80% true.
	I’ve read earlier this year somewhere that media experts thought that 80% of Arab Advertising would go Digital., What with the crunch, shifting consumer demands, demographic dynamics in the region (mostly a lot of young people running around with their iPhones), the huge influx of mobile phones etc etc our industry is going to break up into bits and kilobytes. Huh? I know that this region is coming of age in the tech sense, and that all those things mentioned above are happening, and broadband is going to be in every household and every shisha joint, and yes, I have blackberry thumb condition, but 80%? Come on.
	So, why am I even in this Digital special? What are you going to download from a non-believer? Ask anyone at any one of our agencies at MCN, and I am a digital believer. I force it down their throats when I can, because I know this is coming. All I am saying is let’s be practical about it, let’s be real. I’ve checked, and the regional trend seems to be we’re all averaging at around 1 or 2% digital spend in this region. That’s not right, not rational, but that’s the reality. Know why? Because I believe we haven’t created enough digital engagement (that’s the MCN mantra, this guy Tom, our CIO’s anthem), haven’t developed enough digital content and channels for our brands to spend on. Sure, there’s demand for it, the consumer is increasingly aware, enabled and ready for it, but we are not. So digital spend lags. I’m a media guy deep in there somewhere, and I know a little about metrics and measurement, but I just don’t get this current model on how we measure and ‘sell’ digital as agencies, as advocates. CTRs? Impressions? I thought impression is when you create a favourable image about your brand in the consumer’s mind. And how well are we doing that? And then there’s this whole thing about social media. The buzz. I thought ‘social’ media has always been around. When I bought a comfortable pair of trainers and my pals at the gym asked me about it and I shared my ‘experience’ – word of mouth advocacy for free – wasn’t that social media? But I do get it. With the internet, the world is a much, much smaller place. And I know this from our presentations (don’t steal it, please) geography is history. And with a large number of inter-people communications channels that are all about sharing experiences, preferences, beliefs, favourites, Rafiq in Riyadh knows what Mary in Montreal feels about that new iPhone 3whatever. And her birthday and her lust for all things sweet. But we’re all going to stop doing TV spots and do hand held handycam videos on YouTube by 1Q 2015? 80%? Nope. We’ve won a fairly large number of pitches on some very large pieces of businesses over the last few weeks. A lot of perspiration, bits of inspiration, a huge amount of blessings from the One above, and today we have the world’s top three brands. Google. Coke. McDonald’s. And gorgeous ones like Loreal (I’ve only mentioned recent wins, and no, this isn’t a full list of our clients). And guess what? A lot of the work we went in with, a fairly unprecedented share of the slides were digital focused. But digital used, executed, planned as part of a 360° approach, never in silo. Practical, everyday engagements that are part and parcel of our lives. Essential stuff. Not nice to haves, must haves. Ah, now we’re getting closer to may be 10 or 20. But 80%? Nope. Not yet. Because? Because it’s all about the consumer. If we understand the consumer in our market dynamic, we’ll then be able to make educated decisions on the numbers and the shifts. And the biggest danger is herding all of them into one large bandwidth and clubbing them under ‘the Middle Eastern’ label. People are different. The guy in Media City has different consumption habits from the guy in Jumeriah from the girl in Deira. And the guy in Cairo? In Jeddah? Whole lot different. While yes, in the online genre, there are a lot of commonalities, they’re all in different modes of engagements, on different browsers and different portals, in different day parts. And we need to understand how this consumer, wherever he or she is, is consuming media, is engaging, is being entertained, is interacting. And today, like it or not, this bit still involves a lot of traditional mainstream media. TV, print, outdoor, magazines. And digital. All relevant contact points and this isn’t changing tomorrow. Or next year. Not just yet. A large part of that digital contact point is no longer about the contact point. Jaikumar Menon, who is our VP at MCN Media says this really well. ‘What you do on the contact point, becomes the contact point’ Which brings us back to engagement and interaction, and consumer as brand advocate, and social media, and content development, and digital this and digital that. And the more we are able to develop creatively engaging, intellectually rewarding communications back and forth with our consumers – in the digital domain – the better it will be for all of us. So stay with me on this. Because in the words of the most powerful orator alive today, Yes We Can. And that’s 80% true as of now. The above article appeared in Campaign magazine Middle East's Digital Essays