Marketers Archives - Campaign Middle East

Campaign Retail & Commerce Media Briefing: Maximising agentic AI, closed-loop outcomes & creator-led commerce

Anup Oommen — Fri, 22 May 2026 14:38:23 +0000

Campaign Middle East has successfully concluded its Campaign Breakfast Briefing: Retail & Commerce Media 2026, which brought together close to 200 attendees, including client-side marketers, agency leaders, retail media specialists, commerce platforms, brand custodians and creators at The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi on Friday, 22 May 2026. At the outset, the event explored how AI-assisted […]

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GCC marketers rethink the role of brand as short-term pressures persist: research

Anup Oommen — Wed, 06 May 2026 11:00:55 +0000

Marketers across the GCC are reassessing the role of brand in driving growth, as new research from leading independent creative agency JWI reveals a growing tension between long-term strategy and short-term performance demands. According to JWI’s ‘Marketing Through Uncertainty’ report, 57 per cent of senior marketing leaders identify brand-building as the primary driver of long-term growth, […]

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Why cutting marketing spend during crises backfires

Ishwari Khatu — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 11:14:41 +0000

Traditional marketing playbooks are not designed for geopolitical tensions, rising consumer activism and uneven economic pressure-driven environments that most Middle East marketers are operating in today. These are unpredictable environments where sentiments can shift quickly and have immediate commercial effects. In such scenarios, most marketers instinctively reduce their marketing spend or completely halt their activities. […]

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From media channel to brand architecture: How influencer marketing grew up

Anup Oommen — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 07:00:23 +0000

It feels almost quaint to recall that influencer marketing was, not long ago, a line item and a channel squeezed in from whatever budget remained after the ‘real’ campaign had been planned. A nice-to-have. A vanity exercise. Something the brand could point to when asked whether it was “doing social.” We are living in a […]

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Why the Middle East’s next activations must be always-on

Ishwari Khatu — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:52:21 +0000

The Middle East has quickly become one of the world’s most exciting destinations for large-scale experiences. From Riyadh Season and Abu Dhabi’s Formula 1 weekends to immersive mall takeovers and city-wide festivals, the region has built a reputation for delivering events that are bigger, louder and more ambitious than almost anywhere else. But there is […]

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What’s the KitKat lesson for Middle East marketers?

Anup Oommen — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 05:00:18 +0000

Not all crises are read in the same way. Some shake trust. Others damage reputation. Others create direct operational or legal harm. But there is another category altogether: crises that may appear light in their human impact, yet are strange in nature and more shareable than condemnable. That is exactly what the recent global KitKat […]

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UAE marketers lead trust in AI but struggle with data silos, report reveals

Shantelle Nagarajan — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 13:09:46 +0000

Salesforce has revealed the tenth edition of its State of Marketing Report, revealing insights into the UAE’s marketing community. 4,450 global marketers participated in the research, including one hundred from the UAE, allowing the report to reveal contrasts between marketing in the UAE and its global counterparts. Marketers in the UAE have moved rapidly to […]

The post UAE marketers lead trust in AI but struggle with data silos, report reveals appeared first on Campaign Middle East.

Design thinking: understanding people before platforms

Ishwari Khatu — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 07:25:38 +0000

Design thinking rarely receives the recognition it deserves, even though it forms the foundation of every effective marketing campaign and lies at the heart of any truly integrated marketing strategy. In today’s social media-driven world, where integrated marketing can determine whether a brand succeeds or fades into the noise, standing out requires more than technical […]

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More than 50 leaders discuss: How should brands respond in a crisis?

Anup Oommen — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 04:20:45 +0000

As brands across the Middle East navigate an increasingly complex and fast-moving environment, a recent roundtable hosted by AUTHORITY by AVANTGARDE brought together more than 50 marketing professionals and industry leaders from across the UAE, wider GCC and international markets to address a timely question: how should brands communicate during periods of crisis? The session, […]

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Ramadan reset: What really matters this year

Ishwari Khatu — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:30:24 +0000

For years, Ramadan campaigns have relied on the familiar motifs of lanterns, crescent moons, family gatherings, nostalgic soundtracks and celebrity-driven films. While on the surface, the elements seem like ideal representations of Ramadan, in reality they’re quite often far off from what really resonates and reflects the realities of their audience. As Ramadan moves into […]

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