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From the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf and from Iraq all the way down to Yemen, Saudi Arabia is a massive expanse of land at the heart of the GCC, geographically, spiritually, and – as it’s turned out over the last 20 years – commercially. With a population of over 28 million people and the largest concentration of youths in the GCC, the kingdom is an oasis – albeit a slightly mysterious one – to regional advertisers.

Up until the nineties, there was not much advertising to speak of in Saudi Arabia; only the big multinational agencies were based in Jeddah, catering to international megabrands. As for ad spend, it was limited to local media, while the work itself came from the in-house creative departments of local companies who felt they did not need advertising agencies to tap into a market they already knew well.

Fast forward to 2009, and the sands have shifted in Saudi Arabia. There’s external change in the form of the crisis, internal movement of the industry between the kingdom’s two most important cities, and a shift in attitude which has led to a surge in local talent and creativity. So what’s really happening on the Saudi advertising scene?

With a country so notoriously private and shrouded in mystery that even those on the ground find it difficult to peg a local profile, it can prove tough to examine the goings on in Saudi Arabia. But its importance in size, money, and influence makes it impossible to ignore.

RIYADH RELOCATION. For years, Jeddah was the kingdom’s preferred destination for advertising agencies and clients alike. Geographically, its location by the Red Sea made it the most attractive pied a terre, while culturally it was always the more liberal city in Saudi Arabia, relatively speaking. But Gene Bou Nacklie, managing director of Drive Communications – the only Saudi regional network with offices in Dubai, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Turkey – says Jeddah has now lost its luster.

“I’ve been in Saudi Arabia for about 15 years, so I know it quite well,” he says. “Jeddah has reached saturation level over the last few years. The new guys coming in are mostly going to Riyadh, so the pitches that are happening in Jeddah are mostly from people who just want to change agencies. “

Riyadh, home to government bodies and a more conservative way of life, had been almost entirely passed over when advertising blossomed in the kingdom, says Bishara Ghawi, vice president of Team Young & Rubicam. “Today, most major agencies have offices in both cities,” he concedes. “However, Riyadh is likely to replace Jeddah as the kingdom’s true advertising hub.” The city’s thunder-stealing may have a lot to do with the telecom revolution in Saudi Arabia, which created an unprecedented boom in ad spend. The big service providers (STC, Mobily, Zain) are all based in Riyadh, and so the agencies followed.

Georges Barsoum, managing director of Leo Burnett in Jeddah, isn’t quite as polarized in the Riyadh versus Jeddah debate; rather, he believes both cities play a vital role in the local economic scene. “Riyadh is the capital, and therefore is a center for the public [TK services TK] and other big companies and banks,” he says. “Jeddah is more private sector-oriented due to its commercial history on the Red Sea.”

TALENT SHOWS. In fact, far from being forsaken, Jeddah still has one up on Riyadh according to Marwan Qutub, general manager of 3 Points Advertising, a Saudi full-fledged ad agency with offices in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dubai.

“There is a flow of graduates coming from Jeddah,” he explains. “Because that is where colleges opened room for females to study graphic design and communications and so on, and the quality of these graduates is very impressive. So you might find that a lot of agencies keep a big Jeddah office as a support for the Riyadh office, because it’s easier to find talent in Jeddah than in Riyadh.”

A flow of graduates there may be, but that does not necessarily guarantee adequate talent; well-qualified does not automatically mean able. In a uniquely challenging environment such as Saudi Arabia, companies require a high skill set, or at least a strong aptitude, more than in most markets. Barsoum says that it always takes time to discover, train, and groom talent for it to blossom to its full potential, but in Saudi it’s even more difficult because it is harder to attract young expat talent, and it is hard to find the Saudi talents who want to work in the field – and who are academically trained to go into the creative field.

“But we’ve made it our mission to discover and groom Saudi talents,” he says of Leo Burnett. “Today, almost half of our account management and creative teams in Jeddah are Saudi, and the Jeddah office creative director is Saudi.”

Ghawi believes that these Saudi advertising professionals are essential recruits in the effort to help companies identify the local habits and traditions in a highly sensitive marketplace, and says that, thanks to the developing advertising community, the caliber of candidates is gradually improving. “The profession has started attracting Saudi youth who, together with the experience of expats, form a great team to develop the industry,” he says. “Nowadays there are Saudi universities offering advertising degrees such as Dar Al Hekma College and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Jeddah. The Kingdom has a long way to go to reach international advertising standards, but the momentum is picking up and improving constantly.”

Having the ambition and desire to hire locally – as well as recognizing the benefits of local market knowledge – is admirable, and the growing maturity of the local industry is welcome. But most agencies would concede that, for the moment, it is often still necessary to recruit from across the region.

“Talent has always been, and still is, probably the biggest challenge in Saudi Arabia,” says Bou Nacklie. “We really only hire a person if he is the right fit. We’ll look at a lot of CVs, interview 15 people, and only get one fit. We go all the way to Lebanon, Dubai and around here to hire people, because it’s especially difficult trying to find local talent, even more so than finding Arab talent.”

Unfortunately, these regional resources, as well as providing a talent pool, also create one of the biggest problems for Saudi Arabian agencies. Aboud Shami, group managing director of Impact BBDO in Jeddah, explains that, when a company finds talented staff – whether from inside or outside Saudi Arabia – the challenge becomes keeping it functional. “It’s tough to keep talent efficient and happy to be in Saudi, and not salivating to be in Dubai or Abu Dhabi,” he says. “People think the grass is greener over there.”

A CREATIVE QUESTION. Creativity is another hot topic in Saudi Arabia, one that is perceived as constrained by the local culture and religious mores, Qutub from 3 Points Advertising says that employing staff from the country helps navigate the creative dilemma. “For us, creativity is never a challenge because we come from the culture,” he explains. “What is viewed as restrictions by others is natural to us. We know that we will never – whether our culture allows it or not – use what we view as unethical approaches to advertising. I think the restrictions are blown out of proportion, and I don’t see them as limiting.”

Qutub adds that the bigger picture is a problem with the overall “low” level of creative work in the region, which he says has to do with complacency.

“I blame clients, and I blame agencies for not being strong enough to stand for their views and trying to sell more creative ideas to their clients,” explains Qutub. “If the client is not pushing me to be creative, why should I be creative myself? We have so many ideas that we would love to see come to life, but the client goes with the safe option. But now, some clients are getting out of their comfort zone and being pushed to be gutsier in their advertising because of the competition.”

The creative challenges experienced by marketers in the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia, were explored by Communicate in last month’s issue (see “Playing it safe,” page 44, Communicate, Oct. 2009).

At Drive Communications, Bou Nacklie says they have set up an internal research department that helps quell the creativity problem. “If I am really creative, I should be able to find a solution,” he says. “To do this, you have to really have that mindset and resources. Having a research department helps a lot, because you can do dipstick research; it gives us consumer insights which help us develop strategies, to make sure we understand the consumer and make sure the ideas will hit a chord. Having a research department ensures that we have the right foundations.”

The shifting sands of the Saudi advertising industry are slowly but surely moving towards stronger foundations and more professionalism and creativity. The important and wealthy market – both financially and demographically – of Saudi Arabia is slowly but surely opening up; will it unveil that elusive Saudi consumer profile which advertisers in the region are forever seeking?
 

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