Campaign Middle East’s June issue – The Luxury Edition 2026 – is out now online and on stands. The issue delves into the changing landscape of luxury and how its marketed globally and in the region. It also features the latest TV & Video Guide, alongside a focus on customer experience (CX) and the creator economy.
The Luxury Edition
Bringing in the theme of the month within the pages of the magazine, the cover story of the month tells a tale of how luxury marketing in the Middle East has no space for translated tales, vain visibility or loud launches. Instead, it demands that luxury brands earn their space within communities and culture rather than borrowing belonging based on pure visibility and global association.
The leaders contributing to the feature include: Gaurav Midha, Head of Marketing and Omnichannel, Damas, Ahmed El-Gamal, Executive Director at a luxury hospitality brand, Alix Petit, CEO, The Refreshment Club, Raksha Khimji, Managing Director, Team Red Dot, Rana Zeidan, Regional Business Director – MENA, Wavemaker, a WPP Media Brand, Claire Peach, Media Director, iProspect MENA, Manal Naboulsi, Business Lead, Spark Foundry, Wesam Ayyash, Client Managing Director, EssenceMediacom, and Rusty Beukes, Creative Director, HAVAS Red Middle East.
Diving deeper beyond the looks in this Luxury Edition is one of this month’s In focus feature where industry experts including Porsche’s Manfred Braunl, Guerlain’s Nicola Lavelle and Sweetwater’s Yashaswini Chhaparwala explore why luxury brands must move beyond logos and legacy to build personality through culture, consistency and emotional relevance.
Adding more perspective on the topic, Luxury marketers share their opinion and takes in the form of op-eds, written by Tanishq International’s Aditya Kejriwal, Lamborghini’s Martino Picotti, Unilever’s Manan Gupta, Cadillac Middle East’s Akshaya Singh Sikand, PHD MENA’s Stephanie Medlege, M+C Saatchi’s Lana Bdeir, Bloomberg Media’s Amit Nayak, Publsh’s Sagar Chotrani and Merkle’s Mythreyi Chari.
The section closes out with a curated collection of work from the luxury sphere – ones that tapped into human-led storytelling and cultural resonance to ones that leveraged new technology and AI-generated visuals.
In Focus: CX
The issue also delves into the topic of CX which often suffers from data not translating into decisions and designs that consumers actually interact with, creating a gap and disconnect between what the brand believes it delivers and what consumers actually encounter. In this feature, June Yek, Senior CX Manager, Cheil Middle East, Kushal Desai, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Publsh Media Group, and Nadim Mohanna, Head of Marketing, Communications for European Brands, Stellantis Middle East share how this gap is created and what needs to change to close it.
Experts further contribute op-eds to the topic with RAPP MENA’s Curtis Schmidt sharing why the best way to move forward is to go back to the basics, Union Coop’s Sanjay Patney outlines how CX is a commercial discipline and how to treat it like one, and Enigma’s Goumi. K looks how consumer expectations and digital overstimulation are reshaping customer experience.
In Focus: Creator Economy
This section moves back to digital and focuses on what is one of the quick-growing industry, the Creator Economy. Marketing leaders such as Aishwarya Nambiar, Current Global’s Luanne D’Souza, Sony’s Murat Gebeceli and content creators including Dima Mouselli, Hadeel Marei, share how brand-partnerships can deliver stronger returns without sacrificing reputation, credibility or creative integrity in the Creator Economy Level-Up feature.
Adding to the content creator conversation, Vamp’s Karl Mapstone dives into UGC growth engine while Reach’s Carine Stouhi vouches for the importance of personality. MCN’s Rami Gholmieh and WPP Media MENA’s Minaam Khatri take a took at how the landscape is maturing and what’s the real ROI.
The magazine classics
The magazine’s regular sections, Brand Focus, Saudi Focus and Industry Forum cover themes beyond the main topics – seeing the common theme of balance: Performance and brand, AI and Human, and the answers from Industry Forum.
This month’s Brand Focus sees Mashreq’s Asih Wulansari took at the balance between performance and brand awareness while Equiti’s Chantelle Johnson explains why marketers need to begin considering things that were never previously part of their key performance indicators.
Adding onto the brand conversation in Saudi Focus, Waqas Amin looks at the need for human judgement in the era of AI-driven marketing and Khyal Event’s Fawziah Alalami emphasises the need for meaningful experiences in Saudi.
Finally, tipping the real line of balance, answers for this month’s Industry Forum question were truly divided. Industry experts answered if regional marketing and advertising was more brand-led or campaign-led and the opinions were divided between brands and agencies.
TV and Video Guide 2026
Finally, the TV and Video Guide 2026 acts as a one-of-a-kind, all-information-in-one, hands-on guide on all TV Channels and OTT/Streaming Video providers in the region. The guide also include opinions and insights from industry experts such as MMS’s Ronald Sawaya, MIS Gulf’s Marwan Kai, Zee’s Tanvi Aggarwal and IAS Media’s Prasad Amin who explore the effectiveness, endurance and fragmentation of the medium.
Read the complete guide and the Luxury Edition below or here.
