word of mouth. We’re talking to the whole world, potentially.”

It is also important for the healthcare sector to have a sizable online presence

to ensure that consumers aren’t misled by faulty information. For Mayo it all started partly to keep others from “squatting” on the name and posing as the Mayo Clinic.

According to Joe Natale, VP, new media, Johnson & Johnson: “J&J monitors the site for adverse events and people who give incorrect medical advice and the expense of monitoring for adverse events runs from $100,000 to $1 million, but aside from that, anyone can post whatever they want.”

In the days of retail health, the possi-bilities for healthcare organisations to use social spending sites are limitless. Many healthcare organisations are using social media to engage with patients and consum-ers. And there are some great examples.

Again we look at the Mayo Clinic, whose Center for Social Media mission statement is to “lead the social media revolution in healthcare, contributing to health and well being for people everywhere.”

Mayo has fully embraced the idea of connecting with patients and advocate communities via blogs, podcasts, Twitter, and social networking – for instance the Sharing Mayo Clinic blog, which features the voices and stories of Mayo patients.

But there are times when social media delivers unintended and unexpected outcomes.

In 2008 a woman and her mother leav-ing the Mayo Clinic stopped in the lobby to listen to an elderly couple playing the piano. She took a video of them with her phone and posted it on YouTube, where more than 7.5 million people have viewed it. This simple video communicated an image of the Mayo Clinic that no amount of purposeful advertising could have yielded.

The Henry Ford Health System answers clinical questions live via Twitter. Doc-tors, medical students and curious non- medical personnel followed as surgeons tweeted short updates on removing a cancerous tumour.

Sarasota Memorial Hospital tweeted a kidney surgery live, trading more than 1,900 tweets among followers.

J&J acquired Childrenwithdiabetes.com, a site which receives an average 10,000

COVER STORY

...for a hospital to be effective on Facebook and Twitter, someone needs to be there at all times ...

Greater connection: word of mouth has proven critical to building Mayo Clinic’s brand

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May 2011 Gulf Marketing Review 39

unique visitors a day. These tips, of course, are just a starting point.

Although a majority of marketers have embraced social media and UGC, the rise in social networking and health-care blog-ging has sparked a nascent movement to set standards and guidelines that include conflicts-of-interest disclosure and privacy protection for “open media” in health care.

The challenge with social media is not to violate important professional and legal boundaries.

The American Medical Association has created a policy about professionalism in social media. Its guidelines include: maintaining confidentiality; privacy set-tings to safeguard personal information; and maintaining appropriate boundaries of the patient-physician relationship.

For marketers making the business case for social media is imperative, although hospitals have always been conservative in marketing to patients. But there are a growing number of healthcare organisa-tions leveraging social media as more than a marketing and communications tool.

They embrace social media as an “innova-tion catalyst” and deploy more collaborative models that foster broader engagement and knowledge-sharing among patients, providers and trusted institutions. While the industry has taken a giant leap into the new social media world, the reality is healthcare has only scratched the surface.

An inherent problem with the “buzz” from social media is that there is no way to rank their importance, and so they tend to be handled first‐in‐first‐out, if at all. But the biggest mistake hospitals make is confusing social media with one-way communication tools. Some hospitals have hundreds or thousands of people signed up as twitter followers, but only follow a handful themselves. Or they use Facebook to push out press releases and other information and to drive traffic back to their own site without showing any interest in what others are talking about.

Any advertising that encourages increased resource use and increases the costs of care is inherently in conflict with ethical

medical care but social media offers an effective way of promoting your business and supporting any existing marketing at little cost.

But Social Media should always be a complementary part of the marketing mix. In order for a hospital to be effective on Facebook or Twitter, someone needs to be there at all times to respond.

But also there’s no one-size-fits-all answer for social media. Not every approach is appropriate for every hospital or healthcare organisation. One needs to find the right mix. More importantly, hospitals have to figure out how to communicate therapeu-tically during social media interactions.

Just because a hospital is on Facebook doesn’t mean that it is building a mean-ingful Facebook experience for both the hospital and the patient. Whether you are looking to increase patient traffic, enhance your reputation, or just want to supple-ment your other marketing efforts, in or-der to realize the maximum benefit from social media marketing, it is important to strike a balance between excitement for the potential it holds as a market-ing and information-gathering resource, versus the potential risks it represents.

People may say bad things about the fa-cility. Learning to highlight the positives and manage the negatives is imperative.

It’s even more challenging to measure the ROI from social media. While real relationships are a valuable way to meas-ure your social media ROI, measuring the success of a new marketing campaign should include the number of eyeballs, shakes and finger swipes, the number of blogs, articles, tweets and digs, the number of conversions, calls, responses and recommendations.

Social media and its rapid, informal communication style represents both possibility and liability for healthcare organisations. Social media, if designed well, managed correctly, and supported by the system, could optimise patient and provider experiences. But they need to live together in this space (and be supported by the system) to ensure social media is a cure and not a curse. n

Bitter pill: The biggest mistake hospitals make is confusing social media with one-way communication tools

Praveen Pillai a middle east-based healthcare professional

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it’s rare for most marketing executives to claim that what they’re doing makes a difference in shaping a country’s con-sumption habits. For Mohammed Itani, however, nothing could be further from the truth. Itani, who has been responsible for marketing at Riyadh-based Injaz for several years, aims to literally reshape Saudi Arabia’s real estate sector.

Launched in 2006 by a number of promi-nent Saudi investors, Injaz is one of the few kingdom-based real estate companies and master developers that is recognized nationwide.

Injaz’s VP for marketing, Itani could almost be described as a veteran of the country’s nascent real estate sector follow-ing his five-year stint at another developer, Dar Al-Arkan, in a sales and marketing position. His responsibilities at Injaz in-clude marketing projects to both potential customers and investors.

“We have to speak to [consumers and investors] differently. Today’s investor does

not only concern himself with ROI, he also wants to ensure the project will be a successful one and that the people or company behind the project he is investing in is sound and stable. We reach investors through direct contacts. We’ve found the power of PR is now more efficient than advertising when it comes to B2B. We are also present in important exhibitions where we can reach them.

“As for consumers in the real estate sector, the most successful media in Saudi Arabia is newspaper advertising. For me, that reach must be developed by com-bining newspapers, outdoor and online advertising. Also, another essential ele-ment is word-of-mouth. Our people build excellent relations with our customers. The Saudi market lacks good service. We always aim to provide that to our customers,” he adds.

Injaz is undertaking two master develop-ments. Its first, Al Marina, is a 3.3-million-square-metre development that will link the

Marketing a new master plan for Saudi’s nascent real estate sector is a priority for Mohammed Itani. Alex Malouf reports from Riyadh.

The GMR InTeRvIew

fAnTASy cv

Born: 1974 , Beirut education MBA, Lebanese American University 2001 Marital status: Lovely wife Dina and children Abdul Rahman (5 years) and Lamees (3) Hobbies: Reading business and psychology books, watching movies. first job: Administrative assistant. I was still doing my BA at that time in 1995. Career high: The launch of Dar Al Arkan IPO. It was a very exciting moment in my life. It is a good moment when you see something you worked hard on grow to become the biggest real estate developer in Saudi Arabia. Career low: Realising it takes a lot to teach. I tried it for an hour. very difficult.fantasy Job: Real estate and Technol-ogy. I hope that I can combine the two.

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two cities of Al-Khobar and Dammam on the sea front.

The project includes luxury villas, multi-use towers, impressive buildings, coastal houses, hotels, malls, schools, mosques, various public services and vibrant green areas, as well as recreational, sports, social, and tourist facilities.

The company’s second high-profile project is Al Gamra to the north of Riyadh and in the heart of the ‘New Riyadh’ that is emerging. Al Gamra occupies more than 2.5 million square meters, divided into four blocs, and offers end-users and inves-tors the ability to buy land or real estate.

When talking to Itani the issue of trust is ever constant.

During the past decade Saudi consum-ers and investors have been burnt by real estate frauds.

“From 2004 to 2006 there were com-panies who were launching projects on paper. These projects didn’t see the light. Many small investors lost a lot of money and a lot of fraud happened where people flew with capital. Until today, in-vestors have had problems in getting their money back. They have had problems,” Itani explains.

“The government stepped in to regu-late the real estate market and real estate investment.”

Since 2006, however, real estate inves-tor sentiment has shifted, Itani believes. Investors are looking for safe returns from companies that are stable, established and can be trusted.

“For any project that was launched in 2005 or 2006 you would find direct buy-ers, no matter the company and its size.

“Today it is different. Today investors want credibility, reliability. This is where we play a role as Injaz. Today they need to know the company, the shareholders of the company and the capability of the team working in the company.

“They will look at the location, the fu-ture of that location and the products that you will develop. Then they will decide if they come in. Now investors are not looking at high profits, but rather reason-able returns. They want to be confident that the projects will happen and that it is not a drawing on a piece of paper.”

For Itani and his fellow marketers in the kingdom’s real estate sector, the challenge is education. Despite the kingdom’s size and population, which are larger than the rest of the Gulf combined, there are few household developers in the country which are active nationwide.

“There are very few developers in the Saudi market and each developer has his own target market,” Itani says. “They all talk about middle income housing demands, but you find no one caters to this market. The challenge is everyone

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overcrowding: With such a large population, saudi arabia needs more housing

Our job is to convince the investors … that Saudi Arabia is a market based on real demand and where supply is minimal

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in Saudi Arabia works in real estate. Eve-ryone in Saudi Arabia knows both the stock market and real estate. They have been practising the old habit of buying the land and developing it themselves. We have a responsibility to educate the market about real estate development, as it is known outside of Saudi Arabia and the importance of buying from a master developer.”

Rebuilding that trust has been central to Itani’s marketing strategy over the past few years. It hasn’t been helped, however, by the slump in the real estate sector in places such as Dubai.

“After the crisis in Dubai and some other GCC countries, many of the real estate investments stopped. This has af-fected Saudi Arabia,” Itani says. “Many projects here too were put on hold. Our job is to convince the investors that Saudi Arabia is different and that Saudi Arabia

is a market based on real demand where supply is minimal. I think many investors are realising that now in 2011, that what we’ve always said is true.”

Itani is brimming with passion when talking about the kingdom’s real estate. Even when asked about the threat of com-petition entering the market from Dubai, he welcomes the new entrants as a help rather than a hindrance.

“We’re not looking to defend our brand from companies looking to come into Saudi Arabia. On the contrary, we want new entrants in the market. You can-not be creative and efficient unless there is competition.

“We always encourage new companies to get into the market, especially interna-tional ones. Their know-how is essential to the development of the country. What we bring to the table is local knowledge which they don’t have. They will need

time to understand the Saudi culture and real estate sector. However, my view is that the market is big enough for another 100 developers,” says Itani.

The indicators bear out Itani’s optimism. With one of the highest birth rates in the world, Saudi Arabia is in desperate need of more housing.

“All figures show that it will continue to grow. According to the ninth KSA plan there is a demand for 1.2 million homes until 2015. The government expects that will help in building 25 per cent of these homes. This means that the private sec-tor has to build around 900,000 homes.”

The growth in the sector was recently highlighted by the much-publicised mortgage law. The kingdom’s mortgage legislation, which was proposed several years ago, is yet to become law. While some expect the law to give added impetus to the real estate drive, Itani is more reserved.

“In my opinion the mortgage law will ease the financing process, but look at what is happening today. Any Saudi can go to the bank and take out a loan to buy a home. The problem is the home

Prof ile

Master development: al Marina will link the two eastern Province cities of Dammam and al Khobar

We’ve found that the power of PR is now more efficient than advertising…

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loan itself. The issue is with the amount anyone can afford. A Saudi has loans on his home, his car, and he will also have other responsibilities,” Itani continues.

“Last year we were more optimistic about the mortgage law passing and its positive effects, but it needs some time. What the mortgage law will do is pro-vide trust to finance companies already in the kingdom, and help attract others into the market.”

It’s clear that despite the potential, Saudi Arabia’s real estate market will take time to rival the likes of Dubai in terms of master planning. However, Itani claims the market has seen dramatic changes.

“The real estate market in Saudi Arabia is not yet developed and Injaz is one of the few developers present in the market.

“My own view is that the market needs more and more developers to come in. Ninety percent of the houses constructed today are being built by individual contrac-tors. As a Saudi you will go and buy the land, bring the contractor, do the design and go to the bank to get the finance. Developers such as Injaz are trying to change this. We are trying to create a new lifestyle.

Today, the average size of real estate projects in Saudi are 50 to 100 units. These projects are increasing in size and you’ll eventually see 200 to 300 units. Everyone wants to be part of a neighbourhood, as you’ve seen in Dubai in the Palm and other developments. It becomes an identity and that’s what we want to do here in the kingdom,” Itani says.

For any developers out there looking to make a quick buck in Saudi Arabia, forget it, he warns. The country’s authori-ties are loathed to repeat the mistakes made by other GCC states. However, Itani still believes that the country’s changing demographics means there is a demand for all types of housing projects, be they large or small.

“If you buy land you need two years to complete the infrastructure and then get approval on that infrastructure. Are investors ready to wait two years just to begin marketing the project? Any real estate project in Saudi Arabia will take three to five years to come to completion.

“Second, you have to look at afford-ability. Is there a market for multi-million riyal villas? Companies are selling their units as there’s so little choice in the mar-ket. Many people are buying apartments nowadays even, which is a relatively new occurrence.

“Some real estate companies are build-ing smaller-sized villas so they can sell these villas at lower prices and there’s a market for houses with three or four bedrooms as families in Saudi are becom-ing smaller. Developers need to study the kingdom’s market and cater to the real demand in the market.”

Trust issues, the length of time required to complete projects, and a market need-ing educating. Does Itani wish he was doing something other than real estate? Far from it.

“My work is challenging, but it’s also the most promising role I’ve ever had,” he says. “We have the opportunity to reshape completely the kingdom’s real estate sector. There are difficulties, par-ticularly in terms of the time required to develop a project here. We’re not going to see hundreds of people queuing up to buy off-plan as used to happen in Dubai. However, we are working in the largest market in the Gulf. Saudi nationals want what we can offer [in terms of neigh-bourhood planning]. We are rebuilding the kingdom’s concept of what a real estate development can be, one brick at a time.” n

Prof ileProf ile

AGency ROSTeR

Creative: tBWa/raad on the corporate brand and al Gamra project. al Marina project is out to pitch.

Media: Carat.Pr: orient Planet and alef international.

cOMPAny cReDS

Injaz Development company was established in Riyadh in 2006 as a Saudi real estate company and major master developer. It specialises in strategic real estate development projects for short- and long-term investment, always in compliance with the highest international standards - “cities within cities”. It also acts as a real estate investor.

Master planners: Mohammed itani with omar al Kadi, managing director, injaz Development Co

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trAVEL And toUriSM

nEXt MontHFood

room for growth 49Egypt: tempting tourists 52Abu dhabi: capital gains 56Saudi: Summer staycations 58Qatar: Five-point plan 60new faces 62taking flight 64SEtA: rewarding excellence 66Sekari search data 70Mediastow data 72PArc analysis 76PArc data 80

Despite a predicted recovery for the region’s hospitality sector, recent unrest has seen hotel occupancy rates drop

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Countless reports in 2010 pointed to a recovery for the hospitality sector in 2011, but recent events in the region have caused a relapse … except in the UAE. Kathi Everden analyses the fall out.

SPARE CAPACITY

According to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, international tourist arrivals rose by almost seven per cent to 935 million in 2010, rallying from a four per cent decline in 2009, when the impact of the global economic crisis was at its peak.

In the Middle East, the figures were even more impressive – an increase of 14 per cent to 60 million arrivals, at-tributed in part to discounting by ho-tels and the advent of budget-friendly tourism options.

And UNWTO predictions for 2011 were for more growth at a rate of between four and five per cent, a target that seemed achievable given the soaring visitor arrivals in the region so far.

Fast forward a few months and the picture is very different.

STR Global’s report on hotel perform-ance for February indicated the extent of the damage to tourism in the region, demonstrating a decline of 12.6 per cent to 56.7 per cent for overall MEA hotel occupancy, although the average daily rate rose by 17.1 per cent to $188.53.

According to managing director Elizabeth Randall, the month saw the first impact of unrest across the region: “Egypt’s occupancy dropped by 78.5 per cent to a monthly average of 15.9 per cent, while in Lebanon the collapse of the national unity government has affected the market with a drop in occupancy to 39 per cent for February.”

Bahrain’s hospitality sector suffered less, with occupancy dropping 17 per cent to 61 per cent, but Randall said the full picture remained to be quantified in the ensuing months.

Move down the Gulf and the mood was very different, with the UAE en-joying booming business as a result of a healthy mix of leisure, corporate, exhibition and school holiday traffic, in

addition to some incremental arrivals due to events in Egypt in particular.

According to Luc Delcomminette, VP of Arabian Adventures, overall visitor numbers to the UAE increased due to ongoing marketing efforts combined with the availability of rooms: “In the early days of the political crisis in Egypt, Arabian Adventures welcomed guests who diverted from their original destination.

”In addition to this, the diversity of Dubai’s offerings as a destination and the quality it provides at a competitive rate are also contributing factors.”

Operators in countries that issued advisories against travel to Egypt took measures to place their clients elsewhere,

Early check out: overall MEA hotel occupancy declined by 21.6 per cent in February

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debatable: Park regis Kris Kin Hotel dubai’s Scott Butcher

Room foR gRowTh

diversion: Al Bustan centre & residence’s Moussa El Hayek

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with Natalie Tours from Russia, for in-stance, increasing flights to the UAE to cater to demand for winter sunshine.

In Abu Dhabi, guest nights in Febru-ary increased by 29 per cent, occupancy rose by 16 per cent and the length of stay was extended by 10 per cent, with guest numbers from Saudi Arabia ris-ing by 90 per cent, while arrivals from the UK increased by 29 per cent, from France by 49 per cent and from Russia by 88 per cent.

Across the board in Dubai, hoteliers enjoyed a surge in business: “As a result of recent events in the region, Al Bustan Centre & Residence saw an increase in occupancy to almost 100 per cent since the beginning of 2011,” said GM Moussa El Hayek.

“Exhibitions attracted thousands of visitors, and many tourists from the GCC diverted their travel plans from Cairo and other cities in the region to Dubai during the mid-year holiday.”

Newcomers such as the Park Regis Kris Kin Hotel Dubai were operating at

almost full house too, according to GM Scott Butcher: “It has been a boost for the hospitality sector, but the longer term is more debatable, and it will depend on how quickly the affected countries stabilise – meanwhile, Dubai gains as it is seen as a safe haven destination in the region.”

Some perceived a shadow over the Middle East as a whole, with Nick Bauer, GM of the Dusit Princess Dubai, report-ing some cancellations: “These have been instigated by travel advisories as people at times can confuse the actual

suffering countries with non-concerned peaceful neighbours.”

And at the annual gathering of travel professionals at ITB in Berlin in March, there was pressure for incentives to keep the travellers en route to the Middle East, no matter the destination: “Agents were indicating the need for cheaper rates and more imaginative packages in order to entice summer leisure business to the region,” said Mike Scully, MD of Seven Tides and developer of several Movenpick hotels and resorts in Dubai.

“However, most indications were that if Dubai remained competitive on both price and quality of offering, there would be no negative downturn … other than what would normally have taken place due to the present economic climate.”

For the region as a whole, positive PR and marketing is essential, accord-ing to Peter Lilley, executive director of MENATA (Middle East and North Africa Travel Association), who warned of an escalating spiral of bad publicity: “It is understandable that tour operators have had to consider cutting capacity … but even quite modest cutbacks in capacity can potentially undermine consumer confidence.” n

It has been a boost for the hospitality sector, but the longer term is more debatable...

change of direction: the UAE benefitted from many tourists diverting their travel plans from cairo and other cities

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STAYIng PowER

imaginative: Seven tide’s Mike Scully

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Following its political upheaval, Egypt looks to lure holidaymakers back with added-value initiatives

pyramid sElling

ApproximAtely one million tourists left Egypt in nine days; the country’s avia-tion sector was said to have lost $170 million with EgyptAir cancelling 75 per cent of its flights; tourism industry losses touched $1 billion in the first 10 days, international cruise liners re-routed away from Egyptian ports and the fleet of Nile cruisers berthed indefinitely.

For the millions involved with Egypt’s hospitality sector, it was a desperate plight – but not totally unfamiliar – following as it did in the wake of other crises includ-ing the attacks on foreign tourists that involved the authorities in a long haul to revive the country’s image.

This time around, chairman of the Egyp-tian Tourism Authority (ETA), Amr El Ezabi, reports an upswell of sympathy at ITB. “We had one of our most successful

participations and there was a positive spirit – now we have to transform this sympathy in to bookings, and in dealing with tour operators we have to make the most of this high sense of awareness of the destination,” El Ezabi says.

“The indices in the principal resorts in March were much better, and we were fortunate with Easter coming so late as this increased demand, despite the problem of late bookings.”

Practically, El Ezabi said priority was a charter incentive programme for a limited period, aimed at ensuring capacity in to the country, as well as co-advertising with international tour operators: “We have had a common marketing programme with more than 190 tour operators world-wide, and we are seeking a new budget to extend these.

“The focus will be on Europe, since this is 70 per cent of our source markets and easiest to get back – but we will look to target the GCC for the summer period.”

Co-marketing with cruise liners to restore Egypt’s reputation as a winter cruise playground is also on the cards, but El Ezabi accepted that the major draw for many travellers will be price deals.

“I know for a fact that for destinations such as Sharm-El-Sheikh and Hurghada,

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Challenge: etA’s Amr el ezabi

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deals with tour operators are inevitable,” he says. “Our point of view is that if we lower prices, it may be difficult to bring them back up and what we are encouraging is added-value, rather than straight discounting.”

On the ground, tactical pricing and marketing have been rushed in to play to tempt tourists to fill the empty rooms: “At Taba Heights Marriott Red Sea Resort, a huge marketing effort was undertaken to demonstrate that life on the Red Sea remains safe and unaffected,” says GM, Jan Heesbeen.

“Promotions and deals were created, aimed at enticing people to come back and see for themselves that the sun still shines here.”

A small saviour during the crisis was the British market, which continued to arrive in the face of adversity and lack of a travel ban: “Apart from the British, all other nationalities, including Russian, French and Belgian, were asked to leave by their tour operators,” Heesbeen explains.

Across at El Gouna, GM of the Mov-enpick Resort & Spa, John Wood, had a similar experience as an almost-full resort emptied to just 100 guests in four days. “Fortunately, the Brits kept flying and, as a result, the travel advisories from virtually every country were lifted and most tour operators restarted their programmes,” he says.

“We launched added-value initiatives with our UK tour operators first, and then extended these to our European partners

as they returned, as well as giving very attractive early booking prices for the summer season.”

However, with disruption during the peak booking season in Europe, Wood says the resort would also focus on the GCC and other Arab markets to foster growth in this area.

In Cairo, hotels have been slower to see recovery, but there are positive signs in areas such as domestic corporate and meeting sectors, plus weddings, ac-cording to Jiri Kobos, MD, Dusit Thani Lake View Cairo.

Although occupancy had dropped to 10 per cent, Kobos says it was up to 25 per cent by March and enquiries were coming in from European and Asian tour operators: “Initial feedback is an expectation of discounted rates, and we are responding with value-added offers inclusive of breakfast, airport transfers, meal plans and room upgrades, plus rate packages based on pre-paid terms,” Kobos adds.

“We are also inviting any travel agents and media free nights to see the situation for themselves and experience our hospitality.” n

Sun still shining: tactical pricing and marketing have been rushed into play to tempt tourists back

...what we are encouraging is added-value, rather than straight discounting.

meetings: Dusit thani lake View Cairo’s Jiri Kobos

positivE outlook

Safe: taba Heights marriott red Sea resort’s Jan Heesbeen

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56 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority reveals its marketing plans to attract three million visitors by 2014. Kathi Everden reports.

cApiTAl gAins

Marketing by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) is accelerating this year as a consumer activation programme is finalised to stimulate travel demand to the emirate, as well as reinforcing its ris-ing stature as a compelling destination, according to ADTA strategy and policy director Lawrence Franklin.

“The campaign and programme will span approximately 30 weeks and be designed with a global footprint, ena-bling us to hit both our primary and emerging source markets with effective impact,” he says.

“In numerical terms, it will be a ma-jor tactical promotion towards meeting our 2011 target of two million hotel guests, and 2014 target in excess of three million – while the mechanics will be founded on both the destination’s inspi-ration state and aspirational qualities, leveraging Abu Dhabi’s recent accolades

as a rising star on the international tourism stage.”

A second-stage advertising campaign moves beyond awareness building to a call-to-action, running the question ‘so you think you’ve done it all?’ across TV, print and online outlets through-out the pan-Arab world, in Europe, Russia, Asia and North America, kicking off in April through to December.

Additionally, the emirate is hosting an average of five journalists a week, has an extensive international exhibi-

tion programme, and is in the process of opening ADTA offices in Moscow, Jeddah and New York, the latter scheduled to open in June.

It’s all part of the strategic marketing of Abu Dhabi, carried out in conjunc-tion with Etihad Airways, which has its own ‘Essential Abu Dhabi’ programme, to increase the stopover market. It offers visitors discounts at hotels, for excursions, dining, cultural and enter-tainment events on presentation of a valid boarding pass.

In another initiative, ADTA has teamed up with one of Europe’s leading trav-el groups, TUI AG, for a three-month B2C promotion. Windows of 220 TUI travel agencies will display TVs run-ning footage of Abu Dhabi, while 150 poster slots will run promotional material for a week, and a further 12,500 agen-cies will feature posters of varied Abu Dhabi attractions.

All things maritime are also taking centre stage with MSC Cruises set to home port at Mina Zayed this winter. Abu Dhabi is also positioned as the official destination partner for the Volvo Ocean Race arriving in the emirate on New Year’s Eve.

“Abu Dhabi is well placed with its pristine coastline and 200-plus islands to tap in to the international trend of establishing private cruise islands or beach and other facilities dedicated to cruise passengers,” Franklin says.

“In addition, we are finalising plans for a Race Village to be activated to welcome the Volvo Ocean Race fleet to ensure the destination delivers a welcome like no other … this will include major concert performances, in-port sailing and a host of family activities.”

Marketing spend was not disclosed. n

S e C t O r a n a L y S i S

going globAl

Well placed: aDta’s Lawrence Franklin

Check it out: abu Dhabi’s consumer activation programme will target primary and emerging markets

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58 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

A recent announcement of a $89 mil-lion investment in tourism projects has reinforced the commitment of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) to stimulate residents to holiday within the kingdom.

The commission aims to double tour-ism revenues to $31.5 billion within five years, and also quadruple employment in the hospitality sector to reach the two million mark.

Five new regional museums will be built in areas such as Dammam, Tabuk and Asir, and additional funds will be allocated to restore historical sites, while a country-wide boost to infra-structure will see more airports and a railway network.

Meanwhile, addressing the under-supply of hotels in the kingdom, the SCTA has targeted an increase of 85,000 hotel rooms and a similar number of furnished apartments, with a large number of regional and international groups naming Saudi Arabia as their priority in the region.

“Saudi Arabia is our number one develop-ment market in the Middle East. Riyadh is drawing both domestic and international visitors from strong business and corporate markets, for instance,” says Andrew Clough, svp, development, Hilton Worldwide, the Middle East & Asia-Pacific.

The group has signed to operate a new hotel in Al Khobar, as well as two new properties in Riyadh, where other new entrants include Kempinski, Ritz-Carlton, Movenpick, Aloft, Crowne Plaza, Four Points by Sheraton, Fairmont, a second Four Seasons and Centro by Rotana.

Rocco Forte and DusitThani are two newcomers for Jeddah too, while Marriott is to operate two properties in the Red

Sea province of Jizan. Accor, meanwhile, has ambitions for a network of budget Ibis hotels, starting with hotels in Riyadh and Yanbu.

National companies are also investing in the hospitality sector, with the Elaf Group of Companies offering a portfolio of integrated offerings including customised packages, charter flights, conventions and meetings, visa issuance and more.

President Ziyad bin Mahfouz says the group aimed to increase its hotel interests with four additional properties by 2012, adding to its existing inventory of 2,300 rooms. “Elaf Group’s strategy is to com-plement the growing focus on domestic tourism by developing dedicated service and product offerings that add value to the travel experience of domestic tour-ists,” he says.

“With the SCTA increasingly promot-ing historical sites and cultural heritage, people are getting more excited to explore new destinations within the country, par-ticularly sites that are being added to the UN ESCO World H eritage L ist.” n

S e c t O r A n A L Y S I S

Key focus

Dedicated: elaf Group’s Ziyad bin Mahfouz

The scTA is investing $89 million to help double tourism within the next five years. Kathi everden reports.

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60 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

With plans to double hotel inventory following its successful bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, plus a national airline that’s really going places, Qatar is poised to take its place on the global tourism stage.

And, marketing to align demand with product expansion, the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has set out five planks on which to boost its awareness and ap-peal – sports tourism, meetings and events, culture, leisure, and stopover traffic.

Working with Qatar Airways on the latter sector is a natural choice given the airline’s 100-destination network and plans for 20 additional routes in the next two years with an order book of 200 aircraft.

“If we can capture just five per cent of the 16 million passengers carried annu-ally by the airline, it will be a good mar-ket for us,” says QTA chairman, Ahmed Abdullah Al Nuaimi.

“This figure could double to 35 million with the new airport, and our aim is to promote the message that we can offer culture, desert adventure, spas, sunshine, shopping, restaurants and more.”

Al Nuaimi acknowledges that the public perceive Qatar to be boring with little to do,

but a campaign aims to refute that. “The first focus will be in the UK, just prior to the World Travel Market [in London in November], when we will do a roadshow to different cities including Manchester, Glasgow and London – this will be sup-ported by a PR and advertising campaign.

“We will take the opportunity to moni-tor the response we get to assess how effective our message is,” he says. “Then we will do the same in four or five cities in Germany before the ITB. We will also be supporting a major Qatar investment event in New York.”

Closer to home, Al Nuaimi says plans for a major regional campaign had been put on the back burner following recent events, although there was one posi-tive outcome. “We will wait until spring

next year to target the GCC with a dedi-cated campaign.

“We feel it would be difficult to get our message across due to the instability in the region – although we have benefited from an influx of family visitors from Saudi Arabia as they seek alternative destinations to Egypt, Lebanon and Bahrain.

“They can see there is much to do and the perception that Qatar is not a leisure destination is changing [in that market].”

The QTA is taking a measured approach tailoring its message to coincide with prod-uct development that will include cultural attractions, sport events and a huge injec-tion of hotel rooms, including resorts and city properties. St Regis, Wyndham Grand, Solis, Kempinski, another Four Seasons, Nikki Beach and Planet Hollywood Hotels are all set to open their doors.

In addition, two convention and ex-hibition centres will launch within two years, reinforcing Qatar’s aim to become an international meeting venue.

“Mass tourism is not for us,” stresses Al Nuaimi. “What we are targeting is up-scale leisure and stopover traffic, as well as corporate and M ICE business.” n

s E C t O R a n a l Y s i s

Qatar kicks off its global tourism strategy with a five-point plan. Kathi Everden talks to QTA chairman Ahmed Abdullah Al Nuaimi.

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62 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

Long-term residents in the Gulf know that street names are a relative inno-vation, with roundabouts and hotels traditionally being the preferred guide to locations, but as new brands arrive in the region, and contracts are up for renegotiation, there’s a whole new name game on board.

For some, such as the UAE’s Al Maha, it’s an operational change, bringing in Starwood Hotels’ reservations and mar-keting systems, but leaving the resort recognisable as Al Maha, a Luxury Col-lection Desert Resort & Spa.

Other changes are more dramatic. Starwood, again, has won a contract

to take over from the InterContinent-al, Muscat. Here the redevelopment will be wholesale, with three Starwood

brands evolving from the demolition of the InterContinental, with Westin, Element and W hotels to be built on the site.

Conversely, the group has lost its management contract for Le Meridien Kuwait, but generally it is the bigger groups that are the beneficiaries of the recent downturn in the kingdom’s hos-pitality sector.

According to Neil George, VP, ac-quisitions and development, Starwood Middle East, the group was being ap-proached by owners who wished to tag their properties with a Starwood brand: “If they have signed with brands that are not as well established (as we are), the importance of a global sales network, systems and branding has now become apparent.”

Still, in a region where brand and bling are paramount, there’s always room for more: Versace, Le Bristol, Rocco Forte, Waldorf Astoria, Langhams, Planet Hollywood Hotels, Wyndham, Louis Vuitton, Club Med, Alila and Missoni being just some to open in the next two years.

For established hotels, the marketing

S e C t o r A n A L Y S I S

Rebranding popular properties requires more than just promoting a new name.

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Rebranding popular properties requires more than just promoting a new name.

issue is more than one of pushing a new name, particularly when the hotel concerned has been through the process more than once, the Royal Abjar, aka Renaissance Dubai, aka the Crowne Plaza Deira Dubai, being a perfect example.

For Karin Sheppard, regional IHG, VP commercial, the process of marketing the new hotel was to instil the DNA of its brand within the staff. “First thing was to take colleagues through training on how to deliver the service experi-ence,” she says

“We were fortunate to come in at a time when the owner has committed to a $55m renovation that will start in June.

“This includes our Sleep Advantage – beds, bedding, aromatherapy, quiet zones and more – plus meeting rooms that are more creative and conducive to thinking out of the box.”

From the owner’s perspective, the Crowne Plaza brand’s weight of its parent IHG’s global presence is with its sales network, web system that drives more than two-thirds of reservations and the largest hotel loyalty club with 56 million members worldwide, including 500,000 active members in Saudi Arabia.

“These are really powerful marketing tools and we continue to innovate,” says Shepperd. “We are moving in to the mobile space with an app for iPhone and BlackBerry, enabling users to

make reservations, check their loyalty points, etc.”

And, for budget-stretched hotels, another bonus of the IHG might is the online resource library: “We can give templates for events such as Easter pro-motions. . . they don’t need to use an agency, while we know that they are doing things to the brand standard.”

Getting it right, the Crowne Plaza Deira Dubai name change was even communicated to Dubai taxi drivers, a vital and often over-looked marketing exercise. n

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...as new brands arrive in the region, and contracts are up for renegotiation, there’s a whole new name game on board.

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64 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

With flydubai now the second biggest operator out of Dubai International Airport and Air Arabia dominating Sharjah’s avia-tion scene, there is no doubt that low-cost travel has taken off in the region.

The YouGov SIraj Travel Tracker December 2010 showed the percentage of business travellers using a low-cost carrier (LCC) for short-haul flying rose from 48 per cent in 2009 to 64 per cent in 2010, while around two-thirds of leisure travellers also used a LCC – and both sectors expected to use these airlines more in the future.

According to Scott Birch, research man-ager for travel and tourism at YouGov Siraj, people are turning to LCCs as a way to get more out of their budget: “The trend signals a diminished distinction between an economy seat on a legacy carrier that is essentially the same seat on a LCC.”

Other findings included increased online booking, with 83 per cent of both business and leisure travellers taking to the web to make travel arrangements, with nearly half

booking all of their trips online: “Online booking is often under-estimated in the region, but our results show that online is a key channel for travel booking, in the UAE at least.”

Responding to demand, carriers such as Air Arabia and flydubai are pursuing aggressive expansion plans, but the fragile nature of the sector and low margins has been demonstrated by slashed profits and closures at some other regional LCCs.

Air Arabia’s profit plunged by more than 30 per cent, attributed to rising fuel costs, while operationally it flew at an average 83 per cent load factor with 4.45 million passengers. It is also negotiating for a Jordan hub to add to its existing networks out of Sharjah, Egypt and Morocco, and will take delivery this year of six of the 44 A320 aircraft on order – with plans to double its fleet by 2016.

Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways recouped its position in the second half of 2010 with healthy second-half results trim-

ming full-year losses to KWD2.8million ($10 million), following a loss of KWD8.2million ($29.5 million) in 2009 – but airline offi-cials say the carrier is on track to serve 82 routes in the Middle East within five years.

Its neighbour in Kuwait – Wataniya Air-ways – was unable to sustain operations, attributing closure to both bad financials and the insecurity in the region, as well as a ‘flood of capacity’ in its home mar-ket, while Saudi’s Sama suffered a similar situation and ceased operations in autumn last year.

Aiming to carve its own niche, Saudi’s remaining LCC – Nasair – has signed a code-sharing deal with Qatar Airways to feed in to that airline’s long-haul routes, and is planning more regional connec-tions to destinations such as Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Africa.

In Qatar, a pending order for short-haul Bombadier aircraft could signal the launch of that emirate’s first LCC as a division of Qatar Airways, while Eithad has dipped its toes in the water with the launch of economy-only flights to selected short-haul destinations.

On the fast track, flydubai operates to 30 destinations less than two years since its 2009 launch, offering services to second-ary cities and destinations that are not on the radar of the bigger carriers.

New on its network is Abha and Gassim in Saudi Arabia, Sohag in Egypt, Ashgabat in Turkmenistan, Chittagong in Bangladesh and Port Sudan, while it will take delivery of nine B737-800 aircraft in 2011 as part of its 53-plane order on launch.

And demonstrating how different a low- cost model can be from traditional airline operations, both flydubai and newcomer RAK Airways have announced arrange-ments with exchange bureaux to permit customers to pay for bookings made via a call centre – serving customers without access to credit and online services. n

S E C t O R a N a l y S i S

Low-cost carriers continue their ascent within the region’s travel sector spreading their wings

New heights: flydubai is pursuing aggressive expansion plans

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66 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

We report from Riyadh on the Saudi Excellence in Tourism Awards.LocAL ATTRAcTionS

The Saudi Excellence in Tourism Awards (SETA) made its debut during the Saudi Travel and Tourism Investment Market (STIMM) in Riyadh in March.

SETA is intended as an annual event. Its aim is to recognise above-average or improved levels of achievement by in-dividuals and organisations involved in the various businesses of the kingdom’s growing tourism industry.

It is hoped that the awards – which is the initiative of a group of local business-men supported by the Saudi Commis-sion for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) – will also lead to an overall enhancement in performance.

The principle focus of Saudi Arabia’s tourism positioning is the recovery of its rich urban heritage.

The kingdom has a long and rich tradi-tion dating back centuries to the trading caravan which meandered across the re-

gion. It is the remnants of these historic traditions that are being reinvigorated for the benefit of tourists and as a new pillar of the economy.

It is also an avenue for future employment.Several hundred professionals from

across the travel sector gathered at the Riyadh Convention and International Exhibition Centre for the presentation ceremony.

The event was held under the auspices of HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Ab-dulaziz, president of SCTA.

Categories included: accommodation; shopping and entertainment; food and catering; tourism industry, tourism pro-fessional, MICE and special contribution to tourism, with the Grand Prix being a President’s Award.

Within the eight categories, there were 26 sub-categories, which covered all as-pects of the kingdom’s tourism business.

Unsurprisingly, the judges could not indentify winners in all 26 categories, although this was widely interpreted as a testament to the integrity of the judging.

In his opening address, Barry Gray, chairman of the panel of judges, said: “The judges have set the bar high during the review of nominations and in some categories they have not [chosen to] award.

“Nominees not selected should not be too disappointed, and with improvement to nomination packs in next year’s awards, as well as refinements to the categories, there will be new chances to [win].”

In some cases, Gray added, good nominations had been submitted, which enabled the judges to undertake a detailed review of the submissions.

Initial nominations were made online, allowing the public to then vote.

The purpose of the online voting was for the organising team to identify an

S e C T O R a N a L Y S i S

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May 2011 Gulf Marketing Review 67

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initial shortlist. Having achieved this, the nominees were then asked to submit a detailed report to support their nomination.

Explaining the judging process, Gray said: “In order of importance, the judges relied on four things in their review: The information provided and quality of nomination packs submitted, the judge’s personal knowledge of the category, the nominee or their busi-ness, the number of votes received on the award’s website and the discussion between the judges on each category or sub-category”.

The judges comprised eight lead-ing national and international experts connected with tourism, hospitality, marketing and commerce. The group included two professors specialising in tourism from leading universities, and all had a long involvement in the kingdom’s tourism industry.

The prestigious President’s Award was presented to HRH Prince Mitb bin Abdullah, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, in recognition of the support provided by regional municipalities in the development of tourism.

In his closing address, HRH Prince Sultan said: “The Saudi Excellence in Tourism Awards is another step in a continuous path of development and improvement in the facilities and services on offer in the kingdom.

“Whether in the green and rugged high-lands in the south, the unique geographic features of the central area, or the wildlife and marine environment of the coastal areas, Saudi Arabia truly has something for everyone.”

He added that tourism is on track to provide more than two million jobs by 2020, half of which will be filled by Saudi nationals.

“We anticipate spend in the tourism sector to increase to more than $4.5 billion by 2020, while also expecting to attract more than $15.9 billion investment from both public and private sectors during the same period,” Prince Sultan concluded.

AND THE WINNER IS. . .

Winner: The Globe

ACCOMMODATIONBest Luxury Hotel Al Faisaliah Hotel, RiyadhBest Domestic Hotel Avail Grand Hotel & SuitesBest Mid-market Hotel Park Inn Hotel, Al Khobar

SHOPPING & ENTERTAINMENTBest Shopping Experience Al Faisaliah Shopping Mall

FOOD & CATERINGBest Fine Dining Restaurant The GlobeBest Traditional Food Al Khobar Heritage VillageBest Mid-market Restaurant Steak House

TOURISM INDUSTRYBest Tour Operator Jawlah Tours CompanyBest Tourism Attraction Old Council Souk

TOURISM PEOPLEBest Tourist Guide Khaled Al Took

SPECIAL RECOGNITIONSpecial Contribution to Tourism Group Mohsen Al Hokair

PRESIDENT’S AWARDPresident’s Award HRH Prince Mitb bin Abdullah,

Minister, Municipal and Rural Affairs

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S e C T O R a N a L Y S i S

Barry Gray Organising consultant, chairman, judging panelBarry Gray is a specialist in marketing communications

and customer engagement. In 1995 he set up GBC, a media, publishing and communications company specialising in conferences, business awards and magazines. In 2002 he launched the GMR Awards which, over six years, became the region’s most successful marketing awards. Having divested his business interests in 2008, Gray now provides consultancy on publishing, marketing and customer engagement across a number of business sectors and activities.

Guy Wilkinson Managing partner Viability ConsultingA highly experienced hospi-tality consultant and well-

known hospitality journalist, Wilkinson has been based in the Gulf for 15 years. He pre-viously held management posts at PKF The Consulting House, which he co-founded, and TRI Hospitality Consulting. He has far-reach-ing knowledge of the kingdom’s hospital-ity sector having travelled extensively, and contributed to more than 350 hotel and real estate projects throughout the Middle East and Africa.

Leanne arnoldDirector – KAMARLeanne Arnold specialises in cross-border communications within MENA and in developing

brand ID. Her tourism experience spans manag-ing CRM for English Heritage, marketing strate-gies and launching resorts for Qatari Diar in Mo-rocco and Cairo, and developing national MICE tourism capabilities and hotel operating strate-gies for @Bahrain. Her career began in finance before taking strategic and creative roles on the corporate and agency side with TBWA and Proximity at board-level, and within the region with Qatari Diar, Abu Dhabi Culture and Bahrain Heritage Authority. She holds a first-class de-gree in psychology and communications.

Omar a. al-MubarakOversight managerLicensing and quality department, SCTAOmar A Al-Mubarak is the ac-

credited judge representative for Saudi Ara-bia at the Arab’s League, Quality in Tourism Awards. He has experience in managing large engineering projects. Previously he was direc-tor of the quality control auditors at Al Yama-ma Cement factory in Riyadh and director of the Gaz project, before taking up his current position managing quality control systems for the licensing division of SCTA. He holds a de-gree in civil engineering and an MBA.

dr amal bin Yahya bin Omar al-ShaikhAssistant professor of leisure and tourism, King Abdulaziz University

Dr Amal has a PhD in arts and human geog-raphy, with a specialisation in the geography of leisure and tourism. She has taught at King Abdul-aziz University, Jeddah, since 2007, with a research focus on geography of leisure and tourism. Dr Amal is also a member of the Tunisian Association of Digital Geographic Information; the Geographic Societies of Ku-wait, Egypt, America, the UK and New Zea-land, as well as the Egyptian Tourism Asso-

Sultan Mohammed al-MalikRiyadh Chamber of Commerce Sultan Al-Malik specialises in marketing, research, PR and international relations. He is

GM, international affairs, PR and media, with the Communication and IT Commission. Prior to this he was with the Advanced Electronics Company Ltd and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund in senior business development roles. He is a board member of the Marketing Committee of Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Young Arab Leaders. He holds a masters in international marketing, University of Strath-clyde, and a diploma in commerce and English, University of Colorado, plus a BA in business administration, King Saud University.

JUDGING PANEL SCTA 2011

dr. abdulmohsen al hijjiFaculty of TourismKing Saud UniversityDr Abdulmohsen Al-Hijji is a highly respected educa-

tor with extensive experience in tourism specialising in leadership management and the development of job skills. He is assist-ant professor at the University of King Saud, Riyadh, most recently in the College of Tour-ism and Antiquities. He has also written many papers related to tourism and contributed to a number of tourism committees. Dr Al-Hijji holds a BA in arts and education, an MA in geography and a PHD in philosophy.

abed BibiIndependent Brand ConsultantAbed Bibi is a specialist in corporate branding and mar-keting communications within

the GCC and Levant. His career includes five years at MBC Group as GM of Arab Media Services; co-founder of Future TV and re-gional director of the region’s largest media house, Al Khaleejiah Media. He was also VP, marketing and communications, Majid Al Fut-taim Group. As an independent consultant specialising in branding and media commu-nication, he has advised many of the region’s best known companies.

68 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

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Page 69: GMR | May 2011

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Page 70: GMR | May 2011

70 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

If airline brands continue to ignore consumer sentiments online they could be in for an increasingly bumpy ride.

travel – and especially airlines – have played a pivotal role in the UAE’s growth. From its humble beginnings in 1985, Emir-ates is now the world’s largest international carrier (by capacity); Etihad, meanwhile, was named the “Middle East’s Leading Airline” last year.

Then there is Air Arabia, the first Middle Eastern low-cost carrier, flydubai, which launched in June 2009, as well as all the other international carriers.

Sekari wanted to find out whether that same energy was reflected in consumers’ online behaviour.

Our analysis revealed a substantial number of searches for keywords such as “flight” and “flights” for which there were 200,000, on average, in one month – an enormous amount of potential internet traffic for those airlines that rank high for these search terms.

Interestingly, “flights to Dubai” was the 13th most popular key phrase for lo-cal searches on Google.ae, showing the

importance of the domestic market for incoming flights. People are either searching for flight information for friends and fam-ily or companies are searching for flights for staff flying into Dubai. The reasons are numerous, but local search ranking is just as important as international markets.

Unsurprisingly, when it came to the number of mentions in social media re-garding the top 20 airlines that fly out of Dubai, Emirates was the clear leader. On average, the sentiment was among the most positive from all the other brands, a clear reflection of the amount of buzz surrounding Emirates Airlines.

Much of the commentary was on the A380, along with confusion over security regulations, particularly the rules regard-ing taking liquids onboard. This shows a lack of knowledge regarding rules in different parts of the world.

Perhaps this could be an opportunity for an airline to be pro-active and respond to queries and offer advice. Help when

it’s needed, and where it’s needed. Now, that’s customer service.

Airlines need to transcend call centres and realise that conversations are taking place elsewhere.

It’s not about control, it’s simply about being involved. Consumers don’t want brands to control the information. They simply want brands to be engaged and receptive to their needs.

Etihad came second in the number of mentions in social media, with 96 in one month, versus Emirates’ 321, with a similar positive sentiment index.

Air Arabia showed the least positive sentiment. It could be argued that there is more to complain about with any low-cost carrier. However, for a business model that relies so heavily on internet sales, and in today’s age of consumer comments via social media platforms, low-cost carriers need to pay extra attention to what is being said online. If their potential consumers are engaging in this medium, then so must their customer services.

Negative sentiment can be easily turned into a positive if the brand reacts to the issues, shows a genuine willingness to improve, accepts responsibility or, at the very least, acknowledges the customer.

With all these communications be-ing online and being ranked by search engines, the brand that engages the most online will also get the highest visibility. Disengagement is perilous: It carries a high risk that only negative sentiment gains the highest visibility. n

lee Mancini head of Sekari SEODubai

s e c t o r a n a l y s i s

TurbulEncE ahEaD?

new horizons: airlines must transcend call centres if they are to connect more effectively with consumers

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May 2011 Gulf Marketing Review 71

Search and Social Market analySiS travel: Uae

# keyword (Uae) Search volume1 air lines 550,0002 airlines 550,0003 flight 110,0004 flights 90,5005 air line 90,5006 airline 74,0007 online airlines 74,0008 holiday 60,5009 flights to 49,50010 cheapest flight 33,10011 flights from 33,10012 cheap flight 33,10013 flights to dubai 33,10014 cheapest flights 27,10015 cheap airfares 27,10016 cheap flights 27,10017 flights cheap 27,10018 cheapflights 27,10019 cheap flights to 14,80020 vacation 14,800

Brand Sentiment volumeaeroflot 0.00 3air arabia -0.16 25airFrance klM 0.00 9British airways 0.21 39cathay Pacific 0.00 7emirates 0.34 321etihad 0.33 96Flydubai 0.14 22Gulf air 0.13 8Jazeera airways 0.05 21kuwait airways 0.00 3lufthansa -0.06 18Malaysia airlines 0.40 5Mea 0.20 10oman air 0.25 8Qatar airways 0.06 89royal Brunei -1.00 1royal Jordanian 0.44 9Saudi arabian airlines 0.00 5Singapore airlines 0.25 40turkish airlines 0.33 3virgin airlines 0.41 37

Search engine results Pages (SerPS) research conducted on Google.ae. top 20 keywords with the most amount of searches last month based on local results from Google.ae 2,679 – total number of mentions regarding generic travel-related phrases

top 20 keywords – travel market top travel brands by volume of social media sentiment

Source: Sekari SEO 2011

Social Media – volUMe vS SentiMent GraPh: Uae

emirates (321 mentions with 0.34 sentiment)

30

25

20

15

10

5

0-0.50 -0.40 -0.30 -0.20 -0.10 0 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50

hiGh volUMe neGative SentiMent

loW volUMe neGative SentiMent

hiGh volUMe PoSitive SentiMent

loW volUMe PoSitive SentiMent

num

ber o

f men

tions

range of sentiment

air arabiaJazeera airways

lufthansa

Gulf airturkish airlines Malaysian airlines

royal Jordanian

virgin airlines

etihad

Qatar airways

Singapore airlines

British airways

Fly dubai

Mea oman airair France klMkuwait airways

Saudi arabian airlinesaeroflot

Source: Sekari SEO 2011

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72 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

As tourists reroute from North Africa to the UAE, a battle for PR coverage is breaking out among leading hotel brands.

PR WaRs

The UAE’s travel and tourism sec-tor is thriving again, especially the hospitality sector, which has been showing a resurgence with higher occupancy rates driven by an upswing in tourist arrivals at the end of 2010.

There was a drop in the overall revenue per available room, however, as thousands of hotel rooms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi became available, reported the Khaleej Times in January.

Latest figures from the Dubai Depart-ment of Tourism and Commerce Mar-keting show that Dubai’s hotel industry posted a six per cent hike in revenues and guest numbers in the first nine months of 2010.

With 244 hotels, containing 55,000 hotel rooms, planned to open in 2011, the UAE will create 120,000 new jobs by year-end.

This year, the Abu Dhabi Tour-ism Authority expects 1.9 million ho-tels guests. This forecast has driven major hotel developments in the emirate, while encouraging collaboration among hotel chains, travel agen-cies, tour operators and airlines, all hoping to capture a bigger share of the tourism market.

Several upcoming global sport-ing events, including the Mubadala World Tennis Championship and the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, will help Abu Dhabi’s hotel industry sustain growth.

Dow Jones reported in March how political unrest had devastated tour-ism across much of the Middle East. Dubai, however, saw an influx of tourists who diverted from destinations such as Tunisia and Egypt.

The influx provided a welcome boost for the emirate’s economy.

Facets of coverageAfter evaluation of the media cover-age of many hotels in the UAE during March 2011 (the UAE and Pan Arab markets), we selected the top 10 in terms of volume of coverage; Armani, Hilton, InterContinental, Jumeirah, Le Meridien Dubai, Park Hyatt Dubai, Rotana, Shangri-La, Sheraton and Traders.

Sheraton achieved the highest volume of coverage with 185 clippings, followed by InterContinental with 139, Shangri-La with 128 and Hilton with 116. Trad-ers Hotel achieved the lowest volume relative to the other brands, with 24 clippings only.

Interestingly, while Sheraton achieved the highest volume, it ranked fourth in terms of OTS.

It was InterContinental that achieved the highest OTS with 11.6 million, fol-lowed by Rotana with nine million and Hilton with 8.4 million.

Armani achieved the highest NCS (Newspaper Coverage Size), in column centimetres, followed almost equally by InterContinental.

Rotana was third. Jumeirah achieved the highest MCS (Magazine Coverage Size), measured in pages, followed by Shangri-La and Sheraton.

It is interesting that while Sheraton achieved the highest volume of cov-erage, InterContinental achieved the highest OTS, Armani the highest NCS and Jumeirah the highest MCS, indi-cating that the PR strategy is different for those four leaders.

PenetrationsAll 10 hotel brands featured more

SECTOR ANALYSIS

s

Very hospitable: 244 hotels with 55,000 rooms will open in the UAE by the end of the year

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PR WaRsLanguage

Arm

ani

Hilto

n

Inte

rcon

Jum

eira

h

Le M

erid

ien

Park

Hya

tt

Rota

na

Shan

gri-L

a

Sher

aton

Trad

ers

Arabic 10 30 67 10 1 3 97 33 62 1English 43 128 198 55 75 62 3 140 251 23GenreNews and politics 21 92 189 11 15 6 99 82 82 2Lifestyle and general interest 4 6 20 11 3 5 0 17 39 0Celebrity and society 10 2 1 13 5 4 1 3 1 0Entertainment and listing 15 28 31 11 38 41 0 44 107 20Fashion and shopping 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0Travel and tourism 1 12 10 6 0 1 0 8 11 1Homes and properties 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 0Sports 0 4 3 6 14 4 0 11 16 0Parenting and childcare 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0Business 0 4 7 0 0 1 0 2 1 0Catering and hospitality 0 6 4 2 0 0 0 0 2 0Motoring 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Building and construction 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1In-flight 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0Food and cooking 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0Logistics 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0Men’s 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0Women’s 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0Teenage and children’s 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0Advertising and marketing 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0Clipping typesPhoto caption 17 43 45 22 29 19 33 44 49 15Advertorial 15 30 59 21 27 26 29 48 64 7Review 3 11 8 3 0 8 8 11 31 0Latent mention 2 4 2 2 0 2 0 3 1 0Hosts event 6 12 21 7 19 7 12 20 28 0Deals 0 9 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0Promotion 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0CSR 5 6 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 3Interview 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0News 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 2 12 0Media typesNewspaper 21 92 190 11 13 6 99 81 136 2Magazine 32 66 77 54 63 59 1 93 179 22

PENEtRAtioNs – MARch 2011: UAE

FAcEts oF covERAgE – MARch 2011

VOC (Volume of coverage) OTS (Opportunities to see)NCS (Newspaper coverage size)

MCS (Magazine coverage size)

Armani 48 2,704,106 9,424 14.48Hilton 116 8,376,688 4,053 22.1InterContinental 139 11,581,873 9,257 15.54Jumeriah 61 2,601,279 805 36.31Le Meridien 75 3,361,416 1,555 6.14Park Hyatt 65 2,432,457 1,053 12.42Rotana 86 9,011,755 8,080 0.42Shangri-La 128 7,422,367 5,723 31.31Sheraton 185 7,847,157 3,033 29.56Traders 24 705,457 199 5.03

Source: Mediastow March 2011

May 2011 Gulf Marketing Review 73

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74 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

in English publications than Arabic, except Rotana, which had a substantially larger Arabic penetration.

In terms of publications’ genre penetration, all hotels displayed the greatest portion of their coverage from ‘news and politics’, ‘lifestyle and general interest’, ‘celebrity and society’, ‘entertainment and listing’ and ‘travel and tourism’ publications.

InterContinental, Shangri-La and Jumeirah displayed the greatest diversi-fication in terms of genre.

There was considerable coverage coming from ‘sports’ and ‘business’ publications.

Media type penetration displayed mixed resul ts. Whi le most had greater magazine coverage, Hilton, Intercontinental and Rotana had greater newspaper coverage.

Clipping types/messagesThe top-10 hotel brands achieved nu-

merous advertorial and photo caption coverage. They all covered their own events except Traders.

‘Review’ clippings were also popular, with the exception of Traders and Le Meridien Dubai.

The Sheraton and Hilton hotels achieved the highest amounts of all clipping types with the exception of ‘promotion’, where Park Hyatt led.

‘Deals’ were only shared by Hilton and Jumeirah hotels, while the most coverage fell under ‘advertorial’ and ‘photo caption’.

ConclusionThe hotel sector is on the fast-track again and media coverage is increasing as PR competition intensifies. An improving economy, social unrest in the region shifting tourism to the UAE, a boost in efforts by the tourism authorities, and forthcoming events, point to a positive outlook.

While media presence is of great value, close-to-identical media coverage for all hotels creates an environment of noise. It would prove useful for each hotel to focus on what sets it apart, while maintaining high media presence.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai are both buoyant, and while Abu Dhabi boasts many forthcoming events, Dubai’s tourism is picking up, making the two emirates equally attractive.

Diversification in genres and clip-ping types would also achieve higher resonance. Increasing press release coverage is also beneficial. The months ahead are likely to filter out a clear leader in terms of PR. n

Data: March 1 to 31, 2011. The hotels featured in this article comprise generic brands and individual properties.

Hisham Elzubeir,research director, Mediastow

All 10 hotel brands featured more in English publications than Arabic, except Rotana…

SECTOR ANALYSIS

Recruiting: Dubai hotels enjoyed an unexpected surge in occupancy in early 2011 as many winter tourists diverted from Tunisia and Egypt

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Page 76: GMR | May 2011

76 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

Pan Arab spend on travel and tourism has remained on an upward trajectory, with only airlines showing a drop.

Still climbing…

Ad spend on travel and tourism reached nearly $0.6 billion as the sector main-tained positive growth with an eight per cent increase in 2010.

Restaurants, contributing a 42 per cent share of spend, posted a healthy growth of 17 per cent.

Spend on airlines, however, dropped by 18 per cent.

Spend on resorts rose by 37 per cent, while hotels reversed its downslide of 2009 with a 10 per cent growth in spend during 2010.

Travel services also reversed its downslide with a healthy growth of 30 per cent in 2010.

Pan Arab media, which refers to media titles with significant reach in two or more markets, grew by 14 per cent to occupy 38 per cent of the total regional spend.

The top spending market, the UAE, kept its spot with an eight per cent increase.

Kuwait is the second top spender, but posted a modest decline of four per cent

in 2010, versus a 71 per cent surge in 2009. The decline, therefore, can be perceived as a healthy correction.

Saudi Arabia, in third position, posted the biggest increase at 26 per cent.

Other market variations include: Egypt (+5 per cent), Qatar (-1 per cent), Jordan (+6 per cent), Lebanon (-6 per cent), Oman (+14 per cent) and Bahrain (+11 per cent).

Among major monitored media types, spending on TV surged by 13 per cent and now occupies 45 per cent of total spend.

Spend on newspaper was flat at three per cent and saw its share drop to 33 per cent in 2010, from 35 per cent in 2009.

The ad spend in magazines gained 15 per cent as the medium shares 13 per cent of the total measured spend.

The top five airline spenders are Qatar Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Emirates Airlines and Egypt Air.

McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut are the top spenders in the fast-food section.

Crowne Plaza, Sheraton and Inter-Continental appear as top spenders in hotels in 2010.

The ad spend in 2011 is likely to be affected by the political upheavals in the region, particularly in Egypt. As Egypt emerges from the current unrest, a huge potential lies in the market that advertisers are likely to exploit.

Spend is calculated on the media rate cards and does not account for incentives and discounts that advertisers may avail from media owners. n

shaharyar UmaranalystPan Arab Research centre, UAE

s e c t o r A n A l y s i s

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78 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

The UAE’s disparate population produces a unique type of traveller.ALL ABOARD

WITH VARIOUS initiatives in the region to diversify oil dependence, focus on tourism has gained further emphasis.

Dubai is home to the fourth-busiest airport in the world, boasting more than 46 million passengers every year. Marry that with the economic downturn and it is easy to see why there is increasing interest in the tourism pattern of residents in the Middle East.

According to the latest TGI UAE sur-vey, in March 2011, residents from the UAE travel, on average, twice a year on personal visits and three times a year for business.

The frequency of travel among Arab expats is highest, at 3.8 visits a year.

Frequency among females for personal visits is only three per cent higher than males. On average, males travel 40 per cent more for business than females.

When flying for personal reasons the most important factor when choosing air-

lines is the price, while convenience and in-flight/comfort are the top two factors for business travellers.

Some 87 per cent of travellers surveyed from the UAE choose economy class when flying and, on average, spend approximately one hour, 54 minutes waiting at departure.

Air Arabia, Emirates Airlines and Egypt Air are the top three airlines used by frequent fliers, ie those travelling more than three times a year from the UAE.

However, 66 per cent of UAE nation-als frequently fly with Emirates Airlines,the most travelled airline in that segment. Etihad Airways is second.

Air Arabia and Egypt Air are the top two airlines of choice for non-Arab expat frequent fliers. Air Arabia and Emirates Airlines are the top two airlines among Arab expat frequent fliers.

One out of four frequent fliers books via the internet and around 70 per cent

of travellers from the UAE have holidayed abroad in the past 12 months.

Residents prefer to go on vacation in the months of July and August, staying, on average, for 18 days.

The avergae cost per capita for a fam-ily to go on holiday, based on a group of three, including one child, is $1,000.

GCC residents, therefore, are among the most travelled in the world and com-prise various segments. The needs for each segment are distinctly different from other segments and it is likely in today’s economic climate that the industry will focus on fulfilling them more closely than before. ■

S E C T O R A N A L Y S I S

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Shaharyar Umaranalyst, Pan Arab Research Centre (PARC). The views expressed in this article are those of the author, and not necessarily those of PARC.

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May 2011 Gulf Marketing Review 79

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Higher frequent traveller, higher internet usage

Higher frequent traveller, lower internet usage

Lower frequent traveller, higher internet usage

Lower frequent traveller, lower internet usage

Inte

rnet

usa

ge

NationalLevel 2 (Next 20%) upper middle classLevel 1 (top 10%) upper class

Frequent traveller

20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

Non-Arab expatsArab expatsLevel 3 (Next 30%) middle class

KLMEgypt AirAir Arabia

Air IndiaEtihad AirGulf Air

flydubaiQatar AirwaysEmirates Airlines

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POSITIVE CORRELATIONS: Acute angle among variables

NEGATIVE CORRELATIONS:Obtuse angle among variables

Travelled to America

Travelled within GCC

Travelled to Asia/Far East

Travelled to Europe

Travelled Arab World

Travelled to Africa

Money is the best measure of success

I always use money off coupons and vouchers

I like to take holidays in the UAE rather than abroad

I do some form of sport or exercise at least once a week

I enjoy planning holidays

I can’t resist expensive perfume We should be open-minded towards other cultures

I like to keep up with the latest fashions

I would never think of taking a package holidayI like to stand out in a crowd

I dress casually

To do my shopping by internet makes my life easier

I like to go back to familiar places for holidays

I love travelling abroad

I like to go on holidays where activities are organised for me

Travelled to Europe

I like to take holidays in the UAE rather than abroad

I dress casually

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80 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

CATEGORY: TRAVEL AND TOURISM

MARkETS RANkING & MEDIA SpLIT (000 US$)

Rank Market Name & Abbreviation

Television Newspapers Magazines Radio Outdoor Cinema

2008 2010%Var’n

YTD 2010%Var’n

YTD 2010%Var’n

YTD 2010%Var’n

YTD 2010%Var’n

YTD 2010%Var’n

YTD 2010%Var’n

YTD2009

1 Pan Arab Media PAN 150,833 197,326 224,237 14 198,707 14 414 -31 25,116 15 0 0 02 United Arab Emirates UAE 86,877 86,451 93,341 8 3,299 35 41,874 -8 27,133 23 2,457 83 17,785 20 793 623 Kuwait KWT 44,393 74,632 71,964 -4 31,204 -2 36,043 -1 3,460 -17 1,220 -25 37 -93 04 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia KSA 55,227 53,010 66,582 26 659 -27 47,942 26 3,373 11 495 -43 14,113 38 05 Egypt EGY 46,596 40,827 42,802 5 12,196 184 16,762 -10 5,960 17 4,200 -2 3,684 -57 06 Lebanon LEB 29,698 32,481 30,577 -6 19,653 -6 4,289 0 4,249 29 317 -81 2,069 -13 07 Qatar QTR 14,984 19,738 19,465 -1 40 -11 15,006 13 2,115 -7 216 -24 2,088 08 Jordan JOR 7,868 17,152 18,120 6 371 -31 16,832 8 917 -4 0 0 -100 09 Oman OMN 9,609 10,035 11,472 14 88 -68 10,918 18 466 -1 0 -100 0 010 Bahrain BAH 7,921 7,131 7,925 11 384 68 3,668 7 3,223 28 267 -22 151 7450 232 -6111 Other Markets** OTH 4,653 8,835 6,317 -29 1,693 16 3,549 -41 882 -3 193 -58 0 0

Total All Markets 458,659 547,618 592,802 8 268,294 13 197,297 3 76,894 15 9,365 -14 39,927 -1 1,025 -6

SpLIT BY pRODUCTS – 2010All Markets Pan Arab Media GCC Markets Levant Markets

Restaurants-fast food Restaurants-fast food Restaurants-fast food Restaurants-fast foodAirlines Resort areas Airlines AirlinesResort areas Airlines Resort areas Travel servicesHotels Hotels Hotels HotelsTravel services Hotels & resorts Travel services Hotels & resortsOthers Others Others Others

42%18%

18%8%

7%18%8%

11%8%

13%

21%

27%4%

26%28%

28%

39%4%

5%41%

41%41%

TOp BRANDS – ALL MEDIA (000 US$) – 2010

Rank1234567891011121314151617181920

BrandMcDonald`s Kentucky Egypt Pizza Hut Domino’s Pizza Hardees Qatar Airways Saudi Arabian Airlines Turkish Airlines Egyptair Emirates Airline Al Tayyar Burger King Etihad Airways Gulf Air India South Africa Abu Dhabi Mo`men Turkey

Value50,77045,30923,57122,24118,37615,90012,47812,01610,4449,1988,9218,0967,6077,0045,8505,6565,3344,6334,5144,338

Rank1234567891011121314151617181920

BrandEgypt Kentucky Domino`s Pizza Pizza Hut McDonald`s Turkish Airlines Qatar Airways Hardees Saudi Arabian Airlines India South Africa Al Tayyar Thailand Al Baik Egyptair Burger King Abu Dhabi Mo`men Etihad Airways Turkey

Value23,32519,33517,60113,14711,5939,5739,2047,9777,9005,4615,3344,1664,1564,0353,9753,7373,5573,5493,4063,103

Rank1234567891011121314151617181920

BrandMcDonald`s Kentucky Egypt Pizza Hut Domino`s Pizza Hardees Saudi Arabian Airlines Qatar Airways Turkish Airlines Al Tayar Emirates Airline Burger King Etihad Airways India Gulf Air South Africa Abu Dhabi Turkey Thailand Al Baik

Value47,63231,75023,53521,42717,92813,64911,78911,16910,0358,0308,0287,0816,9325,6565,5175,3344,6124,2504,2414,223

Rank1234567891011121314151617181920

BrandKentucky Egyptair McDonald`s Hardees Dallas M.e.a. Bab Al Safa` Holiday T & T Qatar Airways New Plaza Express Holidays flydubai Royal Jordanian Beirut Golden P. Y & C car rental Mo`men Emirates Airline Cairo Airport Pizza Hut Wataniya Airways

Value13,5595,0093,1382,2511,7421,5731,5711,4791,3091,2981,2961,2431,1241,1061,089

954893865814751

ALL MARkeT PAN ARAB MeDiA GCC LeVANT

Sour

ce: P

ARC

MILLIONS US$593 +8%

Ranking of markets and media split (000US$) Category split by market100%

75%

50%

25%

0%Total

592802GCC

497050LEV

95752PAN

224237UAE

93341KWT

71964KSA

66582EGY

42802LEB

30577QTR

19465JOR

18120OMN

11472OTH6317

BAH7925

Television Newspapers Magazines Outdoor CinemaRadio

Pan ArabUAEKuwaitKSAEgyptLebanonQatarJordanOmanBahrainOthers

38%1%

2%2%

3%

16%7%

5%3%

12% 11%

**Other markets: Combined - Syria, Yemen & Arasian

39% 10%

S e C T O R A N A L Y S i S

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Page 82: GMR | May 2011

82 Gulf Marketing Review May 2011

MayProject QatarIFP ExpoDate: May 2-5Venue: Doha Exhibitions CenterT: +961 5 959111F: +961 5 959888W: ifpexpo.com

Modern Women ExhibitionMIX Events & Exhibitions Date: May 1-3Venue: Four Seasons Hotel, RiyadhT: +9661 216 2160W: www.modernwoman-fair.com

Lebanon Sustainability WeekIFP GroupDate: June 1-3Venue: BIEL- BeirutT: +961 5959111E: [email protected] W: www.ifpexpo.com

Successfully Managing Marketing TeamsIIR MEDate: May 29-June 1Venue: Pullman Hotel, Mall of the Emirates, DubaiT: +971 4 3352437F: +971 4 3352438W: iirme.com/mktgteams

JuneThe Middle East Event ShowIIR MEDate: June 1-2Venue: Dubai Intl Conven-tion & Exh CtrT: +971 4 3365161W: me-events.c

ICSC/MECSC John T. Riordan Global School for Professional Development

(for retail real estate) MECSCDate: June 5–9, 2011Location: Dubai, UAET: +971 4 3597909W: mecsc.org

Saudi Beauty & Fashion 2011Date: June 12-15 Venue: Intercontinental RiyadhT: + 966 054 2346656E: [email protected] W. fashion-arabia.com

JulyProject Management for Special EventsIIR MEDate: July 3-6Venue: Kempinski Hotel, Mall of the Emirates, DubaiT: +971 4 3352437W: iirme.com/eventmgt

SeptemberChic Lady Show 2011Al Hader Exhibitions & ConferencesDate: 27 Sept-Oct 1Venue: ADNEC Abu DhabiT: +971 (0) 2 444 6900E: [email protected]

Boosting Sales PerformanceIIR MEDate: September 18-21Venue: JW Marriott, DubaiT: +971 4 3352437F: +971 4 3352438

The Internet ShowTerrapinnDate: September 27-28Venue: ADNEC (Abu Dhabi Natl Exh CtrT: +44 20 72421548W: terrapin.com/2011/middleeast

DIARY

Women 24/7: So, where’s your brand when she needs it?

Whether she’s young, older, married, single, profes-sional or housewife, local or expat, female consumers are more pre-occupied than ever in today’s always-on era. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle East where advances in socio-economic status, along with the seismic impact of digital media, are resha-ping women’s personal agendas, the structure of their daily lives, their brand relationships, and profoundly altering their need-states. Understanding core needs is key to effective, sustainable marketing communications.

The 5th annual GMR Marketing to Women Con-ference will deconstruct conventional marketing wisdom to help unearth fresh insights, new attitudes and behaviour as part of a deeper drill into what women really need from your brand…and chances are it’s not what you think.

This one-day conference will highlight emerging global trends, provide the latest tools and techniques to help marketers connect more deeply with one of the region’s most influential consumer bases. Promising exclusive research, packed with insights, thought- leadership and case studies, Women 24/7 will help regional and global brands communicate more effecti-vely and create deeper and longer-lasting relationships with the region’s female consumers.

5th Annual Marketing to WomenMediaquest CorpDate: May 31Location: The Address Hotel, Downtown Dubai, UAE T: +971 4 3910760W: gmr-online.com/m2w.php

GMR EvEnt: MaRkEtinG to WoMEn

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Page 83: GMR | May 2011

Success is what you make it.nokia.com.sa/e7

Success doesn’tneed a desk

Imagine being able to do business anywhere,

anytime. The Nokia E7 truly is your mobile

office, with Microsoft Office solutions on a

4” touchscreen with a slide-out QWERTY

keyboard. It allows you to edit Word, Excel and

PowerPoint files with embedded QuickOffice

solutions. Also stay in the office loop while

you’re out by picking up work emails with

Mail for Exchange.

Now stop imagining.

The Nokia E7. With powerful mobile office tools.

© 2

011 N

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