We, an uncertain generation, live in uncertain times, with uncertain media. Everything is changing. Timeless rules don’t apply anymore. Time to embrace the new. Creatives rejoice!
A creative voice takes on unique character when it rises from the deep and intricate well of culture and is communicated to the people of that culture. We’ve always seen a plethora of locally cultured creativity coming out of Egypt and Lebanon. But now the game is changing in the Middle East. The rise of individual and collective creative voices on social media and YouTube has created a fertile landscape for creative expressions of so many different types. The key for advertisers is how to join this movement harmoniously and become part of the conversation, using traditional and untraditional skills in new ways. Many international and local brands are embracing new media and backing it with increasing investments.
The other day at our agency, we met Kharabeesh, a media house based out of Jordan that started as a bunch of passionate animators doing short YouTube animations and now has become a media hub with millions of subscribers and viewers. Kharabeesh’s content is locally inspired and directed towards this market.
The media channels coming out of Saudi Arabia — Uturn and Telfaz11, for example — feature astoundingly creative and engaging content. Saudi youth is creating a voice for the new generation that bravely pushes the limits of creativity within the accepted social values.
Kuwait has also been producing some talent on the musical side of creativity. Sons of Yusuf are blurring the lines between hip-hop and Arabian culture. Yak’s and his younger brother Abdul’ Rahman are on a mission to challenge the status quo and build an art and hip-hop culture in the Middle East. Their last album was done with the help of Grammy award-winning artist Erykah Badu and Jay Electronica.
With the growth of this raw local talent in the Middle East, there is much potential for advertisers and marketers to tap content creators. But we need to realise that content is being commodified—it’s crucial to put all efforts on making that content a premium experience for viewers/users to see or interact with. People will only care when the content is great. In the old days, you could get away with bombarding people with poor communications and use paid media to expose your message. Not anymore. Our local audiences have the power to zap brands in five seconds.
And the audience has started to shift in the Middle East, and the whole world, from the Millennial Generation to Generation Z, or Generation Katniss, as some magazines have called them in reference to the rebellion character from the Hunger Games. This tech-proficient generation is looking to change the world because they know they can. With today’s portals and plethora of locally relevant creative sources, we are the most equipped of all time to make culturally-relevant meaningful experiences to satisfy a diversity of tastes.
