But the past few months haven’t exactly been kind to the advertising industry. After the January 25 Revolution, the advertising industry, much like the rest of the economy, came to an almost complete halt. Advertisers wanted to hold on to their money until they had a better idea of where the economy was going. For them, tightening their budget belts was smarter than risking the alternative, which resulted in sharp cuts to marketing expenditures. 

 

 

“After the revolution, the market was sleeping, nobody wanted to advertise and those who were willing to pay some money would want to spend it in the area of promotions,” says Ashraf Mahgoub, managing director of Roots Advertising. “Advertisers knew consumers [weren’t] paying attention to advertising and [were] more cost-conscious.”

 

 

This trend has left audiences wondering whether their Ramadan television marathons will be as chock-full of advertising or blissfully free of ads, heralding a not-so-bright future for the nation’s return to growth. According to industry insiders, larger companies in the food and telecoms sectors will make up the vast majority of advertisers looking to capitalize on Ramadan audiences. 

 

 

Ramadan, not to mention the summer season, is the holy time of the year for advertisers around Egypt — it isn’t just the peak season, it’s the season to advertise. It’s also when Egyptians tend to spend the most on food and certain consumer goods.

 

 

So it’s almost impossible to imagine this year’s TV lineup without a flood of new Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Mobinil, Vodafone or Etisalat ads. Advertisers usually pull out all the stops in an attempt to become the most talked about advertisement of the season. This naturally prompts many an office and iftar conversation to dissect various television spots or magazine spreads to vote on which ads are catchier than their competitors or who paid the bigger bucks. Rumors are also traded back and forth about how much artists or actors are being paid to endorse their products.

 

 

Experts say that this Ramadan isn’t going to be any different, at least for the big players in the food and telecommunications industries.

 

 

Mohamed Sabry, JWT Cairo’s managing director, explains business is starting to pick up again. “Now that we are moving towards a more stabilized environment, there are signs of market recovery.”

 

 

Hani Selim, communications manager at Leo Burnett, a multinational advertising agency, says that business is mostly back to normal.

 

 

“[Businesses] are back in business full-fledged; television, print and radio, everything. So the revolution did affect people for a while but it is over, we are past this, everything is now back to normal. The advertising campaigns are back and active.”

 

 

According to them, companies are hoping to use Ramadan to recoup lost profits. Some firms that have been holding back on spending likely have more money than they originally budgeted for this season, which could mean both more expensive and bolder campaigns. 

 

 

Mohamed Hammady, associate creative director at JWT Cairo, says this applies to larger companies in particular. “I expect a boom in Ramadan.

 

[…] Clients are very aggressive to try to compensate for the past period where they were absent [from the scene] and the losses they had incurred [post-January 25].”

 

 

He adds that companies usually allocate advertising budgets in advance, so they might have cash they haven’t spent since the revolution.

“They have the budget that they haven’t used, so they will spend it,” says Hammady.

 

 

But the same cannot be said about the smaller players in the field. Even Sabry is quick to point out that while there are signs of market recovery, smaller firms without as much capital may have to continue to cut back.

 

 

“For some, there will be budget cuts, for others it will be business as usual and for others still, there will be clients who shift budget from above-the-line to below-the-line (BTL) activities,” he says.

 

 

Sherif Abd El Moneim, president and CEO of Forward Media and Altitude Communication, a medium-sized ad agency, asserts that there may be some improvement, but advertisers are still a long way from pre-revolution spending. Advertisers are always careful where they spend their money, but the current status of the economy means “the pound has become very dear to them.” 

 

 

“Clients are still uncertain, they don’t know where they are going,” says Abd El Moneim. “They can’t even set a budget because they have no clue what is coming and can’t see anything in front of them.”

 

 

With advertisers looking to spend less, ad houses see an opportunity to go with more unconventional BTL ad campaigns, which are focused, direct-marketing strategies that use tools such as SMS messaging and social media versus television or print ads. Mahgoub, whose agency specializes in BTL advertising, explains that his clients used to be reluctant to try these types of campaigns, despite the fact that they normally cost less than traditional mass-media marketing. But business has started picking up, with advertisers giving it a chance during Ramadan. 

 

 

“Clients are advertising, not to raise awareness, but to display the Ramadan promotions they are offering,” says Mahgoub.

 

 

Online advertising, another cheaper option, is also taking off, with the help of a growing number of specialized, online marketing firms.

 

 

Advertisers have also noticed the sudden increase in internet penetration during the past few months with the popularity of Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites going viral. Official statistics show up to 25 million Egyptians are now online, and many of them have plenty of disposable income.

 

 

“There is more and more interest in this [online] medium as it creates friends and communities for the brands,” says Sabry.

 

 

“Plus, the revolution started online so people are moving to viral ads, so you might see an ad campaign with just one ad aired on TV and the rest on YouTube,” says Hammady. “Companies are moving toward 360 campaigns; which include radio, TV, outdoors, online and so on.”

 

 

“Now people are starting to focus on online because they discovered a lot of Egyptians are using the Internet so they realized the importance of the online clientele,” Mahgoub says. 

 

 

Experts say the shift was hastened by the revolution but is also indicative of international trends that are seeing more and more companies spend big online. Like BTL advertising, embracing online marketing saves firms money as compared to broadcast or print. 

 

 

“Clients are trying to reach the people with the lowest cost possible, they always are, but now the budgets are smaller,” says Mahgoub. “In the past, multinationals used to flood the media with branding campaigns, now they are going more toward online and BTL. […] They are looking for more direct, more efficient ways to reach the customer, he still wants to be there, but with lower costs.”

 

 

But despite the hype of online marketing, television is still king.

 

 

“Television is a major medium of course, not everyone is online. Television remains a big thing,” says Selim.

 

 

Hammady echoes Selim, adding that online campaigns aren’t going to replace television in Egypt, at least for now. “Television always wins. They are just adding new media, it won’t replace television.”

 

 

That being said, most are turning their backs on State TV, regardless of their size or industry. Hammady explains that state TV lost credibility and much of its loyal viewership driving advertisers to satellite channels.

 

 

“Now nobody even asks me about state TV,” says Abd El Moneim. “State TV has lost everything, viewership and credibility and so of course income.” 

 

 

The most popular channels are those with current affairs talk shows.

 

 

“Everyone is looking at talk shows because they have the biggest viewership now,” says Selim. “Under the current circumstances this is what people watch the most now.”

 

 

Whether this revival in the advertising business driven by larger firms will last after the holy season of advertising remains to be seen.

 

 

“Advertising depends on the economy,” says Hammady. “We can’t predict anything now.” bt