We all know how much change the Middle East has gone through in the last few years. These dramatic, disruptive changes have dramatically influenced the habits and mindsets of Arabs. However, in this new psychological landscape, a number of contradictions have arisen, which, though difficult to explain to the public, are of paramount importance to the marketer. And we’re not just talking any market; we’re talking about the Middle East market — unique, fascinating and to the uninitiated, often impenetrable.
Marketing is about connecting with people’s needs, both material and psychological. It is about finding the key to the consumer’s mind, ascertaining the rules and values that determine his or her behavior. It is not an easy task, however, to gain such insights from consumers. We can believe we understand them one day and then the next they will act contrary to all predictions. Today’s thriving product can be tomorrow’s ailing one. What one demographic group wants can often be pinned down only in a few brief periods of the marketing cycling. Catch it when you can, and profit by it is the slogan of today’s marketers.
That is why qualitative research is so important to the marketer. It reveals the secrets and the patterns of how the human mind thinks and how consumers perceive things around them at any given time. This kind of research goes searching for what lies beneath the behavioral surface. It is the baseline; the tool that goes beyond "what meets the eye". With this knowledge in hand, the researcher can then attempt to identify how appealing products are, or not; how loudly they will talk from the shelves, how quickly they will become part of the consumer’s life. Without this regular qualitative research the marketer will find himself looking at the sales figures and scratching his head in bewilderment.
In this uncertain and increasingly globalized village in which we live today, marketers are on a quest for the right global "ingredients" that could help them understand the consumer. Unfortunately, as an experienced researcher, there are no global "ingredients". What marketers forget is that every culture has its own "ingredients" and within each culture there are small "cook books". It fascinates me everyday. The global market today is accelerating its adoption of new strategies and tactics. But what about this emerging new market, this Arab market, which is recognized globally but not understood globally? In this global market, so multifaceted with its diversity of different cultures and societies, how will it be possible to understand an emerging society molded from a composite of different worlds?
In the last few years, the focal point of many big organizations has been the Middle East, the Saudi market being its most attractive target. Why? Why is it that we have become so appealing to these marketers and multi-national organizations? Why? Because we have changed, particularly in their view, and that change has created in them the false belief that we are an easy market. However, the discovery of oil, the wealth it generated and the changes it set in motion, have also created a marketer’s paradox.
From the desert regions with its languishing camels and ancient Bedouin traditions, with all its glorious simplicity of landscape and custom, has emerged an affluent society that is now exposed to different, less simple, lifestyles and cultures. We can see, feel and taste the changes that have arisen in our society in the past years, be they habits and attitudes toward our own society, the culture and family structure, or general lifestyle changes. The continued exposures to the international media, the Internet, and magazines have created a need to learn and to learn more.
But the Arab does not live in a society that soaks up everything indiscriminately. This society prides itself in taking only what it needs for better education and inspiration and rejecting any byproducts that are of no consequence to their society and culture. It is this paradox – namely, that we soak up and dispose, accept and reject — which makes the Arab market so fascinating to marketers.
Having said that, Middle East society is relatively young in terms of brands, communications and marketing. That is why it is essential to understand the market from its real "core"; its people. To know how people think today requires a knowledge of how people in previous generations thought. Many marketers I have met ask me for the answers, solutions that would be "quick and fast" fixes for their strategies. What they forget is that other cultures and societies, such as America and Europe, have been studying and developing their markets for decades. It will take the same time, perhaps a lot longer, to truly understand the Arab market.
The first step any marketer must take is to be conversant with the past and present behavior and values of the Arab society. By understanding the values of the consumer yesterday you will be able to see the difference of today. As a market researcher, it is therefore essential to obtain and observe the differences between "yesterday" and "today"; for it is within the difference that the strategy lies.
How do we go about finding such information? Do we knock on people’s doors or randomly ask passers-by on the streets? Or do we just simply "peek" at what the other organizations have done and take the path of imitation? Of course not! There are ways and means in obtaining such information, the most important of which is qualitative research — in focus groups or in-depth interviews — which holds the key to strategic decision-making.
In the past, I have been involved in many national and international research projects that need to be "handled with care" when dealing with the habits and attitudes of the Arab society. As a Saudi researcher, I was amazed, and still am amazed, at the outcome of the so-called professional marketing research I encountered.
Many of them had no idea of how to segment the Arab market. Segmentation occurs, for example, when there are gaps between different groups, such as an urban or country group, and within these gaps — or segments — there are more segments. With mass customization of products (the mass production of goods in lots of one) just around the corner, marketing segmentation will be a matter of survival.
How could all of this help in advertising and marketing a product?
Understanding how segmented the Arab market is key to any successful communications plan in the region. Of course, it depends on the kind of product, brand and service being promoted. But each product or service belongs to a segment or segments, which, when identified, will give marketers clearer contours of their core target segment and help them work it into their strategies.
The ideal strategy is to have a product that falls into all of these segments, but that’s getting more and more unlikely, despite the claims of those who believe globalization is the last word in marketing. Once the marketer identifies which segment his product falls in (through research) the key issue is to understand the consumers’ needs and behavior and tailor these services toward that. Finally, the marketer can develop his products by launching them either at the premium/luxury end of the market or the value for money end or in the continuum between them.
One last point, communication! If the marketer has the right communications mix and sends out the right messages to make the product appealing to the consumer then he or she can, in some instances find themselves playing in the big league.
Knowledge of spending behavior, purchasing habits, media usage, lifestyles and interests, and targeted communication is essential in the marketer’s toolkit. Add to this qualitative research and you might just do very well.
So, is anybody up for a ‘bite of’ the Middle East Market? I’m game.
(Manal Al Badri is a market researcher. She is based in Jeddah)