Middle East hosts IPRA Annual Conference for first time

In his presentation before an audience of public relations professionals from many countries, Al Ayed said, "Communicating the right message at the right time to the right audience and in keeping with local customs and sensitivities is fundamental to an effective public relations program. The success of any public relations campaign hinges combining a deep understanding of and empathy with the culture, language and society with practices of the highest standards and ethics. Public relations in the Middle East must become an indigenous business in order to thrive. Our aim from the outset has been to build local talent in every market we operate in. We're doing this in Egypt, in Saudi Arabia and in the UAE. We believe that this will have a positive impact on the success of the industry in the years to come."

He added, "Our region is facing formidable challenges today. So much depends on communications; delivering messages with clarity and impact, not only for commercial purposes but politically, ideologically, socially. The practice of public relations is going to become increasingly important in our global society and in the region, shedding light on key issues that are important to governments, companies and corporations, consumers, and the community at large."

Al Ayed's presentation outlined the TRACCS program commissioned by Procter and Gamble on behalf of the Jeddah-based Anti-Counterfeit Awareness Committee. The program, designed by Executive Vice-President and C.O.O. Haroon Sugich, who is currently heading TRACCS operations in UAE, aimed to enhance awareness of the issue through an aggressive press campaign and through building relations with government and religious agencies. The campaign was launched with a dramatic press release calling trademark counterfeiting "The Crime of the 21st Century", a designation international law enforcement agencies have taken to using. The use of the word 'Crime', or 'jareema' in Arabic is almost unheard of in newspaper headlines in Saudi Arabia. This attracted serious media attention and resulted in a 300% rise in press coverage on the issue. Trademark counterfeiting has now become a major issue in the Saudi press as a result of the campaign.

"Few people realized at the outset how critical it was to get the religious establishment on board to make the campaign work," Al-Ayed said. "Most scholars saw trademark counterfeiting as harmless knock-offs of luxury items. Few associated this phenomenon with fake medicines, fake car parts and contaminated foods. So the first thing we did was secure a religious edict (fatwa) from the Higher Council of Ulema, Saudi Arabia's highest religious body responsible for religious opinion. The fatwa, which was the first Islamic edict declaring trademark counterfeiting to be forbidden by Islamic law, is now used by the World Intellectual Property Organisation."

The International Public Relations Conference, which was held at the Conrad Hotel in Cairo, drew more than 200 delegates from 40 countries and featured presentations and workshops addressing major issues facing the PR industry worldwide. The conference also addressed NGO corporate partnership, public relations and the economy-restoring confidence, using measurement to lead to effective PR strategy, crisis management and media transparency, and e-communications and global partnership between PR and investor relations. The opening session of the conference was moderated by Egyptian film actor Hussein Fahmy and another session was moderated by distinguished journalist Emad Aldin Adib. The conference was closed by his Excellency Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League who spoke passionately about the urgent need for public Relations in the Arab World to project a positive image in the global media.

According to Loula Zaklama, member of the Board of Directors of the IPRA and the conference organizer, this was an honor for region to host the first IPRA Conference. She said, "Now, after 20 years of hard work in the field of public relations, I can see the efforts coming to fruition as PR evolves in the Arab world. For such a respected, global association as IPRA to hold its conference in Egypt this year means that public relations in the Middle East is gaining international recognition and entering a new phase for the future - a phase in which institutions are seeking growth and society is facing an increasing pace of change heightened by awareness and sophistication."

Egypt celebrated the honour of hosting IPRA 2002 by supporting the conference with a variety of cultural and entertainment events, which gave delegates the opportunity to make the most of their visit to a land with 7000 years of history and experience the living link between ancient heritage and the modern world.