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Why authenticity beats virality as the new communications currency

NNC's Huda Ismail shares her thoughts on how communicating to audiences in the UAE with authenticity beats virality.

viralityHuda Ismail, Head of PR at NNC.

For years, “going viral” has been the holy grail of marketing and PR in the Middle East. Brands dream of that one moment when a post explodes, hashtags trend, and everyone’s talking.

But in 2025, in a market as sophisticated, diverse, and digitally savvy as the UAE, we must ask ourselves: are we chasing the right thing?

Virality, as many of us have learned the hard way, is fleeting. It can earn a campaign a few headlines and a burst of engagement, but it rarely builds long-term affinity or brand equity. Worse, when overplayed, it can feel contrived, eroding the very trust we need to connect with our audiences.

Authenticity, on the other hand, has become the real currency of modern


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Shantelle Nagarajan is Campaign Middle East’s Junior Reporter who covers marketing news which focuses on FMCG, real estate and brand retail industries. Her features delve into brand strategy, appointments, trends in consumer behaviour and CX. Shantelle also contributes to social media coverage, editorial event programming and print content work. She previously worked in PR and marketing, most recently at Edelman, where she was part of the Brand team. When she’s not writing for her day job, you can find her with her nose buried in a book, playing at a weekly open mic night or doom-scrolling the latest make-up challenges on TikTok.