On Wednesday 16th March 2022, Twitter and Campaign Middle East continued their exclusive four-part Spaces series on @TwitterMktgMENA. The Spaces session welcomed Kinda Ibrahim, Director of Partnerships, Twitter MEA & Turkey, who was joined by Mohammed Abaalkheil, Senior VP of Corporate Comms at stc, and Nadim Samara, Chief Operating Officer of MMS at MBC Group. Hosted by Campaign ME Senior Editor, Austyn Allison, the session guided listeners through the ways in which brands can leverage impactful partnerships and content to ensure campaigns strike a chord with audiences during the Holy Month.
People think of Twitter first to discover what’s happening during Ramadan (65% Saudi Arabia, 45% Egypt, 47% UAE, 49% Kuwait), meaning a significant number of people are likely to be exploring and discovering new brands and products. With data concluding that around half of the people on Twitter in Saudi, UAE and Kuwait spend more during Ramadan, while that number goes up to 61% in Egypt, the Holy Month is the perfect opportunity for brands to launch something new during this #Connect moment. It is also a great occasion for brands to tell memorable stories, as 46% of people in Saudi, 48% in Egypt, 46% in UAE, and 51% in Kuwait, look forward to a brand’s Ramadan campaign anchor, which typically takes the form of a high-value production video.
The session also highlighted people’s habits during Ramadan, particularly the link between Twitter and TV. People use Twitter while watching TV during Ramadan to read Tweets about what they are watching, discover other shows to watch and Tweet about what they are watching. Through conversations on the platform, people move from simply watching TV to sharing moments and emotions around the content that matters to them during the Holy Month.
Diving into the multi-screen conversation, Nadim Samara, Chief Operating Officer of MMS at MBC Group, commented: “What’s interesting to us at MBC, is the digitization of the living room. 20 years ago, you’d be discussing your favorite TV shows with your neighbors and friends in-person, and now Twitter has become synonymous with people breaking down their favorite TV shows, episodes and characters across the region, and the globe. Today, people double screen and sometimes triple screen between the large, mid and small screen while enjoying content, and as the home to premium Arabic content, particularly Ramadan content, it is imperative that we are seamless across channels when connecting and engaging with our audiences.”
Kinda Ibrahim, Director of Partnerships, Twitter MEA & Turkey, added: “As you know, Twitter is the place to discover what’s happening, be it a music festival, sporting event or cultural moment such as Ramdan. We call these Connect Events, or Occasions. When people come to Twitter during Ramadan they want to engage in conversations across a number of themes, a key one being entertainment and TV. We know that in Ramadan, when a TV show is a hit, it trends on the platform, and for brands that is an incredible opportunity to be a part of those trending conversations. Through Twitter Amplify, we connect brands with premium content, and in the case of Ramadan, this can mean content from the big TV shows. We work with content partners across the region to make content available for brands on Twitter, through either Amplify Pre-roll or Sponsorships. This allows brands to be associated with, for example, clips from a trending TV show, through Pre-roll ads, connecting them with a highly tuned-in, leaned-in audience throughout the Holy Month.”
The session also reiterated #RamadanTalks2022’s first episode, highlighting the importance of treating Ramadan as a continuation of a brand’s conversation, with Mohammed Abaalkheil, Senior VP of Corporate Comms at stc, stating: “Ramadan is not the start or the end of a conversation, it is a stop-over destination on a long journey of communication. You need to reflect your personality, engage, and more importantly know your purpose, to best reflect your brand values during Ramadan.”
A four-part series set to run during March, #RamadanTalks2022 explores how brands can connect successfully with audiences on Twitter during Ramadan. Tune-in next Wednesday, 23rd March at 12:00 PM (UAE) to explore the myriad of Twitter solutions that will insert brands into the Ramadan conversation on Twitter, as Saleh Bdeir, Senior Client Partner at Twitter MENA, joins Bader Al Hammad, SVP | Head of Marketing & Brand at Riyad Bank, and Tahaab Rais to discuss launching something new during the Holy Month.
To set a reminder for this upcoming session, please visit: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1vAGRkgqQBaJl
