“Do you want an honest answer?” asks Louai Alasfahani, managing director of Kuwait-based Paragon Marketing Communications when we enquire about the most significant events in Kuwaiti advertising last year.
 
“We’re really not blessed in terms of workshops and seminars,” he says. “So, the honest answer is that the most significant events were the Ramadan banquets.”
 
Kuwait’s advertising and marketing business is rife with deals that are, he says, less than crystal clear. “Transparency was not, is not and never will be implemented in Kuwait. This kind of wheeling and dealing always goes on,” he says. “You know what WWW stands for? It’s not the World Wide Web. It’s Women, Whisky and Wasta. And that’s how you win business in Kuwait.”
 
Having given the matter a little more consideration, Alasfahani admits there were some positive developments in Kuwait this year. Two awards shows for a start. One regional – the Kuwait Arab Advertising Awards – and one local (Kuwait Rewards Excellence in Advertising).
 
Alasfahani is less than complimentary about KREA in which – from a total of 26 agencies participating, 22 ended up winning something. “Sure, this shows it can’t be political,” he says – sarcasm heavily apparent. “The level of advertising agencies in Kuwait is superb.
 
“They wanted everybody happy,” he continues. “And the four agencies that didn’t win were not advertisers in Arab Ad [who organized the awards]. Just so you don’t think I’m a sore loser, we weren’t one of those four.”
 
KAAA, he says, was more promising, with “no hidden agenda.”
 
CASH COW. Ethics may be somewhat lacking, but ad dollars aren’t. Like the majority of Kuwait’s business sectors, the ad industry is in robust financial health.
 
“2007 was our best year so far,” says Alasfahani. “For Paragon, we’ve almost doubled our profits year-on-year. And other agencies are doing well too, thanks especially to the growth in real estate and the financial sector. It’s looking very healthy in terms of revenue.”
 
The two biggest accounts up for grabs this year, Alasfahani says, were Ikea (won from Horizon FCB by Memac Ogilvy) and Bubiyan Bank (won from Paragon by a combination of Saatchi & Saatchi, Blu Grey and the consultancy that was appointed to handle the pitch).
 
And the increase in advertising revenue has meant a – smaller – increase in creativity, too. “It’s a pleasant surprise. I think the spirit of competition has helped better work be produced,” he says. “They’ve reduced the use of copycat ads and pirated stock images, which were a trend a year or so back.”
 
The awards shows helped too, as did the Dubai Lynx Awards. “Lynx was like the icing on the cake after the KREA and KAAA awards,” says Alasfahani. “It really got the creative juices flowing. We were shortlisted for two awards and four other agencies from Kuwait got shortlisted too. So that made the competition between our creative departments much more fierce. And that’s to the benefit of both agencies and clients.”
 
And with the Lynx being extended into the three-day Dubai International Advertising Festival this year, Alasfahani is looking forward to another opportunity to interact with peers from around the world. “You can’t miss these things. It’s a way of gaining experience,” he says. “But on the other hand I feel a bit like the poor cousin. Why do I always have to leave my family and my business to travel to Dubai? I don’t mind occasionally, but everything is in Dubai? I mean, Goddamit, have something in Kuwait.”