MidEast online creative agencies 'price themselves out of the market'

'I use a UK-based agency because agencies here [in the Middle East] are three times the price of agencies in the UK,' Turpin said.

'I don't need to be face-to-face with my agency, I can use email and the phone.

'I work directly with media buyers and portals, but not agencies.'

Turpin also said that a lot of marketing professionals in the region did not realise the power of online: 'The money is there, but I don't feel that I'm getting the opportunity to stand out in online marketing.'

Yousef Tuqan, CEO of Flip Media, added that although the sophistication and understanding of clients was developing it was still not quite there: 'Marketers now have to work twice as hard as the market, and budgets tighten.

'Less than 1% of digital marketing is spent online, unless more is spent we don't have the potential to become world leaders. Every year we say that next year will be the year that it takes off.'

Ali Sinaei, head of online advertising at Bayt.com, agreed: 'We're somewhere close to that critical mass. There is the opportunity to take that on and build on it.'

In a reflection of how fast the market is moving globally, Jimmy Leach, editorial director for digital at the Independent newspaper, told delegates: 'The UK market has fallen out from print, but has held steady in online. When money comes back it'll go on online because that's what's directly measurable.'