Search Results for : Creativity

Communicate sits with David Fregonas, Accenture Interactive lead, Middle East to learn more about the company’s latest brand move and their recent shift in operations to the cloud. What is the strategy behind this new initiative? We’re following the same advice we give our clients in this time of relentless change: act with great agility and […]

Global social listening and analytics company, Talkwalker, and inbound marketing and sales platform, Hubspot have released the social media trends for 2021. 2020 was a year no one could have predicted, mainly thanks to the impacts of Covid-19. But with regards to the report, Covid-19 is considered as a catalyst that expedited issues, ideas, and […]

Epica Awards’ Editorial Director Mark Tungate tells Communicate about setting up an award show in the era of Covid-19 and the ways to address these sensitive times when looking at advertising work. The Epica Awards always had quite a strong distance component in its setup, with many journalists voting remotely. How does this help you in […]

Khaled AlShehhi, Executive Director of Marketing & Communication at the Public Diplomacy Office in the UAE Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, tells Communicate how he got into marketing, what his work means to him, and how he sees the role of government communications. What is your background and when did you start in […]

We asked the industry: When you first heard about programmatic, what did you think it was?  Maya Khammar Client Services Director at Publicis Middle East When I first heard about the term ‘programmatic,’ I thought this was it, we’re finished. We’re really going to be replaced by the machines. Instinct will be completely replaced with hard […]

The Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA) will be hosting the sixth edition of their annual leadership majlis virtually this year. The majlis will include a series of daily sessions starting from 30th August till 3rd September with communication leaders from the Middle East and abroad. Communicate speaks with Jonty Summers, Chairman of MEPRA and Managing Director […]

French online music streaming service Deezer, launched in 2007, has carved itself a major place in the industry, globally and in the Middle East. Mazen Abdallah, Director of Ad Sales MENAT at Deezer, explains what Deezer can bring to the region’s advertisers. What is the current shape of the audio marketing industry in MENA? Digital […]

Gaming has become one of the most profitable entertainment spaces in recent years but brands in the region have yet to dig into it. Why? Haven’t you heard? Since last September, French couture powerhouse Louis Vuitton has been designing outfits for Riot Games’ free-to-play video game League of Legends’ virtual characters. What’s more, Louis Vuitton […]

UAE-based Q Communications just announced its expansion to Europe, right in the middle of a pandemic. Co-Founders Elsa Roodt and Katie Harvey explain how such a move is indeed a challenge, but one that can be turned into a strength. “You shouldn’t open a business with your best friend.” “We are mid-recession, no one will […]

Parody advertising is a double-edged sword. It can be pretty effective, but it can also backfire spectacularly. To understand what works and what doesn’t, Communicate spoke to Jaison Ben, Creative Director at Publicis Middle East, who was behind the campaign for Nescafe 3in1’s new packaging, unveiled earlier in the year. How to know when parody […]

Kunal Gupta, CEO of digital media technology provider Polar, explains how the communication industry can seize opportunities and face the unprecedented challenges of these covid-19 times.

“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And good things never die.”, says Andy Dufresne, the protagonist of the cult classic film, The Shawshank Redemption. In a time where turmoil is present almost everywhere, people look for hope to help guide them. These 50 photographs with the hashtag #Hope2019 are an illustration of the power of […]

Colors are able to evoke emotions and trigger certain reactions. They can even go as far as subliminally communicating an idea or brand message. These 50 photographs with the hashtag #Red2019 will change the way you perceive the color. Agora images are a free-to-use app social app. The app is for the global photography community, with more […]

Vishal Badiani, creative strategy lead-MENA at Snap Inc., Regardless of the platform, there is no doubt that people are willing to spend time on experiences that catch their attention. The challenge is that the window of opportunity on traditional formats is shrinking. For better or for worse, people can choose to do many other things […]

The self-described circus for adults Rouge shows how creativity can express itself in many forms. Communicate spoke to director Elena Kirschbaum. A mix of acrobatics, cabaret and burlesque, award-winning, Australia-based Rouge is a different kind of circus that manages to inject a healthy dose of creativity in a discipline that sometimes goes in circles, constantly […]

The idea of creativity is very modern and hip, partly because the concept of creativity itself is very recent. That’s not to say that ancient cultures, societies, and civilizations were not creative – creative production has accompanied homo sapiens since the dawn of humanity. It only means that they had not conceptualized the creative process […]

Hamish McPharlin, head of Insights at BBC Global News, says that, understood and used the right way, data can fuel creativity. If there is something that media companies are not lacking in, it is data about their consumers. With the rise in connectivity and an ever-increasing connected user base, we know about our audiences more than […]

The September print edition of Communicate is out this week, giving an in-depth look at creativity. There are many reasons why we chose to focus on this topic. First, whether society defines creativity as a way of life, a scientific mechanism or even some sort of magic, it is a phenomenon that makes our lives more […]

By Mario Morby Words like violence Break the silence Come crashing in Into my little world Enjoy the silence.  Lyrics from one of, if not, the greatest song of the 90s?  Don’t know. Maybe.  As much as I’d like to debate music from the 90s that would sort of contradict what I’m about to say, which […]

By John Clark We are in the midst of a shift in the perception about neuroscience. No longer do we regard it as just an interesting topic; we are now talking about neuroscience as a proven and useful tool. The conversation tends to focus either on the different technologies and their use in research and evaluation; or on learnings from behavioral […]

Communicate’s upcoming issue, September 2019, is deep-diving into a topic that is close to our hearts: Creativity. As part of the issue, we look to see some work from creative people themselves. You can be a resident anywhere in the MENA region. Write a fiction piece, a poem or any other type of creative format […]

Brands of today need to group their efforts on delivering the best ‘return on creativity’ to fuel their performance. It’s impossible for a brand to rise above the noise without creative strategies to help them shine. The current renaissance of technology has created huge challenges for brands, but they have also created a playground for creativity. […]

By Waseem Yakdi, CEO, Zia Creative Network Once considered to be incomparable, the relation between creativity and return on marketing investment delivering effective and staggering profitability has now become a new normal in the current advertising scenario. Now, in agencies, planning departments work much more closely with creative departments. Amid economic uncertainty, there is greater […]

  What do you love about this industry? The variety. The fact that I learn something new, about mainstream or obscure industries and companies, every day. 2. What do you hate about this industry? The fact that it is buying the stupid, ignorant and preposterous message that it is dying. 3. If you could be […]

Sometimes advertisements and brand activities seem so bizarre, you can hardly believe it! Table fans that can take you to the moon. Chocolates that let you travel time. A vertical soccer match high in the air, 10 storeys off the ground to be precise. You think that’s impossible? Lo and Behold. Adidas proves nothing is […]

Providing employee ownership is one of the most important ways to satisfy creative cravings and independence. Do not give them too much direction; instead, let your employees know that they are the main owners of the task at hand.  That feeling of ‘ownership’ will boost their creativity as they look for new ways to indulge […]

Many of us are under a lot of pressure to be creative; to think of new product ideas or original pitches, come up with new marketing campaigns, or even manage the identity of top global brands. The problem is we don’t really have concrete methods to help us. In reality, creativity doesn’t come naturally to […]

  Big data has been a buzzword over the past few years. The debate about whether it is a game-changer or another fad is still on. Are big data and creativity parallel concepts that can never meet or are converging as we speak? Creativity often seems to appear out of thin air, in a dream, […]

  JWT Worldwide has announced an international scholarship program to assist and promote talented female creative advertising students. Named after both the industry’s and JWT’s first female copywriter, Helen Lansdowne Resor, the scholarship was launched to celebrate the agency’s 150th anniversary. Along with The New York Times, JWT hosted a panel at the Cannes Lions International […]

  The second session of the IAA Debates was held at the IAA premises on May 18, with industry leaders presenting their views on the subject:“Who Should Lead: Media or Brand Agencies?” The panel, which was made up of industry leaders, Tarek Miknas, CEO at FP7; John Antoniades, CEO at Starcom Mediavest Group; and, Fadi […]