These brands continue to dominate the region according to YouGov’s annual brand health rankings

The latest YouGov BrandIndex rankings reveal that Emirates, Al Baik and Google are the most popular brands in the Middle East. While Emirates tops YouGov BrandIndex’s annual brand health rankings for the UAE for the third year in succession, Al Baik and Google dethrone Almarai and Facebook to top the rankings for Saudi Arabia and Egypt, respectively.

The rankings are based on the Index score from YouGov BrandIndex, which measures overall brand health. The score takes into account consumers’ perception of a brand’s overall quality, value, impression, reputation, satisfaction and whether consumers would recommend the brand to others.

Technology giants WhatsApp and YouTube make an appearance in all three countries. In both UAE and Egypt, WhatsApp has made an improvement. Although in Egypt YouTube has improved its brand health, in the UAE, it has seen a decline in its rank. In Saudi Arabia, both these brands remain in the same spot as last year.

Apple seems to have had a tough year in the region. In Saudi and the UAE, Apple has seen a decline in its rank by one and two places, respectively. Furthermore, in Egypt, Apple’s smartphone brand- iPhone has slipped down three places to ninth this year.

In the UAE, Carrefour has made a great improvement to its brand perception and has jumped ahead six places to become the fourth most popular brand in the country. One of the most interesting movements in the Saudi top 10 rankings is the large strides made by mada over the past year. On top of becoming one of the top 10 brands in the country, the payment network tops YouGov’s most improved brand health list for KSA – increasing its scores by +9.0 over the last 12 months.

Netflix is the most improved brand of 2019 in the UAE, with a change in score of +9.8 and restaurant chain Om Hassan is the most improved brand in Egypt with a change in score of 6.6, moving from an Index score of -5.7 in 2018 to +1.0 in 2019.

Chinese device manufacturer Huawei has witnessed an increase in its overall brand health in all three countries. In the UAE and Saudi, it is the second most improved brand and in Egypt it is placed fourth in the list of top ten improvers of 2019.

Global rankings

YouGov also released the global annual brand health rankings for 2019. The global rankings reveal that eight of the top ten healthiest brands in the world are considered tech companies.

Google once again takes the top spot in our yearly ranking, followed by WhatsApp, YouTube, Samsung and Facebook.

In fact, the only non-tech brands to crack the top 10 in the annual ranking are Nike, the US shoe company that caused a stir with its advertising campaign in 2018, and IKEA, which remains strong just like last year.

For this year’s list, YouGov used data from 29 countries – data from markets that cover three sectors or fewer were not counted in the global top 10.

Methodology: 

These brands were rated using YouGov BrandIndex’s Index score which is a measure of overall brand health which takes into account consumers’ perceptions of a brand’s quality, value, impression, satisfaction, reputation and whether they would recommend the brand to others.

The Index Rankings list shows the brands with the highest average Index scores between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019. The Index Improvers list ranks the brands with the highest increase in Index comparing scores from the previous year. Both scores are representative of the general population.

Cameo Names Stefan Heinrich Henriquez Chief Marketing Officer and GM of International

Cameo, the #1 fan experience marketplace that allows consumers to book video shoutouts from their favorite talent, today announced that Stefan Heinrich Henriquez has been named to the company's executive team as Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager of International.  Cameo is continuing to realize their ambitious plan to build out the management team with world class talent on the heels of their $50M Series B which closed in June.

Heinrich has held previous executive roles at TikTok, musical.ly, YouTube and Google, and brings over a decade of technology, entertainment and communications experience to Cameo. He will lead the company's global growth and branding, and play a key role in Cameo's continued global expansion and market traction.

"Cameo provides a distinct way for fans to engage with their favorite celebrities, and a unique opportunity for talent to diversify their revenue," said Heinrich. "I'm looking forward to helping to accelerate the company's growth and business worldwide."

"Stefan has a powerful blend of history and expertise in bringing innovative, disruptive concepts to market for both early and later stage media and technology companies," said Steven Galanis, Cameo Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. "He will have a direct, valuable impact on driving opportunities for our talent, customers and brand."

Before joining Cameo, Heinrich was Head of Global Marketing for TikTok, the popular short-form video app, where he drove the company's rapid growth in the United States, and its expansion in Europe and Latin America. He also led TikTok's rebranding from Musical.ly after its acquisition through Bytedance and launching musical.ly in Latin America as GM LATAM.  Prior to TikTok, he spent multiple years in executive roles at Google and YouTube, where he was responsible for several product launches, including YouTube's first paid subscription service in America, as well as its international roll-out thereafter.

Heinrich's new appointment at Cameo is effective immediately. He will be based out of Cameo's Los Angeles office, where he will spearhead building Cameo teams around the world in addition to driving the company's growth and brand.

ZEE5 subscriptions to be available offline through Eurostar retail outlets across GCC countries

In yet another key announcement for the Middle East region, Global digital entertainment platform ZEE5, today announced its partnership with UAE based digital retail giant, the EUROSTAR Group This strategic partnership will enable people across the GCC countries to access ZEE5’s huge library of 100,000 hours of entertainment content through subscription packs available at any of Eurostar and its partner outlets across GCC. 

Customers in UAE and other GCC markets can now buy any ZEE5 subscription pack by simply walking into their nearest EUROSTAR retail outlet and choosing between ZEE5’s daily, weekly, monthly and annual subscription packs, at 1.49 AED, 5.99 AED, 18.99 AED and 149.99 AED respectively without needing a credit card. Select outlets will also provide a full product demo for interested customers. 

A subscription to ZEE5 will provide EUROSTAR customers in the GCC access to 100,000 hours of content in 17 languages, including Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Bangla and Marathi. ZEE5’s content catalogue spans across 2000+ movies including Bollywood Blockbusters and World Digital Premieres like Simmba (Ranveer Singh), Kedarnath (Sushant Singh Rajput, Sarah Ali Khan), Veere Di Wedding (Kareena Kapoor Khan), TV shows like Sembaruthi, Chembaruthi and Kum Kum Bhagya, Originals like Kaafir (starring Dia Mirza) and The Final Call (starring Arjun Rampal) and much more. The bouquet also packs in 60+ Live TV channels including ZEE TV, ZEE Keralam, ZEE Tamil, ZEE Marathi, top news channels, and others.

Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 Global said, “With the largest range of Indian content including 2000+ movies and exclusive TV shows across genres, ZEE5 is fast becoming the go-to destination for Indian content for multiple audience segments in the GCC who want compelling stories in the language of their comfort. Reaching these audiences through every touchpoint, to enable them to discover and experience ZEE5 Is critical and enabling offline subscriptions via retail is a key initiative. We’re very happy to announce our partnership with Eurostar, one of the leading digital retail Groups across the GCC to make ZEE5 available through their outlets.” 

Shaan Jethwani, Executive Director of Eurostar said "We are thrilled and privileged to join hands with ZEE5. The current paradigm shift on consumers TV watching, coupled with Eurostar's legacy on Pay TV distribution along with ZEE5’s unmatchable content prepositions are poised for sure success and it's going to create a new experience for audiences in their living room.”

An impactful content strategy is at the core of the success of any organisation, and not only from the angle of fan engagement.

Indeed, it’s expected that content marketing will generate up to $300 billion revenue by the end of 2019. Telling stories, especially in sports, has rapidly become a critical part of building a brand. A cohesive and engaging content strategy moves across a number of touchpoints and needs to be accessible to consumers via different digital outputs. In essence, you need to give your fans what they want and be where they are. Today’s expectations for a rich and thorough fan experience are ever-growing. And a fast-paced evolution — both from a technological point of view and the “content making” layer — is clearly needed.

Deltatre’s range of solutions includes Liveblogging, a powerful tool that facilitates fan engagement in an easy way. The platform is “editor-first”, meaning that content creators have the power to control every single stage of their content workflows, from idea inception to publication, all from the same place. Not only are they able to create engaging pieces when on the move from an intuitive tool, but also they will now have the opportunity to enrich that experience including elements from external sources too.

The third update for Liveblogging in 2019 includes several new features and improvements. Here’s a summary.

#1. Customise The Fan Experience

Have you ever thought of a content platform that lets you promote pieces created from an external source, straight into a liveblog stream? The new release of Liveblogging enables this simple workflow with a single click on the back office. Publishing or embedding text, images, even video or sports data on the post is now just a couple of clicks away.

Content can now be organized into tabs, and searched for using new, easy-to-use filtering options, to help editors easily find what they're looking for.

Enabling advanced features, such as search and filters, is now simplified and every single aspect of the user workflow is automatically managed by the product. This means that integrators can choose the feature set they want to support, and focus on writing the code that’s needed to retrieve the data to be shown. Data sources can be easily configured to automatically refresh the content. This way, users will always access data that is up-to-date.

Finally, the third update of Liveblogging for 2019 introduces the possibility to create a customer user experience within the back office for users around unique data sources. What does this mean practically? Projects are now enabled to deliver a custom-fit integration with data, which — in simple words — means flexibility.

#2. Promote Content From Forge and Publish From Social Media in One Click

A brand new built-in data source now fully integrates Liveblogging with Forge. Editors are now able to publish content previously created within Forge directly to Liveblogging. We are talking about stories, albums, even single items such as photos or other kinds of assets everything can be promoted on the stream within Liveblogging in a couple of clicks only.

What about social content? We got you covered there too! Similarly to what already happens with Forge (read here about its latest update), posts taken from social channels can now be embedded into the stream in an easy and direct way. Tweets, Facebook and Instagram posts, as well as YouTube videos, are only a few examples of the content that can easily be shared on the stream, by simply copying and pasting their URL on the back office. Sports organizations have been boosting their digital presence via social media in the last few years. And importantly, the explosion of video content on social media has considerably moved the needle, as fluid fans want to access all the information in the same space. This is what we call a “one-stop-shop”.

#3. Enhanced Content Editing and Media Management

Speed, quantity, quality - the three attributes of any successful sports company’s storytelling strategy. Never before has it been more important to produce a lot of high-quality content in as close to real-time as possible. But with this pressure to keep fans in the know comes a housekeeping issue - how do you keep a growing library of premium content organised?

Thankfully, editors will now feel more comfortable when working with large amounts of posts or content banks to manage. Liveblogging’s third update for 2019 will allow them to enrich their content with links and headings that can be managed via a rich-text dedicated editor. Also, a smarter system of pagination on the back office enables content creators to work smoothly on the blog, still maintaining the reactive UI and reducing the load times on the browser, even with a large number of posts lined up for publication.

On a final note, this version of the platform introduces a built-in media source, which allows editors to upload photos seamlessly from the back office, selecting media form their local folders and uploading them on Cloudinary with a few clicks only.

To wrap it up, the fourth release for Liveblogging - the final update for 2019 - is due by the end of the year. Another chance to focus on the power of storytelling, enhanced by Deltatre’s solutions.  

The partnership unlocks unique and unprecedented event experiences for Visa cardholders and clients

Visa, the world leader in digital payments, has announced a strategic partnership with Dubai’s new Coca-Cola Arena - the region’s largest multipurpose indoor arena. The multi-year partnership presents Visa cardholders and clients with exclusive pre-sale access to world-class events and unprecedented experiences for them including backstage experiences.

The partnership aligns with Coca-Cola Arena’s cashless ambition and goal of becoming the region’s most technologically advanced arena by leveraging Visa’s digital payments expertise. Recently, Visa hosted Coca-Cola Arena representatives at its regional Innovation Center in Dubai to showcase Visa’s latest payments technology and explore creating solutions to enhance the arena’s customer experience.

The Coca-Cola Arena has 100 percent contactless acceptance with contactless-enabled POS terminals across all concession stands. There are plans to eventually transition to cash-free concession stands in the future. Visitors will be able to experience Visa’s multi-sensory branding including sound, animation and haptic cues when they pay with Visa at the arena.

Located at City Walk, the Coca-Cola Arena is capable of hosting live shows all year round with a capacity of 17,000, including international touring artists, local events, sporting tournaments, e-gaming, comedy, theatre and musical performances, conferences, and gala dinners.

Guy Ngata, AEG Ogden’s CEO of Coca-Cola Arena, commented: “Coca-Cola Arena is delighted to welcome Visa on board as newest Founding and Official Payment Partner. We look forward to working closely with Visa from showcasing the very best events and providing world-class experiences for our patrons and clients. There is no doubting our partnership with Visa will further support our ambition to be the leading entertainment arena in the MENA region which is at the forefront of cashless technology.”

Marcello Baricordi, Visa’s General Manager for MENA, said: “Visa has long been committed to enabling a cashless future and delivering enhanced experiences for customers everywhere. Our partnership with Coca-Cola Arena underpins this commitment and allows us to be at the forefront in bringing forth the necessary payment infrastructure and innovative technologies to power secure and frictionless transactions for our cardholders. We are looking forward to developing exciting new solutions for visitors to the new Coca-Cola Arena and promoting the UAE as a top host destination for the world’s prestigious events.”

Cathay Pacific has announced the following management changes, effective from 19th August:

• Mr. Augustus Tang appointed Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Mr. Rupert Hogg.

• Mr. Ronald Lam appointed Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, succeeding Mr. Paul Loo.  Ronald Lam will remain Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Express until a successor has been appointed.

The Board of Directors of Cathay Pacific announced that it has accepted the resignation of Rupert Hogg as Chief Executive Officer and Paul Loo as Chief Customer and Commercial Officer.  At a Board meeting, Augustus Tang was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Ronald Lam was appointed Chief Customer and Commercial Officer. The Board of Directors believes that it is the right time for new leadership to take Cathay Pacific forward and that Augustus Tang and Ronald Lam, both of whom are highly experienced executives with long careers at Cathay Pacific, are ideally suited to lead the company.

John Slosar, Chairman of Cathay Pacific, commented, “Augustus Tang and Ronald Lam have the experience and depth of knowledge of aviation and our people to be strong and effective leaders of Cathay Pacific at this sensitive time. Hong Kong is a fantastic home for our airline. It is a world class city and has a premium airport which is the biggest international passenger and cargo hub in Asia.  Cathay Pacific has a relentless focus on standards of safety and care, and an unrivalled reputation for customer service.”

Mr. Hogg stated, “It has been my honour to lead the Cathay Pacific Group over the last three years.  I am confident in the future of Hong Kong as the key aviation hub in Asia. However, these have been challenging weeks for the airline and it is right that Paul and I take responsibility as leaders of the company.”

Mr. Slosar added, “Rupert Hogg and his team executed the three-year Transformation Programme which has been important to Cathay Pacific’s recovery and provides a strong platform for continued development. However, recent events have called into question Cathay Pacific’s commitment to flight safety and security and put our reputation and brand under pressure.  This is regrettable as we have always made safety and security our highest priority.  We therefore think it is time to put a new management team in place who can reset confidence and lead the airline to new heights.  Cathay Pacific is fully committed to Hong Kong under the principle of ‘One Country Two Systems’ as enshrined in the Basic Law.  We are confident that Hong Kong will have a great future.”

66 publishers showcase 5,000 titles at six local and regional cultural events,generating more than AED 60,000 in sales

For centuries, culture has played an important role in building bridges and connecting people together. The exchange helped transfer knowledge across geographical borders enriching people’s lives and provided a window to rich and diverse cultures. Building on that truism the Emirates Publishers Association (EPA) has been on a mission to introduce the creativity and accomplishments of authentic Emirati culture across the world, through a pilot initiative called ‘Manassah’ platform.

Launched in January this year, the ‘Manassah’ platform has given EPA’s members the opportunity to take part in several international book fairs held around the world, through a dedicated section showcasing their titles to international publishers and visitors at EPA’s pavilion.

Although only a few months old, the platform has already been presented at six local and regional cultural events, representing 66 publishers who participated with 5,000 titles. Through the ‘Manassah’ platform, publishers were able to generate AED 61,350 in sales. In the next few months, the platform is scheduled to participate in the Al Ain International Book Fair and Amman International Book Fair. This is a result of the association’s keenness to support publishers and promote their work at various events around the world and introduce people to the rich heritage of the country.

Rashid Al Kous, Executive Director of EPA, said the association was keen on presenting Emirati publishers and their creative output at international platforms, whether they were physically present or not.  He noted that the ‘Manassah’ platform opened a window to learn about Emirati culture and exchange expertise, which ultimately was the goal of the association in promoting local publishers at regional and international venues. 

“Through the platform, we introduce intellectuals around the world to the huge strides taken by the publishing sector in the country. It is an opportunity to connect with peers and forge partnerships with international counterparts which will contribute to advancing and diversifying the content,” said the Executive Director.

Supported by Tilal Properties, the platform is designed to boost the representation and outreach of EPA member publishers who published 20 titles or less due to the high cost of participation at top literary events and exhibitions. The Manassah platform plays an important role in expanding to new markets and generating more sales for the local publishers, which in turn contributes to the development of the UAE’s publishing sector.

Since its launch, the ‘Manassah’ project has given local publishers the opportunity to participate in the Casablanca International Book Fair, Muscat International Book Fair, Al Riyadh International Book Fair. Locally, it assisted publishers in presenting their creative outputs at Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, and the Emirati Book Fair.

EPA was founded in 2009 under an initiative by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Vice President of the International Publishers Association (IPA), who has led the efforts to advance the publishing industry in the UAE. The organisation is dedicated to serving and developing the publishing sector and advancing the role of Emirati publishers through training and mentorship programmes. EPA represents the interests of professionals in the UAE’s publishing industry by working on advancing their rights and has a remit to improve the conditions of the profession and its related laws in coordination with concerned authorities locally and internationally.

Nielsen launched continuous diary measurement (CDM), with the first data delivery in five of the 46 audio markets converting to monthly reports effective with the July 2019 survey.

CDM positions radio on a level playing field with other media such as digital and TV, and it will allow clients to maintain a competitive edge with the ability to react more quickly to marketplace changes. CDM will also help reduce “bounce” in the ratings with rolling samples designed to provide a more consistent and stable view of the market.

In June of this year, Nielsen announced that iHeartMedia Inc., the No. 1 audio company in the U.S., agreed to support CDM in Nielsen Audio’s four book markets. Additional broadcasters have signed for CDM, including Univision, Midwest Communications, Tyler Media, QueenB Radio, Southern Stone Communications and Bahakel Communications.

“With monthly Nielsen ratings in these diary markets, radio is giving its advertisers the most timely and relevant information possible and will have more stable and actionable insights for how audiences are engaging with our content,” said Brian Kaminsky, President of Revenue and Data Operations at iHeartMedia.

“This is a transformative day for the audio advertising industry when, for the first time, clients in these 46 markets will be able to transact on data monthly,” said Brad Kelly, Managing Director, Nielsen Audio. “There is no doubt that continuous diary measurement is a big step forward for the audio industry. With CDM, very large advertisers that rely on marketing mix models will be able to use the most current data available to get a better read on how radio drives sales results—the ultimate measure of ‘attribution’.”

“Advertisers demand current data and continuous diary measurement finally puts radio on a level playing field with digital and TV,” said Jeffery Warshaw, Chair of the Nielsen Audio Advisory Council and Founder/CEO of Connoisseur Media. “This upgrade in measurement is a terrific demonstration of the progress we can make when the industry comes together and works with Nielsen to improve the service for our clients.”

The July data for the balance of the 46 markets will deliver between Aug. 14 and Aug. 23. Effective with the launch of CDM, 94 Nielsen audio metros will have monthly reporting (48 PPM markets and 46 CDM markets) representing ~80% of radio’s ad spend and population in Nielsen audio markets.  

Consumers today are connected 24/7. They have the ability to tap into news, entertainment and information whenever, wherever and in whatever format they want. Thanks to technology, the connection with radio continues – into the workplace.

In the past year-and-a-half, the number of adults who listen to audio entertainment while at work has grown across nearly every age group.

The latest study by our firm, NuVoodoo Media Services (we do research and marketing for broadcasters), shows at-work listening increasing in nearly all segments – and impressive percentages among 25-44’s – based on a sample of over 3,000 respondents, ages 14-54 across all PPM markets.

Competition for at-work listening has never been more fierce. In this new study, the percentage of at-work users relying on broadcast radio streams grows to 15% of the total at-work listening pie. While digital pureplays continue to play a role in at-work listening, the combination of broadcast radio and its streams is strong.

It would be wrong to conclude that people never come back to broadcast once they find their way to digital pureplays at work. It is important to remember that the pureplays aren’t perfect listening experiences. They can deliver unsatisfying music selection and repetitive commercial inventories. Many of those who listen to digital pureplays at work today recognize the additional benefits of FM radio: people they like, the local community connection and, of course, no cost.

Radio’s advantages are clear. Listeners appreciate the value of broadcast radio: its emotional, personal and local connection. These at-work listeners can also provide an incredible opportunity for advertisers to share information or promote deals about products/services available in the local area. Radio works … while listeners are at work.

Written by Leigh Jacobs, EVP Research Analysis, NuVoodoo Media Services

In 2018, we saw consumer behavior and technology trends align with marketplace forces in a way that suggests 2019 is going to be a banner year for programmatic audio. Let’s take a look at the confluence of forces and the recent industry advances that suggest that 2019 will be the year of programmatic audio.

The Stars Align

The volume of available streaming audio content, across music and spoken word, has seen astronomical growth in recent years. Most people continue to stream audio on their mobile devices, but the rise in smart speaker adoption and new in-car integrations has made streaming audio even more ubiquitous. People can and do listen wherever they are, whenever they want, throughout the their entire days.

This shift has certainly piqued the interest of major industry players. In 2018, moves by the industry’s biggest names added validity to programmatic audio as a prime platform for reaching target audiences at scale. Pandora entered the programmatic audio space on the sell side, adding its impressive inventory to the already-impressive mix from providers like Spotify, TuneIn, as well as the many radio stations working with aggregators like TargetSpot.

Meanwhile, on the buy side, Google introduced the ability to buy programmatic audio ads through its DSP. With the strength of Google combined with others in the space—including The Trade Desk, Adobe and MediaMath—there’s now a high likelihood that advertisers who want to reach their audiences via audio can do so using the same platform that they use to purchase all of their other programmatic inventory.

The Audio Appeal

With proper supply and demand rapidly falling into place, the benefits of programmatic audio are too strong to ignore. Key attractions for buyers include:

Quality and Trust: Today’s programmatic audio inventory represents a premium environment with a very low risk of fraud and a high degree of transparency.

Control: Many premium sellers, like Spotify and Pandora, operate only via private marketplaces, enabling a high degree of control and ensuring a good user experience.

Share of Voice: Unlike display environments, most audio environments—particularly on mobile devices—offer brands 100 percent share of voice in a one-to-one setting.

Data-Driven Creative: The rich data assets streaming audio providers have on their subscribers, coupled with emerging dynamic creative solutions, provide advertisers with the opportunity to craft compelling, targeted narratives that follow users throughout their days.

Perhaps most importantly, the power of audio ads within a cross-platform buy are becoming evident. In a recent case study from The Trade Desk and Spotify, audio ads were found to boost ad recall by more than 150 percent—and by more than 200 percent when combined with video and display elements.

Challenges Overcome

In addition to accelerating marketplace forces and growing awareness of the value of audio ads, two major challenges within the programmatic audio space greatly diminished in 2018.

For one, there was a notable shift in the responsibility for buying programmatic audio, from broadcast and analog radio teams to programmatic and digital media teams. This trend will only continue into 2019.

In conjunction with this shift, much-needed progress was made around the standardization of audio creative. Previously, there were two primary methods for delivering programmatic audio creative: DAAST and VAST. If an audio campaign’s assets were built in DAAST, the campaign would be limited to DAAST inventory—the same being true with VAST. Fortunately, the IAB sunset support for DAAST with its ratification of the new VAST 4.1 protocol,enabling audio to be transacted across a single standard template so that more audio inventory can move into the open marketplace.

2019: The Market is Tuned Into Audio

2018 has set the stage for what will be a big year on the horizon for programmatic audio, and Rubicon Project is well-positioned to facilitate this marketplace boom for buyers and sellers alike. Our omnichannel solution ensures that buyers can include audio as part of their wider campaign mix and that sellers are able to offer a comprehensive premium programmatic strategy across all of their media.

So after a brilliant year of activity in 2018, we’re standing on the rooftops shouting out ‘programmatic audio is ready to go.’ Bring on 2019