Monday, September 01, 2014

Stop, Collaborate, and Listen

Whenever I come back home to Toronto, I am asked many questions about the Middle East. How hot is hot? Does Penny have to wear a hijab? What is it like living without daylight savings time? Ok, maybe not the last, but I'm often happy to explain because it shows that inquisitive minds are somewhat curious to what the Middle East is all about.

But once I meet my advertising colleagues for a beer or two, I am often asked more specific questions about what the advertising world is like in the Middle East. And without a doubt, this to me is a more interesting topic. This is because although in the Middle East you advertise to a market where the players, cultures, and insights can be different, the main point of the game is still the same - to be as creative as possible.

And this something that I believe is consistent throughout the world. I often tell people that the agency refrigerator smells just as bad in Muscat, as in does in Toronto. Nobody in the Middle East loves filling in timesheets, and having to deal with client requests at the last minute can be just as challenging, if not more difficult.

But just as there are similarities, there are also major differences, which are widening the gap between the levels of advertising in the Middle East vs. the rest of the world. If you were to ask an advertising creative, what would be the biggest challenge that creative's face in the Arab World, I'm sure one of the most popular answers would be the desire to creative digital marketing.

Unfortunately, the Middle East is nowhere near the rest of the Western and Asian worlds in terms of digital communication and social media. All I have to do prove this is to look at my FaceBook or Twitter pages, to see all the links that my advertising colleagues are posting about Webby Awards, innovative social media campaigns, or the most design friendly products on designtaxi.com
All the meanwhile, I'm sitting on my computer, thinking about what I want to say in this glorious brochure that no one will ever read.

But if you look deeper, it's not just a technological gap that is dragging Middle Eastern agencies further behind, but the ideals and standards that many agencies these days are missing. You know, small, insignificant principles such as collaboration, community, and relationship marketing.

Let me give you example. There was in agency in Doha that brought me in for a freelance project to help with a pitch. No names or clients names are needed or necessary. Once they brought me on for this pitch, they put me in a room without my own computer, and told me to let them know when I had ideas ready.

And the first thought in my head was, "Oh my God, we're going to lose." By doing this, the agency was laying their principals on the table, and unfortunately playing into the stereotypes that were somewhat prominent 20 to 30 years ago. First as the copywriter, they thought that I was the idea's guy. Which I can be without a problem, but there was no art director joining me. 

Second, by keeping me in this secluded dungeon office, they felt that they had created an incubator of ideas to help win the pitch. And thirdly, when I asked if there was any chance to go over ideas with other team members such as art directors or designers, there was little desire or need to have people come together.

So I sat in the office by myself and came up with a few thought out ideas for the pitch. But what I wanted to scream at the top of lungs was this incubator exploded a long time ago. Today's brilliant ideas are not just about a copywriter sitting in a room and brainstorming. It's about the art director, creative director, account people, and every other employee of the agency working together to mold and shape the best ideas possible.

Just look at the successful agencies of today. While there are no sure things in any sector, you can always look at the most successful and find a high level of collaboration, creativity, and hard work.  I was even interviewed for a position, in which creative director told me that the teams in their agency consisted of a copywriter, art director and planner. And that every team had a chance to work on every brief (not that they actually got the time to).

So what does this all mean? It means that the root of the problem for agencies in the Middle East is not the fact that there is a technological gap. Everybody in the Middle East has an iPhone. The problem is much much deeper than that.

It's that the values that are proving successful and essential in the need digital market are being underutilized or missed. Indispensable traits such as teamwork, collaboration, and discourse are not on the radar of most agencies in the MENA region.  And the longer it takes for them to realize how integral they are, the harder it will be to come up with ideas in this new, socialized digital world.

No comments:

Post a Comment