OMAR ABOU EZZEDDINE OF MONKS ON THE STRATEGY FORWARD IN THE REGION
Omar Abou Ezzeddine is Managing Director MEA at Media Monks, responsible for local and regional agency leadership spoke to Communicate about the vision and implementation that guides him.
Monks is certainly expanding in the region, can you tell us more about the strategy behind it?
The MEA region is very bespoke be it in audiences, clients, cultures, and a beautiful mix of nuances - from region to region and from city to city. Our expansion strategy is based on being heavily rooted locally in our UAE, KSA, and Egypt operations while having the muscle of a 7K strong global team that can help serve local clients’ global ambitions. Furthermore, our commitments to the visions set out for the UAE and KSA are of utmost priority. You are either local and invested in local markets or you are not, simply. Monks are, with the benefit of global expertise.
The Saudi market is nothing but ebullient as of late, but ebullience cannot be sustained. Where do you see the market heading in KSA, specifically that everything was turbo-charged by the 2030 vision?
The Vision 2030 set out by HRH Mohammed bin Salman Al Saudi is, and will continue to be, extremely ambitious. Monks are very much vested in this vision with our HQ addition in KSA in Riyadh with a fully operational team. In order to sustain, we must be an extension of our client partners as they grow rapidly alongside a very ambitious and challenging road ahead.
Empowerment of the youth and the talent in the Kingdom is also key to Monks. To further the sustainability factor, the interest in technology and Monks’ leadership in AI driven solutions creating efficiencies, automation, scale and personalization are core to the pace of change in the Kingdom. Being Adweek’s inaugural AI Agency of the Year, we believe not only as an agency but as a partner to our clients in orchestrating transformation of the marketing organisation.
Lately one feels that a lot of the game is being played via digital and social, but how do you feel more “traditional” media can be in the mix and still be visible and efficient?
The issue is in the question itself. While we have all the data on digital and social consumption and while we use insights and data to inform business, campaign and product decisions for clients, the core question is 1. Who is your audience? 2. What is your strategy (contact strategy) based on this audience? 3. How can you test and learn from the data? Brands need to connect with their audiences at the speed of culture, making both timeless and timely connections. It’s no longer about the funnel or the channel. Every connection has a brand and performance role. Real-time data signals can be used to continuously identify, create and optimise creative moments and messages.
The region has a lot of common traits, and yet many specificities, how can one still do a campaign and still resonate with the many ethnicities at once?
The diverse beauty of our region is what drives our passion and our clients’ commitments (not to mention their expectation of understanding this beauty and diversity). This understanding that we come from a very diverse region where even within the same country; cultural, behavioral, and interests have their nuances from city to city and region to region is what is requested of brands in the current landscape. We enable our clients to act as Real Time Brands and make these relevant connections with the right nuances. Understanding these nuances via local teams, insights, data, and cultural/geographical footprint is key to an agency that wants to succeed in the MEA region.
Your previous experience includes government contracting, security applications, artificial intelligence, online platform development, and digital strategy formulation and execution, how does one mix all of this in your current job title?
It all comes down to EQ. Experience is critical and my journey has been nothing but a force in allowing me to see success, failure, challenges, and an ever evolving landscape through digital and technology, however one thing is key - EQ and the commitment to life-long learning. We are humans and our industry is about human connections. Regardless of all the innovation out there, we all have to remember the basic facts.
