MIDDLE EAST
THE BLOTTER
TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN… OH, WAIT FORUM FACTS
“I spotted this monstrosity on adblogarabia this week,” writes our Bahrain correspondent, “Arab Media Forum, held under the slogan ‘Arab Media: Weathering a
talking about the Emami Mentho Plus Pain Balm ad (pictured below). “WTF? It seems the Period of Change and Crisis’ will include a number of workshops and
team at PerceptGulf has watched How to Get Ahead in Advertising, which is a good thing. Not sessions,” we learnt this week, “featuring eminent experts who will
so good is the fact that they’ve mistaken it for a training video, instead of a satire pointing debate some of the vital issues that concern the media in the region
out how evil their industry is.” in the present circumstances.”
Those “vital issues”, Media Week can reveal, include:
Where are the hors d’oeuvres? Call this a press conference?
What’s another term for ‘credit crunch’?
When can we expense lunches again?
If we print your “Financial Downturn is Over” story and you go
bankrupt next week, you still have to pay for the cover wrap, right?
PUTTING THE ‘SPECIALPECIAL’ IN SPECIAL K IN SPECIAL K
It’s not like we havveen’t seenn’t seen
clunky Pho-
toshopping in
print advertising
before, but this
one stood out
because—unlike
the majority of
clumsily chopped
ads—it’s by a mul-
tinational agency
for a multinationall
brand. And yet the
model looks like
she’s wearing a
helmet, thanks to thethe
sensitive touch of thethe
‘artiste’ responsiblle e
for cutting round herher
hair, while the shadowdow
manages to break
several laws of physicsysics
simultaneously.
We have an explana-ana-
tion, though. The adad
only got into print byby
accident. It was, in f fact, a
showcase for the rrececent
Trend Talk on advertiertis-s-
ing in a downturn, designed to show the benefits
of getting kindergarten students—preferably ‘slow’ kindergarten
students—to create ads for free.
TOO MANY CHIEFS…
Mazen Hayek, the PR honcho at MBC group, shouted excitedly at
Media Week from the other side of his office the other day. “Obama!”
he explained. “Has! 13! Job! Titles!” Really? “Yes: President, com-
mander-in-chief, public diplomat-in-chief, communicator-in-chief,
economist-in-chief, car salesman-in-chief, doctor-in-chief, dad-in-
SPOILER ALERT
chief, healer-in-chief, apologiser-in-chief, spy-in-chief, inspirator-
Last week saw a cocktail reception being held in France 24’s honour at the Abu Dhabi resi-
in-chief,” and—wait for it—“seductor-in-chief”. It had been a very
dence of the French ambassador. Incredibly, a certain confectionery company failed to take
long day.
advantage of the obvious opportunity to “spoil” his guests.
SEPARATED AT BIRTH?
RIGHT ROYAL SHOCKER!!!
We have, on occasion, been a little mean about the
regional PR industry. So it’s only fair that we praise
it when it does things right (this, then, will be the
last such piece for a couple of years). So kudos to
Royal Jet, which cancelled its press conference at
last week’s Arabian Travel Market because, report-
edly, the company had “nothing to say”.
A PIECE FEATURING ‘WOODY’ AND ‘PECKER’
BUT NO DOUBLE ENTENDRES
In further ATM news, the Dubailand stall was appar-
ently graced by a man-size mascot of Woody Wood-
pecker. Woody is described on Wikipedia as “a brash,
violent aggressor who pesters innocents not out of
self-defence, but simply for the fun of it.” Which,
appropriately, is the dominant theme in all school
JOSEPH GHOSSOUB MARTIN JOL
outings to theme parks.
president and CEO of Former Spurs manager,
The Holding Group now at Hamburger SV
A Dubailand spokesperson, yesterday
30 / 10 MAY 2009 www.mediaweekme.com
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32