Press Releases
The Advertisers Business Group Launches Workshop Series
Mon, 14 Jun, 2010
The Advertisers Business Group Launches Workshop Series at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Dubai Media City, with sessions on Marketing Effectiveness in the Middle East and Profitable Go-to-Market Models in the Middle East.
The Advertisers Business Group (ABG) held the first of a series of workshops at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Dubai Media City designed to offer educational opportunities to ABG members and the wider advertising community. Attended by marketers, brand builders and advertisers from renowned local and multinational companies, the workshop was conducted by Booz & Company, one of ABG's strategic partners and a leading global consulting firm.
The first session, entitled Marketing Effectiveness in the Middle East, focused on the impact of digital media, the measurement of marketing spend effectiveness and guidelines for an optimal marketing mix. Jayant Bhargava, a principal at Booz & Company, highlighted the radical shift in media consumption from traditional mediums to digital platforms. "Younger segments spend more time consuming media on their mobile than talking. At the same time, multitasking across media platforms is becoming more widespread", he said, adding that "social networking and digital video usage is increasing at alarming rates". One out of every six minutes spent online is on social media. Facebook now has over 10 million regular users in the region. These trends have significant implications on the marketing strategies of advertisers.
Mr. Bhargava examined the unique set of challenges faced by advertisers in the Middle East including lack of transparency in the overall advertising business model, fragmentation of media, lack of reliable audience measurement, below industry standards in digital marketing formats and a heterogeneous consumer environment. He highlighted the opportunities for marketers to leverage innovative advertising platforms, such as mobile advertising, social media, private label marketing and online video advertising to address many of the regional challenges and enhance marketing effectiveness. "For many consumer segments these are now the most powerful means of delivering a message or seeking a response", he stressed. Mr Bhargava emphasized the need for advertisers to frame their own independent opinion on the reach and effectiveness of their marketing spend to allow for better allocation decisions. "In the digital world, advertisers are beginning to partner with a larger number of service providers across the advertising value chain including media owners themselves. In such a landscape, assessing marketing effectiveness assumes a wider and far more important role." He finished by outlining how marketing effectiveness methodologies should be applied in the regional context.
The second session, entitled Profitable Go-To-Market Models in the Middle East, focused on the need for a new approach to the GTM model to deal with the evolution of the trade and consumers. Conducted by Booz & Company principal Emanuele Savona, the session began by examining the growing complexity of the FMCG industry. Increasing competition, the continuous launch of new products and the expansion in new categories has put strong pressure on FMCG companies to fight for limited shelf space and find new and more sophisticated approaches to serve the trade efficiently and effectively. "FMCG companies need to develop a segmented approach to their sales and distribution system to optimize the allocation of trade investments to maximize profitability", said Mr Savona. He outlined the key success factors in building a segmented GMT model. They needed to have a strong customer focus to develop a market value proposition, be aligned with the company's strategic goals and value offerings, balance customer needs, revenue growth and cost-to-serve and be flexible so that they can adapt to changing customer needs or market conditions.
Mr. Savona concluded by highlighting how FMCG companies have done this successfully in the Middle East and other markets. The benefits, based on Booz & Company's experience, were a 12% to 15% cost-to-serve reduction through a better allocation of resources across the trade channels and a 7% to 15% revenue increase through deeper coverage, better revenue management and out of stock reduction.
For further information, please contact:
Debbie Cook
Advertisers Business Group
Tel: +97155 9189173
Email: debbie.cook@advertisersbusinessgroup.com
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