Catch brings first-of-a-kind online buzz marketing to Middle East

The strategic partnership between Catch and international agency Vanksen|Culture-Buzz will focus on tailoring and refining Vanksen|Culture-Buzz's proprietary word-of-mouth marketing platforms and strategies to meet the needs of regional markets.

These platforms include Legitiname, the leading global provider of online brand management solutions, and BuzzParadise, an innovative technique to generate online recommendation through blogger engagement.

With regional consumers increasingly looking online for information about products and services and with the Internet generally playing a larger role in shaping opinions and generating buzz in the Arab world, brands can gain strong advantages from using a variety of word-of-mouth marketing techniques, including buzz, blogs, viral and social media marketing.

'There is nothing like culture-buzz, as a platform, in existence in the region, nor are there any other agencies focusing on this aspect of digital marketing,'

said Anthony Rischard, CEO at Catch, which specializes in building interactive brand experiences for customers through strategic and innovative solutions.

'Vanksen|Culture-Buzz's global expertise in buzz and word-of-mouth marketing reinforces our service offerings and brings new, innovative and highly effective communication tools to the Middle East. The complementary nature of our agencies' offerings and the shared culture of our management teams have allowed us to quickly form synergies that will greatly benefit our respective clients,' he added.

A key point about the tie up is that its goal is to create buzz on and off line - since information seeded online travels far in the offline realm, through print, since more and more journalists are following blogs themselves; phone, and face-to-face conversation.

One of Vanksen|Culture-Buzz's key strengths is fostering relationships with the bloggers through the BuzzParadise website. They brief bloggers on their client and their client's products, let them experience the products and then leave them to write as they please. To this expertise, Catch will bring its knowledge of local markets and the dos and don'ts with local bloggers.

Emmanuel Vivier, CEO and Cofounder of Vanksen|Culture-Buzz, said'

'Given the cluttered and fractured nature of media in the Middle East, 'traditional' web advertising is no longer enough to break through - cutting edge viral, digital word of mouth and buzz marketing techniques must be a central part of the mix.'

He added that the partnership would generate tremendous benefits for regional clients, since 'Catch has the same values we do - creativity, innovation, top-quality client servicing and a constant reach for excellence and demonstrated return on investment for their clients.'

A number of studies demonstrate the positive upside of engaging with consumers online. A recent Bayt.com and YouGovSiraj study showed that the Internet was second only to word of mouth as a source of information when making a purchase decision among people across the Middle East, while even more of those in higher household income looked to the Internet for such information.

What's more, a Maktoob study found that 70% of people under 25 in Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE cited the Internet as their number one source of information. According to Maktoob, there are currently more than 40 million Internet users in the Arab world, not counting mobile digital users.