middle east Archives

July 18, 2017

A Whole Other World

If you’re a fan, like me, of comics and the related games and movies they inspire, you will undoubtedly have heard of, if not visited, Comic-Con. These conventions are held in major cities around the world and gather fans by the tens of thousands.

Comic Con 2017

Obviously, a major marketing tool for the industry they are also an opportunity for us, the aficionados, to immerse ourselves in the fictitious worlds we love, often dressing as our favourite hero (or villain) for the day and bringing the character to life along with our alter ego.

Dubai’s annual gathering, The Middle East Film and Comic Con (MEFCC), held at the Trade Centre over 3 days in April, is now the biggest popular culture event in the region. I have been attending since the beginning in 2008 and the growth of interest and participation has been phenomenal.

Being such a youthful cauldron of nationalities and cultures, Dubai’s version offers a mixture of people which is probably unique in the world, all drawn by a common enthusiasm. That makes it truly fascinating. You have Batmen, Hulks, Spocks and Wonder Women from every corner of the earth.

Bushra at Comic Con_003 For this year’s visit, I became a fully made up character of my own creation in the Japanese Manga style. I have loved manga comics since my teenage years, drawn to their detailed illustration, depth of character and life simulating story lines.

Having always enjoyed illustrating and drawing, I am inspired by the artists behind these comics and characters. Studio Ghibli, based in Tokyo, is a favourite, making incredible films for huge global audiences (and profits).

I am extremely happy to say that illustration has now become part of my professional life and I can create scenes and characters that communicate and influence on behalf of our clients.

For a unique spectacle of creativity visit Comic-Con in 2018. I’ll be there but you probably won’t recognise me.

Bushra Laota – Graphic Designer at Zaman

December 4, 2013

The Start Of Something

The Start Of Something Very Big

Having worked with so many different brands in the region throughout the past 18 years we have enjoyed a lot of proud moments. Some, however, naturally stand out over others. Back in 1998 we embarked on what was at the time one of the most significant branding projects in the region.

Zaman was approached by the then ‘Emirates Telecommunications Corporation’ to join the process of evolving them into a customer facing service company with the capacity to grow internationally. At the time very little was known locally about branding beyond its delivery of a new logo. So patience and the sharing of our knowledge were essential at every stage.

The Etisalat brand was of particular National importance as it was the only brand that was omnipresent in all Emirates as the sole provider of its service. Everyone in the UAE had to deal with them so this project would touch everyone at home and at work.

The challenge was very much to change the perception inside the company and across the UAE that this government institution was radically changing for the good of its customers.

To achieve this Zaman created a brand and launch platform that was very personal to the audience and related closely to them as individuals.

We switched the official name to the ‘street’ reference everyone used, Etisalat. We created a new logo mark intended to represent a human form and radiating sound waves of communication breaking from within its own boundaries. The dominant green spoke of a balance, security and growth.

The brand mark was based on a strong and detailed visual identity system that was applied to all the collateral’s – stationery, forms, bills, receipts – and communications tools – brochures, flyers, adverts, posters, signage etc. A comprehensive visual guidelines manual was provided so the brand managers could keep control of the brand’s development through the 100’s of channels and contact points they had to manifest the change.

Redirecting the mind set of the people within the organization was critical to delivering an authentic change to the customer experience. To support this we commissioned a photo shoot, which captured the unseen human face of the organization – people working with and for people. We shared it across the whole organization just prior to launch through a brand book, a presentation, and an intranet and poster campaign. Everyone in the organization got new business cards delivered in a personalized cardholder on the day of the launch.

For the public launch we created animated illustrations that communicated positive yet ‘soft’ messages to customers rather than harsh over ambitious corporate messages. The logo was launched locally with huge, first of their kind, building banners installed on each of Etisalat’s head office buildings in each Emirate and unfurled on the day. A new day.

The Etisalat project of 98 / 99 was a truly a milestone project both for Zaman ad for the UAE. It was followed by a huge wave of re-branding and new brand development across the UAE as the modern commercial age of swept through the UAE’s local businesses at full speed. Etisalat’s change was a true precursor to the incredible developments that were to happen over the next 10 years.

For Zaman, the successful launch of the project lead to Omantel and Qtel branding projects, as well as a host of projects with local companies. Some huge and some start up and from a broad spectrum of industries, all these companies recognized they had to respond to the huge change in the needs of the market place for organizations driven by their brands. They had to become brands.

September 8, 2013

PUTTING THE SPOTLIGHT ON BRAND

PUTTING THE SPOTLIGHT ON BRAND AUTHENTICITY

In 2011 Zaman launched 100 Most Authentic Arab Brands (100aab), a unique brand index aimed at gathering insightful public opinion on how Middle Eastern brands deliver on promises that they make to target audiences. The initial interest in this campaign by both media & the public was a clear sign for us that the mission of 100aab definitely struck a chord.

The context of the world today is that as consumers we are inundated with so many brand choices. In many cities across the Middle East region brand billboards are adding their colourful mark to the skylines of emerging markets. In our work as brand strategy consultants for the past 17yrs we have seen a variety of brands evolve and go on to achieve success and recognition both locally and internationally.

As we continue to gear up for a followup edition of 100aab, we have created the Authentic Arab Brands blog. The primary function of this blog to provide a dedicated space where we will explore deeper the tenets of authenticity and branding, drawing references from case studies or trends in international markets, as well as applying the context of Arab culture.

We look forward to your comments and contributions.

March 12, 2013

ON OUR RADAR

ON OUR RADAR THIS WEEK

We’re currently reading the Winter 2012 Issue 01 of The Outpost. Described as ‘a magazine of possibilities’ according to its website, Outpost intends to identify, understand and analyze the conflicts, morals, energies and opportunities of a changing Arab world and lays down possible figures. It aims to ignite a socio-cultural renaissance in the Arab world through inspiring its readers to explore a world of possibilities. Published just 4 times a year, we’ll be adding this to our list of Arab publications that provide insightful & inspiring narratives from the region.

The science, passion & craftsmanship behind the making of ink & colour. A Canada-based shows us how every conceivable colour of ink in the PANTONE spectrum is made in this short film.

Closer to home, the recent launch of Etihad’s biggest ever global branding campaign last month which will include TV, print, outdoor and digital according to the media release, is the first initiative of this scale that the airline has undertaken in 3yrs. Using the tagline ‘The world is our home, you are our guest’, the entire campaign aims to reinforce Etihad’s “guest” proposition – demonstrating how the airline provides its passengers with signature moments; a blend of the brand’s values & inspirations drawn from around the world. Below is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the lead commercial, created by M&C Saatchi.

Staying with airlines, we also came across this video of a flashmob in a shopping mall in Moscow, undertaken by British Airways & VisitBritain in a marketing push to entice Russian tourists to visit the UK. Whether it has the potential to go viral like BA’s previous campaigns ‘To Fly. To Serve” is debatable but with guest features by the Queen, 007, Mary Poppins, et al. it certainly strikes the right cord in terms of being entertaining. What do you think?

In an earlier post we’d mentioned that we’d started preparations for our next issue of Senso. We’ve started going through the first batch of images received – some great inspirations for the layout. You can click here to see previous issues of Senso or call us on +971 (04) 3261000 to receive complimentary print copies.

More images & case studies on some of the work we have done for our clients can be found on our website.

—

February 12, 2013

TEDtalk: DECIPHERING

TEDtalk: DECIPHERING THE ARABIC GREETING KISS

Inspired by a recent trip to Qatar by some members of team Zaman, today’s post is a TED talk by Iranian-American comedian Maz Jobrani who uses humour to help non-Arabs decipher the Arabic greeting kiss – from Saudi Arabia to Qatar.

October 7, 2012

BRANDING ART DUBAI 2013

BRANDING ART DUBAI 2013 THROUGH CROWDSOURCING

For Art Dubai’s 2012-2013 branding and PR campaign, the organizers are turning to the UAE community-at-large: inviting artists, photographers and arts enthusiasts to collaborate and contribute to a visual narrative that will reflect Dubai’s essence and its varied urban fabric. A crowdsourcing-driven initiative, Art Dubai has issued an open call to the public to send in photos that reflect their experiences of Dubai, in an aim to shed light on Dubai’s diversity and capture its many layers and nuances.

This project follows what has now become Art Dubai’s annual tradition of inviting an artist or collective to participate in creating the fair’s branding in the build-up to the fair each March. In 2009, the fair collaborated with Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin; in 2010, with Sinisa Vlajkovic; in 2011, with Sam Irons; and in 2012 with Dubai-based photographer Mohamed Somji (Mohamed also worked with us as a member of the Al Ain Photographia Award 2011 during panel).

According to the brief on Art Dubai’s website – visuals received will be woven together into a series of collages by Art Dubai’s creative director, Hani Charaf, who created the campaign. Submitted images, which can be taken with a camera, phone, in colour or black and white, or using instagram, hipstamatic or any other type of app, could be featured throughout the year in the lead up to the fair; in adverts and magazines from across the world, on billboards and in catalogues, on tote bags and on our website, among other collateral.

We applaud the organizers of Art Dubai for endeavouring to evolve this platform to make it more inclusive. We’re certainly looking forward to seeing the whole thing come together and hope that a few of our own pictures will also be selected to weave this narrative of Dubai. Submissions close on January 15th, 2013. More details on the criteria for entries available here.

October 7, 2012

Branding art dubai 2013 through crowdsourcing

September 17, 2012

Charting the social path

Charting the social path for Middle East corporates

Social media tools have become a staple in the everyday lives of many people. Enabling individuals to merge their offline and online experiences, it has become one of the lead methods of social connection and interaction across many societies. Yet, it seems that brands in the Middle East are still trying to play catch-up, when it comes to engaging with a consumer base that is clearly quite active online.

Earlier this year Bayt.com published a report on Corporate Usage of Social Media in the Middle East, following a poll it had carried out among communication professionals across more than 12 countries in the MENA region. The report goes some way in shedding light on why this is happening:

The majority of respondents (29.8%) are looking for content on social media that is educational and informative.
Eight out of every ten respondents (81.6%) claim that the potential for social media to damage a company’s reputation is one of the biggest challenges to overcome.

Now, while brands/corporates struggle to overcome their fear of the social media platform, from the consumer side, adoption of all things digital is steadily going from strength to strength; with Facebook undoubtedly leading the pack among social networks (see the Social Media Cheat Sheet we shared last week).

Although figures suggest that corporate are struggling with strategically linking their participation in social media to their business goals, it is clear that adoption of social media in our region is steadily increasing and the value that social networks have to users in MENA countries is highly significant.

The graph below illustrates the penetration of three of the most popular social network services in select Arab countries.

A couple of weeks ago Econsultancy published a report on the growth & impact of social media usage across the Middle East. The fuller Internet Statistics Compendium 2012, which covers Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Qatar, Tunisia & the UAE, is available from here and is a worthwhile investment for companies/brands keen to understand the digital landscape across the region.

Interesting report highlights:

LinkedIn outperforms Twitter across many countries – most significantly, in the UAE where the business-focused network reaches more than 12% of the population (compared to around 3% for Twitter).
In the UAE, Facebook penetration is more than 40% of the population, followed by Kuwait at 34%.
Eight out of every ten respondents (81.6%) claim that the potential for social media to damage a company’s reputation is one of the biggest challenges to overcome.
The majority of respondents (29.8%) are looking for content on social media that is educational and informative.

Here in the UAE, we are in a unique position in that we have a consumer that is brand savvy & very familiar with digital tools. Likewise as managers of global brands we have access to case studies and industry reports on successes and wins on the adoption of best practice social media from our counterparts in more advanced markets such as the UK & US.

Combine this with efforts by ‘local’ platforms such as Bayt, Govt, etc that are publishing more reports with comprehensive insight & highlights from ME markets helping us to better understand the relationship between users and social networks as something more than a superficial past-time – marketers and businesses have the opportunity to leverage the growing significance of digital and chart the social path for a Middle East audience.

—

March 19, 2012

New social network ‘SalamWorld’

New social network ‘SalamWorld’ offers halal version of Facebook

Coming soon, to a browser near you, this July, is a new social network that describes itself as a ‘halal’ version of Facebook! Introducing SalamWorld.

According to an interview of the founder via TNW-Middle East SalamWorld was created as an answer to a low representation of Muslims across the world on the Internet – “…we’re not constructing an Internet mosque, we are just creating a halal environment for Muslims.”

In the video above SalamWorld is described as “The world’s first global, innovative, protected from harmful content, multi-language, and multi-cultural IT project. We created a virtual, model society, in the climate of peace and a package of halal Internet services that answer to the needs and requirements of the modern Muslim.”

Although the most popular social network on the planet today Facebook is always in the process of updating its harmful content restriction policies & user guidelines the SalamWorld founder firmly believes that there is indeed a gaping market opportunity for such a network platform that provides an appropriate atmosphere for Muslim netizens.

At Zaman we’re always keen to learn about tech startups in the Arab world but the TNW article does raise some valid points such as “Is a new social network, introducing an entirely different kind of walled garden, the right approach for an apparently conservative community, regardless of faith, politics or any labels?”

Additionally, with Facebook statistics via Social Bakers show growing user bases across countries with populous Muslim communities such as Indonesia (43million), Malaysia (12million), Thailand (14million) & Egypt (9million users) AND with 2011 regarded as the year of social media & advocacy for free & uncensored Internet…we’re curious to see just how this new social network proposes to entice users to a platform that hails moderation & restrictions as its USP.

August 4, 2011

Case study

Case study – Embedding Brand Values for a Principled Group

What happens when one of the most prominent family Groups in the GCC wants to re-brand itself? Al Fahim Group is one of the oldest Group of companies that started over five decades ago with the rise of modern Abu Dhabi. Headquartered in Abu Dhabi its founder Abdul Jalil Al Fahim was a close friend of the late Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and he built his company along the same set of strong ethics and principles the late Sheikh begin the industrialization of the UAE.

The company is steadily growing after 50 years in business and with more than 3000 employees, it has now become one of the most prominent players in the region. Zaman was invited to create a contemporary identity to reflect the essence of the company’s heritage and its vision for the future. The launch of this new identity would be launched alongside the company’s celebration of its 50th anniversary.

Project highlights:

Understanding the brand – With a workforce of 3,000 people, the sheer size and diverse portfolio of the company required a full ‘soak and scope’/ understanding of Al Fahim’s business through and thorough as well as identify any discrepancies between its communicated brand positioning over the decades and its actual brand perception among its customers and other stakeholders.

Weaving a unique brand story – We then embarked on creating a brand architecture that incorporated elements of the Groups’ heritage and past celebrated milestones, with the present-day Al Fahim Group and the distinct identities and business goals of its subsidiaries together with the future plans and mission of the Group. The idea was to create strong and clear identity of the Al Fahim parent brand which would serve as a platform to elevate its current and future business subsidiaries.

‘Our Values, Our Future’, the adoption of a new identity – Once the brand story had been defined and translated into the slogan ‘Our Values, Our Future’ as well as a simple typeface representing the initials of the brand, the Zaman team devised a structured program to rollout the new identity, first internally: through a series of workshops, a top-down approach, educating senior management to get a buy-in and cascade the messaging throughout the group thus creating ownership. Second, externally – with an entire workforce on board the new brand identity we devised a communications blueprint to streamline messaging across support marketing activities active – namely advertising, direct marketing and experience-led events.

Zaman’s thoughts:

The process of re-branding, be it for an old brand with a rich heritage such as the Al Fahim Group or newer younger businesses requires the same amount of due diligence. One of the most important steps we take when working with our clients on a re-brand is to help them articulate their perceived motives for a re-brand and to challenge them to envision timeless identities that will last for decades more.
*****

12 3

Follow Us