the future 100: mena trends and change to watch in 2016 - executive summary

THE FUTURE A SAMPLE OF MENA TRENDS AND CHANGE TO WATCH IN 2016 A REPORT BY INNOVATION GROUP MENA

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THE FUTUREA SAMPLE OF

MENA TRENDS AND CHANGE TO WATCH IN 2016

A REPORT BYINNOVATION GROUP MENA

2016 has arrived, bringing with it a tidal wave of change to the region. At Innovation Group MENA, we’re all about change - what’s new, what’s next, and most importantly, what it means. What does change tell us about consumers, their outlooks today and their evolving behaviors and aspirations? As forecasters, we’re watching the rapid progression of trends from food to beauty to tech as they develop and wane across the region’s markets at varying levels of maturity.

The path of trends is also changing. Some are homegrown, powered by engaged, worldly and curious Arabs, others, can spring from any corner of the world, and achieve rapid regional adoption. Trends are also being shaped by the rise and rapid upscale of tech-propelled companies that might previously have remained niche for several years – meaning that bigger businesses and brands need to stay attuned. What are some key emerging themes we’re seeing? Aside from the fact that Arabs are living centrally digital lives, the smartphone remains the single most prominent influence on consumer change. Access is no longer privilege to just the educated and the prosperous – in this era of connectivity, it is the catalyst to bettering the lives of repressed minorities, particularly, the hoards of migrants spilling into our regional markets.

Arab landscapes are being largely reshaped, under the influence of an assertive youth, globalization and the vast amount of information available on the Internet; age-old traditions are being reimagined for modern times, lifestyles are becoming largely individualistic and gender is becoming more of an egalitarian affair. Perhaps the most radical change today is the new face of the Arab woman. Increasingly sophisticated in her expectations and confidant, brands are expected to work around her and her needs more than ever before. Experiences remain a key focus for consumers seeking to enrich their lives. The interesting thread we’ve seen emerge in many sectors is the need for some sort of knowledge gain being wrapped into this—examples include exploring uncharted territory, the accruement of new skills and the insightful conversations and discoveries they inspire. Food has probably never been so central to global popular culture—yet also, its future so controversial. There’s a closer scrutiny on what goes into our mouths as well as where it’s coming from. We’re seeing adventurous consumers adopt new, novel, sometimes challenging flavors much faster than they might have before, immersing themselves in foodie culture and attending food festivals akin to music festivals. We’re becoming more cognizant of the links between food and water, and resultantly, we’re seeing this emerge as a topic for debate—how can food production systems adapt and thrive? How can we limit the damage that our food chain is doing to the environment? Major thought leaders and innovators are zeroing in on water and how we will feed ourselves as populations balloon.

Introduction

INTRODUCTION THE FUTURE 100THE FUTURE 100 2

Wellbeing and future-proofing our bodies is also becoming part of a larger global movement, with many trends converging with the West. As consumers, we’re investing in wearable tech, athleisure wear, wellness pursuits, mindfulness, buying farm-to-table, seed-to-skin, organic, fermented everything to ensure our continued good health. “Natural” is becoming the watchword for all of this. As we saw in our Nifty Naturals trend earlier last year, consumers are exchanging previously trusted products and brands for more natural alternatives. Diet, beauty, wellbeing, mind, body, and fitness: all are viewed by the consumer as one big ecosystem to maintain. Brands, once judged on their desirability and products, are now being judged on their value systems, on whether they are innovators, on whether they are promising to change the world. Across all sectors, consumers are differentiating between brands based on their concern for their communities and will look to brands that supercharge that mission. One thing that’s becoming clear across the board is that consumers are joining the dots in multiple areas of their consumption patterns and lifestyles. Decisions are no longer simply based around service and price—they are made holistically, assessed for environmental impact, health benefits, the purity of ingredients, and the creator brand’s environmental preservation and treatment of employees.

Technology, of course, continues to be the binding factor in everything we do, and now, the prospect of Oculus Rift, bringing endless new possibilities to the consumer sphere. We’re becoming increasingly comfortable with technology that knows us, is cognitive, intuitive and adaptive to our needs. Vast data pools are creating highly nuanced, granular profiles of consumer behavior. But alongside that comes a rising threat of consumer anxiety and irritation at highly targeted advertising. “Privacy and trust will be a big part of 2016 for brands,” says Chuck Phillips, chief technology officer at Mirum, J. Walter Thompson’s global digital agency. “Brands have abused consumer trust through outright abuse of consumer data entrusted to companies and services, and lax engineering and security practices. Consumers will start to react.” According to Global Web Index, GWI, 27 percent of people in the MEA already deploy ad blocking tools. As a result, says Phillips, brands will have to work much harder, and be more transparent, to earn consumer trust. So what’s next? Innovation Group MENA has identified 100 trends and changes, some big, some small, all worth noting, to watch in the region this coming year. Some are inherently local; others converge with larger global trends. Among other things, the list includes tech, food and drink trends, new types of businesses, new behaviors to watch, all of which ladder up into 10 overarching Megatrends discussed on the next slide.

Read on, into 2016 and beyond.

INTRODUCTION THE FUTURE 100THE FUTURE 100 3

B E AU T Y R E TA I L H E A LT H L I F EST Y L E LU X U R Y

C U LT U R ET EC H +

I N N OVAT I O NF O O D +D R I N K

T R AV E L +H O S P I TA L I T Y

B R A N D S +M A R K E T I N G

CULTURE

CULTURE

Bedouin preparing Arabic Coffee in the Desert, Dahana Sands, Saudi ArabiaPhoto by Wayne Eastep, 1983

THE FUTURE 100

Age-old traditions are being reimagined for modern times, under the influence of an assertive youth, globalization and the vast amount of information availableon the Internet.

Lifestyles are becoming largely individualistic and gender is becoming more of an egalitarian affair, with new behaviors, preferences and status markers emerging.

5

CULTURE 6THE FUTURE 100

Genderblending

Second St., Unisex Fashion, Lebanon

A more androgynous concept of gender is shaping up in the region. Long held male/ female conventions - roles, activities, behaviors, preferences and styles - are blurring, with forward thinking Millennials leading the way.

More young women are keen to get their hands dirty in the normally blokey sector - take Raha Moharrak, the first Saudi female to climb Mount Everest or the troves of young women showing ‘extremely high’ interest for robotics and tech programs in Abu Dhabi’s Techshop, Maker Space Initiative. Comparatively, more young men are following their passions and shedding stigmas around preordained female fields, like Saudi Arabian super chef Yousef Khumayes, owner of the acclaimed Garnish restaurant in Jeddah and also a regular fixture on pan-Arab TV cooking shows. These more fluid expressions of gender are prompting brands to take cue; Always Arabia inspires women to be anything they want, with their campaign #Girls_can and departing from the petrol head male stereotype, Renault’s teaser campaign in Morocco features women instead of men. In Lebanon, Second St. boutique, is quickly coming to be known for its gender neutral fashion, as is BookALook, the country’s first beauty lounge for both men and women alike.

Why it’s interesting: Younger audiences are becoming more reluctant to conform to preconceptions of what they should or should not do or believe. According to our MENA Trends for 2015, 63 percent of people in the region believe that men and women no longer need to conform to traditional roles and behaviors anymore. They want to follow their heart and do what feels right for them. If much of present-day gendered product messaging seems antiquated to this group, it will seem even more so to their younger siblings.

7THE FUTURE 100

TECH + INNOVATION

TECH + INNOVATION

A surge of design, tech and innovation is sweeping the region, with troves of start ups zeroing in on improving all areas of our lives.

Today, our personal technologies play a central role in our day-to-day - beyond communication - with technology that knows us, is intuitive and is adaptive to our needs.

TECH + INNOVATION 8THE FUTURE 100

Silicon Arabia’s New Frontier:EconomyWhile slow to pick up in 2014, we witnessed Arab tech startups trail blaze a wave of health and education ‘cures’ for societies. This year, Silicon Arabia’s grand utopian plan seems to be set on improving the economy.

TECH + INNOVATION 9THE FUTURE 100

Careem car-booking app

With pockets of tech innovation spanning the region’s markets and a young, educated and resourceful youth eager to solve its many problems, global entrepreneurs and investors have argued that young people in the Middle East have all the means to create large-scale socio-economic transformations in the region. According to Beco Capital, a regional venture capital (VC) firm, funds raised in the region last year totaled $175 million, compared with $29m raised in 2013. With the region's e-commerce market estimated to reach $15 billion this year, payment infrastructures are a top priority, along with Arabic web content, to drive efficiency in an underdeveloped Middle East. Examples of potential big winners of the region's tech gene pool include e-retailer souq.com, the jobs site Bayt.com, the online chauffeur service Careem, the online food ordering service Talabat, the car sales site Sellanycar.com, the classifieds site Dubizzle, the internet estate agent Propertyfinder and a raft of others that also have the potential to break the $1bn barrier. Driving this growth, is the sheer number of people online, high smartphone penetration, and the magnitude of consumer spending on telecoms. Says Omar Christidis, founder and CEO of ArabNet, one of the largest forums for the Middle East’s burgeoning tech startup industry, “The digital sector in the Middle East has gone from being the focus of a few geeks to being a transformative force at the top of the agendas of the region’s leading CEOs and government leaders.”

Why it’s interesting: Silicon Arabia companies are stepping in where governments now seem unable to tread, charting an unforeseen grand vision for economic progress. "In my view for the next three to five years you will see growth in the region because of the pent-up demand for online products and services.” Dany Farha, the chief executive of Beco, told The National. “Sectors we are excited about include classifieds, e-commerce market places including automotive like sellanycar.com and restaurants such as reserveout, transport like Easy Taxi and payment/finance services like Telr." This is only the start with more areas of interest to follow.

TRAVEL + HOSPITALITY 10THE FUTURE 100

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

TRAVEL + HOSPITALITY Experiences remain a key focus for consumers looking to enrich their lives.

The interesting thread we’re seeing emerge in many sectors is the need forsome sort of knowledge-gain being wrapped into this— through random discovery, the accruement of new skills and the insightful conversations they inspire.

Adventure LustMillennial travellers are seeking evermore-offbeat experiences, and brands - from travel experts to leisure apps - are tapping into their lust for random discovery and the unknown.

Adventure tourism is one of the fastest-growing travel segments in the world, hitting a global value of $263 billion in 2013, according to TTG Asia. It has increased 195 percent from 2011, says the recent UNWTO Global Report on Adventure Tourism. Capitalizing on people’s adventurist impulse, brands are connecting their products to such experiences.

SuperCoucou, Egypt’s first travel-focused social platform, features a ‘Spin the Globe’ button, presenting travellers with three random destinations to choose from, and rewarding them with redeemable badges, when and if one of these trips are booked. Similarly, Makkook, one of the finalist projects at Egypt’s Injaz startup competition, is a mobile adventure app, which provides users with boundless random activities to carry out at the press of a button. Using social media history, the platform generates a list of activities that range from skydiving, learning origami or experiencing new cuisine to visiting a touristic attraction, meeting new friends and volunteering for a cause.

TRAVEL + HOSPITALITY 11THE FUTURE 100

Wonder.full’s Adventure Experience in a Box, Lebanon

Travel aside, people are increasingly seeking adventure within their own country, opting for staycations filled with yet-to-be discovered local activities. In Lebanon, gifting platform Wonder.full curates unique activities and experiences to present in a box, with an all-adventure catalogue of thrilling activities and fearless attractions to choose from.

Why it’s interesting: Consumers across the board are welcoming the ‘unknown’ from travel to food to exploration, in expectation of the random discovery it brings. Experiences such as Burning Man have become aspirational destinations that balance these desires perfectly.

TRAVEL + HOSPITALITY 12THE FUTURE 100

Aerial view of Burning Man Carnival Camp 2015, Black Rock Desert of NevadaPhoto Credit: Jim Urquhart/Reuters

13THE FUTURE 100

Photo Credit: Flickr/JAM Project

BRANDS + MARKETING

BRANDS + MARKETING

The rules of engagement are fast changing and brands are coming to experiment with smarter and better content forms for a share of people’s headspace.

Trust will be a big part of 2016 for brands, who will have to work much harder, to overcome consumers concerns around privacy.

Al Jarir Bookstore’s ‘Flan W 3alan’ YouTube web-series

14THE FUTURE 100BRANDS + MARKETING

Branded Content FuturesWith the latest version of Apple’s iOS mobile operating system including support for adblocking software, the future of conventional display advertising on mobile phones seems to be in doubt.

As a result, spending on native ads, which are relatively impervious to blocking attempts, is rising: research by Zentree finds that 69 percent of Middle East marketers view content marketing as ‘very important’ to their marketing efforts, with 60 percent expecting to increase their content marketing budgets this year. Are we nearing a time when native advertising becomes the new norm, on mobile and elsewhere? Increasingly, this looks to be the case. Brands are expanding their content portfolios, wrapping native advertising content across their suite of channels. STC’s La Ywagif web series is already in its second season. Similarly, Al Jarir Bookstore, is also taking a shot at creative content in the Kingdom, with its ‘Flan w 3alan’ YouTube program. Why it’s interesting: 27 percent of people in the MEA claim to have already deployed ad blocking tools, to stop websites from displaying adverts when they visit them. As this becomes the new norm, agencies and brands will have to redirect their attention toward channels where viewers’ interest must be earned. It’s time for agencies to take the truism “content is king” seriously.

Food has probably never been so central to popular culture—yet also, its future so controversial. There’s a closer scrutiny on what goes into our mouths as well as where it’s coming from. “Natural” is becoming the watchword for all of this, with consumers exchanging previously trusted products and brands for more natural alternatives. Going forward, brands will have to carefully balance consumers’ desire for novelty with a commitment to ethics and health.

15THE FUTURE 100

Photo Credit: Naomi McColloch with food stylingby Michelle Gatton and prop styling by Paola Andrea

FOOD + DRINK

FOOD + DRINK

Tawlet, farmers’ kitchen restaurant of Souk El Tayeb, Lebanon

16THE FUTURE 100FOOD + DRINK

Social Good DiningA new wave of restaurants is incorporating social-good activities, community outreach and charity into business models.

Homegrown artisanal produce is becoming more appealing to growing numbers of consumers who care about the people and practices behind the food they consume; where it’s sourced, how it’s made, who’s behind its conception. It’s a reflection of their personality, which is a huge driver. Farmers-markets and farm-to-table restaurants like Egypt’s Zamalek Market, Lebanon’s Souk El Tayeb and Qatar’s Al Mazrouah Yard have become anticipated weekly attractions, serving as venues for farmers to showcase locally grown products, and also as channels for people to learn about the food they’re consuming, mingle with like-minded visitors and build personal relationships with suppliers. “A market should have a soul, a purpose and people should feel they are coming for a reason ... always think of the added value,” says Anthony Rahayel, the man behind No Garlic No Onions’ food blog and also one of Souk El Akel’s founders, a weekly street food festival in Beirut. Community kitchens and social initiatives that support small-scale farming communities and help rural women become artisanal food producers are also driving the popularity of this trend. In addition to brands like food blogger No Garlic No Onions that curate and deliver these artisanal delicacies to people’s doorsteps through monthly subscription boxes.

Why it’s interesting: Consumers are already building trust-based, personal relationships with food through farm-to-table restaurants and farmers’ markets. Carlo Ratti Associati’s supermarket of the future suggests that soon this relationship will be formalized in terms of data, and mass-market food consumers and producers will form a similar bond.

Oum Ali, the diva of Souk El Akel’s weekly street food festival, Lebanon

17THE FUTURE 100FOOD + DRINK

18THE FUTURE 100

Photo Credit: Zaaina

In a wellness driven climate where consumers are better-informed and more skeptical, a new ‘holistic’ ideal of beauty is shaping up, marked by a rise in natural ingredients, products and branding.

It used to be that nature-inspired, plant-based, non-synthetic or even organic was a secondary concern or a nice bonus when it came to selecting a beauty product. But today, these concerns are front and center.

BEAUTY

BEAUTY

Edible BeautyAs the lines between beauty and food continue to blur, beauty brands are using superfood ingredients to create products and recipes—a trend that sits within the holistic way consumers now see wellbeing.

The Middle East and North Africa nutraceuticals market will be worth $9.1bn this year, with growth set to accelerate up to 2020, according to a new report from Future Market Insights, reflecting that consumers are becoming more aware that beauty is a result of what goes into the body, as well as what goes onto the skin.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

19THE FUTURE 100BEAUTY

Juice bars have amped up their offerings to include radiance juices for beauty; and the body hydration trend is in full swing, as more people infuse plain water with natural fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices for perfectly toned complexions. Beauty bloggers, like Beauty Arabia, are driving the mantra ‘you are what you eat” further, promoting the beauty

benefits of superfoods and bringing the latest innovation in edible beauty products like Estechoc, the world’s first skin care miracle chocolate bar, which reverses the skin’s natural ageing process to the region.

Why It’s Interesting: People are coming to recognize the connection between the foods they eat and how they look. Food trends continue to influence the beauty sector, from ingredients to terminology. Comptoir 102, vitamin-packed juices

including their ‘Sunscreen’ and ‘Skinglow’ smoothies, UAE

20THE FUTURE 100BEAUTY

21

People are becoming open to new and nuanced touch points as long as it provides a solution – right now.

Moving forward, brands must meet consumers in their moment of need, with useful, faster and more seamless contexts.

THE FUTURE 100

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

RETAIL

RETAIL

22THE FUTURE 100

Eddress, character-coded address system, Lebanon

Avatar AddressesFor years, online retailers have lamented the state of shipping, struggling from the lack of postal codes and street addresses in the region. Today, Arab startups are responding by radically rethinking logistics.

Egyptian startup LocName prompts users to register a short, personalized name to their address details alongside directional coordinates on their app, eliminating the confusion normally propagated by standard Middle East addresses. “Street names can be called a certain thing by residents and something totally different on maps, many people don't even have an address at all, and oral directions are often inaccurate.” says Mourad Alashry, LocName's CEO. The concept, known as ‘reverse geocoding’, also hopes to become a viable solution for e-commerce and delivery services. “We are establishing a plug-in, or a solution for delivery businesses, through which they are able to capture a customer's address accurately, since the address has been validated by us, which ensures that the end result is correct.” Dubai-based Fetchr is also designed to facilitate pickup and delivery logistics in the UAE, by locating a customer’s exact location via their smartphone’s GPS. "Lack of postal addresses is a barrier to e-commerce," confirms Joy Ajlouny and Idriss Alrifai, Fetchr's founders. "There's no mailman, there's no mailboxes, so how does one receive a package?"

This summer, the startup raised $11 million in funding - the largest investment of U.S.-based venture funds in the Middle East for a Series A to date - allowing it to expand its operations across other markets in the region. Similarly priding itself on devising an address system for the digital age, Lebanon’s eddress turns consumers’ addresses into a 6-character code ABC-123 that can be shared with friends or used on e-commerce portals. Why it’s interesting: Even un-sexy industries like logistics that have long seemed immune to change are now getting the slick tech treatment, with huge implications for delivery and e-commerce.

RETAIL

23THE FUTURE 100

Photo Credit: Heather Bonker Photography

Health, diet, beauty, mind, body and fitness, are all now viewed by consumers as one big ecosystem to maintain.

As consumers, we’re investing in wearable tech, athleisure wear, wellness pursuits, mindfulness, buying farm-to-table, seed-to-skin, organic and fermented everything to ensure our continued good health.

HEALTH

HEALTH

24THE FUTURE 100

Workplace Yogi, yoga and meditation sessions for business employees, UAE

Work WellnessCompanies are competing for talent by offering increasingly innovative wellness packages and on-site health perks.

Workplace Yogi (WPY) in the UAE organizes weekly 30-minute office-friendly yoga and meditation sessions for top tier businesses like Adidas and Dell, which Emma Carbery, the founder of Workplace Yogi says, “Can be done without a yoga mat by workers in their regular office clothes using their chairs and desks.” WPY also provides one-on-one assessments for office staff. “They all begin by claiming no health problems but, 10 to 15 minutes into an assessment, headaches, lower back and wrist problems all emerge because of poor desk posture. I teach them how to sit properly, using the strength of their own muscles to support their body weight, and breathing techniques and stretches they can do at their desk.” Recently, schools like Lebanon’s American Community School, (ACS), have started to integrate daily meditation practices as part of their running curriculum. Where on-site wellness is not possible, companies are providing wellness perks and health assessments as part of their packages. TV broadcaster OSN provides staff with eye and auditory tests as well as health screenings for blood pressure and diabetes, with plans to gradually substitute all workstations and chairs with ergonomic designs and the infamous Google office boasts quiet rooms equipped with massage chairs, where calls and emails are forbidden for staff to reclaim their Zen. Why it’s interesting: Corporate wellness programs boost both morale and the bottom line. “Research from the World Economic Forum shows that $1 invested in corporate wellness leads to a $4 return in increased productivity,” Technogym founder Nerio Alessandri told i-D magazine.

HEALTH

25THE FUTURE 100

Photo Credit: Karlfrankowski

In a post demographic world, long-gone are social constructs.

People are increasingly taking charge of their own destiny, crafting out a very personal world that reveals a more authentic side of their personalities, passions and viewpoints.

LIFESTYLE

LIFESTYLE

26THE FUTURE 100

Saudi Girls Revolution game by Na3m, JordanData Source: Wamda; Strategy&

Female GamersThe soar of female gamers is giving rise to new career paths and conventions; women developers and a whole new rhetoric around Arab women. Home to more than 45 million gamers, the Middle East’s gaming sector is growing faster than the global average, expected to nearly triple in size in the coming years – from $1.6 billion in 2014 to $4.4 billion in 2022. Last November, some 3,000 Saudi women attended GCON, an all-female annual convention for women gamers, marking the largest women-centric convention ever in Riyadh’s history. Reine Abbas, Co-founder of Beirut-based Wixel Studio, acknowledges the growing influx of women to the industry, claiming that 35 percent of Wixel Studio gamers are currently women. Video games aren’t just a sport; they’re a cultural movement that’s redefining how we think about content, sports, and entertainment and women developers are working towards bridging the current gap between the predominantly male gaming world and these female players. Saudi game enthusiast Sara Zahran, who designs educational games for a tech company in the Kingdom, is working on a government-backed game to teach women how to drive, hoping it will inspire social change.

Game storylines are being developed around powerful female lead characters, that defy Arab woman stereotypes. The international programmers and video game artists behind Na3m, are launching the ‘Saudi Girls Revolution’ (SGR) game, featuring women behind the wheel, riding high-speed motorcycles and overthrowing villains. “We believe that creative industries can be a leading light for social change. With a series of comics and regularly updated mobile game furthering the story of Saudi Girls Revolution, Na3m hopes to “challenge conventions along the way, and maybe even start a mind revolution.” Why it’s interesting: Younger generations and the user-generated content revolution are creating lucrative new landscapes for reaching consumers, and with that come new celebrities, professions and ambassadors. Brands are already recognizing the power of YouTubers—hit video bloggers such as Ibrahim Saleh and Emkwan—as a means to reach young consumers. Now, online gaming is becoming a lucrative channel.

LIFESTYLE

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Perceptions of luxury are changing, becoming less about the product and more about the experience around the product.

Perhaps the most radical change today is the new face of luxury: the Arab woman. Increasingly sophisticated in her expectations and confidant, brands are expected to work around her and her needs more than ever before.

THE FUTURE 100

Dolce & Gabbana Abaya and Hijab collection:The Allure of the Middle East

LUXURY

LUXURY

28THE FUTURE 100

Bibayti, on demand chefprepared gourmet dining

at home, Lebanon

HyperpersonalizedDining ExperiencesAs luxury experiences become more elaborate, chefs are upping their game, creating personalized details to create more memorable dining experiences.

Food startups like ChefXchange or BiBayti connect foodies with chefs of varying skills, allowing voguish crowds to summon in world-class chefs, top-tier mixologists and other experts at the click of a button, for at-home bespoke dining experiences that rival the most epicurean in town.

“We’ve received recognition and support from Michelin-star chefs [...] who strongly believe ChefXChange will revolutionize the way we eat, as well as reinvent the traditional kitchen,” said Karl Naim, co-founder of the culinary concept. “Our chefs are not only meant to be someone who is cooking in your kitchen, but also someone who is going to create a whole sensorial vibe over dinner.” Stoli’s ‘House Party’ app is another example of a full-service mobile bar for rent, delivered straight to partiers’ doorsteps, along with mixologists and preferred choice of liquor and mixers. Why it’s interesting: Perceptions of Luxury are changing, becoming less about the product and more about the experience around the product. Naim says, “When you read people’s reviews, it’s not the food they’re raving about, but about the experience the chef creates in their kitchen.”

LUXURY

J. WALTER THOMPSON INTELLIGENCE SERVICES

Download your copy of The Future 100 for the MENA at www.jwtmea.com/future1002016

151 - PAGE PDF

141CULTURE THE FUTURE 100

30THE FUTURE 100

About J. Walter Thompson Intelligence MENAThe Innovation Group is part of J. Walter Thompson Intelligence, a platform for global research, innovation and data analytics at J. Walter Thompson Company, housing three key in-house practices: SONAR™, Analytics, and the Innovation Group. SONAR™ is J. Walter Thompson’s research unit that develops and exploits new quantitative and qualitative research techniques to understand cultures, brands, and consumer motivation around the world. It is led by Mark Truss, Worldwide Director of Brand Intelligence. Analytics focuses on the innovative application of data and technology to inform and inspire new marketing solutions. It offers a suite of bespoke analytics tools and is led by Amy Avery, Head of Analytics, North America. Mennah Ibrahim is MENA Director of J. Walter Thompson Intelligence.

About the Innovation Group MENAThe Innovation Group is J. Walter Thompson’s futurism, research and innovation unit. It charts emerging and future trends, consumer change, and innovation patterns—translating these into insight for brands. It offers a suite of consultancy services, including bespoke research, presentations, co-branded reports and workshops. It is also active in innovation, partnering with brands to activate future trends within their framework and execute new products and concepts. Its MENA Director is Mennah Ibrahim. Lucie Greene is Worldwide Director of the Innovation Group.

Cover image:Getty Images

Mennah IbrahimMENA Director of the Innovation Group

[email protected]. Walter Thompson Intelligence

Contact:

Editors:Mennah IbrahimDana El Hassan

Visual Editor: Dana El Hassan

Special thanks to our MENA planners at J. Walter Thompson Casablanca, Hazem Kaddour and Sophia Tazi. J. Walter Thompson Cairo, Amir Adib and Diana George. J. Walter Thompson Riyadh, Rayyan Aoun. And our colleague Roger Boghos at J. Walter Thompson Beirut for the layout and production of this report.