DUBAI, 2 January 2005 — The Saudi Creative Communications Services (SACCS), one of the leading PR practitioners in the Middle East, dominated the second day of the 49th International Public Relations Association Conference which was held recently in Dubai for the first time in the Arabian Gulf, with three presentations highlighting the urgent need to build local understanding and expertise in the PR industry.
Among the 400 delegates were Gulf Arabs from every GCC country including 50 delegates from the Kingdom, the region’s largest economy.
In a hard-hitting speech on the negative Arab image in the West, Mohamed Al-Ayed, SACCS president and CEO, said, “Arabs and Muslims have failed to recognize the power of mass media and to understand to what extent their place in the world depends on perception. We have, to an appalling extent, failed to participate in global mass media.” Al-Ayed focused on the Arab and Muslim image in the cinema “because,” he said, “it is without a doubt the most powerful and influential global medium of our time with television now running a close second. Do Arabs and Muslims have an international or Western presence in either of these powerful communications channels? The answer is categorically and resoundingly, no!”
According to Al-Ayed, “Hollywood creates imaginary landscapes filled with stereotypes of all kinds. Always has. Always will. These are telegraphic images to make storytelling easier. Stereotypes are an expression of what is ‘other’ and exist in the absence of understanding and alternative images. The onus is on the Arabs and Muslims to provide this understanding and the alternative images.”
Al-Ayed called on Arab and Muslim governments to give much more support to education in communications disciplines, including filmmaking, journalism and public relations and to support lobbying groups in Western power centers where “like it or not” global policy is made.
“We’re always fulminating about the Zionist lobby,” he said, “but where are the Arab and Islamic lobbies?”
Al-Ayed recommended that the same professional principles and approach to the problem of Arab imaging be applied to the problem of promoting a corporation or a product. “We have to begin treating the Arab and Islamic world as a brand.” He recommended that Arab communications professionals come together “to educate the stakeholders - Arab and Muslim governments, the Organization of Islamic Conference, the Arab League, and Arab and Islamic associations in the Western world - on just how imaging works and how to proceed.”
At the end of his speech Al-Ayed has called practitioners in the public relations industry to make a greater commitment toward building local talent and educating the Gulf Arabs about public relations.
“Locals don’t know anything about our industry and this is our fault. The public relations industry will never, ever have integrity until it is made up of local practitioners. Our job as professionals should be to transfer skills to young people from the region. If we want this industry to really grow and take off we have simply got to start investing in local talent.”
Al-Ayed added: “The public relations industry is one of the fastest growing business sectors in the world and yet very little is being done in the GCC countries to bring locals in to this industry. Instead of operating as arch competitors we should be working together to raise the standards of this industry and we will never raise the standards of our industry as long as we maintain a revolving door policy of importing expertise.”
In the afternoon session, Al-Ayed and SACCS Vice President Sarah Al-Ayed elaborated on the theme set by Sugich through a case study presented with Procter and Gamble Associate Director for External Affairs Ahmed Linjawy on how SACCS built a team of Saudi women into public relations professionals, able to carry out sophisticated and successful campaigns for P&G brands.
The presentation, called “Unveiled” focused on the challenges the company faced and the advantages of building a work force of professional women in the conservative Saudi society.
According to Steven Jones, IPRA Conference Secretariat and Conference Director of the Institute for International Research (IIR), and organizers of the event, “We are honored that Mohamed Al-Ayed has accepted our invitation to speak at this premier event. Global communications are now an essential part of everyday life and the need to communicate clearly and effectively, are paramount for today’s PR professionals.
Al-Ayed has inspired many regional companies and it is appropriate that he should present a case study about his unique human resources strategy that has broken the mould and enabled SACCS to grow at such a remarkable rate.”
