JEDDAH – Marketing agencies and advertisement in Saudi Arabia lack innovation and variety, experts discussed at the fourth edition of the 2-day Saudi Marketing Conference that ends today. Advertisement on traditional media outlets and outdoor billboards remain old-fashioned, said Khaled Nagro, chairman of marketing and advertising committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce. "International companies are dominating the market because their budgets are much higher than local companies," he told Saudi Gazette. "A global company is able to allocate SR5 million out of a budget of SR200 million and has exposure in the region not just in certain cities of the Kingdom." High costs of advertising are "unreasonable", according to Nagro. "Unlike global corporations, local companies can't afford to advertise outdoors and many resort to social media," he further said. On highways, the cost for an advertisement ranges from SR250,000 to SR1 million. The large billboards on bridges range between SR3 million to SR5 million. The conference was attended by marketing consultants and agencies as well as academic experts from different parts of the Kingdom to discuss ways to overcome challenges in the marketing and advertisement industry and spread awareness of the sector. The theme of the conference is ‘Marketing to Millennials and Neuromarketing'. In a session on marketing agencies in the Saudi market today, Nagro joined other CEOs of agencies in the discussion of the challenges. There remains little awareness in shifting to digital marketing and advertising on social media. "Marketing in this sector is weak and many resort to the traditional media outlets such as TV, radio, and still boards on the roads," said digital marketing consultant Emad Ashram. "Most people spend the large majority of their time on their smartphones rather than television, radio, or billboards," he told Saudi Gazette on the sidelines of the forum. "Global brands recognized this trend and have started to shift to digital marketing. However in Saudi Arabia, we're still behind." In the Kingdom, most companies' allocations do not exceed 3%. Rarely do some companies reach 10%. "In the West, companies invest in digital marketing by allocating up to 60% of their budgets," said Kaswara Alkhateeb, chairman of UTurn, who spoke in a session on targeting the new generation. "University students are not exposed to today's trends in new media and digital marketing," added Ashram. "The material is not updated in universities." Most companies jump to marketing strategies before really understanding their target audience, according to academic and columnist Mohammed Hathut. He said "they need to specify their target in age, gender, interests, etc. In Saudi Arabia, most companies are old-fashioned and don't have a long-term vision for marketing strategies." Often marketing directors are creative in ad ideas but face several obstacles before they produce the end result. President of Max Mix Media Abdulelah Khoja said "there are many ambitious advertisers and marketing agencies out there. Cost is a major challenge that is difficult to overcome. Many are reluctant to invest in marketing strategies." The creative director has to take into consideration the environment and culture it's catering to as well as adapt to the client's personal taste and preference, he added. The end result is seeing similar advertisements," he said. "There's nothing new in the market."
