Close to 200 industry leaders, including heads of brand, marketing, and agencies from the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, STC, SMC, Adidas, TikTok, Publicis Groupe, MBC Media Solutions (MMS), UTURN Webedia Group (UWG), SRMG, Mindshare MENA, ASFAR, NES, Pixis, Fusion Five Advertising, and AdScholars, among others gathered at the Sheraton Riyadh Hotel & Towers on Thursday, the 17th of October for the Campaign Saudi Briefing: Media and Marketing event.
The event included insightful keynotes, informative panel discussions, inspirational fireside chats, productive networking, as well as high-profile meet-and-greets.
Conversations on the future of media and marketing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, included deep dives into sports marketing investments and their affect on brand and bottom-line; impactful and inspiring contextual storytelling within Saudi’s booming tourism sector; the need to truly understand and resonate better with Saudi audiences; the impact of AI and human creativity on digital marketing; how brand CMOs need to re-evaluate long-term communication strategies, and more.
Some of the top takeaways from the event included insights on the need for:
- Long-term strategic continuity in campaigns, and consistency in sustainable brand-building.
- A mixture of data-driven, contextual, and inspirational creative storytelling to amplify stories from the region to the rest of the world.
- An ideal amalgamation of human creativity, artificial intelligence, and emotional quotient in marketing.
- The need to understand not only the platforms that we use, but each of the tools available on each of the platforms that can better communicate a message and offer an experience.
- The real, tangible, financial and brand benefits of sports marketing as well as future trends and opportunities within the realm.
- AI within digital marketing, including cross-platform optimisation, personalisation at scale, and trading strategy for execution, among others.
Campaign Saudi Briefing: Welcome speech
Campaign Middle East’s Publisher Nadeem Quraishi began proceedings offered an overview of Campaign Middle East‘s latest print edition, the editorial calendar for the year ahead, the events schedule for the brand in 2024, as well as the upcoming Athar – Saudi Festival of Creativity in November 2024, and the highly anticipated Agency of the Year Awards in December 2024.
He also shared details on the sponsors and event partners, including gold sponsors: Publicis Groupe, TikTok, MMS, Pixis, AdScholars, and Fusion Five Advertising; associate sponsors: Media 24×7, Seedtag, Vamp; and media partner: Eye of Riyadh.
Chair’s opening remarks at Campaign Breakfast Briefing
Campaign Middle East Editor Anup Oommen then stepped up to offer the chair’s opening remarks, setting the scene for an eventful morning of keynotes and panel discussions.
In his speech, Oommen dissected the need for brands in the Kingdom to take a long-term sustainable approach to brand-building and to create real value for Saudi nationals, residents, as well as visitors who want to truly experience the best of media, music, sports, and entertainment while rediscovering the natural beauty of the nation, and breathing in its rich heritage, culture, and tradition.
He shed light on key questions being raised within the industry, including the evolving roles on CMOs, the future of marketing in a hybrid-cookie world, the appropriate use of existing first-party data before leaning into LLMs and AI, creating campaigns that are consistent and cohesive with long-term brand strategies, and transforming brands into a force for good to solve problems and add value in a volatile world.
Oommen also shed light on key challenges within the industry including budgets, tight deadlines, procurement, skills gaps, local vs global agencies, and creative effectiveness as brands continue exploring ways to acquire new customers, guarantee brand loyalty, and retain current customers.
Keynote 1 – How AI is transforming digital marketing performance
Neel Pandya, CEO – EMEA and APAC and Global Partnerships Head at Pixis delivered the first keynote highlighting the impact of AI in digital marketing, including cross-platform optimisation, personalisation at scale, trading strategy for execution, as well as questions around privacy changes.
The presentation also dismissed common myths around AI, showing how it can support marketers in crafting effective media planning strategies and working with brand ambassadors, all while generating end-to-end creative solutions.
Pandya also demonstrated the power of AI in creating studio-grade celebrity-endorsed advertisements, and the benefits of building LLMs in-house.
“Yes, privacy remains a key concern for all of us. So, for Fortune 500 marketers concerned with what’s happening to their data, we’re trying to bring LLMs in-house. This helps them have a model trained within their headquarters, within their ecosystems that provides a superpower of using proprietary data without security risks,” Pandya explained.
This is not only ISO 27001, ISO 27701, SOC2 Type II and GDPR compliant, but is also hyper-personalised, efficient, and learns on the brands’ own data.
Panel 1 – Exploring the strategic impact of Saudi Arabia’s sports investments
The first panel session, conducted in partnership with MBC Media Solutions (MMS), and moderated by Campaign Middle East Editor Anup Oommen, welcomed on stage Khalid AlKhudair, CEO, SMC; Ramzi Ghanem, Client Growth Lead, MBC Media Solutions; Bilal Fares, SVP and General Manager, adidas EMC; and Darine Elkaissi, Managing Director KSA, Mindshare MENA.
The panel explored how brands that sponsor and partner within the sports marketing realm can create meaningful connections with local and global audiences through sports. It also offered insights on how the sports marketing industry has evolved, and examples of numerous brands that have seen a direct and immediate bottom-of-the-funnel impact on ROAS, conversions, sales, and revenue.
The panel also offered advise for brands looking for a point of entry into sports marketing, and shed light on the future trends, challenges, and opportunities that brands ought to be aware of within the Kingdom’s sports marketing realm.
Fireside chat 1: The business of entertainment
The first fireside chat was moderated by Dyala Badran, Head of Content Solutions, METAP, TikTok, who picked the brains of Kaswara Al Khatib, Chairman of the Board, UTURN Webedia Group (UWG).
The session explored how advertisers can partake in the business of entertainment, and how to create content that people want to watch, particularly for Saudi audiences.
Al Khatib discussed how we’re living in a world where people follow people, and the need to focus on good and contextual storytelling to ensure that brands and advertisers are getting their narratives right. He also went on to explain the need for marketers and agencies to not only use the right platforms, but also learn the right tools that are the most effective to communicate the right stories in the right way to the right audiences on those platforms.
Keynote 2 – Human intelligence: Being human in the age of AI and automation
Srikanth Rayaprolu, CEO and Founder of AdScholars, explored the importance of combining human creativity, artificial intelligence, and an emotional touch in a digital landscape dominated by buzzwords like AI, Metaverse, and CGI.
Rayaprolu, who was a delegate at the previous Campaign Saudi Briefing event and went on to become a keynote speaker at the latest one, highlighted the delicate balance between cutting-edge technology and human ingenuity. He also shed light on the top AI tools in marketing, including HubSpot’s Content, Unbounce, Lumen5, Sprinklr, among others.
His presentation discussion how the right combination of automation and creativity can add efficiency in data-driven insights; streamline repetitive tasks to focus on creative strategy; personalise customer experiences at scale; and enable real-time optimisation for creative campaigns.
Panel 2 – The revolution of Saudi tourism by governmental entities through digital storytelling
Moderated by Fusion Five Advertising’s Media Director Ghida Ismail, this panel welcomed on stage Yousef Labban, Business Marketing Director, Ministry of Tourism, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Marwa Almalik, Communications Director, ASFAR (Saudi Tourism Investment Company); Nader Bitar, Director of Digital Solutions, Saudi Research and Media Group (SRMG); and Elie Honain, Co-founder and CEO, NES (Nesma Esports).
The panel discussions delved into the need to create better quality digital content and data-driven storytelling that is informative, educational, entertaining, and inspiring.
Panelists also discussed the various verticals within tourism, and the various angles of approach for contextual storyelling, sharing how the right content that resonates the natural beauty of Saudi Arabia, along with its heritage, culture, and traditions can amplify great local and regional stories to the globe, encouraging people to visit and truly experience Saudi hospitality.
Fireside chat 2 – Evolving CMO roles in Saudi’s digital age
The final fireside chat witnessed an open and honest discussion between Adel Baraja, CEO, Publicis Communications KSA and Mohammed Aba Alkhail, Chief Marketing Officer, Saudi Telecom Company.
The fireside chat discussed the need for long-term strategic continuity in campaigns, and consistency in sustainable brand-building. The discussion also called for agencies to develop a better understanding of local traditions and cultures; ensure transparency; develop better engagements; build stronger partnerships by bringing better innovative and creative strategic thought to the table.
Aba Alkhail mentioned that we are moving towards a world of “master marketers” where a holistic expertise on brand and experience is required to avoid disconnected and siloed campaigns that don’t contribute to the overall brand vision or long-term marketing strategy.
The time has come for agencies to go beyond ‘ticking the boxes’ and ‘responding to the briefs’ to advise more strongly on impactful innovation, creative effectiveness, and transforming businesses as a force for good in line with nation building exercises such as Vision 2030.
After the keynotes, panels, and fireside chats at the event, delegates stayed back for an afternoon of networking, collaborating, engaging with ideas, learning, and brainstorming together over lunch.
For those of you who were unable to attend this stellar gathering of like-minded leaders shaping the top trends and addressing the top challenges in the industry, keep an eye out for the YouTube video of the entire event.
Mark you calendars. Campaign Middle East‘s next event, the Campaign Breakfast Briefing: Out of Home 2025 will be held on 17 October at The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi on the 22nd of November, 2024.
