AdNation Middle East Blog

In other news... UPDATED

2009-03-26T16:53:00.004+04:00

UPDATED 29/03/2009: ENG gets in touch... (see end of post)

So there's this whole other industry out there which couldn't give two hoots about Lynx it seems. Which is nice.

Of more pressing matters, unsurprisingly, are people's wages. Specifically, those nice people at ENG. The company's been having problems paying on time for a while, and if this latest effort is to be believed, staff are still waiting for last month's paycheques.

Yes, someone's set up a website: ENG are tossers (site now suspended)

Here's what the website's creators have to say: "ENG (Emirates Neon Group) was one of the leading visual communications and outdoor media solutions companies in the UAE and across the Middle East. They delivered [skip to the end...] and outdoor media.

"Communication is all about engaging with people—so it needs to be persuasive and highly effective.

"Unfortunataly this pack of c**ts don't pay their staff.

"It is now the 26th of March 2009 and ENG staff have not been paid a penny of their February 2009 wages."

Ooops.

If this is true, it's definitely not good.

I feel slightly sorry for ENG, in that it wasn't its fault that it started a new venture (print mags) at what turned out to be the top of the market, only to see its main revenue source (outdoor) crumble in a few short months.

Having said that, if the firm had banked more of the swingeingly huge fees it was charging for spots on Sheikh Zayed Road, it might have avoided some of these problems. But that's by the by.

Here's hoping ENG finds a solution. We rather like Media Week. And iQ. And BH&W or whatever it's called - essential reading. Especially for insomnia.

UPDATE: Well, it looks like ENG has a bit of a bee in its bonnett about all these accusations over unpaid wages.

On Saturday I received a rather charming email from ENG's corporate communications department, which read as follows:

"Hi Eliot

Hope your having a great weekend.

I am writing with reference to the official Ad Nation blog, where you have uploaded a blog that mentions our company ENG. I wanted to bring to your attention that the content you are cross-referencing at [this post] is a misrepresentation of facts that harms the credibility of your professional body and the content has since been found to be against the legal obligations and the linked website has also been taken down by the hosting company.

In this regard, you are requested to remove the quoted text and all reference to it from the aforementioned blog immediately.

I look forward to your affirmation.

Regards

Asma Shabab
Asst. Manager, Corporate Communications, ENG"

I politely declined the request to remove the post - there's been too much talk around this issue in the market for it not to be credible.

I did suggest ENG might like to make an official comment - in which case it'll probably move this whole thing to the main site. Until then, watch this space...

An open rasberry to Simon Jenkins

2009-03-24T16:29:00.004+04:00

Below is an open letter to Guardian columnist and former Times editor Simon Jenkins, in response to his column: As they did Ozymandias, the dunes will reclaim the soaring folly of Dubai

Dear Simon,

As many of my fellow Dubaians have already done, I read your comment piece on this city yesterday.

What utter drivel.

Your contempt for a place that, unless you have missed a major point from your article, you have never visited beggars belief.

This does not adhere to any reasonable measure of journalistic competence; your research is non-existent, your generalisations are sweeping, and your prejudice shines through from the headline, standfirst and introduction of your piece.

Speaking as a young journalist, had I written such appalling trash, I would, I hope, feel ashamed. I would not expect to remain a journalist for very long, and would expect to move into a profession more suited to my particular skill-set – street-sweeping, say, or licking the grime from Germaine Greer's don't-fuck-me shoes.

I will not bother to list the many, many factual errors and incorrect assumptions you make in your article (although I can certainly do so if you would like).

Instead, I had rather intended to make a series of wittily sweeping generalisations about your good self, possibly of the nature that your inability to spell the names of the world's capital cities clearly means you're only minutes away from a retrograde step to the Guardian's subs-desk; or that the large parts of your brain that are currently lying unused and decaying will no doubt be occupied in short order by packs of malevolent dwarves (although possibly this has already happened).

However, as this would merely be lowering myself to your level I will content myself with blowing you a raspberry from 3500 miles away, which would seem to be a rather more mature response to your childish malice than it in fact merits.

Thrrrrrrrrrrp.

On a serious note, Dubai – and the UAE as a whole – has many faults and problems, some of them appalling, and some of them appalling only to those with delicate sensibilities and a dislike for what they perceive as "vulgar".

But this type of comment does nothing to address them – and if you, as a human being, really take such glee in the downfall of others, well, I feel somewhat sorry for you.

Others more eloquent than I have rightly described Dubai as an experiment, an alternative to the hitherto oppressive and closed cultures that have been seen in the Gulf. As Dubai has succeeded, others – Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Qatar, and now even cities in Saudi Arabia – are tentatively following in this city's footsteps.

Were Dubai in fact to fail – and more importantly, be seen to fail, and be publicly derided by people such as you – then the experiment would be for naught. Other cities and states may well see that the reward for risk is ridicule, and quietly slip back into the old way of doing things.

This is a complex issue – and if all you're seeing is ski-slopes and palms and shiny cars, you're not looking hard enough.

Regards,

Eliot Beer
Editor, AdNation Middle East

Bhoyrul making sense? Say it isn't so!

2009-03-24T14:53:00.002+04:00

Yes, you read that right - Anil Bhoyrul, sometime enfant-terrible of ITP, is talking sense!

Specifically, he has a witty dig at the utter crap estate agents here are spouting, trying to convince people to BUY BUY BUY.

Even in the way of estate agent lies, there are some doozies:

“I shouldn’t be telling you this, but my boss's cousin works at HSBC. And they have been told that the market has already bottomed out, and in fact, prices in some parts of Dubai rose 12 percent in the past two weeks. This is triple A confidential. You really need to buy a property before the weekend or you will miss out.”

Ahahaha.

Enjoy.

Oh... hi!

2009-03-24T14:51:00.002+04:00

Hello everyone.

Apologies for the lack of updates recently - seems the blog sort of fell by the wayside with some of the exciting things that have been happening.

And also the Lynx.

Anyway, I'll be keeping the updates coming with a bit more frequency, going forward in our new out-of-box blog synergising paradigms.

So you think we have it bad...?

2009-03-04T12:33:00.003+04:00

For the last few weeks, it's been cuts, cuts, cuts - and it's all pretty bad.

But we should remember, we could be worse off - we could be in the UK:

"ITV has announced it is cutting 600 jobs across its business, and plans to make other "significant" savings," reports the BBC, adding that the broadcaster made a £2.7 loss in 2008.

Ouch.

How insensitive can you get?

2009-03-04T12:25:00.002+04:00

Last week we had junk food ads next to health stories - but this autoserving ad on The Guardian's website takes the biscuit when it comes to deeply inappropriate ads (keep watching all the way for the full effect):

Oh dear.

Automation's a wonderful thing, but only in moderation...

McIrony

2009-02-25T12:07:00.003+04:00

Hello again everybody. Been a bit busy here, so apologies for the lack of updates.

Starting the catch-up, we have that old favourite: unfortunate ad placement.

Exhibit A: Sunday's 7Days. Splash - too much junk food for kids. Ads (both of them) - McDonald's.

Nice one, guys.

(Thanks to Nitin Mathew)

Quack stats say Belgians care about branding. Perhaps.

2009-02-18T15:09:00.005+04:00

"Shoppers vote with feet after Belgian supermarket removes Unilever products" says the headline in Marketing Magazine - apparently almost a third of supermarket chain Delhaize's shoppers will head off to where they can get their hands on lovely Unilever bits.

Er, or will they?

As of the survey taking place, Delhaize hadn't actually taken ANYTHING off its shelves - that only happens this week. So the survey only looked at intentions, rather than reality.

Judging from the article, it looks like the question might have been slightly loaded as well: "... 31% of Delhaize shoppers had decided to shop elsewhere for Unilever goods..." (emphasis mine). If the survery was asking specifically about Unilever goods, how many people actually know what they're buying is Unilever? I don't, much of the time, and I would class myself as more interested than most.

A commenter on the article makes similar points - and also raises the suggestion that almost 70% of shoppers really DON'T care about Unilever going AWOL.

Gotta love them surveys...

Pepsi: really IS the centre of the universe

2009-02-11T13:48:00.006+04:00

Covering the marketing and advertising sector, I have come to terms with the fact that the "bullshit quotient" of much of what I write about will be higher than the global average.

But then there's the Pepsi rebrand.

Oh sweet lord.

So apparently Pepsi actually is the centre of the universe, a fact hitherto suspected only by senior Pepsi execs, and possibly an eight-year-old.

But the internal briefing document [PDF] detailing the genesis of Pepsi's new logo - basically just like the old logo, but wonkier - tells us that, in fact, most of the history of the universe, planet Earth, and humanity's art and culture and science, has been leading to the moment of sheer joy and epiphany that is the Pepsi logo - including gravity.

More highlights on Gawker, if you can't be bothered with the whole, hillarious, briefing document.

How NOT to brand, ladies and gents.

Dubai gets the Greer treatment - badly

2009-02-09T16:22:00.004+04:00

[Sunday 15 February: Apologies for the lack of posts last week - technical problems with Blogger at the office meant posts got written, just not posted...]

Four hours in Dubai is apparently sufficient for arch-feminist and all-round lefty-meddler Germaine Greer to dismiss the entire emirate and all its dirty doings.

"After years of popping in and out of Dubai airport on my way to and from Australia, this time I deliberately managed my travel itinerary so that I had a long layover, four hours of which I spent on the open top of a double-decker bus," says Greer.

Her tour took her past well-known landmarks such as Deira City Centre, Wafi, the World Trade Centre, and something at the other end of town called "Dubai World".

We think she means "The World" - that surreal collection of artificial islands in the Gulf - but ol' Germaine has obviously grown a few dozen metres if she's able to see it from the top of a bus.

Unsurprisingly, Greer's conclusions are not at all flattering. More unfortunately, this example of yet more sloppy journalism does Greer a greater disservice than the city.

Seabee has recently carried a number of posts about the shocking standard of journalism ABOUT Dubai, rather than from it, and we can now add this gem to the myriad examples he lists.

Has a retail exodus started?

2009-02-08T13:41:00.006+04:00

Anecdotal reports of the economic crisis abound in Dubai - 3,000 cars left at the airport (probably not), ships left out at sea, full of supplies (er...), the newly-unemployed choosing to advertise themselves on their Porsches (as opposed to selling the damn thing).

But this weekend, I saw some very real evidence of something going wrong: newly-opened shops in Jumeirah Beach Residence, closed and devoid of stock.

Click on the picture for a bigger version - unfortunately, this was the only snap I could get before a security guard asked me (politely) if I had a permit, so apologies for the glare.

Pumpkin Patch, Adams Kids (Adams in the UK went belly-up a few weeks ago), Celio and some other stores were all dark and locked as of the weekend. All belong to the same group: 'BR. of Outfit, LLC'.

I'm sure there's a bigger story here, but someone in the retail world can have a go at that one. Whatever has happened, this is not a good sign.

Like a buzzsaw through the brain

2009-02-04T16:08:00.006+04:00

Anyone heard of Microsoft Songsmith? No? Well neither had I...

... until someone sent me this link.

Be warned, bravery and a strong stomach is needed to make it through many of these user-generated efforts, such as lounge-style Creep, and the unspeakable atrocity that is Wonderwall.

But nothing, nothing is worse than Microsoft's own effort.

For all those who say the Middle East is a haven for really terrible work, this one's for you.

The horror. The horror....

(Thanks to Matt Wade for alerting me. Your present is on its way, once it's been through the cat...)

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?? No! It's... the iPhone

2009-02-04T10:43:00.002+04:00

So we're finally getting it - Etisalat has snagged distribution rights for both the UAE and Saudi Arabia, through its Mobily subsidiary there.

The excitement...

Unfortunately for all those early adopters - especially the ones overly-fond of wafting their new advice ostentatiously in a lift (despite it not working there) - the cache-factor of Apple's shiny handset is about to go waaaaaay down.

So what you gonna pose with now, huh, huh, huh? Hah.

Interestingly, Etisalat may have also inadvertently tipped the wink as to the release of the next model of iPhone, according to AppleInsider: "The [newspaper] report went on to say that the 'next version of the device, which is due out in June, will be launched in the UAE at the same time.'"

I'm expecting to see EVEN MORE of the instantly-iconic touchscreen gadgets oh-so-casually being sported on desks of advertising creatives everywhere...

... unless something shinier comes out first.

Shrinking Saudi middle class = long-term problem

2009-02-02T16:15:00.003+04:00

'Shrinking Saudi middle class causes concern' says Gulf News.

The headline's a bit misleading for what's more of a feature/think-piece, but it should worry all those marketers and business people who are banking on an increasingly-prosperous KSA.

One of my working assumptions in recent years has generally been that Saudi Arabia can be relied on to be a) growing, b) growing at a reasonable clip thanks to its low starting-point, and c) growing despite most of the global turmoil, thanks to the oil revenues and the fundamental needs of 27-million-odd Saudis - the only market in the Gulf that's really real.

But if this is a faulty assumption...

Hmm.

Literally giving them away...

2009-02-02T11:09:00.008+04:00

"Palm real estate agent sees 100% price fall" ArabianBusiness.com tells us, before suggesting that the agent has in fact seen a MORE THAN 100% fall in prices (click on pic for visual proof).

So they're paying US for those swanky villas on the Palm?

Where do we sign...

(More bad maths: US telco Verizon can't tell the difference between dollars and cents... Not new, but a cracker nontheless.)

UPDATE: ... and they've gone and changed it to 50%. Ah, the joy of the web - so easy to erase one's mistakes. Not that I ever have to change anything of course. I'm perfect, me.

Errr...

Car-crash reporting: Obama sells out? That would be a no...

2009-02-01T11:06:00.008+04:00

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

"Has President Obama signed $30m endorsement deal?" asks Emirates Business 24/7.

This is the shocking - SHOCKING - story of Obama's new megabucks deal with the maker of BlackBerry phones, which saw him making blatant promotion pitches throughout his campaign, even exhorting kids to "ask mum and dad for a Blackberry!"

Er. No.

A quick - c. 30 second - Google News search revealed the source for this story as spoof-news-site Unconfirmed Resources. A swift glance at the site's jokey piece reveals that, yes, EVERY SINGLE QUOTE from the Business 24/7 story is from the satire, including a quote just inches above the disclaimer: "Unconfirmed Sources political satire and news story parodies as represented above are written as satire or parody. They are, of course, fictitious."

Unfortunately, you'd never know it from the story Our Beloved Paper carried, which appears to have quite obliviously taken it as fact, despite citing "Unconfirmed resources" as a vague source for the details.

Oh dear. Sometimes we think Dubai Media Observer might have a point...

In other news, the shocking - SHOCKING - story of how US prison inmates are complaining about boredom! How dare they. HOW. DARE THEY.

UPDATE: EB24/7 has sadly removed the story from the site now (thanks for the tip, anonymous poster) - but the whole piece is now in the comments below...

Obama on Al-Arabiya

2009-01-29T03:17:00.002+04:00

Interesting piece from Time on how Al-Arabiya ended up with the very first interview with Obama as President.

Also interesting to hear about the connection between the interviewer and the President - although, like others before him, especially Bill Clinton, Obama may have the gift of making whoever he's speaking to feel like the most important person in the room.

But this should definitely send a message - a positive message - to the Arab and Muslim world about Obama's approach to the whole 'Clash of Civilisations' thing (ie, suggesting it's largely tosh).

'Cello scrotum'

2009-01-28T14:35:00.003+04:00

Headline of the day from the Beeb: "Peer reveals 'cello scrotum' hoax"

The grinding sound is the noise of a million journos and subs seething and gnashing their teeth in envy.

That is all.

Thinking inside the very big box

2009-01-28T14:21:00.004+04:00

PRs seem to love giving journos slightly pointless gifts, from stress balls to glass ornaments, to endless, endless pens.

HP, however, is taking a different tack - by sending hacks its own products. The product in question? Printer cartridges, according to the ITP.net blog.

Yes, ITP's hard-working tech reporters are now the proud owners of assorted HP ink cartridges, but sadly no free printers to go with them.

And nice to see HP is sticking with its long-held "destruction of all natural life" packaging policy, by enclosing said cartridges in vast boxes - one for each journo.

Good to see that newly-appointed Promax is getting stuck in to the HP account.

Social idiocy

2009-01-26T15:50:00.006+04:00

Social media "expert" pisses off client via social media. Ooops.

This is the charming story of senior Ketchum veep James Andrews, who managed to rile FedEx via his injudicious use of Twitter - unfortunately while explaining to FedEx how to use social media more effectively.

"We do not know the total millions of dollars FedEx Corporation pays Ketchum annually for the valuable and important work your company does for us around the globe. We are confident however, it is enough to expect a greater level of respect and awareness from someone in your position..."

Yeah, never a good sign when the client starts writing those sorts of emails.

Hey James, your village Twittered - they want their idiot back.

(Nabbed from Samer Costantini - cheers...)

'Step away from the door...'

2009-01-26T11:53:00.002+04:00

Hello, everyone.

I'm back from a quick trip to the UK, where people look very miserable, and London Mayor Boris Johnson wants to build an airport on a river.

But here's a tip for travellers, at least on Emirates' new A380 Whalejet: DON'T TOUCH THE DOORS.

(In this context, "doors" means those big things on the outside of the plane, not toilets, etc.)

It seems the A380 (and poss other planes?) have cameras everywhere, which apparently picked me up "touching" the door, which roused the captain's suspicions that I was about to pull the Big Lever and plunge the jet screaming into the middle of Turkey.

For the record, I was LOOKING OUT OF THE WINDOW in the door, while I waited for one of the crew to find something.

Nevertheless, I was taken aside by the purser, and asked if everything was ok, and to check I didn't unaccountably feel like playing with the slide at 39,000 feet. I said I was fine.

So, frequent flyers, beware! Your captain is watching you...

Oh, site stuff - you might notice a few things appearing or disappearing from the AdNation homepage, and some random stuff every now and again. We're tweaking the site, so do bear with us, keep your seatbelt fastened when the seatbelt sign is on, and rest assured that we have your saftey at heart.

Excuses, excuses

2009-01-18T14:26:00.003+04:00

Following up on an interview request, I rang the company in question to find out if we could arrange anything.

It had been just under a week since I'd heard back from the agency, a new arrival in Dubai (who will remain nameless, for now...). This isn't a vast amount of time, especially as I replied a day or so after the last email - so I'm not complaining.

"I was wondering..." is about as far as I get after introducing myself to the staffer.

Suddenly, a very unapologetic torrent of excuses: "... new office... no printer or scanner... deleted your email... moving office..."

And it's very clear that this is all my fault, for daring to contact the company and ask for an interview, despite the publicly-issued press release and initial positive response.

I'm a journalist - I'm very used to being given the brush-off, with varying degrees of politeness. And I'm always happy to accept something like "I'm really sorry, but we're just setting up and to be honest, the MD's got no free time" as a valid reason for not giving an interview.

But "I deleted your email"? Er, no. That comes under the category of "just not doing your job".

Despite my initial urge to be sarcastic, and then write it off as a bad lot, I've tried again. Further idiocy will result in the company in question being named and shamed.

Delaware: the next Dubai Media City?

2009-01-18T12:41:00.005+04:00

Delaware, the most boring state in America according to a thousand jokes, should reinvent itself as a major media hub - taking Dubai Media City as its model, according to a Delaware website.

Now, now, come on. Stop laughing at the back there...

Despite its reputation for tedium, Delaware has played the commerce game pretty cannily in the past, as the article above makes clear. Vast numbers of US corporations, especially finance-based firms, use Delaware as their base thanks to the lenient tax laws.

Could it do the same for media? And if it does, why Dubai as its model?

Well judging by the Communitypub.com piece, the author has probably not been to Dubai Media City. While all the points he makes - freedom to publish, facilities for freelancers, tax-free income, etc - are true, strictly speaking, the reality on the ground is somewhat... different.

Add to that the competition just up the coast from New York - in contrast to Dubai's virgin territory - and the idea of DMC II: This Time It's In Delaware starts to look a little more fanciful.

But perhaps the most interesting thing to note is, yet again, Dubai's almost supernatural powers of brand building have claimed another mind.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - whatever else you say about the place, you have to hand it to Dubai on the marketing front, especially outside the UAE itself.

Lightning photograpy: Burj Dubai

2009-01-15T17:08:00.003+04:00

Now that's a picture.

It's hard to see the Burj Dubai in this small pic, but click through to the Arabian Business photo gallery for a higher-res version.

AB.com also has a collection of rather samey shots of the nearly-finished Burj Dubai, which is looking pretty good (even if they are going to light it green at night...)

Although, ambitious super structure, nearly completed, in times of turmoil... I can't help but recall Secret Dubai's nickname for the supertall tower:

Deathspire.

[Insert sinister breathing noises here]

PennantWatch I

2009-01-14T14:08:00.005+04:00

As we get into the new year, we'll be keeping an eye on empty outdoor ad positions around the region, starting with pennants.

As of 2009-01-14 in Dubai:

Empty pennants on Maktoum Bridge (formerly Samsung), the DIC exit to Sheikh Zayed Road (formerly Nakheel), and the second interchange on SZR (formerly ???).

Anyone got any more?

EDIT: contribution from a Mr A. McNabb of Dubai, UAE, who sends in this snap of a mupi in Dubai's Knowledge Village with an ad for a show that finished in October.

"The agency overbooked? Or the site has never sold since?" asks McNabb.

Europe's true colours...

2009-01-14T12:51:00.005+04:00

Imagine you're a well-bred and formerly prosperous fellow, in more recent decades sadly fallen on hard times. Finally things start looking up, and the Gravy Train Club even accepts your application to join, and puts you in charge for a bit.

To make a good impression, you commission some nice pictures of the other members - only to discover that the charming artist you paid quite a lot of money to has made your fellow Gravy Trainers look like the Addams Family.

Sadly, this is what the Czech Republic seems to have done this week to its fellow EU members. Embarrassing highlights; Germany with a motorway-Swastika, Bulgaria as a toilet, and France on strike.

If ever there was an international organisation with a PR problem, it's the EU. And this really isn't going to help.

Still, I'd be curious to see what this artist chappie made of the Middle East, and how big the riots would be afterwards.

Here come the choppers...

2009-01-13T13:29:00.004+04:00

Saatchi is doing it, Intermarkets isn't doing it yet, it says, others are thinking about doing it, and Horizon.draft.FCB has done it to five people, with a few more possibly to come.

Job cuts are here, folks.

We're hearing a lot of stories about agencies cutting staff, some of them real, some of them probably malicious wishful thinking.

According to some (Team's Shahir Ahmed and Pirana's Shehzad Yunus, for example) there's plenty of dead wood in the industry that's ripe for cutting.

So, could this potentially be what the region needs? A chance to clear out the weak and infirm?

Or will it set things back five years and cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth?

Stamping down on cutural taboos?

2009-01-11T11:03:00.004+04:00

Spotted at the weekend in Dubai Festival City mall: an ad for Egyptian singer Tamer Hosny - performing LIVE on 16 January, pop fans - situated at the bottom of an escalator.

To clarify, the ad was on the floor, and Festival City patrons were busily walking over Hosny's face. (Sadly our correspondent lacked a camera at the time - please feel free to pass on a pic...)

Given all the recent hullabaloo about how grave an insult the soles of a shoe are in regional culture, this seems like a strange bit of placement. Possibly Hosny wouldn't be too happy about it, either...

DVV media - dog fighters not welcome

2009-01-07T16:05:00.003+04:00

“If they are a member of a right-wing group, or are interested in things like dog-fighting or things that involve animal cruelty, that’s a major turn off," says DVV publisher in an interview with Khaleej Times, about using Facebook to scope out prospective employees.

Well that's good to know. Although we were rather hoping for 'Cock Fighting Monthly'...

It also makes a change from senior editors at certain other TLA-titled publishers, who have been known to hire based on quality of Facebook photographs. And we're not talking depth-of-field and composition here either. Not unless you really want to stretch the metaphor.

Gaza and Israel - the PR front

2009-01-06T14:48:00.005+04:00

When the US invaded Iraq the first time round (ie when it was invited to do so...), much was made of missile-mounted cameras and the transformation of the war into a very immediate media spectacle.

When the US invaded Iraq the SECOND time around, it took the "media war" concept even further, embedding journalists with specific units - and in a masterstroke of PR, matched up regional journos with their local divisions, thus ensuring plenty of positive grass-roots coverage for what was otherwise a deeply unpopular war just about everywhere.

When Israel invaded Lebanon in 2006, it didn't capitalise much on getting the media onside, and suffered on that front as a result.

Now, the story is very different.

This report from The National paints a picture of an Israel determined to control the war agenda on the internet, and bombarding global users with more information than they can process.

Its target is not the Middle East, but those otherwise disinterested observers in the US and Europe - if it can persuade them it is defending itself from attacks, rather than slaughtering innocent civilians, then that's another chunk of pressure off its back.

But this a PR game - so there's no incentive to tell the truth.

In one rather harrowing YouTube video, the IDF purports to show militants loading up a van with rockets. In eerie silence, the camera zooms in and out, before a strike is called in, leaving an expanding fireball where the van once was.

Unfortunately, they probably weren't rockets. According to Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem, cited in The National, the men were almost certainly moving gas canisters, as they shifted a workshop out of a damaged site.

As is all too common in the media, though, whoever gets in first gets to call the tune - and right now that's Israel, as far as the PR war is concerned.

Palestinians, and many across the Middle East and around the world, are fighting back with images of the carnage, but as long as people believe Israel is defending itself against bad men with rockets and bombs, the sad truth is they will accept the carnage as "collateral damage".

And things like this editorial, denying the WWII holocaust, in Gulf News of all papers, really does not help. To the outside world, this gives an image of Israelis as merciless but justified defenders, and Arabs as irrational, illogical terrorist sympathisers - if not terrorists themselves.

Neither of these labels are correct - and neither is the reverse entirely the case either. But like it or not, the Arab world has to get a lot smarter at the PR game and target not the people who will sympathise anyway, but those who do not have strong opinions either way.

AdNation doesn't do politics, but we will be carrying a token of our support for the innocent casualties in Gaza on the site for now.

Whoops

2009-01-05T16:45:00.004+04:00

As a journalist, especially on a monthly or weekly mag, it's embarrasing to duplicate a story that one of your competitors has already done. But to duplicate a cover, as highlighted on the Kipp Report blog - oh, that's pretty bad.

It would have been at least amusing if these had appeared at the same time as each other, but the Arabian Business team can have no excuses there, seeing as there must have been at least a month between Trends appearing, and this issue of AB going to press.

On the other hand, there's always a feeling of "there but for the grace of God [or alternate higher power] go I..." with these things.

And you can bet they won't be making that mistake again...

(Image is from Kipp)

You think the Gulf has it bad?

2009-01-04T14:33:00.004+04:00

Perspective is a wonderful thing. A newspaper in Turkey is losing advertisers, partly due to the economic downturn, but also due to fear of a shadowy, Mafia-like organisation that stands accused of engineering a vast, right-wing conspiracy across the country, according to this report in The National.

In comparison to assassination lists and political intrigue, suddenly the loss of some property advertising doesn't seem so bad.

The National is very good at these big, in-depth stories - which is why, again, it was rather a shame to see the paper tow the Abu Dhabi Is Fabulous line quite so blatantly.

At least it writes in English, though, as opposed to certain other papers, as a Dubai Media Observer commenter noted.

I believe one is publicly horse-whipped at the Daily Mail for that sort of Atrocity Against Language.

Social networking 'not making money' shocker

2009-01-04T14:08:00.006+04:00

Facebook, and other social networks, may be in trouble - a story from over the winter break.

No one should be really surprised about this - Facebook was grossly overvalued and the whole data-whoring - sorry, mining - thing has always proved problematic to actually capitalise on.

What does this mean for regional social networking endeavours, such as Jeeran, Dubai Lime, or AdNation itself?

Well, hopefully we might all be in better shape, having not squandered countless millions on development, or indeed strawberries and muffins. You would also hope that internet operations in the Middle East are more aware of how limited development has been in internet advertising here, and so have set their sights lower.

H2O - the developer behind Dubai Lime, and the technical stuff of AdNation, has just launched its own attempt to unlock some of the monetary potential from social networks. I'll be trying to speak to H2O headman Steve Vaile about this, and what potential he sees in the market - stay tuned for that.

And we're back

2009-01-04T12:03:00.005+04:00

Hello, and happy new year to all. I've just got back into the office, to be confronted by...

Well, not by much, really. Still seems quiet.

But the first rumblings of bigger problems are starting to be heard - layoffs and pay freezes, and empty spots on hoardings and pennants, at least here in Dubai.

I'll be keeping my eye out for signs of all this economic turmoil hitting the marketing sector - if you spot anything revealing, do let me know: editor@adnationme.com.

Back to the grindstone...

March of 37,000 unemployed journos

2008-12-22T18:01:00.005+04:00

Ulp. That's torn it.

Up until now, the received wisdom, especially on Dubai Media Observer, is that if you're working in the Middle East as a journalist, you're crap.

Or at least weird, suffering from a breakdown, or actually enjoying life in the Sandlands - which probably makes you a congenital arsehole, in the eyes of the naysayers.

Now, according to the report linked above, you won't be crap - just desperate.

All those layed off hacks are searching for work - any work, anywhere. And as a region that a) has a reasonable English-language media sector, and b) is still hiring, many highly-trained US journalists are making their way over here (and UK ones can't be far behind, but probably not on the same scale).

For the rest of us, this is good news and bad. Good, because it's likely the region is going to get its game raised, whether it likes it or not. Bad, because the days of nonchalantly job hopping once a year, and upping one's salary every time, will be of the past.

I for one welcome our new Yankee overlords - anything that improves the overall quality of the media in the region has to be A Good Thing.

And one interesting possible side-effect is that when all these hacks get visits, or go back home, or move back to the US for good, they will take with them a much more realistic view of the Middle East, for better or worse.

Who knows - maybe this will even filter down a little bit?

Peace and understanding through an economic depression - whoever would have thought?

SITE NEWS: As you may have noticed, it's nearly Christmas, which means I'm off for a break. There'll still be new stuff appearing on AdNation, but it will be back to normal service come the start of January.

Toodle-pip.

Everything is broken

2008-12-21T03:03:00.004+04:00

Aaaah! Those blasted cable cuts are making life somewhat difficult here at AdNation Towers.

Being hosted outside of the region, AdNation is running a little slow today. Yes, even more than usual.

At least we still seem to be up, though - as I write, I can't access The National's website at all, depriving me of Keach Hagey's stories, and thus a major source of news (just joking! But not really...)

Amazingly, ArabianBusiness.com seems to be little affected - it's still as intermittent as ever, but hanging on in there.

Some are predicting some sort of domino effect, whereby corporate users deprived of their private networks will fall back on the public internet, putting it under more strain, causing more connections to fail - and so on and so on.

As this failed to happen in January, when the region suffered a couple of catastrophic cuts, I'm guessing things will just be a bit crap for a while.

Anyone got any more theories? I'll be taking a lack of comments as evidence of YET MORE DISRUPTION, by the way, rather than apathy.

The eyes, the eyes...

2008-12-19T00:04:00.005+04:00

So America's shiny new president - as yet untainted (mostly) by petty squabbles and scandal - is inspiring people to trademark Obama-related products, reports The Smoking Gun.

It has a nice slideshow with a few of the examples on display - including this:

The eyes... they won't stop staring. Make it stop.

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S GOOD, MAKE IT STOP!

Spoof branding II

2008-12-18T17:19:00.003+04:00

Financial Onanism

2008-12-18T13:05:00.003+04:00

Headline spotted in Gulf News business section earlier this week: 'Whack off financial stress' and alongside it 'Relief options'.

Obviously GN staff are taking matters into their own hands.

[Cymbal crash]

(Thanks to N)

Everyone's a winner

2008-12-18T11:19:00.005+04:00

Sahara gets an award. Good for Sahara. Er, except it got the award for sponsoring the event in question.

You have to ask, is this really worth a press release?

"We are proud to receive this honorary award, as it confirms to us that our vision of using all possible means to spread knowledge throughout Arab communities is a sound one. The award encourages us to continue with our efforts, and we look forward to sponsoring similar cultural and educational conferences and activities in the future," said Bassam M Dean, Sahara's branch manager.

In other news, AdNation awards itself the Top Prize For Being Great award.

I'm proud and honoured to accept this award...

Spoof branding I

2008-12-17T10:42:00.004+04:00

One good thing about the economic crisis - lots of good jokes.

From an email doing the rounds, some spoof logos, retouched to be more appropriate for the current circumstances:

(no idea if these have gone round before, but they're amusing so they're going up)

AB.com's magical time machine

2008-12-16T14:04:00.004+04:00

BT chief says Mideast growth set to slow trumpets ArabianBusiness.com, accompanied by a nice image of a BT phone box. Circa 1992.

The charming BT "piper" logo, adopted by the firm in 1991, and as featured in the AB.com story, was scrapped in favour of its current swishy balls (which probably say a lot more about BT, to be fair).

(Actually the Getty Images pic was from 2006, when - we guess - a desperate Getty staff photographer was unable to find a BT maintenance van, office block, headquarters, etc, and plumped instead for a retro-90s phone box.)

In other news, the UK's Tory party has squeaked home in a general election, and an unknown Democrat called Bill Clinton has trounced George Bush in the US presidential race. And some stuff happened in Bosnia.

The yo-yo of online advertising

2008-12-15T14:47:00.005+04:00

MediaME supremo Zeid Nasser thinks online advertising growth is going to slow next year.

Other people out there think online advertising growth will accelerate next year.

Which is it?

Nasserites would point to the abject ignorance throughout much of the regional marketing industry - and, possibly, to the lack of Old Boys' Club/nepotism/Lebanese Mafia/whatever contacts among the new online upstarts in the region.

"Others" - whoever they may be - say that in the new economic climate of blind panic, clients will be less willing to put up with the Bad Old Ways of no ROI, no meaningful data, and inflated old media rates.

Rational types would probably hope for the latter - but as far as I can see, we just can't tell what will happen, until the economy starts to bite more widely. Which just isn't happening yet - and in some sectors, may not happen at all.

AdNation will be paying close attention to this one. Thoughts welcome.

Oh sh...

2008-12-15T14:30:00.002+04:00

2009 is payback year

Uh-oh.

I know we're not in Europe over here, but we're not immune. And we're not out of the woods yet...

These shoes were made for throwing...

2008-12-15T10:25:00.004+04:00

I know it's everywhere this morning, but still. Priceless.

It's images like this that have a tendency to hang around. It's almost sad it makes no difference now...

Also, kudos for Dubya's reflexes. [insert political joke about ducking issues, questions, etc here]

Dodgy research not everyone's cup of tea

2008-12-15T01:54:00.004+04:00

Pumping out client-favourable research has a long and ignoble history in the annals of PR, but you would hope that by this point companies might have got the hang of it.

Apparently not: Bus stop advertising great, says bus stop owner

What makes this so depressing is the utter contempt Right Angle Media seems to be showing to the press. Normally research so blatantly pro-sponsor is released with the paymaster's name gently buried - relying on the laziness of journos (yep, that's us) to prevent them from digging any further.

Taking one example at random - tea and its purported health benefits - a quick trawl of the BBC News website for 2007-2008 revealed positive tea-related stories here, here, here, here, here and here. In contrast, only two stories - here and here - cast any doubt on tea's efficacy as the cure of all our ills.

Notably, the first of the latter two stories still has a positive spin, and the second is the ruling of an advertising watchdog, striking down claims by one tea-maker about the brew's healthful properties.

The former, positive, set of stories is notable for an absence of any information on who sponsored the research in each case. Some may be genuine, but I doubt all six would be without at least the taint of tea or tea-related producers.

Sadly, this is just one of many lessons Right Angle has failed to pick up. Ultimately, of course, it's all the better for transparency, etc - but it does strike me that this is basically a colossal waste of time.

Money, it's a hit

2008-12-14T18:16:00.005+04:00

The Arabian Business Rich List is out again - and this time Anil Bhoyrul managed to get access to Prince Alwaleed's accounts. Must be a coincidence that this shock move into openness comes just after all those rumours about Alwaleed being broke due to the economic ruination. Surely.

So it turns out HRH is worth just over $17bn - and AB helpfully gives a breakdown of his holdings.

Oddly, the mag gets a little coy when it comes to how much cash Alwaleed has down the back of his many fine sofas: "We cannot disclose the exact amount as it is confidential, but have seen the verified total figure."

But thanks to the detailed info AB has on the rest of his empire, AdNation can exclusively reveal...

[scribbles on back of napkin]

Yep - according to AB's figures, Alwaleed appears to have roughly $2.614 billion in cash.

Loose change, really.

Now why would Alwaleed not want to reveal what seemingly anyone can easily work out...?

Blame This Man

2008-12-14T17:28:00.003+04:00

A profile by The Times on Dick Fuld, quite possibly the man who brought down Lehman Bros.

Not so much "gotcha" journalism than "go get 'em" journalism...

Somebody answer the phone....

2008-12-14T16:21:00.004+04:00

Maybe it's just me being an unreasonable sod, but if you're going to issue a press release, you'd make sure the designated spokesperson was in town, right?

Similarly, if you're the local operation of a major international corporation, with a staff of hundreds here in the region, it's not unreasonable to, oh I don't know, HIRE RECEPTIONISTS TO ANSWER THE DARN PHONES?

Not one, not two, but three sets of people failing to pick up their phones today.

Maybe it is just me. Maybe I'm the last man standing. The Omega Man.

Yes, despite appearances - I am Charlton Heston.

The weight of recession

2008-12-14T16:06:00.006+04:00

Spot On's Alexander McNabb has been conducting an interesting experiment: weighing various issues of Gulf News, after discovering one was a little light in the hand.

His first post revealed GN had plunged almost 50% in weight, to a paltry 690g on 11 December. Surely this emaciated newspaper was a dire threat of the recession to come?

Happily, Gulf News is back up to a plumper 1.2kg today it seems. Recession over - back to the trough...

Welcome to the AdNation Middle East Blog!

2008-12-14T15:10:00.007+04:00

Hello and welcome to the blogging event of the century. Possibly.

This is the official blog for AdNation Middle East, the news and community site for the region's advertising, marketing and media industry.

I'm Eliot Beer, the site's Editor, and here I'll be posting some of the more random or tangential bits and bobs I come across, as well as the odd bit of commentary on stories on the site, background information, and so on.

This blog will be somewhat more informal than the main site - if such a thing is possible - so content may occasionally be unsuitable for young'uns, those of a delicate disposition, or idiots. If any of these labels apply to you, STAY AWAY!

All posts and feedback are welcome, especially those telling me what an idiot I am. We love those. Comments pointing out that until now I affected to despise blogging will be studiously ignored.

You can reach me here, or by email on editor@adnationme.com.

Carry on.