The UM MENA Point of View
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posted by Zubair Siddiqui, Managing Director, UM Dubai
A few months back, at a training and leadership summit, had the opportunity to meet 37 MD’s from different disciplines within Advertising. They came from all across the globe. The discussion largely revolved around our core product offering as an advertising agency. Contrary to what i had thought, our issues in the Middle East may not resonate with those of presumably much developed advertising markets like Europe and America. But in fact our issues not only as an advertising agency but specifically as a media agency are almost exactly the same.
Some of the key issues that everyone is grappling with….
(1) Getting remunerated for ideas and not time
(2) the Digital brouhaha
(3) the talent conundrum
(4) High margin businesses
(5) Integration vs. Interdependence
(6) Do you really win on strategy or on Price !!!!???
Most MD’s across the board are grappling with the same questions. Sometimes i wonder whether these issues have remained the same as maybe a decade back or even 3 decades back. Lots may have changed over the years but deep within, the core issues remain constant. (barring Digital of course). But back then Digital-equivalent would have been the rise of TV for instance. Which begs me to ask, how tensed is our future as an agency.
Happy to believe that Digital is not a conundrum but an opportunity to define ourselves all over again. It’s about ideas and those that make a difference to brands ultimately will win this struggle. After all Darwin cracked it way way way long back… “It’s not the toughest nor the most intelligent that survive, but those that can adapt to “change”
