Emirates Airlines

National Geographic Abu Dhabi best known brand on social networks in UAE

editor — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 03:03:14 -0700

According to the Grafdom’s Social Media Brands Index, a study which comprises a listing of the UAE's 100 most influential corporate brands and individuals on social networks, National Geographic Abu Dhabi has topped the list as best known brand on social networks, followed by Emirates Airlines and Sony ME, Arabian Business reports.

"The results reaffirm the role social media has grown to play in the corporate sector. Brands that were unheard of just a few years back currently maintain a loyal following on social networks and are equipped to drive substantial business gains through it," said Farid Gasim, director of operations, Grafdom.

Check out the top 10 most influential profiles on the list here.

Econsultancy to host 140 brand marketers at Digital Cream Dubai conference

editor — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:02:29 -0700

Econsultancy, the source of independent advice and insight on best practice digital marketing and e-commerce, today announces that its inaugural Digital Cream Dubai event, on 12th April 2011 will be attended by more than 140 senior marketers to explore best practice online marketing and e-commerce.

Attendees confirmed include the heads of digital from leading regional brands including Emirates Airlines, Abu Dhabi Media Company, EMAP, Abu Dhabi Film Festival, Hilton Worldwide, SNTTA Travel & Tours, Zawya and Abu Dhabi Media Company.

The event will feature two keynotes from Ahmad Bashour, Digital Publishing Director, ITP Digital Publishing and Arto Joensuu, Head of Digital Marketing, MEA at Nokia. Ahmad will present the results of Econsultancy's State of Digital Marketing survey and Arto will discuss Social Media and learning's so far.

There will also be 14 independently moderated roundtables on a range of digital marketing disciplines including web analytics, social media, online PR and SEO. Delegates will discuss online channel investment, technologies, agency selection and local challenges that they all face in delivering best practice digital marketing and advertising.

Sponsors will provide additional expert insight into tables that they are hosting.

The Online Advertising roundtable is sponsored by Yahoo! Maktoob,
LBi, the lead sponsor of the event, will be sponsoring two tables on Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media - Marketing, Measurement and Monetization,
The Email Marketing roundtable is sponsored by Pure 360,
The User Experience roundtable is sponsored by User Vision.
The Content Management roundtable is sponsored by Fatwire Software.

Amy McFarling, Managing Director, LBi Middle East & North Africa, said, "LBi is delighted to be sponsoring this groundbreaking event. As Europe's largest digital agency, there is a natural fit between LBi's unique ability to blend insight, creativity and technology to deliver real business value and e-consultancy's mission to bring the best in cutting edge digital practices to brands. We're both helping marketers tackle the challenge of creating and sustaining real relevance in the context of a constantly shifting media landscape and the growing influence of consumers on brand reputation."

Digital Cream Dubai, run in partnership with GEM events, will also be host to the launch of the results to Econsultancy's State of Digital Marketing survey, carried out in association with ArabianBusiness.com and aimed at marketers in the Middle East and North Africa. The research will uncover how companies in the Middle East are currently using digital marketing and allocating budgets, exploring the use of marketing channels such as email, search marketing and online advertising. Initial findings suggest digital spend in MENA looks set to increase by 58% in 2011 and 23% of companies in MENA are using on-site social media for marketing.

Those that are unable to attend Digital Cream Dubai are welcome to attend the Digital Cream Drinks Reception on 12th April 5-7pm at the Westin Hotel. The Digital Cream Dubai Drinks Reception will gather together all those in the online marketing and e-commerce community in the Middle East to provide the networking platform to discuss and advance digital marketing in the region. All the brands and clients at Digital Cream Dubai will also be attending the Drinks Reception so it's a great opportunity to network with the brands already confirmed as attending.

Econsultancy has strong international credentials, delivering online marketing training worldwide, and running Digital Cream in London, New York, Chicago and Singapore. As a publisher of best practice reports and how-to guides, Econsultancy's unique position at the centre of a community of 100,000 members worldwide ensures that it's training, events and reports offers the very latest, practitioner-led insight.

Impact BBDO shines at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival

jussyte — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:45:14 -0700

At the 57th International Advertising Festival in Cannes, regarded as the most prestigious advertising festival in the world, Impact BBDO Dubai took home a Silver Lion in the Film category for its Mercedes-Benz “Emirates Take Off” campaign, contributing to the BBDO network winning ‘Agency Network of the Year’ for the fourth year running.

The award-winning commercial created by Impact BBDO, the first ever win within this category in the UAE, was aired on Emirates in-flight movie screens at exactly the same time as the plane was accelerating down the runway. It allowed viewers to watch the car screen speed up and experience the closest feeling to an actual test drive – the incredible G-Force.

With work for more than 40 clients, 21 BBDO agencies from across every region came together to set another record of winning a total of 85 much coveted Lions that spanned all forms of communication from Cyber to Design, Direct, Film, Media, Outdoor, Press, Promotion, PR, Radio and Titanium/Integrated.

Dani Richa, President of Impact BBDO Group, said “This is another year in which we celebrate our creative supremacy, not only on a worldwide basis but also within our region. By staying true to our creative culture and reputation of always putting ‘The Work, The Work, The Work’ above all else, we have contributed to our share of lions.”

YouGov Siraj's BrandIndex announces latest Top 10 UAE brands

editor — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:19:52 -0700

BrandIndex is an international tool which has revolutionised the way businesses can measure the health of their brand equity. This state of the art brand barometer, produced by YouGov Siraj, gathers the daily views of UAE and Saudi consumers online across 200 brands.

Last July the Top 10 UAE brands were announced by YouGov Siraj and the results provided the market with a new type of benchmark through which to measure brand health relative to consumer perception.

The biggest and most impressive mover is Emirates Airlines. Last quarter the brand was in fourth place. It moved up by 9.2 points in overall index score, leap-froging the technology companies to first place. Tech heavy-weights Nokia, Google and Sony jostled in the same spots as Emirates climbed its way up to the apex of BrandIndex, ousting Nokia off the throne. Aside from this remarkable change in the top 4 rankings, the remaining three brands maintained their positions relative to each other.

Further stability in positions was reflected by Toyota, Mercedes and Microsoft as they maintained their exact rankings. BMW and Mall of the Emirates swapped as they moved up and down in reverse position to each other, and the newcomer, Lexus, entered the charts in 10th place, marked by the dissapearance of Deira City Centre.

Vivek Wagle, Research Director at YouGov, says: "Witnessing shifts of this character through the lense of BrandIndex signals a new way to keep track of brands in the UAE. Media clippers, analysts, brand managers, and stakeholders are now in a position to track top brands like Emirates as they commit to high level marketing and advertising budgets."

Looking at the line-up, a third of brands belong to the automotive industry which is to be expected in such a car dominated city. In June two malls were among the the UAE's brand giants, where shopping is a key aspect to life, Mall of the Emirates and Deira City Centre. Now only Mall of the Emirates remains in the top ten.

BrandIndex scores are aggregates of 6 profile indicators designed to measure the health of brand equity. These indicators are General Impression, Quality, Value for Money, Corporate Reputation, Satisfaction, and likeliness to Recommend. A brand's level of exposure in the media, public eye, and word of mouth is rated through a separate indicator, labelled Buzz, which is excluded from the overall BrandIndex score.

Harness the power of social media to increase reach

editor — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:07:07 -0700

The power of social media is tremendous. Paris Hilton's recent endorsement for Emirates Airlines is esteemed to be worth US$ 1.5 million.

Social media is more than Twitter, Facebook and MySpace; it's about brands having conversations and engaging with audiences. It's about the permanent change in the region's marketing, PR and news landscape.

IIR's Social Media Forum taking place on 18 – 19 October 2009 in Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, explores how you can use social media more effectively within your overall strategy and discusses what social media can do for your business.

Probably the best and largest social media example comes from Barack Obama's campaign – Obama For America in which he used social networking sites, blogs, video-sharing and Twitter to spread the views and organise supporters.

Andrew Bleeker, Director Internet Advertising for Obama's election campaign and New Media Director, Obama Inaugural Committee, is keynote speaker at the Social Media Forum.

Be ready to explore regional social media case studies as well, with top-notch speakers including:

Martin Newland, Editorial Director, The National, UAE
Khurram Hamid, Global Head Mobile Marketing Innovation, Procter & Gamble, UAE
Husni Khuffash, Country Business Development Manager, Google, UAE
Joel Berger, Managing Director, MySpace, Germany
Arshad Khan, Senior Executive, Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, UAE