Q1 2024
Those of us who slept late during the wee morning hours of January 1, 2024, following the hours-long, Guinness World Record-breaking New Years’ fireworks display and drone show at the Sheikh Zayed Festival in Abu Dhabi, woke up to the harsh reality of the year awaiting us. A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Japan’s western coast, claiming 120 lives, even as the Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine conflicts continued.
The month of January was hard one, especially for the tech industry. Google laid off hundreds of employees in its advertising sales team, following which Twitch cut approximately a third of its staff while parent company Amazon fired hundreds of people from its Amazon Prime Video and MGM Studio divisions.
Yet, amid the shakeups at the start of the year, some major mergers were also announced. WPP, the world’s biggest advertising group, brought together its global PR networks BCW and Hill & Knowlton to form a single entity called Burson. In the same month, Arabian Contracting Services Co. revealed Al-Arabia Out of Home Advertising’s foray into the UAE market, being granted rights for outdoor billboards in Dubai worth more than $142mn.
Artificial intelligence (AI) also moved from riding shotgun to commanding the steering wheel. In a first-of-its kind experiment, French multinational advertising and PR company Publicis Groupe’s CEO Arthur Sadoun, along with his AI twin, the AI Directoire+ and AI Maurice, pushed the boundaries of AI video, storytelling and personalisation at scale. Publicis Groupe and Sadoun used AI to send 100,000 New Year messages: a personalised thank-you message to every employee, tailored to their interests as well as their language. Later that month, the group also launched an AI-powered entity called CoreAI.
In the world of creative campaigns and advertising, Reckitt-owned personal care brand Durex made waves within the historically conservative market of Saudi Arabia by beginning a youth movement. In partnership with VICE Arabia, Durex Records (or Tasjeelat Durex, as it is known in Arabic) was created to make the brand culturally relevant to the region’s youth and raise brand awareness.
Also making headlines in the Kingdom, football superstar Lionel Messi became the face of a global campaign for Saudi Tourism, while in the UAE, Sobha Realty unveiled a much-gawked-at 3D advertisement above Roxy Cinema at The Beach, JBR. Impact BBDO also became the talk of the town at the start of the year with its Etihad Airways campaign that created 2,400 versions of an ad, each making a travel suggestion to the right person at the right time.
Getting the year rolling in the adtech realm, MBC Group’s Arabic streaming platform Shahid expanded its ad tech solutions to provide brands with targeted and tailor-made formats, while Meta discontinued a select group of detailed targeting options for ad campaigns, which the platform said relates to topics that people may perceive as sensitive.
In February, the US primaries began in full swing, Miley Cyrus won her first Grammy Award for ‘Flowers’, and the Taylor Swift global phenomenon was further fuelled with the artist winning the Record of the Year Grammy for a record fourth time.
Meanwhile, mergers and major movements in the Middle East marketing and advertising industry continued with Multiply Group buying out BackLite Media, LinkedIn launching the option of Arabic advertisements to improve engagement, and Adel Baraja taking the helm at Publicis Communications KSA.
Japanese technology company Sony revealed plans to cut 900 jobs across its global workforce and also proposed the closure of its London Studio as part of the restructuring, while the Dutch owner of Yandex, a Russian multinational technology company and search engine, announced the sale of the company to a ‘fully Russian-owned entity’ for $5.2bn.
Another major trend that found strong footing in early 2024 was a move towards sports marketing and celebrities that resonated with local audiences. While adidas partnered with Saudi Arabian footballer Farah Jefry, the first Saudi woman to climb Mount Everest Raha Moharrak, and the first female professional tennis player in Saudi Arabia Yara Alhogbani for its global campaign, even brands not directly associated with sports got in on the action.
For instance, Lay’s shot an ad with David Beckham that went viral and UAE luxury real estate brand Sobha Realty expanded its partnership with Arsenal Football Club. In terms of out-of-the-box creative campaigns, Burger King picked an entertaining fight with McDonald’s through a mockumentary campaign that asked Whopper lovers to change the name of an island from McDonald’s to ‘Whopper’. Also, Heinz launched the world’s first ketchup insurance policy.
March offered another mixed bag of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans for those savouring 2024. Cillian Murphy fans rejoiced his first win at the Oscars for his part in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which won seven Oscars, while Barbie – a movie of mixed reviews – bagged only a single Oscar.
The emotions after the Oscars were much like those following the launch of the SpaceX Starship rocket, which launched successfully after two previous failed attempts, and reached an altitude of 200km only to be destroyed during reentry.
The region also welcomed a score of campaigns for Ramadan. Toyota and Serviceplan Arabia shared a comedic take on Saudi hospitality with a witty exchange between a group of youth and elders seated on the grassy corniche in Al Khobar. Lipton and Horizon FCB Dubai produced a film capturing a deeply cultural cup of tea for the early hours of suhoor. TAG Heuer tastefully shot ‘Time is a Gift’, showcasing Arabian heritage and tradition. And Mercedes-Benz’s campaign wished the world blessings, patience, generosity and hope to mark the holy month.
The month also witnessed the continued trend of localised influencer marketing and celebrity-brand partnerships, with Saudi Arabia’s AlUla destination launching a scent in collaboration with 30 influencers, and the Saudi Badr family helping Hilton’s Destination Marketing Team win a top travel marketing award.
Second Quarter of the Year
Just when the year seemed to have stabilised, 2024 threw a few curveballs to liven up the mix. April brought with it the heaviest recorded rainfall in the UAE’s history. Each and every one of us in the UAE who endured that month has memories that will last a lifetime. These are memories of resilience as the UAE government, emergency first responders, friends, family, colleagues, and even strangers stepped up to help those of us stranded in cars, flooded villas, apartments without electricity or water, and to share groceries and essentials as the UAE bounced back to normalcy in a matter of days.
Meanwhile, across the oceans, Tesla laid off its marketing team, continuing the run of tech layoffs around the globe, while Eye Studio, a creative agency specialising in CGI animations and ‘fake-out-of-home’ (FOOH) experiences, gained global recognition for partnering with Pepsi on a stellar global rebrand.
Bringing together two major themes from 2024 – artificial intelligence and influencer marketing – the UAE welcomed its first-ever AI influencer, Mayaseen.R., developed by Radix Media MENA. In the same month, Qatar Airways also unveiled the ‘world’s first AI digital human cabin crew’, Sama 2.0.
In line with the growing demand for influencer marketing, MCN launched its influencer practice in April, designed “to deliver richer, more impactful campaigns for our clients that foster genuine and long-lasting connections with their consumers,” according to the CEO of MCN, Ghassan Harfouche.
Amidst this boom in AI and influencer marketing, CMO round table conversations from Dubai Lynx in March carried into ongoing industry chatter in April, calling for greater care to be given to brand safety and suitability as well as a greater focus on clicks and transactions that go beyond attention-grabbing novelty and creativity.
Before reaching the midway point in the year, several agency leaders spoke to Campaign Middle East about the pitching problem. They said, “The request for proposal (RFP) comes in. Lots of resources are quickly mobilised to work on the pitch. Often the deadline is tight, meaning late nights and lots of stress. The pitch is delivered. The best case scenario, an agency secures a new client, but more often than not they get ghosted and nothing happens. There’s often no feedback, no announcement of who won the tender, and in the worst examples, the ideas pitched are ‘borrowed’ without any form of recognition or payment.”
When Campaign Middle East spoke to client-side marketers, they had similar concerns about procurement. They said that most often it takes an agency six-eight months to understand the brand. However, if agency agreements are drawn up only for a year or a year and a half purely to save on cost, the vision is narrowed to short-term KPIs, briefs and campaign performance rather than focusing on customer experience and the long term brand.
Global layoffs continued to send shivers down the market in May, with Pixar Animation Studios letting go of 14 per cent of its workforce and TikTok reportedly firing its support, communication, content and marketing staff.
Yet, for people developing a thicker skin to such news, there were plenty of other distractions. Abu Dhabi owned Manchester City became the first team in the 136-year history of the football league to win the Premier League four consecutive times, and Xabi Alonso-led Bayer Leverkusen beat all records across European association football, completing a streak of 51 unbeaten games.
The Met Gala in New York turned heads in May as much as Norah, the first film from Saudi Arabia to screen as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s official calendar.Meanwhile, Turkey suspended all trade with Israel due to the ongoing Gaza conflict and consumers from around the region had their say in a YouGov survey about boycotting brands, with 53 per cent of consumers in Saudi Arabia and 45 per cent of consumers in the UAE stating that a brand’s stand on political and social issues that is against their view is the biggest cause for them to boycott the brand. Restaurant and fast-food brands are the heaviest hit by boycotts, the survey revealed.
Some other major news in May included Havas acquiring omnicommerce specialist Liquid Retail to strengthen its e-commerce and retail media capabilities; Omnicom appointing Mazen Abd Rabbo as Senior Vice President of the newly formed Omnicom Qatar; Publicis Sapient appointing Ashwaq Al Shathri as Country Managing Director for Saudi Arabia, bringing digital innovation and AI solutions to the Kingdom’s digital business transformation journey; and Socialeyez winning the Emirates NBD and Emirates Islamic Bank competitive pitches for strategy development, social media management, content creation and in-depth analysis.
Proving the incredible growth and unprecedented focus on AI in 2024, Nvidia surpassed Microsoft as the world’s most valuable publicly-traded company, with its market cap exceeding $3.34tn in June 2024. In the same month, other conversations dominating the market included Real Madrid winning its 15th Champions League title and Narendra Modi being sworn in for his third term as Prime Minister of India after winning the elections.
Campaign Middle East also witnessed a new editor take the helm, just as conversations from The Cannes Lions Awards 2024 reached the shores of Dubai. The Middle East region put on a decent show at The Cannes Lions, collectively lifting 23 metal cats, including one Grand Prix, three Gold Lions, five Silver Lions, and 14 Bronze Lions. Winning agencies from the UAE included Impact BBDO, Leo Burnett MEA (Middle East & Africa), FP7 McCann, Saatchi & Saatchi MEA, MullenLowe MENA, McCann Health, and Serviceplan Group Middle East, alongside the brand Floward MENA. The UAE’s collective success also saw the nation climb three spots on the worldwide Cannes Lions ranking, claiming the eighth spot, up from its 11th position in 2023.
Following Cannes, casual chats about Elon Musk attempting to ‘extend the olive branch to advertisers’ at the The Palais and the Rotunda carried over into informal coffee chats with the Campaign Middle East team.
Several leaders voiced their opinions about a rapidly changing industry and the need to change with it. Discussions revolved around how the roles of CMOs are changing, the ubiquitous problems of procurement and pitching, the balance between AI and human skills, and how Gen Z and millennials have changed the traditional understanding of target markets, brand messaging and content consumption – forcing marketing leaders to be agile, nimble and flexible.
Conversations also circled around how brands and agencies ought to understand and embrace creative and culturally relevant storytelling. Authenticity, personalisation and a down-to-earth understanding of the local market was also emphasised. Leaders called for the industry to make an effort to figure out the nuances of Arabic dialects, the deep pride in societal values, and the respect due to a region rich in heritage and history.
Spotify exemplified this perfectly with a campaign inspired by the Arabic word, “Tarab”, shedding light on the deep emotional connection that exists between Saudi music fans and Khaleeji music, available on a modern tech platform powered by personalisation.
In June, Burson officially rolled out globally and GroupM MENA announced a slew of business wins. Also, the industry mourned the loss of marketing veteran and Impact BBDO founder Alain Khouri.
Q3 2024
The world turned upside down (or the right side up, depending on your perspective) halfway through the year. Biden dropped out of the US Presidential race in July; Google abandoned plans to eliminate third-party cookies; Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt; and a global CrowdStrike outage affected 8.5 million Microsoft systems worldwide and disrupted several sectors across the globe.
In the Middle East, Digital Media Services (DMS – a Choueiri Group brand) finalised a sales partnership with Pinterest to expand the brand’s digital advertising solutions to key MENA markets, including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The partnership offers advertisers the opportunity to find and connect with their audiences using the platform’s performance advertising solutions.
In other news, Dubai ranked second on a global list of top cities for marketing careers, based on job opportunities, salaries, living costs and safety. Building on the trend of localisation, creative storytelling, and its effect on brand outcomes, two campaigns stood out in the region in July: a Five Guys campaign about its new store launch at the Dubai International Airport garnered 11 million views, while a campaign by Division for Nissan delivered 96 million impressions and watch hours equivalent to more than 30 years thanks to a collaboration with Saudi content creator ShongXBong.
KFC also leveled up its Play KFC platform with a catchy campaign called ‘The Original Gamechangers’ featuring female gamers in Saudi Arabia. The campaign, which won an award at Athar Festival, tapped into the key trends of esports, local and culturally relevant influencers and gender equity at a critical time when the Esports World Cup was gaining ground. Pizza Hut and Chupa Chups also took their brands into the gaming space with a presence in Roblox, while an STCPlay campaign challenged age, gender and profession stereotypes within the gaming space during the year.
It’s no surprise that sports marketing stole the spotlight in July and August. Spain clinched the UEFA Euro 2024 and Paris Olympics 2024 double, Novak Djokovic completed his Career Golden Slam with his first Olympic medal weeks ahead of his scheduled visit to Saudi Arabia, a score of local influencers jumped onto the air pistol trend obessesed with South Korea’s Ye-ji Kim and Turkey’s Yusuf Dikec, and the Esports World Cup reached its crescendo in Riyadh.
There’s no doubt about it: sports marketing in the Middle East has grown into a blend of ambitious vision, substantial financial investment, economic diversification in action, and strategic partnerships. The region has witnessed the rise of sports influencers, brand-building collaborations, sponsorship deals, naming rights, merchandising, intellectual property (IP), media and broadcast tie-ups, record viewership numbers, and die hard sports fan community bases.
Esports and gaming are merely a natural progression to this trend. It’s no surprise that some of the most recognised brands in the region, including STC, Qiddiya, Nestlé, Amazon and Adidas, among many others, partnered with Esports World Cup (EWC) through sponsorships, naming rights, activations, productions, booths, campaigns and more.
Other trends that emerged in the market through July included weather-responsive ads by McDonald’s; TikTok Trends as a form of payment at Pizza Hut; sitcom-inspired ads made by Uber; mixed-reality Harry Potter-esque videos on paper by Sharaf DG and Flam; and a back-to-school campaign shot completely by GenAI for Chalhoub Group’s designer fashion outlet, The Deal, which used large -language model (LLM) text-to-picture generation for its campaign, eliminating the need for planning, casting, shooting, models, photographers and physical locations. One trend that we were happy to see fade into oblivion was ‘demure’.
In September, American rock band Linkin Park came out of its coccoon after a seven-year hiatus, announcing a studio album, a worldwide concert tour, and introducing Emily Armstrong as the band’s new co-vocalist. This wasn’t the only appointment of note in the month.
In the Middle East, founder and erstwhile head of Asda’a BCW Sunil John took the helm at Stagwell MENA to spearhead its regional presence.Volkswagen revealed the appointment of Virginie Ludmer as its Head of Marketing, and AW Rostamani Group appointed Sara O’Hara as its Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. While questions were raised about whether Linkin Park’s new female vocalist could live up to the legacy of male vocalist Chester Bennington, we at Campaign Middle East decided to take a closer look at DE&I within the industry as part of our Women in Advertising series.
We made a conscious decision not to go ahead with it as a perfunctory practice or a superficial gesture. We agreed to listen to what women in advertising had to say in their own words, the way they wanted to say it. We asked them about how the needle has moved on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) within the Middle East industry, and welcomed all honest and unfiltered opinions – the great, the good, the bad, and the unfortunate.
Speaking of the unfortunate, Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) sued the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), a nonprofit founded to help brands avoid having their advertisements appear alongside illegal or harmful content. GARM shut down after the lawsuit claimed that the group illegally conspired to boycott advertising on X.
It’s no surprise, then, that in September, Kantar’s Media Reactions 2024 report revealed that a net 26 per cent of marketers planned to reduce X ad spend in 2025, the biggest recorded pullback from any major global ad platform. Marketer confidence in X declined significantly in the past year, driven by brand safety concerns and poor perceptions around innovation and trust.
Meanwhile, in the same month, Instagram introduced teen accounts for users under the age of 18 that will be private by default, limit ‘sensitive content’ and allow parents to view contacts.
Also, in September, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai and Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, created the Mada Media company, a private joint-stock company (PJSC), which was tasked with managing, developing, and operating advertising sites; investing in advertising technologies; conducting research; and ensuring regulatory compliance.
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Dubai Municipality, under the concession agreement, delegated their advertising-related functions and permit issuances to Mada Media, marking a major change within outdoor advertising.
Closing out the year
At the time of writing this article, Syrian rebels had seized the capital of Damascus, ousting President Bashar Al-Assad; news about the merger between Omnicom and InterPublic Group (IPG) had just broken across the globe; and social media was rife with reactions about Edelman laying off 330 staff. Donald Trump was officially declared President-elect of the United States.
Before brands and advertisers began to decide on their marketing budgets for 2025 and the allocation of budgets for media, channels and platforms across their marketing mix modeling (MMM), Campaign Middle East decided to bring the conversation back to purpose and promises made.
We raised the question of whether the time has come for sustainability, purpose-driven marketing and ethical business practices to become non-negotiable. In a world obsessed with AI, performance marketing, short-term campaign goals, measurement, creativity and influencer marketing, the implementation of value and longer term, brand-based goals such as purpose and sustainability has got sidelined.
Despite mandated environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) requirements, the transition to a sustainable world doesn’t seem to be going according to plan. Many companies that shared boundless excitement a few years ago are reportedly reassessing, adjusting and – in some cases – retracting their sustainability commitments, according to a Bain & Company report. It’s become clear that despite a lack of positive movement toward sustainability and transparent ESG reporting, there’s a clear appetite within the market for it.
Some brands have taken a step forward, setting an example for others in the market. In October 2024, L’Oréal Middle East pledged actions towards a sustainable future at its For The Future 2024 summit, going beyond commitments to reduce plastic and water waste, and to actively fight climate change and champion women’s empowerment.
Several leaders within the market have shared how sustainability and ethical marketing are foundational to building a brand that resonates with conscientious consumers and withstands the test of time. As consumers increasingly demand authenticity, the emphasis on ethical marketing becomes imperative, prompting brands to align their messages with their values genuinely.
However, achieving these ambitious sustainability goals and maximising brand impact necessitates effective measurement tools. The latest analytical frameworks and AI-driven dashboards offer invaluable insights into consumer behaviours and preferences, facilitating the calibration and optimisation of marketing strategies.
Taking big strides in the sophistication of audience measurement solutions, Campaign Middle East carried a detailed piece on why MBC Media Solutions (MMS) chose to adopt the newly introduced TV and streaming audience measurement tool, KSA TAM, which provides an accurate and comprehensive view of audience behaviour across screens, following the decision by the General Authority of Media Regulation established KSA TAM as the official national benchmark for audience measurement in Saudi Arabia.
KSA TAM tracks granular audience engagement, providing a holistic view of content consumption patterns and allows for post campaign evaluation, offering insights into audience behaviour and demographics, and enhances the understanding of TV consumption.
Campaign Middle East also reported on key messages shared by industry leaders at top events such as the Athar Festival in Saudi Arabia, which called for creativity and culture to be amalgamated within marketing. CMOs emphasised that marketing needs to go beyond merely ‘selling things’ to find purpose, propagate brand values, solve problems, and narrate relatable stories.
In terms of industry events, we also witnessed some big announcements in Q4 2024, with Cannes Lions introducing award criteria updates, and Dubai Lynx evolving into a year-round platform for progress; an ongoing, collective movement that resonates with the transformative change within the MENA creative industry. Brands also hit home runs with celebrity partnerships in the final quarter of the year with e& by Etisalat featuring a lineup of international celebrities, including Jason Statham, Shah Rukh Khan, Lewis Hamilton, Megan Fox, Amina Khalil and Ismail Matta, and Hollywood couple Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky teaming up with Experience Abu Dhabi to showcase the city’s offerings.
An integrated campaign from the region also created a huge buzz globally. This was the UAE’s ‘Bring Your Impossible’ campaign, spearheaded by the UAE Government Media Office and Impact BBDO, with a short film featuring Idris Elba and produced by Film Pudding at its centrepiece, coupled with powerful OOH ads in the US, UK, France, Switzerland and Germany as well as during a striking Manchester derby game at Wembley.
In terms of accounts awarded in Q4 2024, Unilever stole the show, splitting its media account across six rival agencies. The brand picked major holding groups in different markets, including Mindshare (GroupM, part of WPP), OMG (Omnicom Group), Initiative (Interpublic Group), Havas Media (Havas), Publicis Media (Publicis Groupe) and Dentsu. Omnicom Media Group and Initiative were chosen to handle the account in the MENA region.
Campaign Middle East spun out a well-received series of video podcasts, bringing government entitites, brands, agencies, platforms and adtech players together to debate real issues and find the balance between ‘strategy and sales’, ‘performance and brand’, ‘traditional and digital’, ‘human and AI’, ‘competition and cooperation’ and ‘creativity and business outcomes’ as well as the ‘long and the short’.
A few top themes stood out in these conversations: community, collaboration, insights and inspiration. CMOs have stated that the time has come to address the biggest elephant in the room: procurement. Pricing structures and payments remain a pain point, while deadlines and margins are getting tighter, resulting in a clarion call from leaders for greater collaboration, a how-to guide on navigating the regulatory landscape, and attempts to work together to build a more sustainable ecosystem.
In conclusion, marketers and agencies have their work cut out for them. Marketers today face a myriad of concerns that are pivotal to their success and overall brand reputation. Foremost among these is the need to maintain consumer trust in an era when data privacy and security are of paramount importance. They must balance between personalisation and privacy, ensuring they respect consumer data while delivering tailored experiences.
Some things haven’t changed. Certain ‘New Year resolutions’ made in 2024 need to be revisited in 2025: The industry needs to develop adeptness in managing multichannel strategies. It must continue to leverage technology to engage audiences effectively.
Marketers must also address the growing consumer demand for brand transparency and authenticity, particularly concerning ethical practices and sustainability. Finally, they must remain agile in a fast-paced market, anticipating trends, and adapting strategies to stay relevant and competitive.
Here’s wishing the industry a fruitful and fantastic 2025.
