YouGov Destination Index shows Dubai & Abu Dhabi are the top choices of UAE residents for their next trip

As the world gears up to enter the holiday season, YouGov’s latest survey reveals more than half of UAE residents (51%) are planning to take a domestic vacation in the upcoming year-end holiday time. Just over a fifth (22%) plan to travel to other Middle Eastern countries, two in five (39%) plan to travel overseas, and one in eight (13%) do not intend to take a vacation this holiday season.

Interestingly, holiday preferences vary depending on one’s age. Young adults between 18-24 years are most likely than others to travel within the country this holiday season (65%), while older adults (45+ years) are more keen on international travel (46%).

When it comes to the choice of place, YouGov’s Destination Index, which tracks public perceptions of destinations across 16 metrics, shows Dubai as the most considered choice for a holiday (in the last 30 days) by UAE residents. Abu Dhabi is the second option for people planning a vacation, followed by the Maldives. As travel is bouncing back and many countries are easing travel restrictions, many international destinations are making it to the UAE traveler holiday wish list. Along with Maldives, Switzerland, Canada, USA, Japan and the Philippines are some of the other destinations currently being considered by UAE residents for their next holiday.

While UAE residents have an appetite for travel, they are exercising caution, and close to half said they would avoid crowded places and prefer less crowded or offbeat locations (49%) for their vacation. Many want to avoid staying in shared accommodations (42%), while some (29%) would even refrain from using public transport. To minimise the Covid-19 risks, a few would avoid using public washrooms (27%), ridesharing (27%), closed places (26%), and eating at bars and restaurants (20%) while traveling.

When asked how comfortable they are in sharing public places with tourists, a large majority of UAE residents (79%) reported being comfortable with it. Only 6% expressed concerns while less than one in six (15%) remained unsure. Men are notably more comfortable than women in sharing public places with tourists (83% vs 71%).

With the year-end festivities kicking in, the UAE is geared up to host a lot of exciting activities and events. Among the various activities in the country, a majority of residents said they are most likely to visit the Dubai Expo 2020 site (66%) this holiday season.  Many would like to visit their friends and family (53%), followed by a trip to the beach (43%). About two in five (37%) intend to attend the upcoming Dubai Shopping Festival, while some plan to explore other Emirates (24%)

Data collected online among 1009 respondents in the UAE by YouGov’s Omnibus between November 3rd- 8th 2021 using YouGov’s panel of over 15 million people worldwide

Korean Format Concepts - ‘Smashed Hits’, ‘Inseparables’ and ‘The Quizzy Horror Show’ - Come from KOCCA-Funded Project

Something Special, the Seoul-based international Format agency founded by Format specialists Jin Woo Hwang, President & Executive Director, and InSoon Kim, EVP and Head of Content, announced a co-development partnership with Michael Yudin’s MY Entertainment Productions. The deal sees both companies initially co-developing three new unscripted formats Smashed Hits, Inseparables and The Quizzy Horror Show for major U.S. networks and streaming platforms as well as the international marketplace.

A KOCCA-funded (Korean Creative Content Agency) project in May of this year brought together several top Korean producers to spark creativity. Three of those producers—all of them entertainment veterans with 20+ years of experience—and their ideas were selected by MY Entertainment as the best formats for U.S. and international success.

Here is a look at the initial three shows that are part of the partnership between Something Special and MY Entertainment, followed by mini-bios for the Korean producers who have nurtured them: 

Smashed Hits (WT) – Contestants on this fast-paced primetime game show compete to identify popular songs what have been mixed together and creatively reinvented so that they are barely recognizable. Each episode will feature guest appearances by the biggest names in the music industry who join the fun by performing other artists’ hits in very surprising ways.

Eunseol MO: Producer of 12+ number one-rated primetime programs that have entertained and influenced Korean viewers for decades. Her major works have included Fantastic Duo (SBS, licensed to 2 territories), Qualification of Men (KBS, #1 show for four years).

Inseparables (WT) – Couples are spending more time together than ever at home due to world-wide lockdowns and increases in remote work. This can present unique challenges for those living in small dwellings. This competition show will test not only the patience of participating couples, but also the strength of their relationship as they attempt to overcome the issues presented by smaller and smaller quarters to win the ultimate dream house.

Sehwa KIM: A well-known producer in the Korean TV industry, and creative director of the longest-running quiz shows in Korea, Scholarship Quiz (EBS), and also involved in the Korean production of 1 vs 100 (KBS).

The Quizzy Horror Show (WT) – Friends call you a chicken heart, yellow belly, or scaredy cat? Whatever our winner-take-all society calls you, it's time to turn your fear into money. Contestants who don’t blink their eyes at any heart-beating moment and can say what they saw will be winners in this spooky competition show.

Jiyoon KIM: One of the most experimental producers in Korea, demonstrated by programs such as My Little Television (the original version of TBS's Celebrity Show Off) and Cashback (CJ E&M, co-developed with Bunim/Murray)…..

Remarked Something Special’s Jin Woo Hwang and InSoon Kim, “We are thrilled to bring Something Special together with MY Entertainment. Our talented Korean producers -Enseol MO, Sehwa KIM, and Jiyoon KIM – look forward to collaborating with Michael and his extraordinary team at MY Entertainment. They have long been a prominent industry player with their eyes on the Korean market and it is the perfect time for us to finally walk down the aisle especially when Korean creativity is being recognized more than ever.” 

MY Entertainment President and Founder Michael Yudin exclaimed, “We’re equally excited to begin working with Jin Woo and InSoon and Something Special’s great team of highly-creative producers while leveraging our personal industry relationships in the U.S. and across the globe to find homes for these shows. Coming on the heels of our successful international market collaboration with Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) and MTV for the ultimate reality competition show, The Power, our new partnership with Something Special marks another benchmark for MY Entertainment’s strategy of expanding its activities with leaders in the Korean creative production community.”

Over two decades, the boom in mobile telephony has led to the evolution of mobile marketing. Starting with SMS (Short Messaging Service) marketing in the early 2000s, today it has become a multi-channel digital marketing strategy. With consumers shifting their focus and budgets to smartphones in recent years, marketers are creating omnichannel engagement with their target audience.

The ‘fast-paced’, ‘unpredictable’ mobile industry is changing constantly, and since the pandemic, it has evolved further giving rise to new trends for mobile marketers to adopt. Tracing some that will dominate in 2022.

1. App Store Optimization (ASO) to be a major focus

While choosing the right category for your App is the first step, App Store Optimization (ASO) ensures that the application is easily found on App stores. Simultaneously, it’s also necessary to localize your App, or a sizable chunk of your target audience is lost.

While SEO plays an important role in getting users to your App/site, optimizing content with the correct ad formats is equally important. Not to forget, your competition can help you considerably in understanding mobile user acquisition. Besides, depending on the activity of your competitor/s, you can alter your strategy. Take inspiration from The Godfather, in Vito Corleone’s words, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”

2. Organic user acquisition will be a priority

With the mobile environment becoming increasingly competitive, it’s become all the more important for App marketers to plan user acquisition in advance. Unlike earlier years, when building your own mobile App was enough, presently barely 0.01% of applications are managing to build an effective user acquisition strategy. That’s why user acquisition strategy plays a role of greater significance even before the App is developed.

Once the App is out, it’s very crucial to give users a seamless experience to retain them post-acquisition. Surveys that customers are put off by download issues and would appreciate fast downloads, a good and long battery life, and very little mobile traffic. Also, since any App developer’s ultimate aim is to make a profit, giving value to users is extremely critical and essential.

3. Mobile Commerce

In recent years, across the globe, people developed a habit of shopping using their smartphones. Experts are certain this will further grow with extensive mobile advertising and marketing. At the same time, social commerce is slated to be a big mobile commerce trend in 2022 with a digital marketing strategy aimed at reaching a target audience on their smartphones, tablets, and/or mobile devices via websites, email, SMS & MMS, social media platforms, and Apps. While Apps such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are supporting digital marketing, more brands are expected to create social commerce experiences in the coming year. Eventually, mobile advertising budgets are expected to spread to these upcoming social commerce platforms in 2022. According to reports, about 55% of budgets allotted to digital advertising are now spent on mobile advertising, and this is slated to hit around 65% by 2022.

4. Influencer Marketing in Mobile Commerce

When it comes to influencer marketing, it may have caught on since the past few years and the mobile commerce space has been greatly impacted by this. From merely covering new launches by brands to driving the marketing and affecting brand sales, influencer marketing has come a long way. Therefore, the mobile industry is allocating budgets for this in their marketing plan. The use of smartphones has gone up massively in recent years and is only slated to rise further. Besides, there has been a boom in streaming media as well and today consumers want audio (podcasts) along with video content as well. Also, they engage and listen to influencers more and base their buying decisions on their recommendations. Hence, in 2022, brands will weave their campaigns keeping the influencers in mind and making influencer marketing an integral part of their marketing plans.

5. Mobile streaming

Entertainment is no longer restricted to cinemas today but has shifted to YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+Hotstar, and other streaming platforms, which boomed in 2020 and have now become a habit for most people. In India, about 55% of OTT users are from the top 5 metro cities, whereas another 36% are from tier 1 cities, where users get the entertainment that they demand readily available at their fingertips. Even as people spent more time at home with different devices, they opted for the smartphone. The number of smartphone users in India was estimated to reach over 760 million in 2021. With people spending more time online and on OTT platforms, viewership has doubled. As a result of this spike in viewership, advertising is expected to witness a big surge as OTT platforms are increasingly becoming the choice for content consumption.

6. Personalization is important

People like to learn and know about things that they are interested in and thus, personalization has become a key factor in mobile marketing. According to various surveys, a majority of users reportedly said that they will engage only with personalized content. Personalization requires marketers to get a clearer understanding of the audience by collecting and analyzing data such as demographics, location, preferences, and previous purchase history. At the same time, it is important to strike the right balance and improve user experience without getting too intrusive. With the rise in the number of users who are cautious about sharing their personal details, their privacy is a tightrope walk for marketers. Personalization can be used to enhance an existing campaign and it yields great benefits when users expect it.

7. AI and Voice Technology

Considering that consumers are spending more time on the internet using their smartphones or tablets than their computers, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Voice Technology are the next big things in mobile marketing. While e-commerce giants like Amazon are using AI to analyze buying behavior, a study by Gartner shows automation processes such as personalization, anomaly detection, and marketing performance management will free up more than a third of data analysts in marketing organizations by 2022.

Adopting chatbots in their marketing strategies is also benefiting brands in various ways. Even a social media giant like Facebook has reportedly created over 3,00,000 bots on its platform.

Moreover, ever since the internet became a visual medium, voice technology has become one of the most disruptive forces across the globe. Every one of us using a smartphone has, at some time or the other, used voice commands to get things done on our device. Think ‘voice’ and the first things that come to mind are Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Assistant, which help us from making music and shopping lists to booking appointments, switching lights on and off, and even choosing what movie you want to see on your smart television. Valued at $2 billion last year (November 2020), voice shopping is expected to touch $40 billion by 2022. That’s 20 times growth in just two years.

8. Connected TV Advertising

The good old ‘idiot box’ as it was called until now has seen a major change in the past few years. It has become so much more than that. Streaming media has changed how people consume ‘entertainment’ and today we can access all OTT entertainment on our TV sets. Thus, ‘Smart TV’ is a part of every household and the rise of this has also seen a rise in Connected TV Advertising or CTV Advertising. With immersive watching experiences being almost the norm of the future, the spending on CTV advertising is only going up and is further going to grow. With connected smart TV sets expected to hit about 14 million by 2023, as per the FICCI EY report, the space of CTV advertising is slated to grow exponentially.            

To sum up, come 2022 and the subsequent years, staying ahead of the competition will be even more important than before. With consumers getting what they want and becoming increasingly demanding, mobile marketers need to ensure that they don’t disappoint them. And the only way to keep your consumer on your side, in the long run, is to remain creative, constantly innovate and adapt to the new and changing mobile marketing trends.

Written by Neeraj Sharma, Vice President, Globale Media

MediAvataar MENA  caught up with Mukund Cairae, President - Toonz Media Networks to discuss the animation culture that exists within the Middle East and North Africa 

Here is the complete interview...

1.You have had a long leadership role in Zee Entertainment. How is the broadcast learning helping at  Toonz Media Group ?

The value that can be derived from a rich library and focussed re direction(not repurposing) of that library is a vital learning. Engaging users in every country is a function of finding the relevant touch point in video that strikes a chord and of users relating to that content. Delivery of content is seeing a massive change and technology is helping in effective cost reduction.

2.What are the Challenges Facing the Arab Animation Cinema?

The life cycle between ideation and finished product are 12 – 18 months. The content has to be one that can travel globally. Currently one is yet to see such content being created.

3.The diversity of the Middle East provides both challenges and opportunities on content creation. Your response to this?

I couldn’t agree more on this. There are extremely talented creators in the region be it GCC, Levant, Maghreb or Egypt. The region however is not the United States of Arabiya, from a language perspective with clear divides on accents and association of a particular accent(mainly due to legacy) with certain types of foreign content. Breaking the stereotype therefore becomes the main challenge.

Funding of projects too is a challenge with short form digital content becoming the norm.

4.There is a vibrant animation culture that exists within the Middle East and North Africa giving rise to a whole new generation of entrepreneurs and artists. Your thoughts? 

UAE, Jordan and KSA seem to be the driving countries fostering this young breed of content creators. Multiple countries in Europe and the Pacific have some good tax rebates/subsidies that encourage local talent to create and distribute content. 

5.How do you plan to monetize Toonz’s content in various geographies across the globe, especially in the Middle East market?

The focus will be to create localised platforms(linear or on demand) in various regions globally to appeal to the local audience. Using our rich content library and also acquiring third party content is what we intend to do to make these platforms self sustainable. In the MENA region there are active discussions with distribution affiliates on currently for a combination of these types of products. We hope to announce these in Q1 of 2022.

6.What has been the impact of COVID-19 in the animation space?

The pandemic has created a huge demand for content for all demographics of audience. But more so in the case of kids’ content. So for the animation industry, it has been a rather eventful and busy time, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. Children’s content, including animation, is now being seen as a source of not just entertainment but also education and inspiration, as kids remain cooped up at home. Today, there is more emphasis on creating content that is interactive, immersive and ideal for co-viewing. From a business standpoint, there is now a lot more focus in the animation industry on technology integration, process efficiencies, and reduction of lead times. The need for remote collaborations for creative ideation has also never been so high. Companies are now focusing on investing in business continuity planning; such as improving organizational agility; and upskilling employees to meet the needs of a transformed work environment.

7.The Best Businesses Are Built Around Passion. What are your views on this?

I would add that passion added with data mining leads to enduring businesses being built. Knowing and anticipating needs of the audience is key to building good businesses.

8.On a personal note, what have been the highlights of your career so far? Your key learnings?

No amount of financial estimates at the start of a project can guarantee positive results. There needs to be a risk taking ability that is exercised by the start up which has to be backed by knowing the needs of a specific market. Localisation of content builds sampling and regular engagement. The art of localisation needs to be carefully curated with specialists. Some highlights have been starting new projects in Asia Pac, Africa and Middle East in my career. All of these are genre creators in the content game and for that I will always be grateful for the trust and cohesiveness of the teams that worked with me in these regions.

Ad trade is on course to reach a value of $1trn by 2025, with three companies – Meta, Alphabet and Amazon – accounting for more than half of the market

WARC Global Advertising Trends: Where is the money going?

New advertising spend forecasts for 100 markets worldwide show that the global ad market has largely weathered the impact of COVID-19, so far, and is on course to reach a value of US$1trn in 2025, with more than half of this money paid to just three companies: Alphabet, Meta and Amazon. This is according to WARC, the international marketing intelligence service, which publishes the findings as part of its new WARC Data Premium suite.

Following on from a meteoric 23.8% rise to a total of US$771bn this year – the strongest growth in WARC’s four decades of market monitoring – advertising investment is forecast to rise by a further 12.5% and 8.3% in 2022 and 2023 respectively, with e-commerce platforms set to lead this growth.

The findings are accompanied by a proprietary survey recently carried out for WARC's Marketer's Toolkit 2022, of 1,500+ marketing practitioners, which shows that two in three already committing budgets to Amazon are intending to increase that spend. A full 66% of advertising professionals are planning to up spend on TikTok next year, while YouTube (61% of surveyed practitioners), Instagram (60%) and Google (57%) are also set to benefit from higher spend in 2022. 

Currently though, WARC finds that all product sectors are projected to top pre-COVID investment next year, while most sectors were able to record a full recovery this year. Notable exceptions include transport & tourism, which led growth with an absolute increase of $12.5bn this year but is still almost $2.9bn down on pre-pandemic spending levels.

James McDonald, Director of Data, Intelligence & Forecasting, WARC says: “Despite potential headwinds, market data show that we are currently witnessing a boom in advertising trade like none seen before, led by increased demand for retail media and ancillary publishers such as Google and Instagram, which is now the world’s largest social platform. Our projections show that this trend is set to continue, with Alphabet, Meta and Amazon now on track to account for more than half of an advertising market worth $1trn in 2025.

“New coronavirus variants – such as Omicron – may have a negative impact on our current outlook, and while our base scenario assumes that impact is muted, we will continue to review that position each quarter.”

Trends by online media and format

E-commerce: The sector is expected to lead growth to 2023, by when the market’s value will have more than doubled from 2020’s level to a total of $137.2bn. Growth in China’s advertising market is cooling but in the west it is booming, with Amazon on course to amass over $57bn in advertising revenue by 2023 (up 72% from this year and 308% from 2019, prior to the pandemic). Two in three practitioners already committing budgets to Amazon are intending to increase that spend, while heightened advertiser demand is pushing up the average cost-per-click. 

Social media: This was the fastest-growing online sector in 2021, with spend rising 41.9% – or $55.7bn – to a total of $188.8bn this year. Instagram grew to become the largest social media platform in 2021 after overtaking the core Facebook platform for the first time. Instagram is forecast to grow to control over a third of the global social media market in 2023. TikTok saw ad revenue rise 151.5% this year and is expected to record growth of 75.4% in 2022. Two in three marketers surveyed by WARC say they intend to up spend on TikTok next year, the highest rate across all online platforms.

OTT video: Premium online video platforms – aka over-the-top (OTT) – such as YouTube and Amazon Prime Video, were worth a combined $63.7bn to advertisers in 2021, up 41.6% from a year earlier. Further growth, of 19.7% and 14.2%, is projected during 2022 and 2023 respectively, with YouTube leading the charge and set to be worth $41.4bn by the end of the forecast period.  

Paid search: Alphabet is the world’s largest media owner and Google the largest individual platform: its advertising revenue rose by 40.6% to $146.3bn this year, taking 79.7% of all search spend and 19.0% of all advertising spend worldwide. Google’s growth is set to ease to 14.8% in 2022, though 57% of practitioners surveyed by WARC are planning to increase spend on the platform next year. 

Online audio: Advertising spend on online audio rose by a third to $5.4bn in 2021, with podcast spend up 50.9% and streaming up 28.4%. Both formats are expected to see gains to 2023, by when the online audio sector as a whole is expected to be worth $8.3bn. Spotify is one of the main players, it is set to see ad income top $2bn for the first time in 2023.   

Trends by legacy media and format

TV: Advertiser spend – inclusive on linear TV and broadcaster catch up services – is projected to grow by 3.3% to $184.7bn in 2022 following a 5.5% rise this year. Linear TV is set to remain larger than OTT – services such as YouTube and Amazon Prime Video – for the duration of the forecast period, though its share of global adspend will dip below a fifth as broadcaster’s video-on-demand (BVOD) services attract incremental dollars.

Out of home: The market recorded a recovery of 21.8% this year, though that was not enough to offset the 28.2% decline recorded in 2020 as the coronavirus outbreak first brought the world to a standstill. The sector’s fortunes are heavily dependent on the possibility of future social restrictions in response to emerging variants, though currently growth of 13.3% is expected in 2022.

Cinema: Spend was heavily curtailed in 2020 as cinema chains had to shutter in response to the outbreak, resulting in a 71.2% fall in advertiser investment. Spend rebounded strongly this year, buoyed by a new James Bond film, to record a rise of 149.9%. Further growth, of 26.1%, is currently projected for 2022 but, as with the OOH sector, this is provisional.

Broadcast radio: Investment in broadcast radio ads rose by 8.4% – or $2.5bn – this year and is set to grow by 3.5% in 2022 and a further 1.5% in 2023, by when the market will be worth $34.3bn. Consequently, it is the only legacy medium set to record continuous growth over the forecast period.

Newsbrands: Advertising spend on print and online news dipped by 4.0% this year, with an 8.9% rise for online platforms negated by a 7.4% decline among print titles. These trends are set to continue to 2023, resulting in online platforms accounting for 42% of total newsbrand ad revenue, up from a share of 31% today. 

Magazine brands: As with the news sector, investment gains for online titles were not enough to stymie print losses. Consequently, the total market was down 6.6% in 2021, with a 6.1% dip forecast next year and a 5.2% fall expected in 2023. The online component of the total will grow continuously, however, to command a 49.6% share of ad revenue in 2023. 

Trends by product category (Five largest in 2022)

Telecoms & utilities: Helped by its double-digit growth in 2020, telecoms & utilities is the first category to record advertising spend above the $100bn mark in a single year (2021). Strong investment in online advertising will help fuel further rises, leaving the vertical’s total level of spend in 2023 more than double the pre-pandemic figure in 2019.

Business & industrial: Spend grew by a quarter in 2021 and a further increase of 13.4% to a total of $94.1bn is expected in 2022. Growth from business advertisers in 2023 will be the second-quickest rate across all categories, behind telecoms & utilities, and this brings total spend above $100bn. The sector includes a substantial amount of classified advertising within real estate and recruitment – two bellwethers of wider economic health.

Media & publishing: Advertising investment was largely flat in 2020 but surged in 2021, rising by 33.4% to take total spend to $83.6bn. Double-digit increases in the next two years will push investment above the $100bn mark by 2023.

Retail: A cut of $5.4bn in 2020 will more than be recovered this year – investment will rise by 20.0% before easing to 10.1% growth in 2022. A further increase in 2023 will lift total spend to $89.5bn, by which point online media will account for more than three-fifths of all investment.

Financial services: Mild growth in 2020 coupled with steep cuts to automotive advertising has pushed financial services into the top five largest categories. Total spend rose by almost one-third this year and this will take total spend to $63.9bn. Double-digit growth is expected in 2022 and 2023, by when investment will be two-thirds higher than in 2019.

WPP  announces the acquisition of a majority stake in branding and design agency Made Thought.

Made Thought will be integrated into AKQA and will join forces with Universal Design Studio and Map Project Office to form The New Standard, an industry-leading collective that provides clients with transformational design and creative thinking. The partnership will enable each studio to maintain creative independence while facilitating greater collaboration to deliver connected, cross-platform work, harnessing the specialist talent from across all design disciplines.  

Founded in 2000 by Paul Austin and Ben Parker, Made Thought employs 55 people across offices in London and New York, the latter of which opened in January 2021. Made Thought partners with clients including Pinterest, Unilever, LVMH, MoMA, Sonos, Paul Smith and Rosewood Hotels to produce work rooted in beautiful design that also creates a meaningful connection with consumers and drives behavioural change.

The acquisition of the majority stake is aligned with WPP’s accelerated growth strategy and focused M&A approach to further strengthen its core creative capabilities in marketing, communications and design, and follows the acquisitions of Universal Design Studio and Map Project Office, which both joined WPP in 2018.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: “WPP is known for its creative excellence and our award-winning work that helps drive transformative growth for our clients. Bringing Made Thought together with Universal Design Studio and Map Project Office to create The New Standard will further strengthen our position as a creative leader and raise the bar for design that speaks to people across different platforms.” 

Jane Bloomfield will drive awareness of Landor & Fitch’s world-class offer in her new role as Global Chief Marketing Officer

Landor & Fitch, the global brand transformation company, has announced the appointment of Jane Bloomfield as Global Chief Marketing Officer.

Jane will be responsible for developing innovative new business, marketing and communication strategies across the Landor & Fitch group. She will act as a strategic lead for business development teams, with an overall focus to drive new business opportunities as Landor & Fitch continues to expand both its offer and its geographical reach.

Jane will support Landor & Fitch in bringing the best in brand transformation services to both new and existing global clients across multiple specialisms and sectors. She will oversee the global Marcoms team and PR agency relationship, as well as foster collaboration across Landor & Fitch’s 1,200 people in 19 studios worldwide.

With extensive experience in understanding consumers, brands and communications, Jane has a unique sales, marketing and insights-driven background. Before joining Landor & Fitch’s management team, Jane held successive leadership roles; most recently as Chief Growth Officer at Kantar UK.

Jane Bloomfield, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Landor and Fitch, said: “The first thing that struck me about Landor & Fitch was that alongside its proven excellence in design and experience, there is a growing reputation across the complete brand transformation offer that is enormously exciting. Landor & Fitch is famous for delivering inspirational creativity in service of business growth and transformation, which has never been more important. I can already see how Landor & Fitch’s talented team and expanded offer is strongly positioned to support businesses on the road ahead as they grapple with issues around culture, experience, innovation, acquisitions, ESG and workspace in a post-COVID world.”

Jane Geraghty, Group Global CEO at Landor & Fitch, said: “I’m thrilled to welcome Jane to our Landor & Fitch team. She has already earned a mighty reputation as a highly skilled marketing practitioner but also as an inclusive and inspiring leader. I have no doubt that Jane will be integral to sharing our evolving story as leaders in brand transformation, connecting business strategy to brand strategy and expressing that through design and experience. She is a delightful and positive person to have around, and we are very lucky to have her with us as we progress our business ambitions.”

With more than 1,200 people across the world, Landor & Fitch combines rigour with creativity to transform brands and help drive business growth. Clients include LEGO, Microsoft, Nike, Apple, Bang & Olufsen, Procter & Gamble, Singtel and T-Mobile. It is part of creative transformation company, WPP.

'Shagaf' Shares the Journey of Saudi and Arab Women Entrepreneurs

As part of its expansion plan, Anghami is set to focus on raising more awareness on podcasts culture in the region by introducing “Shagaf”, a podcast created by women for women. Each episode highlights stories of Saudi and Arab Women in the industry of business, startups and more!

'Shagaf'', an Anghami Original podcast was launched yesterday and is focused on stories of Saudi and Arab Women in business, tech, startups, and entrepreneurship. The show is hosted by Emon Shakoor who, founder and CEO of Blossom Accelerator, Saudi Arabia’s first tech-inclusion and female focused accelerator.

The core mission of the podcast is to inspire listeners by sharing the experiences of inspiring Women in the midst of their entrepreneurial journey.  As part of The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 goal to pivot Saudi Arabia into an innovation hub, Shagaf podcast will shed light onto Saudi women who are part of this historical transformation. Some of the podcast’s guests include: Yara Ghouth, Nasibah Hafiz, Sara Khonkar.

"As an entrepreneur running an accelerator with a focus on Women, empowering female founders is what I strive for," says Shakoor. "Working with Anghami on a podcast is a great way to get our literal voices heard and share the realities of what it actually takes to start a business, from hard work, mental health, success, failure and everything in between. We want to share real stories with real women."

"Podcast consumption and content is growing fast in MENA," adds Zeina Tabbara, Anghami's Podcast lead. "People are leading busy lives and podcasts are becoming essentials of everyone's day while on the move. At Anghami we're developing podcasts in key categories such as lifestyle, sports, and tech. We're truly excited to work with Emon who is passionate about the startup landscape in Saudi and MENA."

'Shagaf' is a weekly series with new episodes every Sunday. The project is part of a bigger series of podcasts that Anghami aspires to produce and stream, based on its previous successful experiences in the industry.

Fede Garcia, Global Chief Creative Officer at BCW, Named Executive Jury President

NYF's Executive Jury Resumes Live Judging In NYC; Advertising Awards Removes All Categories Awarding NGO Work

New York Festivals International Advertising Awards are now open for entries for the 2022 competition.

After two years of a global pandemic and sweeping industry changes, New York Festivals will resume face-to-face in-person Executive Jury judging with an all NYC-based international Executive Jury.

For the 12th year in a row, the New York Festivals Executive Jury will thoughtfully review creative entries from around the globe. Fede Garcia, BCW's Global Chief Creative Officer will helm the live judging which is scheduled for two consecutive days in June 2022. Together, a wide spectrum of international world-class business and creative leaders working in New York will select the 2022 World's Best Advertising(r) winners.

"NYF is thrilled Fede Garcia is onboard as Jury President for 2022," said Scott Rose, Executive Director, New York Festivals Advertising Awards. "As a creative leader, he's known for big ideas that challenge convention, and he has a reputation as a creative who understands and embraces innovation. He brings to the jury panel a thorough understanding of creating multifaceted groundbreaking work for prominent brands."

"New York Festivals Executive Jury is held in incredibly high esteem, and I'm honored to serve as this year's Executive Jury President," said Garcia. "I look forward to judging the short-list with our stellar jury panel of exceptionally innovative and creative professionals. I look forward to lively deliberations and brilliant disruptive work being awarded."

Garcia's 27-year career has spanned advertising roles in Buenos Aires, Tokyo, and New York. He brings years of creative leadership, strategic rigor and a global perspective to his role as Executive Jury President. The breadth of his creative experience within the industry will foster an atmosphere of creative collaboration and thoughtful examination of the work throughout the judging process.

As BCW's Chief Creative Officer, Garcia is responsible for driving powerful and provocative creative and expanding the agency's bench of creative talent worldwide. A native of Argentina, Fede previously spent four years with Huge, most recently as Global Executive Creative Director. He also served as Group Creative Director at Translation in New York, where he worked on the NFL, History Channel and HBO. Fede worked with Ogilvy Tokyo for four years where he oversaw the creative development of celebrated campaigns for many of the agency's premier accounts, including Coca-Cola, American Express, IBM, Citizen, and more.

New for 2022, NYF's Advertising Awards has removed all categories that award work for NGOs from the competition category roster.

"The 2022 Advertising competition will champion 'real work' for brands," said Scott Rose. "There is no shortage of societal and global issues that need to be addressed and the people who have the megaphone and are steering the ship to tackle these issues are true heroes. But we're narrowing the competition's focus down to creative work that drives commerce. With so much attention, rightfully, on societies' issues, the 'lift' is even harder for brands, and we want to acknowledge that and make a fair lane for that work to compete."

The creative partnership with industry icon David Sable will continue for 2022. New episodes of NYF's video series, Creativity From The Other Side, premiers with an interview with Garcia.

The New York Festivals Advertising Awards competition receives entries from more than 60 countries and are judged by more than 400 members of NYF's Executive Jury and Grand Jury, who collectively cast their votes to select the year's trophy-winning work.

The 2022 Executive Jury and Grand Jury panel selection process is in progress. Executive Jury sessions will convene in June.The deadline to enter the 2022 New York Festivals Advertising Awards is April 1st, 2022. For more information on categories, rules and regulations or to review the 2022 entry guide visit: HERE. To enter your work, please visit: HERE

With a fascinating sneak peek into the heart-warming story of a young black boy and his magical dreadlock mentor, the teaser of upcoming 2D animation feature JG and the BC Kids is creating a huge buzz among fans and netizens.

Actor Will Smith shared the teaser of the movie on his social media platform yesterday. JG and the BC Kids is conceptualized by renowned American actress and Smith’s former co-star Janet Hubert. The feature is being co-produced by global animation major Toonz Media Group, Ericka Nicole Malone Entertainment and Janet’s Elijah Rock Productions.

Written by Janet Hubert and Yvette Kaplan, the movie has a star-studded cast and crew with Emmy Award-winning composer Wendell Hanes helming the music. Actors Raven Goodwin, Cheryl Alexander, Ezra Knight, Jasmine Hanes, Blaze Berdahl, Ahmad Maksoud and Joey Taranto lend voice to the main characters while Hubert herself voices the narrator and several other characters. Hubert is an established voice actress who has voiced many commercials including the voice of BAYER. The movie is directed by Ron Myrick, Indra Narayan Datta and Antony Leo. Click here to watch the teaser.

JG and the BC Kids was born out of the compelling need to create a children’s animation property that broke stereotypes and represented characters from diverse backgrounds and cultures. The movie features two black central characters - a schoolboy and a young science whiz who is trapped inside a fractal world. Herself an African American mom, Daytime Digital Emmy nominated Hubert says when her son was born, she struggled to find toys, accessories and even story narratives that he could relate to. In a world where her son’s identity was starkly under-represented, Hubert wanted to create something to inspire him, and millions of other kids like him. 

“It is time for change and I decided to be and make the change that I seek. I am so proud of this production and our grassroots team who joined me on this journey of creating JG and the BC Kids,” said Janet Hubert.

“This is a project that really resonates with the times that we live in. For the Toonz team, we feel extremely honoured and proud to be part of this path-breaking feature film. I am very happy with how the movie is shaping up. Kudos to Janet and the entire team. I am sure that JG and the BC Kids will create a lot of excitement among the audience as well as in the industry,” said Toonz Media Group CEO P. Jayakumar.

"What an incredible journey to be an Executive Producer of this movie as this story will inspire millions of children around the world that in spite of the challenges they may face, if they believe in themselves and the beauty of their imagination …they can win," said Ericka Nicole Malone.

Based on Hubert’s book ‘A Sneaker Feature’, JG and the BC Kids will bring street smart and book smart kids together to create life smart kids. JG , the female superhero and her band of darling dinosaurs will mentor and encourage children to believe in themselves. Targeted at 5-9 year-olds, the movie has been produced in vibrant 2D animation with a blend of hip as well as poignant, positive music that will be loved by parents and kids alike. The pre-production work of the project has been completed at Toonz's Ireland-based Emmy Award-winning studio Telegael. JG and the BC Kids is slated to be released in March/April 2022. The movie will be marketed worldwide by Toonz Entertainment, a subsidiary of Toonz Media Group, led by Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Bruno Zarka.