Twofour54 launches freelancer visa and licence package in Abu Dhabi, UAE November 4, 2009
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at www.copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising , 6commentsIt’s finally here. Abu Dhabi’s media free zone twofour54 has gone live with its freelance package.
I just had a detailed chat with Greg Sweeting, the General Counsel for twofour54. Greg is a solicitor with over 15 years of media law experience, and looked after Showtime’s legal affairs across the MENA region prior to joining twofour54.
Greg Sweeting, General Counsel, twofour54
Why twofour54?
“The reason why we exist here at twofour54 – it’s all about building the creative content industry in Abu Dhabi for the Arabic world for Arabic content,” says Greg, explaining the philosophy behind twofour54.
The freelance option was one that was much awaited – one can’t think of a production industry without freelance talent.
UAE National Day logo unveiled November 2, 2009
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at www.copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising , 5commentsUAE National Day has a nice, brush-stroke logo this year, as reported by Gulf News.
It will be the official element in all communication across the seven emirates, according to the Higher Committee for National Day celebrations headed by Abdul Rahman Al Owais, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development.
UAE National Day logo
Source: Gulf News
Creatives in UAE… get ready for those National Day briefs raining on you… aaaaaany time now! I’ve made my share as well. Mail me ones you are proud of – maybe you’ll see them here with due credits. Old ones will do too. Good for err… reference.
How low can advertising creative go in UAE? You have no idea! October 29, 2009
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at www.copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising , 8commentsThe state of advertising had reached an award-winning low in the Dubai Lynx when award upon award was withdrawn for plagiarism and the ‘Agency of the Year’ title stripped off the offending agency.
But looks like no one’s learnt a lesson. Yet.
Blatant copy-paste advertising is still rampant. With no regrets. Sad!
Here’s an original big idea from my ex- creative partner Sherif Galal, senior art director at TBWA\RAAD Abu Dhabi, for a client we worked for together – ADAC (Abu Dhabi Airport Company) for UAE’s National Day last year:
The Original: ADAC's UAE National Day Ad 'Salute' by TBWARAAD
And here’s what was spotted by another friend from the agency – Joey Llovitt (yeah – you read that right) – on a DeviantArt portfolio:
Copycat Ad for Aerotech Aviation
Now, the original ad wasn’t one that you’d miss. It was on the front page of Adsoftheworld and still exists there – with more than 70 votes. It made it to the Dubai Lynx shortlist too, last year, but thanks to the F** agency’s creative director F***’s Fiasco many deserving ads lost to copycat ads as you read on this blog earlier.
News has it that some people very high up had a very good feeling when they saw Sherif’s ad on the UAE National Day. Perhaps, it’s the original ad’s goodness which makes it attractive to steal.
“I feel really bad… but at the same time, it’s an indication that the ad was so good,” says Sherif, with his trademark laugh. Imitation might be flattery, but ripping-off is the lowest form of life, noted one of the commentors in response to the copied ad on Deviant Art.
The copy-cat ad was posted on DeviantArt by the ID bluemp, traced back to one Mr. Md Naeem (LOL… he shares my surname) a 27 year old web designer from Pakistan.
I have been blogging about creative plagiarism and ethics in advertising for long now, as readers of my blog know. So, I decided to put these ads up but also give the offending party the benefit of doubt. I spoke to Naeem and asked him what the story is. And it only got worse.
He said: “What I upload on my website is not done by myself. This is one of my friend. He done that.”
So, we have a copied ad, that too posted in someone’s portfolio who says it’s not an ad done by him.
Well, someone’s done it.
Some poor client has paid for it.
And now that the word is out, some agency and creative better pay for this sheer laziness and insolence.
I asked Sherif what he thinks should be done now. And here’s what he said.
“Everyone should know. The company that this guy sold the ad to should know. I would stop him working in advertising. It would be like a lesson to other people not to steal work. “
Sherif Galal
Senior Art Director
TBWA\RAAD Abu Dhabi
Friends in the industry like Louai Alasfahani of the anubisblog fame (notoriety, rather) invest considerable time exposing creative stealing in the region.
Perhaps with these name and shame posts, we will be able to rid our agencies and industry of the kind of scum that copies other people’s ads, puts them in their portfolio and brings everyone a bad name.
Has your work ever been stolen?
What would YOU do if this happened to you as a creative?
Comments (and curses) are welcome…
Freelance Copywriter in Abu Dhabi – why it’s good to have one… October 29, 2009
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at www.copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising , 7comments
The state of copywriting in Abu Dhabi, UAE
Potential Client (PC): Hello… is it Mr Farrukh? Do you do copywriting?
Me: Yes, how can I help you.
PC: I have some text for my brochure. It’s all written. I have done it myself. Can you look at it?
Me: Do you need help with editing it?
PC: No… no. Just read it and maybe, make some changes. Like, make it more beautiful? You know…
Me: Ok, if you could email it to me please – I’ll have a look and let you know what I think.
PC: How much will it cost?
Me: I will let you know once I have seen what shape the writing is in.
PC: It’s just a few sentences. I have already written it.
Me: Sure, it could be just one line – but if you need professional copywriting, it will come at a cost.
PC: Can you write a few ‘catchy’ phrases as well with that – you know, as a ‘gift’? 3-4 at least?
Me: You mean a tag line? Does your brand have one?
PC: No, but my wife and I have some ideas – maybe you could add to that? Just as a friend.
Me: Sorry, I don’t work that way.
PC: But it’s only 2-3 lines. Don’t tell me you will charge hundreds of dirhmas for that.
Me: Taglines are worth a lot more. How much do you think ‘Just do it‘ is worth?
PC: Ok, ok. You just make my brochure text beautiful and catchy. My neighbour and grocery guy can give me a few catchy lines. For free.
Me: I’m sure they can. I wish your brand luck though.
PC: Thanks. Do you also do ‘copyright’? Maybe you can copyright the slogan we come up with.
Me: Um…no. I don’t copyright. You might not need to.
PC: What if it’s really good… you know… and some big brand copies it?
Me: We’ll see.
Another day in the life of a freelance copywriter in Abu Dhabi… Ahlan Wa Sahlan!
[Disclaimer for dummies: The conversation above is a 'dummy' conversation, meaning fictional. If it has any resemblance to a person or brand, alive or dead, blame your wild imagination, not me. It is also not in any way associated to the delicious copy in the picture above.]
Do you have a similar conversation to share? Comments are welcome…
twofour54 ibtikar launches creative lab for funding young creative Arabs October 19, 2009
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at www.copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising , add a comment
Money follows ideas, it’s often said. So, if you’re a cool, talented Arab with a big idea for an online, TV, or film project, Abu Dhabi’s a great place to be.
You get the idea, and we’ll get you the funds and support. That seems to be the motto for ‘creative lab‘ launched today by twofour54 ibtikar, the media industry funding and support pillar of twofour54 Abu Dhabi.
twofour54 ibtikar: creative lab offers grant funding and business support to talented Arab individuals from the UAE and across the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region. If all you’ve got is an idea, you can now benefit from seed funding, development guidance and planning by creative lab to get your dream project off the ground.
Unlimited Power Online in Dubai – How to Make Money on the Internet October 12, 2009
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at www.copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising , 6commentsUnlimited Power Online (UPO) is back in Dubai for the second time. You read about Unlimited Power Online I on my blog when some of the world’s hottest internet marketing gurus arrived last year to share their success secrets in the UAE.
The 2008 Unlimited Power Online event which I attended was packed to capacity
Participants at UPO 2008 listen with rapt attention on cool ways to succeed online
For internet strategists like me, it was a dream come true to personally meet online experts like Michael Koenigs of Traffic Geyser, John Carlton – the copywriting legend, Mike Filsaime known for his Butterfly Marketing techniques, Russell Brunson, Barry Dunlop, Andrew Lock, Reg Athwal and more who presented at the first UPO event last year in Dubai.
Ram and Gautam Ganglani of Right Selection, and Ernesto Verdugo, the world-travelled ‘entertrainer’ whose events almost always get overbooked in Dubai, made it possible for people in the UAE to meet and learn from some of the world’s best minds in the online industry.
Last year, Ernesto had promised me at the first event that he will aim to bring even bigger names to Dubai and UAE soon – on my wish list were Frank Kern and John Reese. And he’s coming closer to that promise this year with the 2009 Unlimited Power Online conference.
Choosing a corporate blogging platform? 10 reasons why Wordpress is better for business than Blogger June 18, 2009
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at www.copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising , 9commentsSo many businesses are ready to enter the blogging world. The first question is where to blog? Should it be Blogger (owned by Google) or Wordpress (open source CMS as well as free blogging service)? What’s the difference? What’s good from a marketing and advertising person’s point of view?
I blog on Blogger as well as Wordpress. And here’s why Wordpress gets my vote. 10 solid reasons:
Say hello to my blog’s new look – the SEO-optimised Copyblogger theme for Wordpress May 12, 2009
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at www.copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising , 2commentsUpdate 20 June 2009: It was getting very time consuming tweaking the Copyblogger theme’s style sheet – the fonts were too big to enable two or three columns easily. Now I’m using Prosumer theme. It’s 3 columns by default – working better in Firefox than Internet Explorer. Almost everything does, anyway.
Warning: Geeky post ahead. If you’re an out-and-out ad person with no interest in blogs, templates and themes, go have a coffee instead. This post is pure blog-talk.
Something recently went terribly wrong with my blog’s Google indexing. All the posts were showing up with the same blog title, not the post title. So, every result from my blog showing up in Google would say “Journalist and copywriter….etc.” with the post content relevant to the search showing up only in the result description.
Readers who are into SEO can understand my utter shock. For someone who’s Google’s first result for his targeted keywords, this is the worst nightmare ever. Many sleepless nights were subsequently spent tweaking code, deactivating plugins, rebuilding and resubmitting sitemaps. Nothing seemed to work to get my post titles back on Google.
After twaeking bits and bobs, I finally took the big step and changed the theme to the SEO-friendly Copyblogger theme. That worked!
I got all my posts titles showing up very well – which means good news for relevance in search engine indexing. I like the font and type size of the posts – easy on the eye. And, as opposed to my previous theme, Copyblogger’s ‘Comment’ link on posts is better placed for readers who want to comment. Cool!
Two trade-offs though.
I lost all the comments on my bio page – more than 180 of them. And the theme’s side bar only seems to allow run-on text even if I put line spaces, it’s a narrow bar. Will have to spend more time tweaking the template now. One more thing to add to my skills – CSS coding here I come!
Anyone else facing this problem – with Google replacing their post titles with their blog title, even though the relevant posts shows up in search results?
Jobs in advertising and IT vacancy in Abu Dhabi based advertising agency in UAE May 6, 2009
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at www.copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising , 15commentsAt a time when redundancies are rife in Dubai and around the world, it’s always a good feeling to let people know of job openings.
Many friends have lost their jobs in advertising in Dubai in recent months. Abu Dhabi is less affected and I met a young and ambitious Abu Dhabi based agency currently building up their team from traditional creative people to digital specialists.
Here are the job vacancies available in this new advertising agency in Abu Dhabi – if you feel you have what it takes, email me your CV at farrukh_copywriter(at)yahoo.com
If you can write words, does it make you a copywriter? May 2, 2009
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at www.copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising , 6commentsCopywriting is not about stringing together fancy words. It’s about establishing and staying true to a brand’s personality that resonates with its target audience. It’s about persuading prospects with words. It’s ’salesmanship in print’, not greeting-card poetry.
Copywriting is hard work. Being a good communicator is a basic minimum skill a good copywriter must have. Being able to convey his point across in words, powerfully and memorably, should come easily to him. Researching companies, getting inside the mind of prospects, talking the talk of the consumer should be part of the ace writer’s arsenal.
A copywriter’s words become the brand’s voice, and every brand deserves its own distinct voice – a great copywriter knows how to make that happen. A good copywriter knows his products and brands as well as he knows his readers. And of course, he knows how to spell.
This post is dedicated to my readers, regulars and newcomers, who have their own ideas about what makes one a copywriter. And it was prompted by this ‘long copy’ I received as a comment completely unrelated to the post.
No doubt you are looking for some one who is trained in writing copies.
My training comes out of the hands of masters —members of American Writers and Artists Institutef—located in florida,Marina Del Ray.
Most of the copies I provided are flaw less. I am very grateful for the informatuion and efforts I recieved from this institution.
Those masters— Kieran Daugherthy,Bob Bly,Michael Masterson,—are unique in the whole world.
The AWAI is the only place in the world that offers such course.
I believe by my heart that you will not be disappointed having me assigned writing you copies or any other forms of writing.
If I recieve necessary and related information—to whom I am writing, purpose of writing, how long it should be,etc.— you will get the prompotion earlier than you expect so there will be enough time for revision, if revision needed.
If you happened to be interested to give me a try,do not hesitate to call me or writing email.“It matters not how streight the gate
How charged with punishment the scroll
I am the capitain of my soul
I am the master of my fate”
What advice would you like to give to the writer of the comment quoted below? You’re welcome to post your feedback in the comments section for the benefit of this writer?
