Guided by StarSight, SMG MENA charts new path into consumer psyche

SMG developed this first-of-a-kind quarterly forum to encourage listening, questioning and debate, as part of an ongoing effort to better understand regional consumers and identify emerging trends.

For Philip Jabbour, SMG MENA Group Director, Marketing and Business Development, this is particularly important given changing socio-cultural dynamics and an increasingly competitive marketing and communications industry. "Doing more and learning more to better equip our planners with the right kind of information that can be transformed into actionable communication solutions for our clients," he said.

"StarSight enables us to see things as they really are, not the way convention or preconceptions would have us believe they are," he added.

Saudi female photographer Manal Al Dowayan inaugurated the program with a talk based on her much-discussed collection, "Beyond the Veil", which depicts professional Saudi women with their faces covered. Nineteen images from the exhibit were shown at SMG ahead of the talk.

Al Dowayan's photographs and presentation explored the various Saudi female typologies in light of the profound changes taking place in the Kingdom, many of which are not easily or immediately discernable. For example, she noted that unlike their mothers, today's younger women have government support to receive higher education and enter the work place.

SMG clients and planners discussed how these changes necessitate a drastic rethinking of how communication is done in the Kingdom, agreeing, among other things, that the era of one-size-fits-all marketing to Saudi women has come to an end.

Racha Makarem, Research Director of SMG's research unit Business Compass, said, "It was appropriate that Manal was the first presenter, since 'a picture is worth a thousand words.' Her captivating images richly illustrated her commentary and our discussion."

Makarem added, "This successful first session inspired and energised all the attendees with fresh ways to captivate and connect with consumers and encourages us to continue ahead and push the boundaries of this forum even further."

Among the SMG clients who attended were National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, Red Bull, MasterFoods, Diageo and the Richemont Group.

Chet Galpin, National Commercial Bank, Chief marketing officer (CMO) said, 'I found the session with Manal Al Dowayan an insightful look into the changing face of Saudi Arabia. Creative learning benefits us all and helps drive business results. I look forward to participating again in future StarSight sessions.'

Although conceived and designed in the MENA region, the program already is drawing interest from others in the SMG global network and is set to be adopted by other offices around the world.

The nature of the StarSight program, with its focus on general attitudinal and behavioural trends, means it will benefit clients across all industries and all countries in the region. While the focus will be on the key market of Saudi Arabia, the program will identify and hear from speakers coming from other countries in the region as well.