Growth twice rate of GDP, Full Year 2018 forecast revised up to 4.8%

UK advertising spend in Q1 2018 rose 5.9% year-on-year to reach £5.7bn - the 19th consecutive quarter of market growth, according to Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report data published today. The figure is 1.3 percentage points (pp) ahead of forecast.

Further key findings from the report indicate: 

Q1 2018 was the strongest first quarter in three years

Print display ad revenue for national newsbrands rose for the first time in seven years

Radio (+12.5%) recorded its strongest growth in four years, while internet (+10.8%), out of home (+5.3%) and TV (+5.0%) were all positive during the quarter

Adspend growth forecasts for this year and next have been upgraded, by 0.6pp to 4.8% and 0.7pp to 4.5% respectively. If proved correct, this would conclude a decade of continuous growth, and result in investment of over £24bn in 2019.

Search now accounts for almost three in ten pounds spent on advertising in the UK, a share which has risen 1.8pp over the last year. Spend on search advertising has grown consistently since monitoring began in 2001.

Display formats, which account for just under two-thirds of all adspend in the UK, recorded a rise in investment of 4.7% in Q1 2018 - on a par with the rate recorded in the final quarter of 2017. Excluding direct mail, spend on display formats rose 6.0%. This was the strongest sector growth since the final quarter of 2015.

Stephen Woodford, Chief Executive at the Advertising Association said:

"Our latest advertising expenditure figures reflect the resilience of the wider UK economy, where consumer confidence is improved and the jobs market remains very strong. UK advertising continues to show steady growth with more businesses investing more spend in advertising. This investment boosts company profits and overall GDP, creates more jobs and helps our media sector to continue to invest in the creative content and technology that the public values.

"If Government can secure a good outcome from the Brexit negotiations and introduce a business-friendly immigration policy, we should continue to see sustained UK market growth and continued export success for advertising."

James McDonald, Data Editor at WARC commented:

"The UK's advertising market has now grown ahead of expectations in each of the last four quarters, and our projection for 2018 growth has been upgraded by a two percentage points since the start of the year on the back of sterling results across the media landscape.

"Online ad formats - particularly search and social media - continue to over perform, but traditional media are also proving their worth to advertisers. Notable among these are radio, TV, out of home and national newsbrands, with the latter carrying on from a good final quarter in 2017 to reverse a seven year downturn in display revenue."

The Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report is the definitive measure of advertising activity in the UK. It is the only source that uses advertising expenditure gathered from across the entire media landscape, rather than relying on estimated or modelled data.

The YouTube creator community in the Arab world has been generating an array of diverse content that has gained these creators millions of subscribers from across the Middle East and North Africa. To us at YouTube, the community represents the heart beat of the platform. Which is why we’re proud to announce that for the third year in a row, we’ll be running the YouTube NextUp contest to find the next generation that will grow the Arab creator community.

This contest will help us find and highlight the emerging creators out there making creative and exciting videos. The twelve winners will get an all expenses paid trip to Dubai later this year to attend the 2018 YouTube NextUp creator camp, a week of intensive production classes and filming opportunities at a dedicated space.  

Last year’s NextUp took nine creators from four different countries to London for a five-day camp where they met with the region’s top creators like Laila Mourad (who has more than 1.4 million subscribers on her channel) and media professionals who mentored them on production essentials like lighting, audio, storytelling, camera, and editing techniques.  

In addition to attending the YouTube NextUp creator camp in Dubai, the 12 winners will get:

- $2,000 voucher towards production gear (or its equivalent in their countries)

- Mentorship from hand-picked advanced creators (who will be announced in a few weeks), including NextUp alumni

- At least 3 months of ongoing support from the YouTube Content Partnerships team, including follow up hangouts

- Unlock the Space at the YouTube Space Dubai and be invited to participate in future production programs from Spaces

Entering channels (including those part of a multi-channel-network) must meet the following eligibility criteria:

- Have a channel with between 10,000 - 100,000 subscribers

- Have monetization enabled

- Account must be in good standing (no Terms of Use or Copyright strikes)

- At least 3 videos uploaded in the channel in the last 90 days

Life just got a whole lot easier for the millions of people who use the industry - leading apps and services delivered by Cisco Collaboration and Google Cloud.

As part of our deepening alliance, Cisco is announcing its first wave of collaboration integrations with Google products. This goes far beyond merely making sure our calling, email, document collaboration, and customer service products work together. The goal is to help people be much more efficient so they can do their jobs better.  At Cisco, we believe artificial intelligence and machine learning will dramatically change the way we work. As we create that new future, we are exploring how AI services from Google Cloud Platform can help us expand collaboration capabilities.

We are making the announcement at Google Cloud Next in these key areas:

- Give your contact center agents an AI-enhanced assist so they can answer questions quicker and better.  More than three million customer service agents globally use Cisco contact center software.  We want to make their interactions the best they can possibly be. So we are adding Google Artificial Intelligence (AI) to our Cisco Customer Journey Solutions via Google Cloud's new Contact Center AI solution. Contact Center AI is a simple, secure, and flexible solution that allows enterprises with limited machine learning expertise to deploy AI in their contact centers.  The AI automatically provides agents with relevant documents to help guide conversations and continuously learns in order to deliver increasingly more relevant information over time.

This combination of Google's powerful AI capabilities with Cisco's large global reach can dramatically enhance the way companies interact with their customers.

- Schedule a Webex meeting within your Google Calendar with one click.

With an add-on from G Suite in the coming months, you'll see the Webex Meetings icon every time you schedule a meeting in Google Calendar. Click it to set up your video-first Webex meeting for the people and rooms you need, and let the technology do the rest. People join from a Cisco video device by simply pushing the big green "join" button. Or from a Chrome browser with just one click- no downloads or guest accounts required. While different companies created the tools, it will now feel like they were built to work together.

Making meetings easier to schedule and join is only part of the problem we're solving.  We will jointly explore using Google AI for capabilities such as transcription, translation, meeting summaries and task management to ensure what's discussed becomes more actionable for everyone whether they were there or not. 

- Add Cisco calling and meetings into your Android app. Thanks to the Webex Teams Android SDK, developers can easily add Cisco collaboration capabilities into their Android apps.  For example, you could add Cisco video meetings into smart glasses for a "see what I see" experience between, say, an expert on land and an engineer on a ship in the middle of the ocean. 

- Use Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Forms in your Webex Teams Spaces. As people collaborate on content more and more, Cisco and Google are exploring ways to make the job easier.  No more endless reposting of documents as people layer on new rounds of edits. Post it once, edit it as many times as you need, or co-collaborate on content to get things done even faster. Everyone always has the latest and greatest version.

"Together, Cisco and Google Cloud can drive significant value for our customers," said Amy Chang, SVP, Cisco Collaboration.  "We're excited about these initial integrations and what's to come as we work together to improve the future of work. This is just the beginning." 

Dubai’s flag carrier airline continues to have the best brand health among UAE consumers

Emirates again tops YouGov BrandIndex’s annual brand health rankings for the UAE. In a list otherwise dominated by digital brands, the airline reigns supreme for the second year in a row.

The airline maintains its dominant position among UAE consumers, sitting ahead of global search engine giant Google, messaging service WhatsApp, and streaming service YouTube.

The rankings are based on the YouGov BrandIndex Index score, 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.

YouGov’s data shows that Samsung has seen the greatest improvement in its scores in the past 12 months. The consumer electronics giant has jumped ahead of rival brand Apple to become the fifth most popular brand in the region.

Both device manufacturers launched their high end models, iPhone 8 and Samsung Galaxy S8 & S8+ last year. Apple’s iPhone brand makes to the top ten in its own right – coming in ninth – while Samsung’s Galaxy brand is one of the top ten improvers, increasing its score by +5.7 points over the past year.

Social media giant Facebook has dropped from fifth to eighth in the rankings in the last 12 months. However, despite this fall it has actually seen an improvement in its score among consumers in UAE compared to a year ago – increasing from 44.2 to 46.3.

Huawei has seen the third largest increase in its overall brand health. This follows the Chinese device manufacturer opening its first experience store last year to offer customers the chance to see and touch its products.

Global rankings

YouGov also releases the global annual brand health rankings for 2018. These rankings are based on six million interviews conducted in 26 countries. 

Google tops the annual global brand health rankings, followed by YouTube. Samsung jumps one place from last year, climbing to third position as does messenger service WhatsApp, which rises to fourth. However, WhatsApp’s parent company, Facebook, falls two places to fifth. While Amazon remains sixth on the list, IKEA and Lego enter the rankings at number seven and ten, respectively.

MCN today announced the appointment of Shadi Kandil as the Chief Executive Officer of MCN MEDIABRANDS across the MENAT region, effective immediately.

This appointment comes as a reinforcement of the group’s continuous commitment to offer seamlessly integrated marketing solutions to clients. In a world of rapid change, MCN aspires to be the partner of choice for its clients as they navigate the challenges of tomorrow and achieve success on their journey to business transformation.

“In delivering on this vision, the role of the MCN MEDIABRANDS CEO becomes instrumental in leading the group’s media and related specialist agencies.” commented Ghassan Harfouche, the Group CEO, MCN He continued: “Shadi brings a transformational approach to this new role, which we believe will bolster the MCN MEDIABRAND’s offering and contribute greater value to our clients’ businesses.

Shadi is an inspiring leader, a quick thinker, and a team playing do-er. We are convinced that this will be a big step for us in continuing to deliver impact for our clients and in better connecting with today’s ever evolving consumer.”

Speaking about his appointment, Shadi said “I’m honored and thrilled to lead MCN MEDIABRANDS across MENAT and to work with our talented and passionate team to advance our clients’ missions. We live in exciting times and this gives us greater incentive to effect change and build for the future”.

Shadi brings over 20 years of media industry experience with him to the MCN family. Beginning his career on the client side, he worked in media sales and market research to then join Omnicom Media Group in 2004 where he moved up the ranks to the role of CEO OMD MENA.

In 2013, he relocated to Toronto where he served as a Director on the Board of several successful start-ups, mainly in the fields of data and analytics. He also took on a lead academic role at Centennial College and set-up a Graduate Certificate Program focused on digital marketing, omni-channel retailing and digital transformation.

Throughout his career, Shadi has excelled at demonstrating the real value marketing services deliver for clients’ business growth. He nurtured best-in-class talent groups and steered them to offer superior solutions while maintaining excellence in customer service. 

Shadi considers himself to be a lifelong learner. He studied Business Administration at the American University of Beirut and later earned an Executive MBA from London Business School. Most recently, he completed two MicroMasters programs in Digital Leadership and Digital Product Management.

The social network has the best brand health among Egyptian consumers

Facebook again tops YouGov BrandIndex’s annual brand health rankings for Egypt. Search giant Google is in second place, with messenger service WhatsApp in third.

Streaming service YouTube and Apple’s iPhone slip down two places to the fifth and sixth position, respectively. However, Galaxy – the chocolate brand, has made an impressive entry into the list at number four.

The rankings are based on the YouGov BrandIndex score, 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.

New entries include leading food producer El Rashidi El Mizan in eighth spot, Cadbury (ninth), and Dettol (tenth). Food and beverage producer Almarai moves down two places to the seventh position.

Most improved brand health

For the second year in succession, biscuit manufacturer Oreo has seen the greatest improvement in brand health among Egyptian consumers, increasing its score by +8.0 points (moving from 21.2 to 29.2).

Pepsi has also been steadily improving its perception over the last 12 months. The brand’s Ramadan campaign last year generated a lot of noise and was a big hit among the masses. Pepsi is the most positively perceived brand in the beverages category and is in second place on the overall improvers list (increasing its score by +6.2 points).

Google tops the annual global brand health rankings, followed by YouTube. Samsung jumps one place from last year, climbing to third position as does messenger service WhatsApp, which rises to fourth. However, WhatsApp’s parent company, Facebook, falls two places to fifth. While Amazon remains sixth on the list, IKEA and Lego enter the rankings at number seven and ten, respectively.

To assess the global brand health rankings, YouGov looked at data from across 26 countries. YouGov created top 10 lists for each country. The global top 10 was created by scoring brands in each list – the top brand scored ten points while the tenth brand scored one point. The brands with the most points overall form the global top ten. All data is from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018.

Integrity of data is a critical concern for an enterprise. Information systems are a core functional asset of modern businesses and the consequences of losing access to these systems or having their security undermined can have catastrophic consequences. From downtime and financial cost to loss of reputation and breached confidentiality, the services of Disaster Recovery companies can effectively mitigate an entire gamut of risks. 

The ubiquitous use of technology and, in particular, information systems has revolutionized the way a modern business conducts its operations. While the upside of information technology has been gamechanging, the central role it occupies in processes can create its own concerns and vulnerabilities. Be it manufacturing or sales, process control or e-Commerce, the constant reliance on sharing and utilization of data can result in complete procedural paralysis, in the event that an IT system is undermined. Losses accrued can be both long or short term, and escalate into negative implications that impact the entire business in a matter of seconds. 

According to a recent study, conducted by the University of Texas, an overwhelming 94% of companies suffering from a catastrophic data loss do not survive. Of these, 43% never reopen and 51% close within two years of the incident. A recent Gartner report further underscores the risks within an SME context – stating that 7 out of 10 small firms cease operations within a year of major data loss or IT disruption. 

Data Recovery Services Providers address the concerns that such catastrophic consequences to the data integrity and information systems of an enterprise being compromised generate. As with every major international business hub, Disaster Recovery in Dubai and UAE has also matured into an industry that services enterprises in their quest to maximizing operational benefits while containing vulnerabilities. 

Disaster Recovery helps mitigate a range of negative scenarios

Reasons for data integrity and information system related disasters can be manifold. Ranging from errors and accidents to malicious attacks. 

• System Malfunction due to Software or Hardware errors and disruption in processes and systems due to technological malfunction is one of the most common sources of data loss and downtime. As powerful as our modern solutions are, they are not without their vulnerabilities.

• Human Error is another common reason for catastrophic data loss. From risk generating practices to accidental physical damage to infrastructure, human error driven vulnerabilities are always a possibility. 

• Cyber Attacks and Malware have become an ever escalating aspect of risk in the modern day. Several recent Ransomware attacks have helped undermine the susceptibility of modern information systems to malicious attack. It can be tempting for small and medium enterprises to assume that such risks are limited to larger organizations, however recent patterns in cyber-crime have made such presumptions moot.

• Natural Disasters constitute perhaps the most uncontrollable cause of IT disasters. Extreme weather, earthquakes, large forest fires and floods are only some disaster scenarios that a business can be exposed to, depending on geography and location.

Clearly, it is nearly impossible for an organization to completely negate the possibility of an IT system and Data driven calamity. The sensible and proactive approach, for a modern enterprise, is to prepare effectively for the worst case scenario, rather than ignoring the consequences. 

Elements that constitute effective Disaster Recovery Services

The services of a competent Disaster Recovery Company can help tremendously in allowing businesses the leeway to focus on core activities while concerns around worst case scenarios are addressed by the experts.

A Disaster Recovery Company’s services typically entail the following:

• Service Level Agreements that address Recovery Point and Recovery Time Objectives.

• Creating a Disaster Recovery Runbook template.

• Assessment and diagnosis across the entire system and applications employed by the business. 

• Conducting frequent DR drills and addressing issues that are identified. 

• Liaising with external vendors and third parties for continued support of deployed technologies, within an acceptable range of metrics.

The wide ranging vulnerabilities that constitute the risks entailed in an IT related disaster, as well as their ability to cripple a business beyond recovery, should not be underestimated. Much like all accidents and worst case scenarios, the consequences can leave the unfortunate victims no longer capable of operation. Often acting after the disaster strikes is inconsequential, effective and detailed preperation is the best defence against such eventualities. 

By Sachin Bhardwaj, Director Marketing & Business Development, eHosting DataFort

Watch Party allows users to watch videos on Facebook together in real time

Facebook is launching Watch Party to all Groups around the globe. Watch Party is a new way for people to watch videos on Facebook together in real time. Once a Watch Party is started, participants can watch videos, live or recorded, and interact with other viewers around them in the same moment. Facebook continues to develop new ways to bring people together around video; creating connections and igniting conversations— and Watch Party, is the next step in bringing this vision to life. 

Users can now make use of Watch Party for a variety of purposes. These include hosting Q&As around particular hobbies such as cooking or crafting, sharing behind the scenes details of a particular video, swapping tips and tricks for areas like home improvement or decorating; and even launching makeup tutorials with other members in real time. Groups can also learn new things like workout techniques or musical skills and invite special guests to join their Watch Party.

Two key features of Watch Party include:

Co-hosting: Lets the host of a Watch Party designate other co-hosts who can add videos and keep the party going

Crowdsourcing: Lets anyone in a Watch Party suggest videos for the host to add to the Watch Party

Watch Party can be useful for groups, both big and small, as it facilitates frequent engagement and generates a lot of comments when members watch together. The shared viewing experience aims to bridge the distance between close friends and family when they can't physically be together.

While Facebook is launching this feature to groups only today, they are also starting to test this experience for people, and will be looking to expand more broadly to more people soon, as well as exploring Watch Party for Pages, too.

WARC, the global authority on advertising and media effectiveness, has today released the results of its recent worldwide survey of senior strategists, highlighting their challenges and the impact the strategic function is having on the ever-changing marketing landscape.

Based on a survey of more than 500 senior planners and strategists from around the world, WARC's second The Future of Strategy report provides both quantitative and qualitative data on the current state and future expectations of the industry. Key findings are:

Strategy teams set to expand as influence grows

More than half of strategists and planners expect their teams to grow over the next year, in an era when most feel that the influence of planning is growing both within their agency and among clients. Despite this optimism, there is a feeling that planners' skills are not always being applied most effectively, commonly attributed to the pace of change in the industry, and a client focus on tech rather than sustainable strategy.

Shekhar Deshpande, Global Planning Director & Strategy Consulting Director, J Walter Thompson, comments: "Senior clients want more strategy, perhaps to help them navigate the current marketing labyrinth, and become better marketers."

Budget cuts are threatening the 'craft skills' of strategy

Budget pressures are a clear obstacle for planners and strategists globally. The majority of respondents in all regions say client-side budget cuts are having an impact on strategy teams. This is leading to more short-term thinking by clients. Within agencies, it means lower budgets and planners who no longer feel able to spend time away from their desks.

Rob Campbell, Chief Strategy Officer, Deutsch, observes: "Fewer and fewer planners spend much time in the real world, preferring to observe it from the comfort of a research report and Google search."

Competition for strategic services is growing

Marketing strategy is no longer just an agency specialism; increasingly strategy is being offered by consultancies, by tech and media firms, or by in-house client teams. That means greater competition for agency planning teams; but it may also mean more varied career opportunities for individual planners.

Dan Burdett, Chief Marketing Innovation, Officer, EMEA, eBay, raises the question: "In a world where everybody is in some way competing with the guys in Seattle, how do we form coalitions that are going to benefit all of our businesses and help drive the industry forward?"

Upstream vs downstream remains a crucial divide

There is a tension between where planners want to be playing - on upstream business problems - and the reality of their day-to-day roles, with, in many cases, limited access to client data and heightened focus on tactical campaign elements. Reflecting the different visions of strategy in the industry and the potential need for reinvention in marketing services, several respondents argue that a link between strategy and execution remains vital.

Paula Bloodworth, Brand Strategy Director, Wieden + Kennedy, London, comments: "With consumers moving and changing so quickly, we should be more executional in the way we plan and be nimble and flexible and adaptive."

Summing, David Tiltman, Head of Content, WARC, says: "WARC's 2018 Future of Strategy report reveals a discipline in flux. There is generally a feeling of optimism - of greater influence and growing teams. But that is undermined by the impact of client budget cuts and, more broadly, a sense that the planners and strategists are not thriving as they might in current agency structures, at a time when competition for strategic services is growing."

The UAE and Middle East sees a rise in economic confidence and is now at its highest level since Q2 2015

The global economic recovery that started in late 2016 is starting to slow down and lose momentum, with global confidence in Q2 dipping from its Q1 high, finds the latest edition of ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and IMA Global Economic Conditions survey.

Although it remains high by recent standards, the slight fall in confidence reflects increasing fears of a trade war between the US and China. This continues to effect global outlook, with China’s economic sentiment falling sharply.

Despite this, across the Middle East and in the UAE, confidence rebounded further in the second quarter of the year and is now at its highest level since Q2 2015.

The key factor behind the recovery in confidence is the sharp rise in the oil price, which peaked at US$80 per barrel in late May, compared with a low of just US$35 per barrel at the start of 2016. This has resulted in an increase in revenues coupled with the introduction of VAT in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which has led to an ease in fiscal austerity.

Lindsay Degouve de Nuncques, Head of ACCA Middle East states ‘The economic outlook across the Middle East and the UAE will continue to be driven mostly by the oil price and changes in fiscal policy. The recent OPEC deal, which was agreed in late June and saw member countries agree to raise production, is likely to depress prices over the coming months, however with VAT being introduced across the GCC (with the UAE and KSA live), it will relieve the pressure that was once felt prior to this fiscal policy being introduced, which will continue to provide economic relief and reduce further oil price dependency on economic growth.’ 

Lindsay continues: ‘It’s good to see the improvement in confidence across the Middle East region, and while oil prices are a key factor behind this, expenditure for the 2020 World Expo in Dubai has also helped, along with an easing of austerity, but this diverse region is not immune from global economic shocks and therefore it is advisable that businesses should not be complacent.’

Hanadi Khalife, Director, MEA and India operations at IMA commented: “The results of the survey show increasing business confidence in the Middle East which has been stimulated by continued investments made across a number of key industries. This falls in line with the objectives set by governments to achieve long-term regional plans such as UAE Vision 2021 and Saudi Vision 2030. The report shows that government spending is at a multi-year high and this is particularly focused on diversifying regional economies and driving sustainable economic development.”

When looking at global economic confidence Narayanan Vaidyanathan, head of business insights at ACCA states ‘The net dip in global confidence levels reflects factors such as fears of US-China trade wars more than compensating for other factors such as low employment and tax cuts in the US. The dip was seen both in OECD and non-OECD countries, though confidence in both groups remains relatively high by historical standards.’

The introduction of a value-added tax at the start of 2018 in the UAE has pushed up inflation, which will weigh on growth by depressing consumers’ purchasing power. Higher interest rates in the US will also drag on prospects. Because the UAE’s exchange rate is pegged to the US dollar, local interest rates closely track those in the US. The US Federal Reserve has raised rates twice this year already, and is likely to raise them by more over the coming quarters.

Looking ahead, ACCA and IMA’s research shows the outlook for the global economy remains positive; despite signs that economic growth, in some key parts of the world’s economy has slowed since reaching a peak in the second half of 2017. The report concludes that while the global economy is likely to remain pretty strong over the next year, a modest slowdown is likely.