JEDDAH, 6 January 2005 — Though flourishing in Saudi Arabia, the advertising business is mostly in the hands of expatriates. Marketing by non-Saudis may result in a failure to address the Saudi market in an appropriate way.

The regional associate creative director of a multinational advertising agency, 31-year-old Moutaz Jad, comes from a background of film directing and writing. He expresses his passion for filmmaking by excelling in the advertising business, and also by investing in Saudi youth who will continue his success story.

Jad, who was brought up in Los Angeles, spoke about being a Muslim in a non-Muslim environment. “We had the best of both worlds; we never felt like strangers there. At home, my parents insisted that we speak Arabic, and raised us to be family-oriented in an Islamic manner.”

Jad said his parents were keen that their children got a good education and studied whatever they liked and were interested in. After high school, Jad studied filmmaking. He learned afterward that filmmaking starts on a blank page and this later made him shift to screenwriting.

Jad got his BA from Loyola Marymount University. As a back-up plan, Jad decided to do postgraduate study in advertising. “Advertising was the only field I could think of that was close to film. It blends script writing, directing, acting and editing.”

Jad explained that the difference between film and advertising is that in film, one has the luxury of two hours to tell a story while in advertising, he has only 30 seconds.

After finishing his postgraduate studies at UCLA, he returned to Saudi Arabia where he was amazed by the progress that had been made. He soon realized, however, that there was a big group of Saudi youth “who want to make a difference and initiate a positive change. They are willing to work hard to achieve their goals and also to appreciate life.”

“Advertising in Saudi Arabia,” he says, “is run predominately by expats. How do you advertise brands to Saudi consumers when the advertisement itself is not being developed by locals? It will often lack the proper insights.”

Jad says that his top priority is to recruit Saudi youth. In the agency where he works, he is responsible for the creative team that builds the concepts of the advertisement and the creative strategy.

“For the first time, I am working with a globally affiliated agency that has invested in building a very strong Saudi team, handling both client-servicing and creative departments. Having a Saudi team makes a very strong impression on our clients. It makes the client realize that we know the market since the Saudi team can better understand the Saudi market and the Saudi consumer,” he added.