Leading Gulf Arab PR practitioner calls on PR industry to build local Gulf Arab talent

Among the 400 delegates were Gulf Arabs from every GCC country including 50 delegates from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the region's largest economy.

In a hard-hitting speech on the negative Arab image in the West, Mohamed Al Ayed, TRACCS President and CEO, said, 'The truth is that Arabs, Muslims and governments in the Arab and Islamic world have no one to blame but themselves for unfair treatment in the global media. Arabs and Muslims have failed to recognize the power of mass media and to understand to what extent their place in the world depends on perception. We have, to an appalling extent failed to participate in global mass media.' Al Ayed focused on the Arab and Muslim image in the cinema 'because,' he said, 'it is without a doubt the most powerful and influential global medium of our time with television now running a close second. Do Arabs and Muslims have an international or Western presence in either of these powerful communications channels? The answer is categorically and resoundingly, no!

According to Al Ayed, 'Hollywood creates imaginal landscapes filled with stereotypes of all kinds. Always has. Always will. These are telegraphic images to make story-telling easier. Stereotypes are an expression of what is 'other' and exist in absence of understanding and alternative images. The onus is on the Arabs and Muslims to provide this understanding and the alternative images.'

Al Ayed called on Arab and Muslim governments to give much more support to education in communications disciplines, including film-making, journalism and public relations and to support advocate and lobbying groups in Western power centers where 'like it or not' global policy is made. 'We're always fulminating about the Zionist lobby,' he said, 'but where are the Arab and Islamic lobbies?'

Al Ayed recommended that the same professional principles and approach to the problem of Arab imaging be applied to the problem of promoting a corporation or a product. 'We have to begin treating the Arab and Islamic world as a brand.' He recommended that Arab communications professionals come together 'to educate the stakeholders - Arab and Muslim governments, the Organization of Islamic Conference, the Arab League, and Arab and Islamic associations in the Western world - on just how imaging works and how to proceed.'

At the TRACCS-sponsored IPRA lunch the same day TRACCS Chief Operating Officer Haroon Sugich weighed in with a short speech, calling on the public relations industry in Dubai to make a greater commitment toward building local talent and educating Emiratis and other Gulf Arabs about public relations. 'It is unacceptable to say that locals are unwilling to work in our industry,' Sugich said. 'Locals don't know anything about our industry and this is our fault. The public relations industry will never, ever have integrity until it is made up of local practitioners. Our job as professionals from abroad should be to transfer skills to young people from the region. If we want this industry to really grow and take off we have simply got to start investing in local talent.'

Sugich added that job creation is the most burning issue in the Arab world, particularly in Gulf societies. 'The public relations industry is one of the fastest growing business sectors in the world and yet very little is being done in Dubai and other GCC countries to bring locals in to this industry. Instead of operating as arch competitors we should be working together to raise the standards of this industry and we will never raise the standards of our industry as long as we maintain a revolving door policy of importing expertise.'

In the afternoon Mohamed Al Ayed and TRACCS Vice-President Sarah Al Ayed elaborated on the theme set by Sugich through a case study presented with Procter and Gamble Associate Director for External Affairs Ahmed Linjawy on how TRACCS built a team of Saudi women into public relations professionals, able to carry out sophisticated and successful campaigns for P&G brands. The presentation, called 'Unveiled' focused on the challenges the company faced and the advantages of building a workforce of professional women in conservative Saudi society.


According to Steven Jones, IPRA Conference Secretariat and Conference Director of the Institute for International Research (IIR) and organizers of the event, 'We are honored that Mohamed Al Ayed has accepted our invitation to speak at this premier event. Global communications are now an essential part of everyday life and the need to communicate clearly and effectively, are paramount for today's PR professionals. Mohamed has inspired many regional companies and it is appropriate that he should present a case study about his unique human resources strategy that has broken the mould and enabled TRACCS/SACCS to grow at such a remarkable rate.'