The Third Annual Advertising and Marketing Communications Conference concludes with big success

The conference, which was held under the Patronage of His Excellency Mr. Nasser Judeh, Official Spokesman for the Jordanian Government, witnessed impressive attendance who listened to latest industry practices delivered by expert speakers.

As keynote speaker, H.E. Mr. Nasser Judeh expressed his pleasure to be the patron of this conference saying:

"The advertising and marketing communications industry has contributed during the past few years in shaping the local economy as proven by the figures of advertising expenditure. With this we are working in achieving His Majesty King Abdullah II vision in making Jordan a hub for media and marketing communications."

H.E praised IAA Jordan's efforts throughout the years to raise the awareness on the importance of this industry, which is now more specialized and professional. H.E also congratulated the Chapter for winning the Chapter Excellence Award at the 40th International Advertising Association (IAA) World Congress, topping over 90 Chapters worldwide.

During the opening session, IAA Jordan President Mr. Mustapha Tabba welcomed H.E, the guests and participants and expressed his profound gratitude for the sponsors who played a vital role in the success of the conference.

He added: "The conference's impressive success in the past two years motivates us to raise the bar every year in order to meet the growing expectations of participants as well as the changing requirements of this dynamic industry."

Taking a look at the advertising expenditure for the period from January 2007 until September of the same year shows the substantial growth of the industry in the Kingdom hitting a record of JD145,593,639 compared to last year's JD111,682,578, a rise of around 30%. Tabba pointed out that the expenditure on advertising in Jordan is expected to hit a JD200 million record this year, increasing by four times since 2000, therefore, contributing to the development of the local economy.

Tabba went on saying that this conference forms a crucial platform for the industry practitioners and interested parties to benefit from the global expertise offered by the multi-national speakers.

The conference, which was organized by the International Advertising Association - Jordan Chapter (IAA Jordna), hosted 15 top speakers from the USA, Australia, Canada, the UK, the UAE, Jordan as well as other countries from around the world, covering different topics such as branding of luxury brands, telecom and real estate, in addition to tackling issues of the industry such as copywriting, brand loyalty and budgeting for campaigns.

The sessions of the first day started with Mr. Antony Lawrence, Group Director of Marketing, Jumeirah, UAE, who talked about "Luxury Brands" discussing the strategy behind the Group and the "stay different" story and where Jumeirah is positioning itself in the eco system of luxury brands. Mr. Ian Ewart, Head of Global Advertising, Barclays Wealth, UK, addressed the issue of adopting an integrated approach across channels to get the right message to the right customer at the right time through the right channel in addition to integration with brand and company values.

While Mr. Christopher Savage, Managing Director, Ogilvy PR, Australia, tackled issues related to "Brand Shield" such as anticipating and managing threats to corporate and product brands in an increasingly complex and hostile consumer-driven world, and how to asses and manage the risks from all media channels online and traditional as well as the role communications agencies have to play in safeguarding client brands.

The afternoon sessions started with Mr. Andy Owen, CEO and owner of Andy Owen & Associates, UK, who introduced some of the secrets and techniques on how to write effective copy that really sells. Shifting to another subject Mr. Philippe Vogeleer, Chief Strategy Officer and Secretary General, Jordan Telecom Group / Orange Jordan, gave the participants a look at the leading telecom player's journey covering different issues related to this global commercial brand such as the brand's values, global success stories, re-branding process and roll out in Jordan.

Mr. Chris Staples, Co-Founder & Creative Director, Rethink, Canada, revealed to the participants ways of rethinking the way to approach the media as well as production and the creation of big ideas in order to get the most value from even the most limited budget.

The day was finished off with Mr. Tim Keiningham, Senior Vice President, Ipsos Loyalty, Canada and Ms. Lerzan Aksoy, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Koç University, Turkey, who shared some ground-breaking new research that turned the expectations of customer loyalty upside down and demonstrated that one can no longer depend upon conventional thinking regarding the benefits of loyalty

"With each year the conference proves its importance and vital role in providing the industry professionals and practitioners with forward thinking strategies and ideas," said IAA Jordan Mr. Mustapha Tabba. "Each year the conference carries a theme that aims at highlighting one of the topics that hit directly on this industry and this years' theme "Box Basics" came in a bid to remind the participants of the importance of revisiting the industry fundamentals in order to excel in creativity," he added.

The second day sessions started with Mr. Mohammad Alayyan, Publisher and CEO - Al Ghad Newspaper, Jordan, where his presentation "Media entrepreneurship - Al Ghad success story" discussed the reason behind the success of Al Ghad newspaper in a market with fierce competition, while Mr. Elliot Polak, Founder & CEO, Text Appeal, UK, talked about the "Brand - Emotion - Culture" triangle and its challenges via international examples.

From the telecommunications sector, the conference hosted Mr. Philippe Guyon, Group Brand Director, - Zain Group, Jordan, who talked about the birth of the Zain brand going in depth explaining the characteristic of the brand identity and its values, followed by Mr. Guyon, Mr. Amir Zweil, Regional Category Director, Unilever, AMET (Africa Middle East & Turkey), offered participants tips on the real challenges they will need to face to create brilliant advertising.

At noon Mr. Steve McCart, General Manager, Emaar Properties PJSC, Jordan, discussed marketing issues in the real estate, this sector which is witnessing high levels of growth in Jordan and the big role it has on the Kingdom's economy. Mr. Ed Jones, Regional Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi, UAE, came next and uncovered the problems and opportunities involved in developing the creativity of communications in the Middle East.

The conference's sessions was concluded with Mr. Herve de Clerk, who took part in the conference for the third consecutive time, fulfilling the big demand of showing 2007 Gold Winners ads from around the world. De Clerk is a founder and Dream Leader from AdForum.com, Switzerland.

The delegates who attended the conference represented industry professionals, companies' executives, advertisers, public relations and marketing practitioners in addition to creative designers, media owners, production companies, researches, consultants, indoor/ outdoor display media, audio visual, print media, sales promotion companies, university students, professors of relevant fields as well as other interested parties.

The two-day conference, which was held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, was sponsored by a number of local companies with Al Rai newspaper as Platinum sponsor, while Orange, Zain, Al-Kawn Radio and TV Broadcasting and Al Farida for Specialised Publications held the Golden sponsorship. Ipsos and Publicis Graphics for advertising were the Silver sponsors, whereas Al Waseet newspaper and AGA Profess Graphics were the Bronze sponors.

As for the additional sponsors, they were: Team Y&R for advertising, eworks, B-design, onstage and Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Moreover, media sponsors included: ArabAd magazine, Al Ghad newspaper, Ad Dustour newspaper, Al Arab Al Yawm newspaper, Aqarcom newspaper, Couples' Life magazine, Itijahat magazine, media Me and Maktoob. Adding to that, Royal Jordanian was the official carrier.

"Marketing communications will continue to play an irreplaceable role in the evolution of any business, therefore we are fully aware of the need to be well equipped in order to face the on-going demands in the market utilizing a comprehensive and futuristic approach," concluded Tabba.