MIDDLE EAST
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Advertising/Marketing/Media/Public Relations www.mediaw.mediawmediaweekme.ceeekmkmee.cocoomm Issue 0034 07 June 2009
CREATIVITY NINE MEDIA THE HUMAN
CANNED HANGOUTS TOUCH
Creatives have long Empty by day, full How Universal Media’s
held the belief that at night. We present ‘walking banners’
regional clients crush the venues where the helped launch Garnier
creativity. We find out if industry illuminati go Skin Naturals
that’s true when work’s over WASTA LA VISTA, BABY
p12 p166 p19
US firm
Media spend in eyes stake
THE CONCEPT of wasta—the Arabic term for ‘influence’, most
in JiWin
DUBAI Public affairs consul- UAE to fall 40%
tancy APCO Worldwide is in
talks to buy a stake in Dubai Market expected to decline further after relatively modest first quarter drop commonly used within the business or political spheres—can be
government-owned PR agency
JiWin, Media Week can reveal. By PAUL McLENNAN agrees a 40 per cent drop in
Talks between the two and CHARLIE NEYRA measured media spend for the
firms are believed to have UAE Media spend is expected UAE is a realistic prediction.
been ongoing for months, al- to drop further this year, with He says, “The drop will mainly somewhat puzzling to newcomers to the region. Several people I have
though for legal reasons nei- the total decline on last year’s be seen in the print sector. We
ther party will comment. figures likely to be in the re- only started to monitor out-
However, well-placed sourc- gion of 40 per cent. of-home in June last year so
es confirm that a deal is on the Avi Bhojani (pictured), we cannot compare Q1 2008
table, but cannot specify what group chief executive of with Q1 2009. It is doing OK
spoken to see it as some kind exotic, unknowable art that will remain percentage stake is under ne- BPG, predicts that the situa- and there are a lot of outdoor
gotiation. tion will worsen after the first campaigns, although real es-
APCO Worldwide is private- quarter of the 2009, when the tate has suffered.”
ly owned and has 29 offices industry—excluding outdoor Despite the gloomy pre-
worldwide in locations such advertising—saw a 19.2 per dictions, Alex Saber, chief
as Washington, London and cent drop. operating officer of Publicis forever foreign.
Dubai. The group’s Tel Aviv of- “Measured media spend Groupe Media, believes that
fice deals with “government in the UAE will decline by 30 of about 20 to 25 per cent. This on 2008. I’m happy with that. Ramadan will mark a change
relations and Israel-related to 40 per cent this year,” says is based on what we’re seeing A lot of companies are looking in fortunes. He says, “We are
policy issues”. Bhojani. “The outdoor sector in the business.” at a 40 to 50 per cent drop.” expecting Ramadan and post-
JiWin is part of the Media will be much worse hit, as will He adds, “[BPG] will see Elie Aoun, chief operating Ramadan there will be a slight But the idea that JiWin, Dubai’s government-owned PR company,
Services Group, which ulti- magazines and newspapers. a single-digit decline [in officer of Ipsos MENA—which upward trend. We are a bit
mately comes under the con- Pan-Arab, you’ll see a decline revenues]—6 to 8 per cent— measures media spend— more optimistic.”
trol of the government-owned
Dubai Holding.
The PR firm works for Dubai Brun blames exit on ‘management clash’
could be partially sold to a US public affairs group (which has,
Holding companies including
Dubai International Capital, DUBAI Former Khaleej Times revamp by the newspaper’s needs to be done with the
Tecom Investments, Dubai chief exec Didier Brun has parent company, Galadari business.”
Media City and Sama Dubai. told Media Week he was laid Brothers Group. The now-defunct board was
Non-government clients in- off after a clash with the new “The Khaleej Times board appointed after the Invest-
clude Coca-Cola and du. management team over how was dismantled a month and ment Corporation of Dubai incidentally, a very interesting list of clients on its books) throws a
the paper should be run. a half ago and since then there took a 30 per cent stake in the
Brun was brought in to over- has been a change in power,” paper last year.
see a relaunch of the Dubai- says Brun. “Now it’s back with Rajesh Thapar, CEO of Gala-
based daily broadsheet last the Galadari side and they dari Brothers Group, could not
year, but was sacked after the have a different view on what be reached for comment. different light on this. Can you ‘buy’ wasta?
APCO Worldwide, the US firm in question, clearly hopes so. For
www.flipcorp.com
a casual viewing of JiWin’s website reveals a lot of ‘red ticks’ on the
client page. These ticks are the brand logo of Dubai Holding, the state-
owned conglomerate that the PR company itself is part of. Working
Editorial with JiWin means working with them.
Editor Ben Flanagan
But while this proposed deal would mean immediate access to some
ben.flanagan@engworldwide.com
of the business world’s most powerful local players, let’s not forget the
Deputy editor Adam Grundey
efforts of foreign PR firms that have not taken such shortcuts.
adam.grundey@engworldwide.com
News editor Paul McLennan
Take London-based Finsbury, which has recently been awarded
paul.mclennan@engworldwide.com
the contract to work on Dubai’s reputation in the global markets.
News writer Charlie Neyra
Founder Roland Rudd flew out to the UAE earlier this month, where
charlie.neyra@engworldwide.com
Senior sub-editor Sarah Harvey
he is rumoured to have met other potential clients (including one
sarah.harvey@engworldwide.com rather weighty Abu Dhabi conglomerate); he clearly has a fair bit of
Sub-editor Chloe Barrow
wasta of his own.
chloe.barrow@engworldwide.com
Other PR companies—notably Hill & Knowlton and
Creative
M:Communications—also have contracts with government and part
Head of design Roy Cruz state-owned firms, and I was told earlier this year that Dubai is set to
roy.cruz@engworldwide.com
tender other PR contracts to deal with the emirate’s flagging tourism
Senior designer Freddie Colinares
and property sectors. Shortcuts or not, this will see many further
freddie.colinares@engworldwide.com
Senior designer Sherwin Darilag
opportunities for foreign PR firms. For it seems that wasta is not that
sherwin.darilag@engworldwide.com exotic after all.
Designer Ali Arellano
Designer Maricel Poso
Head of photography Mosh Lafuente
Production
Production manager Maher Mahbouby
maher.mahbouby@engworldwide.com
Senior production executive Issam Ghanem p04 p09 p11
issam.ghanem@engworldwide.com
Production executive Sadish Kottodi
sadish.kottodi@engworldwide.com
Circulation
Circulation manager John Jose
john.jose@engworldwide.com
Marketing
Marketing manager Shaik Shibli
shaik.shibli@engworldwide.com
Management
Group editor Graham Stacey
Publishing director Mike Orlov
Managing director Neil Petch p12 p18
Group CEO Rehan Merchant
Chairman Hanif Merchant
p16
p21
The Publisher does not accept any liability for errors or
inaccuracies contained in this publication, however caused.
The views and opinions expressed are not necessarily those
of the Publisher. Information contained in this publication
is intended for general use and readers are advised to seek
specialist information before acting upon any information
enclosed herein. No part of this publication or any part of
its contents may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form,
without the express permission of the Publisher in writing.
The only exemption to this is for extracts used for the
purpose of fair review.
Published by
FUJAIRAH FZCO
part of ENG Media, a division of
Emirates Neon Group Company
p22
p25
23rd Floor, Al Attar Business Tower, Sheikh Zayed Road
P.O. Box 6203, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel +971 04 3317822, Fax +971 04 3317823
www.engworldwide.com
NEWS 04 PLANNING WEEK 19
© 2009
Registered in Creative City, operated by Fujairah Media OPINION 11 AD SHOWCASE 21
Controlled Distribution Blue Truck
Printed by Al Ghurair Printing Press FEATURE 12 PEOPLE 25
BPA Applied for September 2008
THE NINE 16 THE BLOTTER 26
DIGITAL WEEK 18
07 JUNE 2009 / 03
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