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“We are in a crisis that is affecting everything we have believed in for the past 25 years, especially in [Saudi Arabia]. Every day we have a surprise, clients cutting budgets, changing the course of the way they work; to tell you the truth, there’s been nothing positive for the past eight or nine months.”

Aboud Shami, CEO of Impact BBDO in Jeddah, hardly minces his words about a crisis he says has changed consumers, clients and agencies alike, and will determine the winners from the losers. “No one expected the consumer to change so drastically,” he explains. “The mantra is reduce reduce reduce, reuse, recycle, anything to save money. Who said Saudis have money to spend? We went through a different crisis here; they were little battles that got us here, starting with the capital market crisis that started a couple of years ago, immediately followed by a worldwide crisis. So there is a different profile of a consumer reaction to communication, how he analyses it in his psyche, and what drives him to do or not do. “

Shami adds that since consumers and clients have changed, agencies have had to follow through and become stronger partners to their clients. “I can’t tell you how difficult it is for agencies who have been working in a certain style for 30 years, who now have to change fairly quickly to adapt quickly to the crisis,” he says.

Marwan Qutub, general manager of 3 Points Advertising thinks, the crisis becomes an opportunity for those who still can invest in advertising, and that the crisis has been very sector specific. “The mega real estate development sector has been affected majorly, and I can safely say that this sector is almost close to dormant,” he says. “But to our benefit in Saudi Arabia, the real estate boom was just about to start, and the sector doesn’t represent a major percentage of overall ad spend. Otherwise it’s been business as usual for sectors like the FMCG sector.”

Bishara Ghawi, vice president of Team Young & Rubicam, says the ongoing changes are being accepted quicker at the client level than at the agency level, and that that has created a disconnect. “Advertising isn’t about us versus them anymore, it is about us and them,” he says. “it isn’t enough to keep our own business needs in mind, but to see each and every action through our clients’ eyes, with two objectives: increase their exposure and profitability.”

Shami stresses that these tough times will make every advertising industry professional accountable for his work, and that the days of “babying” are over. He says the driving forces of communication today are on television, including Unilever and Procter & Gamble, and three major telecom companies using outdoor advertising, while he says the banking sector may start moving in 2010.

“But in my opinion,” he says, “I don’t want to put words in the mouths of others. I think we’re looking at a bleaker 2010 compared to 2009.”

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