If you’re reading this in the UAE, statistically you are likely to have more than two cell phones. Telecommunications is big business in the Emirates, and the wider MENA region is rife with competing operators. At the 7th annual Media & Telecoms Convergence Conference held in Amman earlier this summer, the Arab Advisors Group released its 2010 Cellular Competition Intensity Index, which ranks the region’s countries according to how competitive their telecom industry is. Jordan came out on top, followed by Saudi Arabia, while Palestine came third.
Last year, according to PARC, the top 10 telcos in the region spent a total of $787.7 million (by rate card) on advertising last year. Between 2007 and 2009, they have spent a total of $1.4 billion.
So how are the marketing tactics of telecommunications operators evolving alongside the industry’s exponential growth? With so many providers setting up shop and growing in the region, it’s difficult to pick up a magazine, watch television, or listen to the radio without coming across one selling its services.
As well as traditional media, digital spend is growing for the segment too. As telcos expand, more people have access to their services, including Internet access; when more people have access to the Internet, it makes more sense to advertise there.
In the UAE, du has set the benchmark for innovative marketing, according to Abdul Karim, strategy director at Luciola DDB, DDB’s telecom brand strategy arm. “They’re at the cutting edge of marketing,” he says.
Karim says du has also focused on marketing through location-based social networking tool Foursquare. The brand used the mobile-based app to drive people to their World Cup tents in Media City and the Trade Center during this summer’s football tournament – the person who checked in most won an iPhone.
Alexander Rauser, CEO of Connect (the digital arm of Omnia, a Dubai-based integrated communications agency), says the company has been working with du on its online marketing campaigns. “The first campaign we launched for du was ‘Smart People Smart Choices,’ which focused on integrating social media tactics,” says Rauser. The campaign showed regional and Bollywood celebrities such as Mohammed Saeed Hareb, creator of the Emirati cartoon Freej, and Indian actor Shahrukh Khan endorsing du’s “Elite” mobile package. “As a first-time initiative, the social media tactics proved to be a great success, driving traffic and being a vital communication channel with audiences. This has led to social media becoming a vital ingredient for all online marketing campaigns.”
Other providers are also using social media trend, according to Karim. “Mobily in Saudi Arabia has a YouTube page, and their chief information officer is on Twitter personally,” he says. Saudi Telecom Company launched a Facebook drive during Dubai’s GITEX technology show, which generated plenty of fan engagement, he adds.
Ramzi Ghanem, general manager at Starcom MediaVest Group in Riyadh, says digital is today an integral part of his company’s campaigns, “after a lot of effort across all telecom providers.”
“We did a lot of fighting to include digital in our plans, and now everyone is fundamentally aware of how important digital is, especially Internet providers,” Ghanem says. “And we are going beyond the usual buttons and banners into engagement models and content. I would say that as an aggregate, digital constitutes about eight to 10 percent of marketing budgets now.”
However, innovative marketing remains propped up by traditional advertising. Telecom providers have services for everyone, and Karim says that narrowing marketing to digital means leaving an entire consumer base behind. “Traditional media is obviously still a driving force in the region, as Internet penetration rates are still low, even though they’re growing,” he says. “Telecom is for everyone, so providers want to sell to everyone, so they still use traditional mediums.”
