AmeriLEB
February 23rd, 2009, 08:35 AM
I thought i would create a thread on Lebanese Expat contributions to the world...I want to post an article from 2004 on Lebanese in Dubai...and ponder the thought of what it means now that Dubai seems to be feeling the effects of the global financial meltdwn...now getting 10 bill in support from Abu dabi..Will the Lebanese survive again? will Lebanon benifit from the return of companies and expats ..?????
Are the Lebanese taking over Dubai?
Regional hub dominated by expatriate advertising and marketing executives
It’s no accident that Dubai Media City strongly resembles the AUB campus
K. Raveendran
Special to The Daily Star
DUBAI: Visitors to the sprawling Dubai Media City and Internet City complex cannot but be struck by the place’s resemblance to a Beirut university campus. Its coffee houses and eating joints are overflowing with young Lebanese men and women, grouped in threes and fours, engaged in all kinds of discussions.
They do include some students from the nearby American University of Dubai and the numerous institutes within the Dubai Knowledge Village, but an overwhelming majority are senior executives working for the media and technology companies located in Dubai’s showpiece knowledge-economy free zone.
A large share of top management positions in Dubai Internet City-based technology companies, including global giants such as Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, etc., is with the Lebanese. But nowhere is the Lebanese entrepreneurship as dominant as it is in the local advertising industry. In fact, most of the major advertising agencies in the UAE are either owned or managed by Lebanese and these include Team, Leo Burnett, TMI, Memac, Impact-BBDO, FP Seven, Intermarkets, Media Edge, Asdaa and Starcom.
Also, as much as 65-70 percent of the management of all the leading advertising and media companies is in the hands of Lebanese professionals. So strong is Lebanese dominance over the industry that some quarters even refer to it as the entrenched “Lebanese mafia.”
The description may have stuck because some of these companies have cross and joint ownerships, which the managements have established as part of a farsighted move to consolidate their respective market shares.
In the face of such consolidation, a client walking out of an existing relationship into a new partnership may in all probability be working with another company owned by the same management, thus ensuring that the business stays within the group. Maghdesi Talal of Team, Joseph Ghossoub of Intermarkets, and Raja Trad of Leo Burnett, the three leading figures in the business, are said to own most of the major media and ad companies in Dubai and the UAE.
The Lebanese influence on the industry may be traced to the fact that Beirut was once the main regional business hub before Dubai emerged on the scene and established its undisputed sway over the Middle East in many spheres. All the advertising budgets for the region used to be handled out of Lebanon, and obviously leading global brands as well as advertising companies had a long-standing relationship with media and advertising companies in Beirut. The Lebanese, with their craft and talent, were already a major influence on the advertising and marketing scene in the Middle East and the global partners were willing to entrust more and more responsibilities to them.
“In the 1960s and ‘70s, Beirut was the de facto capital of pan-Arab advertising, but with the civil war breaking out in 1975, most of the Beirut-based companies flew out of the troubled territory and set up shop in Dubai,” points out Emile Kayruz, an industry veteran and CEO of media company RLP, another Lebanese outfit. When these companies shifted, the global brands as well as their media partners started working with them in their new hub. Beirut’s loss thus became Dubai’s gain.
Dubai’s unique qualities and the pro-business approach of its rulers ensured that the new hub did not have to reinvent the wheel. As Dubai grew in its stature as the regional business and trade hub, the transplanted Beirut companies found a most congenial environment for business growth and upgrading of capabilities. And the result was dramatic: Dubai not only emerged as a regular stop for international players, it also scaled new heights of creativity in the universe of marketing and advertising.
Over the past few years, the Dubai players found themselves getting more and more integrated into the global networks as international companies sought to extend their reach to the regional markets. With affiliations and mergers came new capabilities, which were necessary to service new requirements such as customer relations management as well as specializations in media buying and public relations. By virtue of their leadership in the local industry, the Lebanese were in the forefront of all these initiatives.
“The remarkable Lebanese success in the advertising business must be attributed to their entrepreneurial and outward-looking qualities,” says Ravi Prasad, an Indian advertising veteran working for a leading agency in Dubai.
Further, their exposure to the European culture, proficiency in languages and liberal approaches made them very comfortable for the executives of global associates and companies to deal with, he adds.
This in turn brought in a cosmopolitan approach to their own businesses and they had all nationalities working for them, which helped their businesses flourish. The stress on “form” in relation to “content,” their tastes in dressing as well as their customs made them eminently suited for the showmanship required to succeed in marketing and advertising.
It is a tribute to the contribution of the Lebanese to the local advertising industry’s growth that the mandate to represent Dubai at international forums has been given to people like Ghossoub. Dubai recently won the right to host the 40th World Congress of the International Advertising Association (IAA) in March, 2006.
The hosting of international conferences is big business for Dubai, and the emirate’s bid to host the Congress was presented to the IAA board by a team led by Ghossoub. The event, at which about 3,000 of the world’s most influential advertising, marketing and media professionals will deliberate on the industry trends, is scheduled to take place at the Dubai International Convention Center, the venue of the celebrated IMF-World Bank Group annual meetings in September last year. The Dubai authorities commended Ghossoub for his success.
“This win against stiff competition from advertising and marketing center in the US and Europe is recognition of the sterling work of Dubai-based professionals in the field of advertising and marketing and will put Dubai on the global advertising map,” an elated Ghossoub, who serves as member of the IAA global executive committee, said after the bid was accepted.
Ghossoub and his colleague Raja Trad, CEO of Leo Burnett, have been nominated to the board of directors of the newly created Dubai Media Foundation, the only two Lebanese to be given this honor. Their nomination to the foundation, created by a decree from the UAE Prime Minister and Dubai Ruler, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is regarded as a recognition of their contributions in the advertising and marketing fields.
The foundation will operate as an independent tax-exempt corporation, take financial control over the local press, and develop a national media strategy in line with Dubai’s efforts to boost tourism and trade.
Copyright©Daily Star
Are the Lebanese taking over Dubai?
Regional hub dominated by expatriate advertising and marketing executives
It’s no accident that Dubai Media City strongly resembles the AUB campus
K. Raveendran
Special to The Daily Star
DUBAI: Visitors to the sprawling Dubai Media City and Internet City complex cannot but be struck by the place’s resemblance to a Beirut university campus. Its coffee houses and eating joints are overflowing with young Lebanese men and women, grouped in threes and fours, engaged in all kinds of discussions.
They do include some students from the nearby American University of Dubai and the numerous institutes within the Dubai Knowledge Village, but an overwhelming majority are senior executives working for the media and technology companies located in Dubai’s showpiece knowledge-economy free zone.
A large share of top management positions in Dubai Internet City-based technology companies, including global giants such as Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, etc., is with the Lebanese. But nowhere is the Lebanese entrepreneurship as dominant as it is in the local advertising industry. In fact, most of the major advertising agencies in the UAE are either owned or managed by Lebanese and these include Team, Leo Burnett, TMI, Memac, Impact-BBDO, FP Seven, Intermarkets, Media Edge, Asdaa and Starcom.
Also, as much as 65-70 percent of the management of all the leading advertising and media companies is in the hands of Lebanese professionals. So strong is Lebanese dominance over the industry that some quarters even refer to it as the entrenched “Lebanese mafia.”
The description may have stuck because some of these companies have cross and joint ownerships, which the managements have established as part of a farsighted move to consolidate their respective market shares.
In the face of such consolidation, a client walking out of an existing relationship into a new partnership may in all probability be working with another company owned by the same management, thus ensuring that the business stays within the group. Maghdesi Talal of Team, Joseph Ghossoub of Intermarkets, and Raja Trad of Leo Burnett, the three leading figures in the business, are said to own most of the major media and ad companies in Dubai and the UAE.
The Lebanese influence on the industry may be traced to the fact that Beirut was once the main regional business hub before Dubai emerged on the scene and established its undisputed sway over the Middle East in many spheres. All the advertising budgets for the region used to be handled out of Lebanon, and obviously leading global brands as well as advertising companies had a long-standing relationship with media and advertising companies in Beirut. The Lebanese, with their craft and talent, were already a major influence on the advertising and marketing scene in the Middle East and the global partners were willing to entrust more and more responsibilities to them.
“In the 1960s and ‘70s, Beirut was the de facto capital of pan-Arab advertising, but with the civil war breaking out in 1975, most of the Beirut-based companies flew out of the troubled territory and set up shop in Dubai,” points out Emile Kayruz, an industry veteran and CEO of media company RLP, another Lebanese outfit. When these companies shifted, the global brands as well as their media partners started working with them in their new hub. Beirut’s loss thus became Dubai’s gain.
Dubai’s unique qualities and the pro-business approach of its rulers ensured that the new hub did not have to reinvent the wheel. As Dubai grew in its stature as the regional business and trade hub, the transplanted Beirut companies found a most congenial environment for business growth and upgrading of capabilities. And the result was dramatic: Dubai not only emerged as a regular stop for international players, it also scaled new heights of creativity in the universe of marketing and advertising.
Over the past few years, the Dubai players found themselves getting more and more integrated into the global networks as international companies sought to extend their reach to the regional markets. With affiliations and mergers came new capabilities, which were necessary to service new requirements such as customer relations management as well as specializations in media buying and public relations. By virtue of their leadership in the local industry, the Lebanese were in the forefront of all these initiatives.
“The remarkable Lebanese success in the advertising business must be attributed to their entrepreneurial and outward-looking qualities,” says Ravi Prasad, an Indian advertising veteran working for a leading agency in Dubai.
Further, their exposure to the European culture, proficiency in languages and liberal approaches made them very comfortable for the executives of global associates and companies to deal with, he adds.
This in turn brought in a cosmopolitan approach to their own businesses and they had all nationalities working for them, which helped their businesses flourish. The stress on “form” in relation to “content,” their tastes in dressing as well as their customs made them eminently suited for the showmanship required to succeed in marketing and advertising.
It is a tribute to the contribution of the Lebanese to the local advertising industry’s growth that the mandate to represent Dubai at international forums has been given to people like Ghossoub. Dubai recently won the right to host the 40th World Congress of the International Advertising Association (IAA) in March, 2006.
The hosting of international conferences is big business for Dubai, and the emirate’s bid to host the Congress was presented to the IAA board by a team led by Ghossoub. The event, at which about 3,000 of the world’s most influential advertising, marketing and media professionals will deliberate on the industry trends, is scheduled to take place at the Dubai International Convention Center, the venue of the celebrated IMF-World Bank Group annual meetings in September last year. The Dubai authorities commended Ghossoub for his success.
“This win against stiff competition from advertising and marketing center in the US and Europe is recognition of the sterling work of Dubai-based professionals in the field of advertising and marketing and will put Dubai on the global advertising map,” an elated Ghossoub, who serves as member of the IAA global executive committee, said after the bid was accepted.
Ghossoub and his colleague Raja Trad, CEO of Leo Burnett, have been nominated to the board of directors of the newly created Dubai Media Foundation, the only two Lebanese to be given this honor. Their nomination to the foundation, created by a decree from the UAE Prime Minister and Dubai Ruler, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is regarded as a recognition of their contributions in the advertising and marketing fields.
The foundation will operate as an independent tax-exempt corporation, take financial control over the local press, and develop a national media strategy in line with Dubai’s efforts to boost tourism and trade.
Copyright©Daily Star