MIDDLE EAST
THE NINE 15
21 December 2008
5
Doha has an ad industry
Dubai is so used to hailing itself as the regional creative hub that it came as
something of a shock when FP7 Doha stormed the Dubai Lynx awards this
6
Regional creativity’s not that bad… sort of
The Lynx Awards were—on the whole—a great success. Some of
the shortlisted work was excellent. And the judges—most of whom
year. OK, so JWT Dubai still won Agency of the Year, but the Doha agency came in had done their fair share of international jury duty—praised many of the
second, having been practically unknown three days earlier before the shortlists print and TV entries. Jury president Christoph Becker said the TV Grand
were announced. Having picked up the Print Grand Prix for its “Back Home” ad for Prix winner (Leo Burnett Cairo’s Melody Tunes campaign) could win “any-
EA Games’ Medal of Honour, the agency went on to win two Golds and a Silver at where in the world”. The Middle East went on to have its best ever year at
Cannes. Who knew? Cannes, winning five Lions.
However. While print and TV ads (at least for the award shows) might
be touching international standards, the Lynx juries couldn’t manage to
find a deserving Grand Prix winner for Radio, Interactive or Integrated.
Which is a shame. If we’re being nice. Or, if we’re not, a bit of an embar-
rassment. What it isn’t, is a surprise. None of those sectors inspire much
awe in consumers here. The more troubling thing is that the entries in
those sectors are more indicative of the standard of day-to-day adver-
tising in the region than any of the ads we saw on display in the print
shortlist. Agencies have shown that they can produce great creative work.
Now they need to do it all year round.

7
Don’t judge a newspaper by its cover
UAE media in 2008 was dominated by the launch of The National, Abu
Dhabi’s English-language daily. With an editorial team headed up by ex-
Telegraph editor, Martin Newland, hopes that the paper might push the bounda-
ries of regional journalism appeared to have been dashed before the launch, when
a Newland memo stressing that The National wasn’t here to “fight for
preesss frs freedeedom” was leaked. Ensuing conversation
on oon the blthe blogogosphere damned the paper as a failure
beforee it had e it h ven come out.
And, atAnd, at first glance, the cynics appeared to be
rigright. The firht. The st few front pages—though beautifully
desddesigned—wigned ere generally dedicated to puff pieces
aboaabout Abu Dhabi’ut A s rich cultural heritage, or some
ssucsuch fh faawning. How wever, the content has—over
timttime—pre—p oven to be worth reading. The paper’s
nnoww seen as a suc se cess by the great majority in
thetthe UAE’ UA s marketing and media industry. Not
jjust coommercially, but journalistically. Other
papppaperers have been forced to up their game.
WhWhich brings us to the Khaleej Times and
its autumn ritsi a elaunch. Having borrowed heavily
frf om om The National (and, therefore, from The
GuGGuara dian) in its redesign, the paper might
have tricked readers into thinking it had
upuupped its editorial game accordingly.
IIt hasn’t.
8
Don’t get your Noors in a twist
This year’s regional TV phenomenon was a racy Turkish soap called
Noor, which crushed all competition, becoming a genuine ‘water-
cooler’ show and helping its parent channel, MBC 1, hoover up 41 per cent
of Saudi viewership during Ramadan. It also proved that regional consum-
9
Don’t play God
ers are perfectly happy to watch regionally produced shows—rather than
It’s advice that doc-
international imports—as long as they’re up to international standards.
tors and scientists
Or, at least, not the kind of rickety-set, shaky-camera, amateur-dramatic
hear all the time. Less so
style production that makes up most Arabic TV.
radio DJs. But, thanks to
Noor’s sexy stars set pulses racing, but sometimes from anger, rather
ex-Virgin unintentional
than arousal. Some authority figures were concerned that the show
shock jock Revin John, it
represented further evidence of Western culture’s encroachment on tradi-
bears repeating here. If you
tional values. Which is why it’s important not to get Noor confused with
do feel the urge to pretend
Noor—the Dubai-based TV channel, launched this year by AMG, which—
to be someone authorita-
focusing as it does on religious talk shows—carries altogether more staid
tive on air, there are many,
fare. And doesn’t generate many water-cooler moments.
many wiser choices than
the Almighty. Hitler, for
example, is always ripe for
comedy (“Und now, Queen,
mit ‘Ve Vill Rock You’”).
Or anyone, really. Anyone.
Any lessons we’ve missed? Drop us a line. The best responses will be
Except God.
published in the next issue.
Email: ben.flanagan@engworldwide.com
www.mediaweekme.com
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