MMA recently hosted MMA Impact MENA Virtual 2021 in collaboration with AdColony, InMobi and TikTok. The event included marketing thought leaders from the MENA region. The great lineup of speakers shed light on the most up-to-date topics of the marketing ecosystem such as Data, Changing Consumer Trends, IDFA, First Second Strategy and Attention Economy.
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The event started with welcoming remarks from Greg Stuart, CEO of MMA followed by Vassilis Bakopoulos, SVP, Head of Industry Research who shared research findings on “How CMO’s view Consumer Data Readiness.” The third session of the day was ‘’Using Data to Drive Marketing Excellence’’ held by Elaine Rodrigo, Chief Insights & Analytics Officer, Reckitt followed by ‘’Leveraging Data for Brand Evolution’’ panel by Banali Malhotra, Managing Director, Rakbank in which Banali Luthra Malhotra shared Rakbank’s perspective on Data and Brand Evolution.
After the sessions that emphasized DATA from different perspectives and methodologies, Jessica Moini, Head of Sales Director, InMobi across MENA addressed IDFA changes and shared her insights on how best to navigate those changes to maximize mobile engagement in a multiscreen world. She highlighted the importance of emotional connection with the words, ‘’Most companies are doing a fantastic job at embracing technology and putting digital fall front of their interaction with consumers, but we need to work harder to humanize the digital experience because emotional connection is what keeps customers coming back.”
One of the most interesting panels of the event, ‘’Relevance is the New Reach’’ by TikTok leaders Annie Arsane Mattar, Platform Strategy Director and Sami Moutran, Head of B2B Marketing added an advertising perspective and shared remarkable numbers based on their studies. ‘’All this positivity and authenticity is transferred into ads. 71% of people don’t mind ads that are on the platform as long as they’re entertained. 63% say that they are open to hearing about ads and new products. It even touches the brand trust and credibility with more than half saying that they trust brands and they find it as a credible source to know about new brands and products. ‘’
Disrupt or Get Disrupted, panel held by Oya Canbaş, UK & Ireland Cluster General Manager, Bayer explained four steps to effectively respond to changing consumer trends. This session highlighted ways that marketers can continue to grow their business in a time of significant changes in consumer behaviour.
Chris Babayode, Managing Director, MMA EMEA elaborated MMA’s groundbreaking research findings on Attention and Cognition of Mobile Advertising.
At The Final Session of the event, “Attention Economy’’ moderated by Warrick Billingham, GM Brand at AdColony EMEA & Chairman of MMA Research Committee for MENA, the panellists were: Shaimaa Ismail, CMO at L’Oreal Egypt, Donnacha Kinsella, Strategy Insights & Data Lead for P&G at Starcom MENA and Mike Follett, Managing Director at Lumen Research explained why attention really is considered the holy grail of advertising, which is to measure what the viewer is actually tuning into.
Warrick Billingham said, ‘’Since the ad verification guidelines were introduced by the various digital advertising trade groups, media performance & a quality engagement has largely been measured as an ad that’s viewable based on MRC standards, delivered to an actual end-user which is measurable & brand safe.
There’s no disputing that this level of measurement has reached mass adoption, but these metrics alone don’t guarantee performance or business outcome. Measuring whether an ad is served or viewed is already a big enough challenge given the fragmentation in the space so chasing a more holistic view is well-intentioned. But a huge challenge. So, it really makes sense that the next logical iteration will start to look at ad performance beyond verification. To be able to measure the attention signals necessary to drive broader business outcomes. But it’s hard to do.
If you missed MMA IMPACT MENA 2021 VIRTUAL Event, visit https://bit.ly/3qucSm4 to review the sessions. To find out how “mature” your organization is when it comes to management and use of data, visit the Global Data Maturity Map: https://www.mmaglobal.com/data-maturity-map
