Answering the Business Challenges

Arabad

Making Compensations

Dubai’s advertising scene has faced some challenges this year. Dubai has literally been “on sale” since January. Even brands that traditionally never had to run promotions have been forced to do so in an effort to compensate for weaker business. What is happening throughout the region, be it politically or economically has put a lot of pressure on Dubai and the challenge companies have been facing was naturally passed on to agencies. Having said that, I am a firm believer in Dubai and its resilient economy and I am confident we will all weather the current regional storm.

Introducing Structural Changes

The whole industry is facing an identity crisis as a result of the proliferation of specialised media. Today, we have moved away from the era of network agencies competing against one another, to the era where holding companies are competing against each other. At the same time, we have seen the rise of small independent specialised agencies who have enjoyed tremendous success, in a very short span of time. All network agencies are looking for ways to embrace such a shift in the industry and are trying to introduce structural changes that would allow them to navigate effectively in these new waters. The Y&R Group has evolved from offering clients creative campaigns that answer their marketing briefs to offering them innovative solutions that answer a business challenge faced by these clients. In order to do so, we have started going to market as The Partnership, having Y&R as a lead agency and bringing along any specialised competency from the WPP Group that is needed to come up with and implement the innovative solution.