The huge Saudi advertising market of an estimated total expenditure of SR 22.5 billion in 2008 is likely to register a decline of around 10 percent this year, according to Dr. Abdullah Ali Bankhar, assistant professor of media, at King Abdul Aziz University's mass communication department, and secretary general of the Okaz Creative Advertising Awards. Bankhar told Saudi Gazette in an interview that the Saudi economy represents one third of the total economy of the 22 Arab countries. “We represent two-thirds of the total economy of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries,” he added. “Since Saudi Arabia represents 60 percent of what is called Pan Arab media business, most of the business is directed at the Saudi market. Many satellite TV stations based in Cairo or Beirut are after the Saudi consumer and the Saudi market,” he said. Sadiq Abdullah Dahlan, chairman of the board of trustees of a planned advertising college in the Kingdom, said that 96 percent of the workers in the advertising industry are non-Saudis, mostly with no specialized degree, driving the clients to look for foreign advertising companies with brand names. The Okaz Creative Advertising Awards initiative will go to the core of this business and encourage advertising agencies to utilize Saudi talent and expertise in this field, Bankhar said. “The objective of any award is to encourage and reward people working in the field and to discover new talent and give them a chance to be exposed to the business world which might later hire them.” There are many advertising awards in other neighboring countries, but there has been none in the Kingdom since 2005. As a result, Okaz took the initiative to revive the idea of rewarding people in advertising and encouraging young Saudis to take up the profession, which is especially important in a year when the business of advertising is not flourishing. “Okaz courageously went ahead to invest in this award to reward those who are working in the field with good experience and to encourage newcomers to enter the profession. I think the Okaz award is very beneficial to the industry at such a critical time of economic meltdown,” Bankhar added. The competition has been met with great response with more than 900 entries in all categories and the number is expected to double next year, he said. The award is planned to be Kingdomwide for the first three years, and then cover the Arab world from the fourth year, and then in the seventh year go international. Prince Khalid, who is patronizing the awarding ceremony tonight, is also the prince of creativity, poetry and art, and head of the Arab Thought Foundation, which would give the competition a greater dimension, Bankhar said. The award is divided into 10 categories, eight of which are related to the advertising business and handled by advertising agencies. There is one category for direct clients, those who have an in-house advertising agency or have their own art department in charge of their creative work, and for the first time in the Kingdom, there is also a category specially designed for Saudi youth. At a recent workshop, “the young Saudis did a lot of nice artwork and we believe some of them are equal to any designer in any well-known advertising agency,” he said. The age of the participants ranged from 15 to 35, but the campaign targeted youth between 15 and 25 years old. Most of the participants were amateurs – not working with any advertising agency, and some of them were semi-professionals, who were doing some freelance work from home. For the Saudi talent category, the award will be a cash prize. For other categories it is advertisement space worth more than SR4 million. To encourage Saudi talent, the first winner will get a gold trophy and SR75,000, the second a silver trophy and SR50,000, and the third winner a bronze trophy and SR25,000. Asked if there is any plan to train young Saudis, he said that a lot of changes and improvements are planned, such as holding a two-day workshop, with one day being for a seminar to educate participants about the design by experts in the field. A training program is also being planned at a later date.
