Looking for comedy in the advertising world February 1, 2006
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising , trackback“People don’t buy from clowns,” Claude Hopkins used to say. But does that explain the lack of humour in advertising in the Arabian Gulf?
When was the last time a local ad tickled your funny bone, made you laugh, or even smile? Think hard. Give up?
When I met Ed Jones, regional creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi, at the Gulf Marketing Forum, I thought he’d know the secret. He said: “Here people are very nervous of making jokes about the population because so many of the people who are doing the advertising are not part of the host country. There are very few if any Emiratis doing any advertising in Dubai. So they are not very sure of themselves in the kind of risks they can take.”
The same situation is on the client side, he noted. “You want people to have the courage to take risks. But if they don’t know their audience, then of course they are less inclined to.”
The advertising industry is very new in this part of the world, only as old as the oil boom. So, anyone who’s attempting humour is most often sailing in uncharted territory.
Also, there are cultural considerations. What might work in the USA or the UK might be too much to take for local sensibilities.
“Let’s face it – it’s a very conservative culture,” Ed said. I agree.
But there have to be creative ways to cut through the cultural differences and touch a human chord across a multicultural audience.
All we gotta do is find those ways. And with time, we will. At least that’s the half full glass I would like to see.
Insha Allah, as we say. Insha Allah.
Comments»
What the heck is wrong with you people (you and the Ed guy ) !! , what our culture being conservative has to do with us smiling to a humoristic Ad ,we also smile to humor .
And guess what hot shot they are using humor in their Ads and they tickle our funny bones .
And tell the Ed guy that there is something magical called ADAPTATION he can use in international marketing .
Hello Anas,
Thanks for your visit. If there is a need to adapt an ad, that means there is a difference in culture (liberal, conservative, whatever). Adaptation is a thoughtful thing to do but not the most ideal one, in my humble opinion. Because there is a better option…
If and when we have more locals in our creative departments, the advertising could relate with the people more since the writers and designers would be the same people as the target audience. The need to ‘adapt’ would then change to the freedom to ‘create’ original and market relevant creative executions.
Some agencies have bright and talented locals running the creative show. And guess what, the one whose work I like is in Saudi!
I’m thinking of featuring these guys on this blog. Watch this space.
Also, if you’re a local, I’d love to have your opinion on why we don’t have many locals joining ad agency creative departments. Do share your thoughts with us.
And yes, thanks for the compliment - no one’s called me a hot shot before
Was Salam