According to a study by YouGov, close to 40 per cent of those under 40 expect a brand to have an audio identity, which is what gave rise to Anghami Studios.
But the beginnings started far away from brands.
Anghami has always ventured beyond music streaming, and taken an active role in creating new and original Arabic content with upcoming and popular Arabic talents in the region. Given close to half of the streams on the platform happen on Arabic content, Anghami has always felt a duty to increase this supply of content, against the backdrop of quite limited supply.
For example, the Arabic library on Anghami makes up under 5 per cent of the content on the platform, even though it garners close to half the streams
These projects were largely non-commercial, with the goal of creating content to attract listeners. From an advertising perspective, Anghami focused on audio-led media and custom tech solutions to drive brand spend. Covid changed this. As people were stuck at home, tactical campaigns and the standard media messages lost relevance quickly.
We at Anghami immediately felt that we wanted to inspire consumers, and of course brands. Given we were already creating Anghami Originals (new Arabic music), we wanted to make this available for brands. The goal was to make a song the central message of a campaign.
This, in turn, would really help artists, who were out of pocket, as live shows dried up.
‘‘WHEN CREATING A SONG, WE CONSTANTLY NEED TO CONSIDER THE BRAND’S IDENTITY’’
MUSIC FOR BRANDS
This time gave birth to Anghami Studios, a hybrid unit within Anghami that combined commercial and production expertise, to create audio-branded content for some of the region’s largest brands.
We at Anghami were able to combine our relationships with talents, relationships with brands and in-house production expertise to create music that brands could own, and were original. Each song was backed by data, given that Anghami has billions of data points, hence we create content relevant to what brands’ consumers are listening to, varying from Hip-Hop to Khaleeji.
At the start of Covid, we kicked off with our first branded content project, which was for Pepsico during Ramadan in 2020. We created a collaboration between Saudi Hip-Hop artist Tareq Al Harbi and R&B Egyptian artist Malak El Husseiny, to embody the message that even though we were apart in Ramadan, Pepsico, would bring us together.
When creating a song, we constantly need to consider the brand’s identity, and the artist’s musical background, as well as dealing with tight deadlines. Each genre has different musical elements to it, from instruments to rhythm.
This can be challenging at times but allows us to deliver excellent results. We have the knowledge and expertise to translate the brands’ ideas to life through music. What is paramount here is that even though a brand is involved, people will need to want to listen to the song.
It needs to feel less like a branded message, and more like a hit, which the brand can own as a piece of content, and build a campaign around.
Today, we have worked with more than 20 brands and have created more than 55 songs under Anghami Studios. So many brands come to mind, especially the likes of Sephora, New Balance MENA, EA Sports, PUBG Mobile, L’Oreal and many more.
We’re very proud of how far we’ve come, and we believe we’re just getting started. We would love to work with more brands, further push our creativity when it comes to music and help artists, especially emerging ones, to rise up in their careers.
We want to ask brands, what is your beat? And why not make music the heart of your campaign? At the end of the day, everyone loves music.
EMDEE JABR
Emdee Jabr is a Lebanese music producer based in Beirut who started his music career in 2005 as a self taught producer. His music has been played by numerous international DJs including Tiesto, Cosmic Gate and W&W.
Over the past years, Emdee began exploring different genres such as Pop, Hip-Hop and EDM and began collaborating with international and Arab artists.
Today, he is the Senior Music Producer at Anghami and works regularly on branded content projects, Anghami Originals and remixes. He is able to merge his musical background with oriental and Arabic music.
Some of the brands he’s worked with include EA Sports, Adidas, New Balance, PUBG, Pepsi and Vice Media. As to the artists, Assi El Hallani, Nancy Ajram, Elissa, Adonis, Joseph Attieh are some of the pop stars he’s worked with, and LiL EaZy, BLVXB and Amy Roko are some of the rappers whom he has collaborated with
Campaign Middle East will be hosting its monthly Breakfast Briefing on the Out of Home industry on 10th November at the Grand Plaza Mövenpick, Media City, Dubai. To find out more click here.
