OMD Predicts conference focuses marketers' attention on new communication opportunities

The full day conference, held in early July, was designed to address the future of marketing communications and media.

More than 220 delegates, drawn from brand owners, media owners and agency staff from across the region, attended the first OMD Predicts conference at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel-Conference Centre. In his opening address, Elie Khouri, regional managing director of the Omnicom Media Group, drew the audience's attention on five key trends that are shaping the future of communications in the region. These include the fragmentation of audience across a rapidly growing choice of media and not just channels, the multitasking consumer who is in continuous partial attention mode and the rising significance of the mobile phone, otherwise known as the third screen. The remaining two are the emergence of platform-agnostic content that travels from TV to PC to mobile and consumers' active participation in the media and communications market. These were also addressed in greater depth throughout the program.

After a session that focused on the region's macro-economic prospects and business landscape, with presentations from the Economist Intelligence Unit's Alasdair Ross and the editor-in-chief of Executive magazine, Yasser Akkaoui, the conference addressed the marketing communications issues and trends.

Mike Hess, OMD's director of global research and consumer insights, shared the results of the global 'It's a Family Affair' survey by OMD and Yahoo on how families communicate in the digital world, as well as the results of a local update produced for OMD Predicts. Not only do Saudi families show high levels of digital equipment and interest in digital entertainment, they also show a high degree of acceptance for advertising in most forms of media. Despite the rise of new digital media formats, MBC Group's Mazen Hayek insisted the future belonged to television, even it meant adapting its offering and content delivery to new consumer demands.

Neil Hurman, strategic development director at OMD UK, gave a thought-provoking look at how the consumers' media experience is changing and the implications this has for marketers. Using local data, he explained that the region was close to other parts of the world in terms of media technology and showed what we could expect to change soon and how.

Ravi Rao, Omnicom Media Group' executive director-group development, and Mai Jaouni, director of Fuse for the Middle East, illustrated the emerging communication formats in digital and branded entertainment, while Helen Westwell, a director at Hall & Partners in the UK, demonstrated how most communications types can be made accountable.

"It's been a fantastic eye-opening day," said Margie Gilbride, Marketing Communications Manager at Beiersdorf Middle East. "Thanks to an excellent mix of speakers, OMD Predicts made powerful predictions on both business and media trends, along with implications and action points. It's provided us with both insights and inspiration."

"It's too easy to remain stuck in our ways and blame it on the conservative dimension of the region," added Shadi Kandil. "What we've seen today is that the region is indeed changing, that the opportunities do exist and that consumers are ready to embrace new forms of communications. There's nothing to hold us back and with OMD Predicts, we aim to inspire the new wave of marketing communications."

"The success of our previous event, the OMD Creative Masterclass, has led us to organize more events of this nature, since they address a key client need to know more to achieve more," Kandil continued. "We see this type of activity as part of our mandate to them and to our teams."