Who will get the ad dollars in 2008?

Joseph Ghoussoub has faith in traditional methods of advertising. In seeking to prove this point, he turned the subject question of his speech on its head. "The question that should be asked," according to Ghoussoub, "is where are the advertising dollars in 2008 coming from, and why?" In the course of his address he analysed the sources and audiences of various adverts to get to the heart of the advertising industry's financial future.

Primarily the attention of the advertising world must be turned to the emerging audience which, in the case of this region, is the young market. "The Middle East as a whole has the fastest growing youth population in the world with more than 200 million people under the age of 25 and 62% of the population under the age of 35. So what we have actually in very simple terms, is young people with money," he said. Consequently, brands that appeal to this segment have enjoyed profits in recent years. "It's very good news for certain brands but it's also very good news for the media aimed at these consumers and these brands," noted Ghoussoub.

Companies aiming to grow their reputation and market share through advertising ought therefore to concentrate on this group and ascertain those channels which are likely to successfully convey corporate messages to them.

Though there is a belief that nowadays using the right channel means using online techniques, Ghoussoub is convinced there are other ways forward: "Digital is a driver but it's not actually the only one."

He concluded by saying: "In asking where our ad dollars will go in 2008, we shouldn't be exploring which medium will lose out to another but which specific products out of the thousands of products we have will best suit an advertiser's needs." Ghoussoub believes that "next year and beyond the winners will be those who can make sense of the clutter, who can find the best venue for their messages and their audiences, who can find the young people with money."

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