Rotana Holding
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Rotana Holding, received the “Most Prominent Leading Personality in the Television Media for 2009,” Award from the Arab Youth Media Forum recently. The award was presented to him by Haitham Youssef, president and founder of Arab Youth Media Forum, Mazen Nahawi, president of News Group International, and Fadl Al-Tarzi, chief operating officer of News Group International. Prince Alwaleed received the award in recognition of his strong presence in the Arab world on the social and philanthropic fronts. Moreover, the award was in recognition of the prince’s influence and his investments in media and entertainment in the Arab world and beyond through investments including Rotana that promotes young Arab talent in many aspects of media and entertainment. Rotana recently launched the official cinema during the premiere of the first Saudi film “Menahi” produced by Rotana at the King Fahd Cultural Center in Riyadh. The prince’s private investments in the media include Rotana, LBC and Alresala channel.
Cartier
Cartier has released its annual international charity initiative in Saudi Arabia, which is expected to benefit the Charity Committee for Orphans (Ensan). The contributions will be allocated for the care of orphans in a number of programs and activities across the Kingdom. In fact, Cartier’s charity bracelet campaign the world over is aimed at collecting money to support several charity institutes globally. The international charity initiative represents the social obligation and awareness of all owners of Cartier’s charity bracelets. Yaqoub Al-Hashimi, chairman of the board of Sara Group of Companies, emphasized the importance of charitable work and social role of companies and the business sector. Aoun Zureikat, Cartier’s sales manager for the Middle East, said: “Cartier continues to participate in the charity work, demonstrating the kindness and generosity of Saudis to buy the charity bracelets.
NAS/SADAD
Riyadh-based National Air Services (NAS) recently joined SADAD Saudi Payment System, and through this system all passengers will now be able to pay nasair ticket fares across all bank channels located across the Kingdom, whether through ATMs, call centers, the Internet banking or banks’ branches. Meanwhile, NAS announced the successful close of a $60.5 million seven-year loan facility from Arab Banking Corporation (ABC). The facility is supported by a guarantee from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank). The facility is to finance the delivery payments for NAS of the purchase of six Hawker 750 model aircraft from US-based Hawker Beechcraft Corporation. Based upon the facility, NAS says, it is in a position to sell fractional ownership under its NetJets Middle East Program and whole aircraft under its aircraft management services on Hawker 750 aircraft while providing relaxed payment terms that extend to seven years at attractive rates. NAS has received additional three H750 aircraft in 2009 supported by this facility.
GFPPR
Governments and private sectors in the Gulf should look more seriously at research to understand better their stakeholders, according to a regional media intelligence expert. Speaking at the 3rd Gulf Forum for Practitioners of Public Relations (GFPPR) in Manama recently, Mohamed Elzubeir, head of Mediastow, a major media advisory and intelligence agency in the MENA region, revealed that currently only five percent of the marketing budget goes to research in the Middle East, a very low figure compared to international markets. The conference brought together more than 200 PR practitioners discussing issues related to public and corporate diplomacy. Elzubeir added: “Corporate or public diplomacy needs trust and to build trust we need understanding. Research is crucial; we need to know our stakeholders better by identifying and gauging their hidden perceptions, preferences and who influences them and how to address their concerns by a language they understand and a vocabulary they are familiar with.” Listening as much as talking holds the key, and listening comes from researching our stakeholders,” Elzubeir added.
Loyologic
Companies in the GCC have seen 29 percent increase in customer retention by implementing effective loyalty programs, according to statistics released by Loyologic Inc., a leading loyalty solutions provider to companies worldwide. With aims to help regional organizations maximize the advantages of a well-executed loyalty scheme, the company has announced that it is offering modular, scalable and full international loyalty solutions and services to assist organizations across industries including financial, travel, retail and telecom in reaching their business objectives amidst the current economic downturn, through re-engineering existing loyalty programs or launching new innovative loyalty schemes. Backed by more than 70 combined years in designing, implementing and operating loyalty programs, Loylogic has grown into a pioneer of the loyalty industry through its innovative reward solutions. “Our goal is to help companies provide a more valuable loyalty currency to their customers, and thereby boost their sales revenues,” said Mamoun Masarweh, GM, Loylogic Middle East.