Pastures new part 3

No doubt everyone in the creative industry as been asked in the last 2 years "would you like to relocated to Dubai?"

My answer is 'no' but I always wondered what and why would some one go over there.

The person I interviewed wants to remain anonymous so we'll call him Agent X, he worked in Proximity Dubai for the last 2 years and is returning in May.

Why did you move to Dubai?
Most people back home thought it may be for the money. I left just as freelance wages were soaring and the demand for Flash Developers in London was at an all time high. Creatives in Dubai ad agencies are very rarely paid more than that in London, and don't be fooled by the tax-free status, as Dubai pays less anyway. Not forgetting that the Municipality enjoy finding ways to squeeze money out of you such as Salik, housing fees, extortionate rent water and electricity. More importantly(!) the insane tax on alcohol - you couldn't even buy a bottle of Fosters (aka piss) for less than a fiver, and the average entrance is usually £20!

But life isn't all about money, in London I found myself often working with South Africans and Australians who would tell stories of beautiful weather and hitting the beach. Hearing that - after a rainy weekend followed by a dreary morning commuting to work on the Thameslink - left me in little doubt that a change was needed. Initially I hadn't considered Dubai until I got an invitation to an interview. The offer of relocation seemed too tempting to refuse!

What were your expectations?
Apart from the intense heat, I tried not to have any. Figured it'd be more of a surprise that way.

Were the realities drastically different?
My first thoughts were that the ATL work was extremely disappointing. Practically all billboards simply feature a massive property developer logo, or MUPIs with images of steaming pizza, burgers or fried chicken. Where were the music artists, the TV promos, or other elements of Arabian culture that marketers wanted me to discover? On the plus side, the women were stunning! haha!

What's your view on the local market as it stands?
To be honest, it could be better. There are huge gaping black holes of disorganisation which have seemingly sucked much of the creativity away from the work. Many of the problems stem from clients not being 100% committed to working "with" their agencies. Instead there is a supply and demand culture apparent in every aspect of Dubai life - you want something done, there's a guy who will do it for next to nothing - and it seems that many client-side marketing departments expect the same.

Reading between the lines, a typical scenario consists of the client saying:
"We've got a bag of peanuts for you. Don't ask me to sign too many scamps off as I've got lots of other meetings in neighbouring countries. Just get it done in a quarter of the time you'd normally require. Oh and don't be too experimental as I need to cover my ass, wouldn't want to risk that next pay cheque would we?". The layouts they do actually sign off are only later turned on their head by a CEO putting in far more than his "2-fils" worth.

There are rare cases where the clients are not part of the problem, but somehow good intentions get put aside allowing agency politics or external suppliers to creep in throwing the workflow into disarray.

Did you go over there to cause a change or to learn?
Before arriving, I was unaware whether a change was even needed. Subsequently, I have endeavoured to cause a change and have managed to cast a few ripples. But after a year or so, I realised that the areas so desperately needing change have their roots buried far deeper than the reach of any single Flash Developer, or Creative Director even.

Any regrets on moving over?
You may be surprised to find out my answer is "no". Even though there is a lot to be desired work-wise, the lifestyle side of things have been and continue to be a great experience.
Top tips to survive out there?

• Don't get caught with your y-fronts/knickers round your ankles on the beach.
• Don't give in to the soaring temptations of road rage.
• Forget your love for drugs and porn, especially if you're a DJ.
• Stick to manly clothes if male!
• Overall, enjoy the lifestyle, watching a modern city grow at such a rapid rate, and everything else Dubai has to offer whilst the fascination lasts.

Top places that you have found whilst out there?

• Jazira Beach and Al Maya island have seriously great beach parties and BBQs. You'd quickly forget that you were in a conservative arab country.
• The Lodge is a massive open-air club, a lot of booze-fuelled fun has been had.
• The desert - fun to go camping in with a boot-load of Heineken and lots of food for a BBQ. There are real camels roaming around too!
• Faraya, Lebanon has great ski slopes in the winter. The indoor slope at Ski Dubai is not bad either (considering it's in a shopping centre in the desert).
• If you like cars, Al Diyafah Street or Jumeria Beach Residence (JBR) on a Friday night. Expect to see the latest GTR plus some seriously pimped out rides. It's a full on show!
• Also Dubai occupies a location with great access to other parts of the world, for example The Maldives, Thailand, India, Egypt, etc. So lots to explore.

Predictions for the market. The credit crunch has finally hit Dubai in a big way and many clients are slashing their marketing budgets, particularly in FMCG and Dubai-based property development (Abu Dhabi and telcos still seem to have a fair amount of cash!). So times are not great. Hopefully things will pick up and return to normal soon.

However, it will still be a long time before you regularly see stunning creative work come out of the UAE. Despite world firsts in architecture, internet infrastructure is far behind the UK, with the fastest home connection being 4Mbps for about £100 per month (neighbouring countries are far worse off). Ultimately meaning the MENA region has the same filesize restrictions you would have found in the UK circa 2002. Twitter have only recently been unblocked by the government, and many sites such as Flickr still remain fully censored. If it's gonna happen, it'll probably happen in Europe or the US first.

THE END

I'd like to thank "Agent X" for his time and a brilliant first interview of the year.

My favourite Obama ads

Obama is president elect and congratulations to him.

He is a great speaker that instils the confidence in a nation which has been lost, he is a powerful character with the personality you want to like. So congratulations Mr President.

But some people want to put him down many of which the arguements don't really make sense, especially the ones with racial conatations. One of the more valid one are that he bought his way into the white house which could be a valid point as he spent double the amount the opposition did (not bad for some one that had no money), but boy did did he do it in class.

Here's a selection of my personal favourites from the campaign

TV/Viral Obama campaigns








CNNBC Video customiser

DipDive documentaries

Here's a generic piece I particularly liked

One word to describe the result - NY Times

Pastures new - part 2

This is a follow up post to why people up root an move else where for their profession in advertising, today it's Simon Gut he's at HMX media in Soho.

A bit of background, Simon moved over from South Africa with his wife where he previously ran a successful online creative boutique called Mojo, he then decided to sell up and come over to the UK with his wife Simone.

Now that's out of the way, let's begin

Why did you move to London
After selling our boutique agency and looking for a new adventure I decided to move to London.

It was a tossup with Dubai (which seemed like better money at the time), however I expected to gain better experience in London, since most of the UAE agencies are run by ex pats from around the globe anyway.

So what were your expectations at the time?
Cutting edge advertising – its part of the BIG3: London / New York / Paris - guess I was mistaken. Don’t get me wrong - the quality of work being produced in London is good - but only if a ton of money is spent. Exorbitant sums of advertising fees are accrued before the concepts are even briefed. Processes seem to dominate the creative industries and I’m yet to see great creative work that is produced on low budgets. They seem to be far and few between, but when they do appear they shine.

Were the realities drastically different?
O’h yes. Peoples roles and responsibilities seemed to be quite pigeon holed. But not to say it’s all bad… I guess it allows me to do what I do best.

What's your view on the local market as it stands?
I think the quality of online material from the smaller digital agencies seems to be much better than that of the larger marketing giants. Far too many of the larger agencies sell themselves as media neutral and integrated specialists. It seems to be cheap talk, which many clients/brands are catching onto. What the hell is media neutral? What were they before they were media neutral. And just because you have a web-designer – it doesn’t make you a digital specialist. I guess it’s bound to happen the more ad spend shifts to online.

Any regrets on moving over?
Not really – it’s been an interesting experience. I would like to attempt the same move to New York at least once in my career to compare notes.

Did you come over here to cause a change or to learn?
Not really, the decision was based on an adventure – and it’s been one. Learning comes naturally when you’re having fun – and yes I’m having fun.

Top tips to survive?

· As a foreigner, make sure you acquire many recognisable British brands in your portfolio as soon as possible. Many agencies seem to require this regardless of the fact that you have international brands. How is Microsoft not a recognisable brand – go figure. I guess the requirement should definitely apply if you are applying to agencies working with FMCG brands.

· Make sure you find a decent agent to represent you. They seem to be far and few between.

· Never stop updating your portfolio – what’s great today seems crap tomorrow.

· Don’t be afraid to network. Keep yourself informed of all industry events, whether showcases, speaker events or just general get-togethers. I meet up with a group of folks from different agencies every Thursday evening for drinks. It’s a great way to meet other creative’s and learn about their latest achievements and their companies.

Top places that you have found whilst out there?
This is advertising – I don’t believe that there is such a thing as a good or bad company. There is however good and bad creative.

Some great creative to surface out of London in the last while seems to be from the folks at Glue London, Goodtechnology, Lowe London. There’s plenty more but we all know who they are.

Predictions for the market.
If you are working within an online environment - good for you. Ad spend is definitely heading your way. Especially with the gloom on an English recession, marketers will gain greater reach online at lower costs, with the reassurance of measurable ROI. Consideration for the future of digital is film experience as the IPTV arena is growing rapidly, an area many above the line agencies will try and cash in on if not already.

Well thats the end, I'd like to tank Simon and I hope you've enjoyed this post, you can see Simons wares at www.bootleg.co.za

Pastures new - part 1

I've recently discovered a great site, which tells the story of a creative from Hong Kong, she was already quite accomplished as an art director in Hong Kong but she decided to come to the UK to find pastures new.

She's called Gwen Yip and her blog is called WORKING Holiday in London it is a very interesting blog that really tells of frustrations and joys of her journey.

Gwen is not the only person I know of that has come this side to work, I have been told various reasons but the one I like the most is that they rate the UK as one of the most creative places in the world, which is nice when it's from people from all around the world.

If you have a dream to work somewhere else it would be interesting to hear from you.

Lovely photo blog

Time to step back a bit from advertising.

I found this site yesterday called Da Cafe, it's a photo blog site of a family in Japan since the birth of their second child.

Now this may not seem so interesting to some of you but to me it's a very sweet way of telling a story. Also the pictures in the blog are stunning.

So come on what are you waiting for go to Da Cafe.

The art of story telling

How do you get your audience hooked on your every word?

Tell them a story, story telling is great way you can captivate and have them hanging on your every word.

Louis Vuitton have a website called journeys, they go through the life of celebs not just now but on the way to becoming a star.

The site doesn't hard sell the brand but it does feel genuine and you do take that away with you after closing down the site.

The way the video has been shot and cut together is brilliant and it definitely gives you a sense of nostalgia and warmth.

The question is would I send this on? No I probably wouldn't, it's not a piece I would send off to my friends but it's definitely a well made piece that I will refer to.

The reasons are as follows. The site does its job well but it's not the type of site everyone will appreciate (class thing maybe), but what it does do is that it gives me a great warmth about the brand. Being LV it probably has a big association with being cold, rich etc. of course this doesn't change I still can't afford the damn stuff but it does change my mind about how the brand itself is placed.

Anyway I hope you'll enjoy it.