Media urged to provide reliable research data

And in the absence of reliable data, advertisers and agencies are forced to "guessing and gut-feel" in their buying decisions.

Urging media to take the lead in developing accurate research, a leading UAE marketing executive told delegates to the Middle East Publishing Conference in Dubai that the problem is threatening the credibility of the industry.

"Existing data is viewed as 'fishy' or just window-dressing," said Joseph Chartouni, head of marketing at banking group HSBC and a member of the regional Circulation Audit Steering Committee (CASTOR).

In a presentation to a workshop on 'Media Research Standards - still an issue in the Middle East', Chartouni described the regional media research scene as "blue and bleak", with a big question-mark hanging over media integrity.

Information choices were limited and even then not always available across all markets in the Middle East/Africa region.

He urged his audience to take matters into their own hands and set up in-house research tools to prove greater control.

CASTOR, and the GCC Advertising Association share common objectives of establishing quantifiable and verifiable data, he said. CASTOR seeks to identify and adopt global best practice for media audit, leading to quality media planning and pricing so that advertisers can have an accurate measure of return on investment.

Chartouni appealed to publishers to join the various bodies searching for market intelligence, especially in the light of the growing to trend to media fragmentation.

"It's no longer television station against television station, or print publication versus print - it's now the war of the different media," he said. "Marketing managers are being challenged more than ever to justify their return on investment and will continue to hunt for tools to provide more accurate measurement.

"Remember, if they shine, then your business could too!"