One key trend that seems to preoccupy media planners and buyers is the growing appeal of mobile advertising in a region which is not exactly prepared — or conducive — to fully embrace the concept. Despite boasting in its ranks markets such as the UAE — where smartphone penetration is the highest in the world — the region comes in last globally with just 4.6 per cent in mobile internet ad spend as a percentage of overall #digital spend.
That compares with North America’s 42.8 per cent, Western Europe’s 21.2 per cent, Asia-Pacific’s 17.7 per cent and Latin America with 6.3 per cent. A key challenge is the slow adoption of mobile-friendly websites and until those proliferate to an adequate level, the mobile advertising segment will remain undervalued despite the massive potential presented by the early adoption in the UAE, in particular.
While no significant trends seem to be shaping ad spends on print and TV channels, outdoor is likely to remain one of the most effective local media, at least for those who can still afford it. According to experts, while high in demand, outdoor’s cost of entry in prime locations is so high that it is pricing out even major advertisers who are forced to look at more cost-effective alternatives.
In the UAE, cinema would feature highly on the list of those alternatives, due to the renaissance it is expected to undergo as a result of the opening of new malls and the ongoing redevelopment of the country’s biggest shopping destinations which will lead to the creation of many new state-of-the-art theatres.
Those with little or no advertising money to waste are likely to increase their investment in PR and social media strategies to help them achieve their communications objectives. For long considered as the caviar of the poor, PR’s popularity as an important component of the #marketing mix is gaining momentum and this could be a watershed year for the sector in the region.
Having managed to fully integrate social media in their services portfolios, most regional #PR agencies today possess a much more holistic capability and a robust offering that is as powerful in terms of achieving KPIs (key performance indicator) as it is compelling from an effectiveness view point.
The challenge for PR agencies is two-pronged: First they must quickly learn how to walk the walk and talk the talk while creating and delivering PR-led campaigns with strong social media interpretations and not the other way round. On a secondary level, they must have the foresight, ability and appeal to recruit a new breed of hybrid talent that, at least in this region, may not yet exist or hasn’t had the time to fully develop yet.
Read the full Gulf News article: http://bit.ly/1DE61EG
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