TEN years ago when an individual wanted to make changes in society he would try to attract the media to his cause in some way. It was a difficult task and there was little chance of success unless you were a movie star, politician or terrorist. Then the Internet was born and getting the message out became a whole lot faster and easier, transcending all geographical boundaries. The Internet also removed many social barriers. When you’re expressing your opinion online no one knows your race, creed, age or gender — unless you want them to.
Since the Internet penetration in the Kingdom is relatively low I hadn’t realized that this dynamic for progress was already at work in Saudi society until I heard about a new Internet club that was on a mission to change the advertising business in the Kingdom. I was intrigued. I have always thought that the ads that appear here on television and in the print media are frequently bordering on the bizarre. I mean how many women do you know who get together in designer gowns to compare the whiteness of their laundry? Any change would have to be for the better. So I e-mailed the moderator of the website at [email protected] and made plans to meet.
“Until very recently few members in the group knew anything about me,” said Faisal M. Al-Malki, founder and moderator of e3lan. “A couple of months ago there was a suggestion that we make our profiles available to others in the group so that we’d know each other better and perhaps it would give us more of a perspective on another member’s point of view. I was really nervous about doing this. I thought that anonymity kept us all very equal. I also was worried that perhaps some people would lose respect for me if they discovered that I was still at university and not working in the ad business yet.”
Despite his reservations Al-Malki went ahead and made information on his background available. He admitted that he was surprised at the response. Instead of losing respect for him, the members applauded him on his hard work and commended his initiative.
Al-Malki is a senior marketing major at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran. He is a fanatic on the subject of advertising. His favorite T-shirt reads, “I watch TV for the ads.” When he was just seven years old he used a video camera to create TV commercials. He has a collection of more than 400 TV commercials saved on his PC and buys every book on the advertising industry that he can find. To complete his junior year in college he did an internship at Akeel Saatchi & Saatchi in Riyadh from June-December 2000. Now he is involved in writing his senior thesis on the experience and analyzing research on trends in local advertising.
“My internship was a real eye-opening experience,” said Al-Malki. “I worked with a very reputable international ad agency in Riyadh. The people there were very talented and they knew all the latest techniques but I found that they had one very big problem. They were expatriates and most of them were from the West. It was difficult for them to understand Saudi Arabia and its people. They read lots of books on the Kingdom and they had one Saudi working at their office to advise them on the ad campaigns but it was a challenge for them to grasp the essence of the culture. I wondered about how the many agencies that employ no Saudis and don’t try to educate themselves on Saudi life could function effectively in this environment.”
Analyzing how that agency and others operate in the Kingdom, Al-Malki found that typically the creative directors would dream up ad campaigns from a Western perspective and then attempt to sell them to a Middle Eastern market.
“It was incredible how ridiculous the ad campaigns would turn out sometimes,” explained Al-Malki. “They would take an idea that everybody understood in the United States. Then they would try to translate the language and imagery to suit the Kingdom. The ad wouldn’t be produced here so they’d be filming people who were not Saudis speaking the Arabic slang of another country. When the ad would be shown locally people would find it difficult to comprehend so whatever the target of the advertisement was it wouldn’t be reached. Some ads were so bad that they unintentionally became terrible jokes.”
Casting about for a way to push ad agencies to understand that they must start to use local talent to develop effective campaigns, Al-Malki hit upon the idea of using the Internet as a way to get a discussion going on the subject. He created a home page as part of the special interest section at Yahoo’s portal. Going to groups.yahoo.com/ group/e3lan, professionals in the ad business can join the online community and start to share their thoughts with each other. Advertisements are posted online and then group members can comment on the quality and effectiveness of the work. Depending on the member’s choice e-mailed comments from other group members are either sent directly to the person’s mailbox or kept online in a bulletin board format to be viewed at any time. There are also links to many ad agencies worldwide and online advertising resources to help members improve their knowledge and skills. Online files and a chatroom also build a sense of community, and recently members have started e-mailing job postings.
In general, Al-Malki has found that people have been very friendly but frank in their critiques of the ads. It can be especially difficult for some members when the group is trashing their ad that they feel was a good effort and took a lot of work. In other parts of the world there isn’t such a need for constructive criticism because market research is so refined that ads are thoroughly scrutinized throughout the entire development and marketing process. Plus, in many countries special interest groups are very powerful. If an ad is sexist, false or repugnant, some group with a very loud voice will point it out and the ad will probably be rapidly withdrawn. One thing that would greatly help to improve the quality of local advertisements is local content from local minds.
“There aren’t many Saudis who think about going into advertising as a career,” said Al-Malki. “Even I was concerned about what my parents would think about my training for a future at an ad agency but they have been very supportive. I feel that it has been difficult for me to learn all that I need to know about the ad business though. There must be more of an emphasis on advertising as a specific concentration of study. This is being done at colleges in other nations. Of all the courses I am taking for my marketing degree only one is focused on advertising. It’s certainly not enough.”
In addition to having more Saudis get degrees in the field, Al-Malki feels that there is a desperate need for local technicians to handle the ad campaigns. “We don’t have Saudis trained in technical schools to handle the production side of doing an ad campaign,” he commented. “I really can’t think of a Saudi that could handle complicated art work, photography or custom printing. Maybe there are a few hidden away somewhere but all the production people I have met in this field in Saudi Arabia are foreigners. This is an area where many young people, men and women, would be able to find rewarding careers with proper training.”
What does Al-Malki think about some of the new trends in advertising in the Kingdom? “The digital signboards at major intersections are the most effective of the new types of advertising, especially if the message being put out is very clear,” he emphasized. “I hate the mobile screening trucks. These would be all right if they were showing commercials specifically designed for them but in general they display regular ads using only the video portion and the audio is lost. So half the message is lost too. There is a new type of print ad, which has become very popular in the last year, especially among the intellectual audience. These are ads in which the product or brand is promoted indirectly. People enjoy these ads because they are amusing and the product is not being sold in a heavy-handed manner.”
Al-Malki asserted that the biggest challenge facing advertisers right now is keeping the market interested in viewing ads. “Worldwide people question whether advertisers are honest,” he said. “If an ad is poorly designed and the target audience can’t understand it then they will be very confused about the message the ad is trying to send. In this instance advertisers are throwing their money away because each person who sees the ad will interpret it in his or her own way. Unfortunately, many local companies don’t understand how effective advertising can be in selling the market. Consequently advertising budgets are often very limited. This can kill some creative ideas as well.”
Since he has a platform to give some free advice here’s what Al-Malki thinks local ad agencies, public relations companies and businesses should remember when designing advertising campaigns.
“First and foremost decide on the message and make sure it is clearly understood by the target audience through the ad,” he counseled. “Creativity is important but don’t do something in an ad just because it’s creative. It must sell the message. Proper timing and placement are vital to any successful ad campaign. Ads in Saudi Arabia need to be homegrown so they are more appealing and reflect the language, culture, society and environment. My final comment is that the high impact of artwork should be considered. It is said that a picture paints a thousand words. The imagery in an ad should convey the message with minimal prompting from language. Advertisers have only a few moments at best to reach their desired audience. The right image can be extremely powerful.”