Dubai: It's time for advertising companies in the region to take the digital route, or face extinction. That's what advertising experts said during a series of sessions held by the International Advertising Association's UAE Chapter on Tuesday.
Social media is creating a new paradigm that is challenging the foundation of mass marketing communications, said Dimitri Metaxas, executive regional director of Digital at Omnicom Media Group (OMG).
People's means of communication has changed drastically over the past decade. This demands advertisers change their ways of brand marketing.
People have access to more information and options today than ever before. According to experts, the volume of online data accessible this year will reach 1 yottabye, or 1 million exabyte, which is equivalent to 29 million libraries, each the size of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, Metaxas said during his presentation.
This has turned the market into a highly competitive one where it is increasingly difficult to get and hold somebody's attention, he said.
Online advertising has become more about creating an interest for people that makes them want to talk about you and share experiences and eventually act as advocates, he said.
"It's a shift from shouting at people efficiently to engaging with them… adding values to their lives, and hence it reflects well on you," he said.
Driven by fear and lack of expertise, many advertising agencies as well as marketers are afraid to jump on board the digital boat.
"It's a risky reality, but that's the future," Metaxas said.
Instant feedback
Souheil Soueid, account manager at Google UAE, said one of the positive elements of digital media is that the feedback is almost instantaneous.
"Advertising should be measurable, accountable and optimisable," he said.
Compared to the early stages of online advertising, a lot has changed today. For instance, before, advertising on the web depended heavily on pop-up ad, which were random and invaded users' personal space. Today it has taken a different form, becoming more relevant and targeted to what the online users are doing. Metaxas describes it as allowing advertisers "to fish where the fish are."
For instance, Google's online advertising depends solely on one's own Google search, thereby increasing the probability of users visiting an advertiser's website. Google uses the information entered by the users to provide relevant online advertising, which shows up in the form of "sponsored links."
Kieran O'Sullivan, general manager of Impact Proximity, a marketing services company, described online as the perfect opportunity for any brand to allow its consumers to get involved.
"Once you have a great idea, you will find people want to get engaged with it and do things with it. Today we have this involvement with social media," he said.
O'Sullivan said that some people think that getting involved in social media means setting up a Facebook page or a Twitter account. It's not about creating a website, but rather creating work around it that would get people involved, he said.
"The challenge for the advertisers is how they can create compelling content."
Early stages
While there is definitely a shift to online, it's still in early stages in this part of the world. Of the total media spend on online advertising, this region only contributes four per cent, which is very low compared to 35 per cent in the West.
"If you look at online advertising right now, we're still scratching the surface," O'Sullivan said.
Much of it over here is still based on taking an offline ad, animating it and then sticking it online, whereas in the west it has progressed to a richer engaging experience, he said.
At a time when advertisers are still hesitant to reallocate budget from the traditional channels, experts say that there is no right or wrong way. "There is a bit of trial and error to it," said Metaxas. "But you get your feedback in real time. You learn your mistakes in real time and you get your successes in real time," he said. "It's instantaneous."
The bottom line is if the idea is rich enough, it could turn into something different, O'Sullivan said. Online allows the word of mouth to spread faster than it already does. In the end, any publicity is good publicity, the experts say.
- Over 6 billion SMS sent per day, i.e. an SMS for every person on the planet
- 100 emails sent for every person that has an internet connection
- 3,000 new books published every day
— Source: Dimitri Metaxas