C&B’s Ahmad Itani explores why credibility, cultural instinct and market-specific insight are becoming the defining advantages in the Kingdom’s next era of brand-building.
What are global brands still getting wrong about marketing in Saudi?
Most global brands still treat localisation as translation. The tagline is in Arabic, while the rest of the campaign gets lifted from another market. A decade ago, that might have worked. Not today.
Saudi Arabia is no longer just a market to enter. It is an economic, cultural, and regulatory system that is reshaping how companies compete and create value. And the consumers, especially Gen Z, know when a brand has done the work and when it hasn’t. So
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Tags:AdvertisingAgenciesAhmad ItaniAI in marketingaudience insightsBrand CredibilityBrand StrategybrandingCicero & BernayCicero & Bernay (C&B)communicationsConsumer behaviourcultural marketingCultureDestination marketingfirst-party dataGen ZlocalisationmarketingMENAMiddle East marketingRiyadhSaudi ArabiaSaudi Report 2026Vision 2030
