A Brain Trust of International Creatives Representing 65 countries from 6 Continents Poised to Select the World’s Best Advertising

New York Festivals International Advertising Awards® announced its world class Grand Jury. To date, NYF’s powerhouse 400+ Grand Jury represents the most diverse brain trust of global creative minds in the advertising industry from 65 countries. 

From Argentina to Vietnam, this peer-nominated panel provides a comprehensive view of the advertising world today. This year’s Grand Jury, recruited from top global agencies and the hottest new boutique shops, is comprised of prominent award-winning Chief Creative Officers, Executive Creative Directors, Creative Directors, Art Directors, Copywriters, Executive Producers, and Marketing/PR pro’s all playing a pivotal role in selecting the World’s Best Advertising® winners.

“We’ve assembled a truly international jury with high level talent that spans the globe.” said Susan Glass Ruse, Executive Director of New York Festivals International Advertising Awards. “NYF has always been about recognizing the work and the individuals who create it. Our juries and our competition categories are designed to reflect the diversity of great work and the people that produce it.”

The Grand Jury will be appointed to panels that correspond with our newly revised categories.  New panels include Artistry & Craft in Advertising, Collaborations & Partnerships, Social Media & Influencer and Positive World Impact. You can see all the exciting category changes HERE.

“We’re honored to have such an exceptional and eclectic jury judging this year’s work” said Heather Abrams, Associate Executive Director of New York Festivals Advertising Awards. “Not only are we excited to provide our entrants with highly-regarded creatives to honor their work, but we’re delighted for our jury to see some of the fresh and bold ideas that come through in our new categories.”

Using New York Festivals online judging platform, the Grand Jury will review global entries through two rounds of meticulous judging and select the creative work that merits Shortlist and Finalist Status. The Finalist entries will then move on to the medal rounds. NYF’s Grand Jury is also the first line of defense, scrutinizing ads to provide security against possible scam ads.

2019’s trophy winning entries will be determined by the 9th annual Executive Jury, an elite panel of 22+ CCO’s from around the globe. The Executive Jury will gather this April for 5 days in New York City for four rounds of judging across all mediums to select 2019’s winners for First Prize, Second Prize, Third Prize, Grand Awards and Best of Show. The members of the 2019 Executive Jury will be announced soon.

The 2019 competition entry deadline is January 31st

Breaking the pattern of football boot releases through an invite-only app

adidas GLITCH is a new football boot concept and a unique route to market. With a new generation of players to connect with, POSSIBLE set out to disrupt everything.

The answer for launch? A mobile product and experience that was created, designed, and launched by POSSIBLE. The goal was to attract a new audience of street/league players, a cynical inner-city audience that isn’t swayed by celebrity sponsorship and the traditional marketing mix. They’re mobile only, not mobile first, and heavily vested in social media. The GLITCH app was designed to reach young players where they spent most of their time – on their phones, online, on the move.

GLITCH is now live in London, Berlin and Paris. The GLITCH app houses everything in the customer journey from their first interaction with the product, booking and purchasing, to delivery and rewards. The product can ONLY be bought through the app – even today. These boots aren’t available in stores or even online.

At launch in each country, POSSIBLE and adidas deliberately started small and kept it personal. They locked the fitting and purchase functions of the app, making it invite-only. Codes were only available through a small community of influencers and then only available from purchasers of the boots. Our influencers were part of the design of the boots and fed into the concept. Then they led the launch activity, handing out invite codes, uploading content to build community in the app and answering customer questions – online and in the app itself.

GLITCH is now adidas’ second biggest-selling football franchise online behind Predator, a boot that has over two decades’ history and budgets that are well over 10 times those for GLITCH. Achieved without the usual big budgets, big-name online stores, global sales, and without any Premier League football stars, GLITCH turned the industry upside down and created a completely new relationship between brand and consumer.

Gartner Reveals Six Predictions to Guide Marketing Leaders Through Uncertain Times Ahead

Shifting consumer behaviors, mounting regulatory pressures, organizational shifts and disruptive automation combine to pose a real and destabilizing threat to many marketing leaders and their strategies for the years ahead, according to Gartner Inc.

In the report titled, “Predicts 2019: Marketing Seeks a New Equilibrium,” Gartner analysts predict six critical changes that will help guide marketing leaders while navigating this new terrain.

“These are exciting, but uncertain times for CMOs (chief marketing officers) and marketing leaders. From the promise of data and analytics, to the lure of customer experience (CX) and everything in between, marketers have vast opportunities to set themselves apart from the competition, but equal challenges to overcome in order to do so,” said Charles Golvin, senior director and analyst at Gartner. “Finding the right balance to successfully leverage marketing technology and emerging trends will be critical to marketing’s success over the course of the next couple of years.”

Gartner analysts said these predictions will help marketers better understand and prepare for the uncertain times ahead:

By 2022, profitability will replace customer experience as the CMO’s No. 1 strategic priority, reducing investment in marketing-funded CX programs by at least 25 percent.

Brands that put in place user-level control of marketing data will reduce customer churn by 40 percent and increase lifetime value by 25 percent in 2023.

By 2022, content creators will produce more than 30 percent of their digital content with the aid of AI content-generation techniques, increasing productivity and advertising effectiveness but also disrupting the creative process.

By 2023, 60 percent of CMOs will slash the size of their marketing analytics departments by 50 percent because of a failure to realize promised improvements.

By 2023, autonomous marketing systems will issue 55 percent of multichannel marketing messages based on marketer criteria and real-time consumer behavior, resulting in a 25 percent increase in response rates.

By 2023, consumers will watch 20 percent fewer minutes of video advertising per day than they do today. Brands will adapt by embracing short-form video ads.

These predictions grow out of four key forces that are buffeting marketers today:

Behavioral Changes: As voice interfaces continue to improve, consumers are beginning to embrace the convenience. However, concerns about how marketers use this information and where it is all stored continue to mount. Gartner research reveals that 44 percent of consumers would be more willing to use a virtual personal assistant app if they knew that all their personal data would only remain on the device.

Regulatory Pressures: In the wake of consumer advocates shedding light on customer data-powered overreach and missteps, regulatory changes on the use of customer data now threaten to hinder many common marketing practices. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was the first of many more regulations to come.

Organizational Shifts: Marketing leaders are attempting to satiate their appetite for data by hiring new talent that can extract insights from the vast amount of data they have acquired. Meanwhile, while marketing analytics teams continue to inflate, so have investments in CX. Executive scrutiny and expectations in these investment areas is rapidly intensifying.

Disruptive Automation: Now a core functional element of nearly every category of marketing technology, machine intelligence carries the promise of increased efficiency. As automation makes its way into new areas, these changes will have a disruptive impact on what marketers do and how they do it.

"This year AME expanded its competition categories to showcase effective campaigns whose goals are to encourage social good and beneficial behavior that result in positive movement and outcome for individuals, causes, society, and the welfare of animals and the environment. AME’s Creativity for Positive Impact categories include 6 distinct categories. But most importantly, aside from a revised roster of categories, I’m especially excited about the inception of the AME Advisory Council, their experience and wise counsel will infuse AME with added agility." Said Gayle Mandel, Executive Director, AME Awards.

In this interview, Gayle breaks down the AME awards process, giving us insight into the world of effectiveness, results and excellence.

Here is the complete Q&A.....

What sets AME apart? 

AME stands for Advertising & Marketing Effectiveness, and it’s been a standout competition within the New York Festivals family competitions for a quarter of a century. What sets AME apart is that it’s entirely focused on results. Entries earning an AME Award are like the special forces of the advertising world…risk-taking, creative and strategic campaigns that have stamina and go the distance on behalf of the brand. 

Why does AME put such a heavy emphasis on effectiveness? 

Effectiveness is the bottom line and Results mean the consumer has taken action.  

Clients want results. Creative work dazzles and takes the viewer on a journey, and creativity is super important, however, if at the end of that journey the viewer doesn’t know if the ad was for a resort, an insurance company or a soft drink…no one is going to buy it. At AME, we ask the entrant to prove that the campaign accomplished what it intended to do. A campaign’s art direction, writing, or production values are all worth noting and admiring, however, if it didn’t move the needle for the brand, it’s not worthy of an AME Award.

What do entrants need to prove if they want to win an AME Award?

RESULTS. 

Which AME award-winning campaigns have stood out achieving both creative and ground-breaking execution?

All winning entries in the AME Awards knock the ball out of the park.

Creative + Effective = AME Award. Effectiveness equals results. It takes both a creative and strategically effective approach to deliver results. And AME’s winning campaigns were based on extremely creative ideas that delivered brilliant results.

2018’s AME Platinum Award winners for example, “Dead Whale”  by Dentsu Jayme Syfu was 2018’s AME Regional Platinum Award/Asia Pacific and earned  Best of Show (AME Grand Award), the AME Green Award and a Gold. Their winning entry was an installation of a 73-foot decomposing “Dead Whale” on the shores of one of the most polluted cities in the Philippines during the 2017 ASEAN Summit. The installation, created by using plastic wastes collected from the ocean, resulted in over 100 million impressions internationally and caught the attention of ASEAN leaders, which put Coastal and Marine Protection in the proposal for the next Summit.

Zulu Alpha Kilo’s “Common Ground” the 2018 AME Regional Platinum Award/North America and Gold AME Award winning entry for Harley-Davidson Canada created a “foreign exchange of bikers”  that were documented in a series following riders from different backgrounds on a trip across Canada. Discovery Channel picked up the series for a primetime special and resulted in over 47MM impressions; surpassing goals by 235%; over 8.7MM views surpassing goals by 218%, and over 415,000 engagements, with an increase in market share of 1.9% against the nearest competitor.

Heimat Werbeagentur GmbH Germany “A New Way of Thinking”  2018 AME Regional Platinum Award/Europe and Gold AME Award winning entry for Free Democrats reached and activated young voters and bridged the gap between the Liberal party and the voters. The agency utilized PR Stunts and special events and created a unique digital identity that resulted in FDP returning to the German parliament with the party's highest rise ever in number of votes (5,9%), even while having the smallest campaign budget among the six major parties.

For more inspiration view the 2018 AME Awards Winners Gallery: HERE. 

Why does AME separate their Grand Jury by region? 

AME divided the Grand Jury into 5 regions (Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East & Africa, and North America) because we feel that audiences in different parts of the world relate to campaigns based on their own regional points of view. We’re diligent about recruiting strategic and creative leaders who understand the region to ensure fair and effective judging. 

The entire panel of judges in the third round view all Gold-winning work to determine Regional Platinum Awards and Best of Show, the AME Grand Award—the ultimate in Effectiveness. 

How does the entrant provide proof of their campaign’s effectiveness? 

Mobile data has changed everything. Results are so important and there are specific metrics across every platform to measure performance. AME entrants provide thorough details as part of the brief and as part of the case study. And with case studies all the information can be put in front of the judges in a cogent way. 

What’s new at AME for this year? 

I’m new for AME as Executive Director of the AME Awards. After years of working as NYF’s Director of Public & Media Relations, I’m thrilled to be at the helm of this vibrant competition that showcases effective advertising from around the globe. 

This year AME expanded its competition categories to showcase effective campaigns whose goals are to encourage social good and beneficial behavior that result in positive movement and outcome for individuals, causes, society, and the welfare of animals and the environment. AME’s Creativity for Positive Impact categories include 6 distinct categories. 

But most importantly, aside from a revised roster of categories, I’m especially excited about the inception of the AME Advisory Council, their experience and wise counsel will infuse AME with added agility.  

Tell us about AME’s judging process and how the most effective entries are selected? 

AME’s submissions are reviewed prior to judging to ensure that all the elements are there in their proper format. Every entry is judged online, allowing jurors to judge within a private setting without distractions while judging at their own pace.   

AME’s Grand Jury judges all three rounds using the benchmark of creative execution and marketing effectiveness, specifics from the written marketing brief, and a comprehensive presentation of the work are all taken into consideration. And of course, evidence of measurable results is of the utmost importance.

The AME Grand Jury scores entries using four criteria each weighted by importance with a matrix that breaks down to 30% based on Results & Effectiveness, 25% each from Creativity and Execution and 20% from Challenge/Strategy/Objectives.  

What is the AME Report and why is it important?

Based on the results of AME’s Grand Jury, the AME report the annual three-tiered ranking report that honors and provides separate rankings for agencies, and brands. Within the report, the AME Brand Report recognizes innovative brands for their game-changing effective campaigns and the forward-thinking advertisers who approved these compelling campaigns.

It’s truly an honor to be included within the AME Report. Being mentioned among the prominent companies within the report solidifies an agency’s position within the industry and secures their global reputation for delivering the most creative and measurably effective caliber of work. 

Why are effectiveness competitions like the AME Awards important?

In my opinion, if a campaign can’t prove its effectiveness and move the needle for the brand, it’s hasn’t done its job.  

AME’s Grand Jury members say it best:

Ruichi Sharma, former Creative Chairperson for BBDO LANKA: “Increasingly, our clients are more concerned about the ROI and results of any piece of communication we create for them. More so, on large global multinationals clients. Almost every category of awards wants proof of results and how the work fared regarding sales, transforming opinions around the brand, creating awareness or evoking tangible action. Creativity just for creativity’s sake is not easy to sell anymore. Effectiveness is becoming equally if not more important. Thus, award shows like AME are gaining stature as they precisely measure the effectiveness behind a leading-edge creative campaign.”

Jon Marchant, Managing Director, FP7 Dubai: “We have the ability more than ever to show genuine effectiveness for the fruit of our loins. To provide genuine creativity is one thing, but to do that whilst also proving effectiveness and proving ROI for clients, that is special.  And with marketing budgets being squeezed more and more, it’s not enough to simply show clients previous work, more and more you also have to prove it’s moved the needle on business KPIs.

It’s also a powerful narrative to use beyond marketing, when we ask Heads of Procurement whether they want to work with the most effective agency in MENA, not surprisingly, they are receptive to finding out more!”

Newton Rebello, Group Account Director, Blue Apple Advertising, UAE: “Well, the age-old mantra of ROI. Today, clients (brands) need advertising and marketing more than ever to meet objectives (and push sales). They need their marketing communication to result in increase in business (sale). A typical creative communication may not necessarily do that. In a day-to-day communication scenario, the fact remains that agencies do produce more functional communication work rather than the ‘creative’ work. This doesn't mean that functional work shouldn't be good advertising or creatively refreshing. Awards such as the AME Awards recognises the time, effort, the need and the importance of functional work. In a way it recognises and celebrates the reality of the marketing communication business.”

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about smart speakers being the new radio and referenced an article on Recode that suggested people were less likely to skip ads. However, the article also presented some interesting findings about the use of smart speakers for shopping that makes me wonder how many brands really need to worry about shopping by voice.

As I have noted elsewhere, voice shopping brings a whole new challenge, particularly for smaller players trying to get established in the marketplace. Assuming that someone specifies which brand they want, a huge assumption, then salience is going to bias the choice to well-known, incumbent brands. And in a voice-first world, the first brand to be chosen in a category will have the advantage of inertia on its side for years to come.

But just how prevalent is voice shopping likely to be and which brands need to worry about it the most? The Recode article suggests that, as of now, people are not shopping till they drop on smart speakers. Far from it, the article suggests that one in five smart speaker users have ever made a purchase using their device and regular usage is far less than that. Data from a survey by Voicebot suggests that most people prefer to shop at physical stores and only a fraction would prefer voice.

Of course, that preference is highly likely to change with experience and product category. Quoted in the Recode article, Google Director of Product Management and Hardware Micah Collins, states,

“I think shopping is still very early days, especially for voice-only products. Shopping is predominantly a visual and tactile experience.”

Like Collins I find it difficult to believe that people will buy shoes, clothes, or household electronics and durables without at least looking at what they are about to buy. And that, of course, ignores all the other attractions of shopping in stores, including physical interaction with goods, advice from store staff and just the fun of a day out with friends.

Instead, voice shopping is likely to be most prevalent for familiar, routine purchases. According to Digitas, 85 percent of virtual voice assistant purchasers say they’ve purchased the first brand offered by their device, rather than the specific brand they initially requested. So as if the advent of direct-to-consumer brands was not enough of a challenge, now consumer packaged goods brands need to worry about how to incentivise Alexa to make a sale for them.

If traditional packaged goods brands are not to be totally commoditised by the shift to voice shopping then they will have to work even harder at building predisposition and attitudinal loyalty to overcome the lure of choosing what an assistant first offers. Again, scale will be a factor, big brands are more likely to be available and suggested, smaller brands are going to have to figure out how they disrupt that in-built advantage.

But what do you think? Is voice shopping going to be universal? What might you buy?

Written by Nigel Hollis, Executive Vice President and Chief Global Analyst at Kantar Millward Brown.

While many of us have heard of, or even fallen victim to, cybercrimes such as data and identity theft, it seems that relatively few know the value of the information stolen from us. A new study from Kaspersky Lab has revealed that while our identity may not be worth a lot in terms of dollars, it is a significant asset to criminals in other ways. The research uncovered an appetite among cybercriminals for data stolen from popular services - including via social media accounts and remote access to gaming websites. User confusion about what their data is worth could result in a haphazard approach to security, making it all too easy for thieves to steal data and commit crime.

Data stolen due to people’s lax security may have limited resale value, but can be put to many uses. This can cause huge problems for an individual victim, who may lose money and their reputation, find themselves being chased for debt that somebody else has incurred in their name, or even suspected of a crime that somebody else has committed using their identity as a cover.

Kaspersky Lab investigated Dark Web markets to find out how much personal data is worth, and how it is used by criminals. The company’s researchers found that criminals can sell someone’s complete digital life for less than $50; including data from stolen social media accounts, banking details, remote access to servers or desktops, and even data from popular services like Uber, Netflix, and Spotify, as well as gaming websites, dating apps, and porn websites which might store credit card information. Meanwhile, researchers found that the price paid for a single hacked account is lower, with most selling for about $1 per account, and with criminals offering up discounts for bulk-buying.

The most common way criminals steal this sort of data in the first place is via spear phishing campaigns or by exploiting a web related security vulnerability in an application's software. After a successful attack, the criminal gets password dumps which contain a combination of emails and passwords for the hacked services. And, with many people using the same password for several accounts, attackers might be able to use this information to access accounts on other platforms too.

Interestingly, some criminals selling data even provide their buyers with a lifetime warranty, so if one account stops working, the buyer will receive a new account for free.

As David Jacoby, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab, puts it, ‘It is clear that data hacking is a major threat to us all, and this applies at both an individual and societal level, because stolen data funds many social evils. Fortunately, there are steps we can take to prevent it, including by using cybersecurity software, and being aware of how much data we are giving away for free – particularly on publicly available social media profiles, or to organizations.’

People can avoid such risks by taking several easy security steps, which should become an integral part of any Internet user’s digital life:

•To stay safe from phishing, always check that the link address and the sender’s email are genuine before clicking anything. A robust security solution will also warn you if you attempt to visit a phishing web page.

•To avoid one data leak harming all your digital identities, never use the same password for several websites or services. To create strong, hack-proof passwords and remove the struggle of remembering them, use a specific password manager application, such as Kaspersky Password Manager.

•To find out who has your personal data, use services such as PrivacyAudit.me that automatically search for a user’s data across a large number of sources 

To read the full report on the value of data on the black market, visit Securelist.com

With this campaign Etihad Airways has achieved the largest rise in its Ad Awareness in the UAE

In November, Etihad Airways launched a new brand platform - Choose Well - which invites passengers to make choices about how they travel and allows them to choose the kind of journey they want to take.

The brand released the ‘Choose Well’ campaign across print, digital and social channels in the middle of November, to showcase the new opportunities given to passengers to make choices about how they travel. The launch coincides with the airline’s fifteenth birthday celebrations. 

The 30 second and 60 second digital adverts focus on the choices passengers can make in relation to their flight, but also acknowledges that consumers are “on a bigger journey, and there are bigger choices”.

YouGov BrandIndex data shows that Etihad Airways’ new ad campaign is certainly having the desired effect in terms of cut-through. The brand’s Ad Awareness (whether someone has seen an advert for the brand in the past few weeks) rose from 35% at the beginning of December to 46% two weeks later.

The branding of Etihad Airways’ as an ‘airline of choices’ has also seen other metrics rise as well.

Purchase Consideration for the brand has increased in December, jumping from +27 to +38. Whether this translates into actual flight bookings remains to be seen of course.

The fourth edition of the BabyTech Summit at CES makes parenthood cool, calm and connected.

Modern parents are helping grow the baby tech category and this year’s edition of CES displays the burgeoning demand. From maternity belly bands to silent breast pumps, this segment is becoming increasingly sophisticated, meticulously crafted and slickly designed, shedding the clinical and bulky looks from yesteryear.

Health tech startup, Owlet Baby Care debuted the Owlet Band to “give parents a glimpse inside the womb all in the comfort of their own home.” The band wraps the mother’s stomach in a soft, thin fabric that houses sensors to track the fetal heart rate, kick count and give real-time insight from the second and third trimester. “This product could be a game-changer in determining the wellness of a fetus,” says Jeff Humpherys, Owlet’s chief data scientist in a statement. The Owlet Band will be available for consumer purchase later in 2019.

The demand for smart connected baby monitors are on the rise, according to research company Technavio. With the market expected to see $119 million incremental growth between 2019 and 2023, it’s no wonder the competition for better, more accurate baby monitors that visually blend in with the interior furnishings are drawing attention at CES this year. One of the Best of Baby Tech Award Winners this year includes the Miku baby monitor, which uses AI SensorFusion technology to track the baby’s breathing, sleep and movement even in total darkness. Parents can get a little more peace of mind and perhaps a few more minutes of shut-eye knowing Miku is keeping a close watch on their baby.

Smart breast pumps made a lot of noise at CES a couple of years ago and this year we see more contenders and product refinement. Technology company Elvie launched “the world’s first silent wearable breast pump” in September and has won the Best of Baby Tech award at CES this year. The compact Elvie Pump fits inside a nursing bra allowing mothers to express milk inconspicuously while on the go. Willow, another smart breast pump that made headlines when it launched in 2017, continues to make upgrades and released Willow 2.0 at CES. “The next generation of Willow gets moms pumping faster, which means moms can get back to living their fullest lives faster,” said Naomi Kelman, CEO of Willow in a release. Both the Elvie Pump and Willow 2.0 are priced at $499 and currently taking pre-orders.

The global baby care market proves to be fruitful, it was valued at $87.14 billion in 2017 and expected to reach $108.04 billion by 2024, according to a study by Zion Market Research. This year’s BabyTech Summit lends its smart tech to connected parents willing to shell out for a more nimble, stress-free and seamless parenthood.

Source:JwtIntelligence

UAE consumers are increasingly relying on technology and have a growing desire to be connected, with 67 percent stating that they see value in harnessing the power of technology.

This is according to the findings of the UAE edition of a new study by KPMG International, titled Me, my life, my wallet.

The report analyses factors driving consumer behavior and choices in the UAE — and how these could change as the customer of tomorrow emerges.

Almost half of all UAE consumers interviewed were impressed with how much a smartphone could help them manage their schedules. With 97 percent receiving their news online and 93 percent on social media, this level of enthusiasm for digital world innovation was beaten only by the smartphone-crazy consumers of China and India.

Interestingly, despite recent global data breaches, 78 percent of UAE consumers feel comfortable sharing their data with retailers and other institutions, but they would be more likely to do so if they saw tangible value. When asked about trading their data for personalization or better deals, UAE consumers were midway between the privacy-conscious Europeans and the more carefree consumers in China or India, with 22 percent saying they would not trade their data at all.

Globally, more than half of consumers expressed anxiety about identity theft, including hacking of financial, medical, or other personal information online; 46 percent were concerned about the theft of credit card details when shopping online; and 38 percent were concerned about the unauthorized tracking of their online habits by companies, governments, and criminals.

The study found that consumers are more likely to trust companies with the data that is directly relevant to the service they are providing. For example, 71 percent of global consumers said that they trust banks with their financial data, but only nine percent said they would trust retailers with this information. Likewise, 47 percent of consumers trust telecom providers with their mobile data, but only eight percent said that they would trust advertisers. In the UAE, sectors that enjoyed the highest level of trust among consumers were healthcare (63 percent), banking (52 percent), retail (51 percent) and technology firms (38 percent), while the least trusted was advertising at 15 percent.

Farhan Syed, Partner, Digital and Innovation at KPMG Lower Gulf, said: “Today’s consumers grow more complex with every passing day – and there is a greater need to understand them more intimately. This is putting more pressure on brands to deliver increasingly personalized experiences in today’s hyper-connected and informed world. We believe that there is a tremendous need to understand consumers’ expectations, especially regarding their data, and it is imperative that organizations do not take this for granted in the future.”

Meanwhile, as the UAE consumer grows accustomed to a seamless physical retail experience, enjoying some of the world’s most iconic malls, matching this experience in the digital world is proving to be tough but necessary if consumers are to switch to spending more online.

“The challenge now for e-commerce platforms is to provide a population that is accustomed to superb offline customer experiences the same online experience,” added Pilar De Miguel Veira, Partner, Head of Customer Advisory at KPMG Lower Gulf. “This will help UAE strengthen its position as a leading regional e-commerce hub in the future”.

Reporting to Steve King, CEO, Publicis Media, Matt will take up the role in January 2019 and will be based at Zenith’s HQ in London.

Matt succeeds Vittorio Bonori, who was recently appointed Publicis Groupe Italy CEO. With a career in global media spanning over 28 years, James joins Zenith from Publicis Media where he was CEO for Australia and New Zealand. Under his leadership, Publicis Media ANZ has seen significant growth, with key wins including P&G, Aldi, Campbell Arnott’s, and Kraft Heinz.

Originally from London, James started his career with Publicis Groupe in 2010 as Managing Director, Starcom UK. After a stint at Nine Entertainment, he returned to Publicis Groupe in 2015 as CEO, ZenithOptimedia ANZ, before becoming CEO, Publicis Media ANZ the following year. Succession plans for ANZ leadership will be announced shortly. During the transition James will continue to serve in a Publicis Media leadership capacity in that market in addition to his Zenith remit.

James takes up the Zenith leadership role at a time of significant success for the network. In October 2018, Forrester named Zenith as a ‘Leader’ in The Forrester Wave™: Global Media Agencies, Q3 2018 report, as well as Campaign recognising Zenith as one of the most influential agencies of the past 50 years, giving it the highest media agency ranking on the list. Further, in 2018, Zenith welcomed numerous new clients including Clas Ohlson Costa, Didi Chuxing, Electrolux, Lactalis and ONCE.

Steve King, CEO, Publicis Media, said: “Matt is a highly respected agency leader, who has worked in London, Paris and Sydney and been at the forefront of driving growth for many of the world’s leading brands. He has achieved considerable success during his time at Publicis Media and I know that he will now take Zenith from strength to strength.”

Matt James, Global Brand President, Zenith, said: “I am hugely excited to be taking on the leadership role at Zenith. The network celebrated its 30th anniversary this year and is a recognised industry leader with its ROI agency positioning and development in data and technology, experience planning and machine learning.”