Campaign Middle East’s latest issue is now out on stands and available online. In this issue, Campaign Middle East offers heads of brand, marketers, and agency leaders the opportunity to share an honest take on whether the industry is ‘doing’ as much as it is ‘talking’ about sustainability, purpose-driven marketing, and ethical business practices across the wider brand and marketing landscape.
Despite mandated ESG requirements, the transition to a sustainable world doesn’t seem to be going according to plan. According to a Bain & Company report, many companies that shared boundless excitement a few years ago are reportedly reassessing, adjusting and – in some cases – retracting their sustainability commitments.
Industry leaders have spoken to Campaign Middle East about how annual conversations on sustainability and ethical marketing are getting pigeon-holed as just that – mere conversations.
Has the time come to draw a line in the sand, assess where we stand in terms of our sustainability objectives and ethical goals, and re-evaluate a year from now to see how far the needle has moved?
On one hand, consumer demand has soared to an all-time high for brands to demonstrate trust and transparency, and to highlight how they’re adding value to the world, solving real problems and becoming socially and environmentally conscious.
On the other hand, marketers and agency leaders with decades of experience are raising some interesting questions: Are we being honest about the use of AI in campaigns and marketing initiatives? Are we being honest about environmental claims? Do we need to address a say-do gap in our ‘green’ campaigns?
Leaders including Al Masaood’s Marwa Kaabour, Do Epic Good’s Charney Magri, Carat MENA’s Sophie Macleod, Conscious Media’s Andy Powell, Impact BBDO’s Ali Rez, WonderEight’s Walid Nasrala, MCN’s Andrej Arsenijevic, and Watermelon Communications’ Pradeep Kumar share their honest takes on sustainability.
On the topic of ethical marketing, Campaign Middle East spoke to several leaders, including Think/Big Consulting’s Asmaa Quorrich, Toughlove Advisors’ Khaled Ismail, Das Kapital’s Ramsey Naja, The Romans’ Joe Lipscombe, Leo Burnett ME’s Muhammad Ali, Havas Media Middle East’s Naveen Chacko Mathews, and Expo City Dubai’s Sholto Douglas-Home, who shared their opinions on the state of ethical marketing, sustainability, transparency, data privacy, and ‘do-good’ CSR initiatives.
Highlighting sustainable initiatives done right – and their contribution to long-term, sustainable brand building – Campaign Middle East‘s Shantelle Nagarajan speaks to Jumeirah’s Michael Grieve and Barbara Lang-Lenton.
Representing brands, Mashreq’s Suad Merchant and Alshaya Group’s Hemalatha Subramanian discuss meaningful ways to turn narratives into action to meet the expectations of an increasingly aware and diverse consumer base. Google MENA’s Basel Hijazi explains Saudi Arabia’s evolving consumer landscape and how AI can help, while Vodafone Qatar’s Mohammed K Hussain calls on brands to be trendsetters, instead of following trends.
The magazine also features a special feature on Saudi Arabia’s TV and streaming audience measurement tool, KSA TAM, and how MBC Media Solutions has made a significant leap forward by adopting it.
The end-of-October supplement, Campaign Middle East‘s OOH Guide 2025 MENA, which includes a detailed UAE, KSA, and Qatar OOH Location Map, discusses how OOH remains the unsung hero, claiming a sustained spot within brands’ marketing mix, despite being categorised as ‘traditional advertising’.
Several leaders share how OOH advertising has not only proven to catch the attention of consumers – which has become increasingly hard in our day and age – but has also shown demonstrable results in brand consideration, purchase intent and conversions, driving sales and revenue across all audience tiers from the niche luxury segment to mass appeal.
Browse through this edition to read the opinions and viewpoints of the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastucture’s Eng. Ahmed Abdullah Al-Hamadi; BackLite Media’s James Bicknell; Al Arabia’s Jalal Khanfour; Hypermedia’s Habib Wehbi; Arabian Outdoor’s Fawzi Tueni; Motivate Val Morgan’s Avinash Udeshi; Hills Advertising’s Sami Al Mufleh; Mubashir’s Fadwa Daif; InsuranceMarket.ae’s Avinash Babur; JCDecaux ATA’s Elie Hajjar; Sobha Realty’s Ashish Parakh; The MediaVantage’s Manoj Khimji; and Talon’s Chadi Farhat among other leaders.
Some leaders have sounded concerns around bureaucratic delays that plague the current approval processes, and the challenges that arise from the siloes within the industry. Others have called for a greater focus on quality rather than quantity while the race for reach and frequency continues in the industry.
Read all this and more in Campaign Middle East’s October supplement above.
