Search Results for : Content

Mankind sometimes forgets that we’re not alone on this planet. We’re renting it with other living creatures as well and on this years’ World Animal Day, Agora images shared some breathtaking photographs of the most beautiful creatures on our planet. The competition using the hashtag #Animal2020 was created to instill a sense of urgency in […]

Global custom research and analytics consultancy, PSB Research was commissioned by  Starzplay, the leading subscription video on demand (SVOD) service in the MENA region to study the SVOD trends during the period from January 2019 to May 2020. The study covered two key phases – the Covid-19 situation that led to a region-wide lockdown and […]

Regional online platform StriveME approaches the automotive industry in a different way, stepping outside of the usual technical details to grab the audience’s attention from a lifestyle perspective. Communicate spoke with Managing Director and Co-Founder Samah Safa, to better understand what difference this strategy makes. What is the thinking behind your editorial approach? In order […]

By Darren Hodgkin, CEO of PPMG A website is more than a window to your store. In 2020 it is your store; as important as your brick and mortar, stand, or stall. For web-only brands, it is the one sales environment they have and as crucial as the products they sell. While visual merchandising tells […]

Wedding and portrait photographer, Asim Ijaz considers capturing portraits a work of art. In the video below, he explains his process on how to capture a beautiful portrait photograph. Agora images are a free-to-use app social app. The app is for the global photography community, with more than 3.5 million users from across 193 countries. On a […]

What content to use, where and when is the headache most organizations are now familiar with. Communicate lays out the groundwork for you. “Content is king,” famously said by Microsoft founder Bill Gates back in 1996. Two decades later, this view rings as true as ever. The catch is, the notion of ‘content’ now covers […]

Last June, Procter and Gamble launched the “New Brave” campaign for Always Arabia. The content-driven piece, meant to celebrate the resilience of women during these challenging times, is in line with the P&G’s focus on positioning itself as a force for good. Deepa Vaidyanathan, Head of Communications – IMEA at Procter and Gamble, tells Communicate […]

To mark its 75th anniversary, the United Nations has launched the biggest-ever global conversation-UN75. The UN is calling on the youth and groups not already engaged with the organization, to expand global cooperation and help them build the future. Agora supports the initiative through the hashtag #TheWorldWeWant. In the video below, storytellers from around the […]

Throughout the ages, tones, topics and styles in content marketing have evolved drastically. Communicate takes a step back and examines how the way we pitch changed over time.  

Digital Advertising Specialist Chris Gregory-Pasha on how Quibi could disrupt the OTT landscape, or not… Launching a brand new short-form streaming service in the middle of a global pandemic – utter madness or disruptive brilliance?Well, in reality, it’s probably a bit of both… Quibi, for the uninitiated, is the brainchild of Jeffrey Katzenberg, the founder […]

This past month, photographers from all over the world have submitted their best shots for the #Freedom2020 contest which was organized by Agora Images. Korchnoi Pasaribu, a geologist by profession and a native of Jakarta, Indonesia, won the contest. In the video below, Pasaribu talks about what inspired him to take the winning shot.   Agora images […]

As the demand for Arabic content is on the rise, Communicate looks at understanding how this content is created and catered to the diverse community of Arabic speakers today. Karim Daoud, CEO of Webedia Arabia, one of the largest digital Arab networks which curate content under the various pillars of; fashion and beauty, pop culture, food, parenting, and gaming/e-sports, […]

A communications platform inspired by real-life interactions, Snap has been aggressively pushing its Discover feature towards media companies. Because its core objective remains to allow users to communicate easily and comfortably, unlike other social media platforms that focus more on popularity, Snap is offering a unique avenue to publishers aiming to reach the 218 million […]

Last year, Communicate shared Agora’s top 50 photographs for the competition with the hashtag #Hope2019 Coincidentally, the feature image for the piece, which was selected at random, also happens to be the winning shot. In the video below, the winner, Enrique Planelles, the Barcelona native who enjoys photography as a hobby, cites his inspiration behind the photograph […]

There is more content out there than at any other point in time. Some moments get more eyeballs than others, though. Communicate looks at the most-viewed content globally. Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony (2008) The Beijing National Stadium – better known as the Bird’s Nest – was home to the Beijing Olympics’ Opening Ceremony in 2008. […]

Communicate sat down for an exclusive interview with Siddharth Puri, CEO of Tyroo, to talk aboutVidtech.ai, the new AI-based tech solution that converts data into video content. How did the idea for Vidtech.ai come about? Back in 2016, we were creating this e-commerce company with a 24-hour video experience. And we thought that if we wanted to […]

Johannes Larcher, managing director-digital at MBC, unveils the strategy behind Shahid Plus’s upcoming acceleration and subscription growth.

BPG Group and YouGov released the results of the 2019 Social Media Influencers’ Survey. This year’s survey focused on consumers’ views about Social Media Influencers. The survey which is currently in its fourth year, analyzed 1,000 female and male respondents, aged 18 – 35 years across the UAE and KSA. Here are the key takeaways […]

By Gregg Fray, owner of Seven Media and Seven Studios There’s a school of thought that suggests humans are unique among animals due to our ability to tell – and believe in – stories. We’re able to engage huge numbers of our species using facts woven together as narratives, and through fictional stories that get […]

by Volkan Çağsal, CEO of Adphorus Digital advertising was almost half of all advertising spend in 2018, and it keeps growing, with two in three travel marketers planning to spend more this year. The second biggest chunk of that advertising spend is going towards social media. According to Sojern’s State of the Industry Report which surveyed […]

‘Studios’ or training programs for creators on social media platforms have been all the rage with YouTube and Facebook setting up physical and online studios and trainings to help creators with equipment, advice, etc. Now, Snap has extended the capabilities of its ‘Lens Studio,’ which was launched last year. The Lens Studio and its extended […]

Mnawar Jamil Shourakaa is the founder of and chief copywriter at CopyArabia. With over ten years of experience in both, English and Arabic copywriting now, Shourakaa set up the agency in 2014 as a solution to his – and perhaps this region’s – biggest issue of “poor Arabic communications”. “This has been happening for a […]

Global marketing and communications group Publicis announced the signing of a strategic partnership with internet giant Tencent earlier this week at the Viva Technology Paris, a leading event devoted to start-ups and innovation.   Tencent, operates popular social and media platforms in China, and this partnership is claimed to be the first of its kind […]

Following Initiative Talks “Stand Out Content”, we catch up with Ramzy Abouchacra, regional managing director of Initiative. Tell us a little bit about Initiative Talks… We created Initiative Talks as a platform to tackle specific subjects that are of interest at that point of time to trigger a conversation between different people or entities that […]

In a world where Kim Kardashian rules social media and Donald Trump runs for the US elections, it might seem rather easy for things to be misunderstood. However, people aren’t always the cause. Sometimes it’s just the context. For instance, the quote, “Rather thicker than one usually sees…quite rigid…ten-and-a-quarter inches,” didn’t sound wrong at all […]

GCC Board Directors Institute (BDI) has appointed H+K Strategies (H+K) as content partner to the Institute for the next three years.  Additional content partners for the board include PwC, McKinsey & Co, Heidrick & Struggles and Allen & Overy, while supported by the Capital Market Authorities in Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE, Qatar Financial Centre and the […]

I’m slightly embarrassed to say this, but I admit to buying books, beverages, electronics and other sundry items, based predominantly on their covers. Why? Because I’m reassured by a beautiful typeface, expensive packaging, use of materials with a hand and heft that imply, if not guarantee, quality. My consumption is responsible and limited to need, but I enjoy a thoughtfully put-together product because in this […]

Sarah Personette is Facebook’s head of global business marketing and was the opening keynote speaker at Festival of Media MENA, which was held in Dubai this April. She chats with us about branded content on Facebook and how platforms like it have changed the creative approach of marketers.  Is innovation making the job of a […]

Globally, the average amount of time per day people will spend consuming video will increase to 23.3 percent in 2015 and an additionally 19.8 percent in 2016, according to the Online Video Forecasts report ZenithOptimedia in conjunction with Newcast. Driven by the rise of the Smartphone and tablet, the growth of video consumption can also […]

Vuclip, premium mobile video on demand service for emerging markets, announces a new strategic partnership with Ooredoo Kuwait, telecommunications service provider. Ooredoo Kuwait and Vuclip will provide premium mobile video on demand service. Using Vuclip’s Dynamic Adaptive Transcoding Technology, Ooredoo Kuwait will offer millions of viewers the opportunity to enjoy unbuffered videos, optimized for network variability, across all mobile devices. This […]

Communicate’s parent company, Mediaquest, has recently announced a partnership with motion public relations agency, emblem. With this new agreement, emblem will provide its  ‘Cinematic PR’ service, which will benefit Mediaquest by enhancing digital video coverage of its editorial division and range of media-related events, to include Arab Luxury World, the Effies and Top CEO. As they say, […]

  The production house was, once, a very defined roof under which a very defined set of people lived. They all knew their roles and their job was clear: to produce. As the old adage goes: times change. Digitization has forced the production industry to evolve and function in a much more collaborative way because […]

“To be or not to be,” deliberated Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare’s famous play. While the reference might be too dated for today’s digital age to pay heed to, it is something worth considering when brands decide to be “viral”, or, at least, create viral content. Fortunately – or unfortunately – they can spare themselves the […]

Digital advertising in the Middle East is one of the fastest growing industries in the region. Even in the past five years, we have seen a big shift from declining television and print commercials to smart online, mobile and in-app campaigns. Brands are realizing new ways to utilize their budgets across B2B and B2C sectors […]

  Microsoft has unveiled a revamped homepage for MSN in the UAE today, “designed from the ground up for a mobile, cloud-first world,” and combining “premium content from the world’s leading media outlets with personal productivity tools that help you do more,” it said in a statement. “Clearly, audiences are part of a cloud-first mobile first […]

BuzzFeed, the news and entertainment website best known for its pictures of cats, wants to expand into the Middle East with the launch of an Arabic website. Launched in 2006, the United States website, which is steadily increasing its hard news content, has already launched UK, Australia, France, Brazil and Español (Spanish) editions. Since November […]