“In Saudi Arabia, the approach to digital is still pretty much centered on banners; we still haven’t gotten into activation,” Mazen Fakhoury, general manager of Mindshare MENA in Jeddah, told Communicate a few months ago (see “Saudi survival,” page 28, Communicate, Nov. 2009).
Khaled Kafarsoussa, managing director of Promoaction DDB in Riyadh, agrees that the Saudi market is “not very mature” in terms of activation and consumer engagement through digital, but that the medium is gradually becoming a way of life. “Digital is the future,” says Kafarsoussa. “It’s going to be the No. 1 medium, and everybody is aware of that. But how will it materialize? We don’t know yet. People are still premature in their execution.”
It may seem that there isn’t much action in Saudi digital advertising and that what is happening is archaic, but Elias Boutsikaris, digital media manager at Starcom MediaVest Group in Dubai, says there’s more than meets the eye. “What’s going on on the Saudi digital front? What’s not going on is the question,” he says. “In the past, the Saudi market was driven by television, but now a lot of television content is also being offered online. Also, with Facebook and Google launching Arabic interfaces, it gets people more excited and enthusiastic. So all these little bits are coming together and forming a critical mass now, and it’s all coming to a head. The interest in digital is not going away; you can’t ignore it, especially if you’re targeting massive segments like youth or women.”
TAKING THE LEAD. Among those venturing into the digital advertising scene in Saudi Arabia is Sony, a client of OMD’s in Riyadh. Rima Nakhala, a digital executive at OMD in Riyadh, says Sony, like other clients, began expressing interest in online advertising last year, and is looking to expand further throughout 2010. “Most of our clients are going towards digital now,” says Nakhala. “Some clients are even looking to online as their main media for campaigns, and have them supported by traditional media. This is quite interesting in Saudi Arabia, as usually traditional media campaigns are supported by online. “
Augustine Abilash, senior account manager at Promoaction DDB in Riyadh, which handles Sony’s creative account, says the tech firm has indeed been active – albeit mainly through banners – since last year on portals including Maktoob and Koora (a fantasy football and sports news Web site), and wants to focus on more online activity in 2010. “We don’t want to just do normal ads and banners, and we’re finalizing a social media plan,” says Abilash. “We need experts to advise us on what to do with social media, so that in turn we can really convince clients to go with engagement-type online proposals.”
Boutsikaris says some clients have run more interactive online campaigns in Saudi Arabia, particularly during Ramadan, including a rice brand, Walima Punjabi Rice, which offered recipes online. “The response was phenomenal, and we had exceptional click through rates, almost four times more than the industry average for the region,” says Boutsikaris. “It shows that there are women out there heading up their households who are looking for that kind of information.” The rest of the year, Boutsikaris says, discussion forums are where Saudis are most digitally active. But, he says, engaging consumers online is not yet common practice in the kingdom.
BEYOND THE BANNER. “It’s our responsibility as agencies and as media people to push engagement forward, and to show that there are other ways to reach consumers online than banners,” says Boutsikaris. “I think education is a big part of it, and it is up to us to educate clients, and make them aware that this is a viable and intriguing option to get into.”
However, although awareness of online advertising increasingly quickly, the kingdom hasn’t seen the arrival of many independent online advertising agencies. Digital work is mostly executed by traditional advertising agencies, which are increasingly setting up digital departments. Some work is done in Saudi Arabia, while other jobs are outsourced to Dubai and Egypt according to Nakhala and Kafarsoussa. “There are no independent agencies in Saudi Arabia,” says Kafarsoussa. “Everybody is hiring digital expertise. Some clients are even asking for digital copywriters; that’s how specific it’s become.”
With competence comes confidence, and Boutsikaris says the talent that is being hired helps digital work advance further. “I think the fact that some of the marketing guys that are hired are getting younger and younger always helps,” he says. “Digital is no longer a big black scary box.” He adds that the days of talking about the potential and opportunities that lie within the digital industry are numbered. “It’s about the potential being realized now, and it’s just up to people to make decisions. We need to get clients away from the harrowing idea that digital is a techie-specific medium. Years ago, you had clients calling saying they wanted to buy Google entirely to advertise. But now, people realize it’s not a case of having to go big, it’s about picking where you fit and how to use it best. This is becoming clear to Saudi clients; they need to commit, and it takes a bit of faith. That’s what we’re here for.”
Print
E-mail
RSS Feeds
Add Comment
No Comments So Far
Post new comment