Campaign ME (Middle East) magazine could be back soon (we hope…) February 19, 2007
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising, Advertising Awards, Advertising Publications, Advertising in Dubai, Advertising in the UAE, Campaign ME, International Advertising Association (IAA), Journalism, Marketing , 11 commentsCampaign ME’s sudden disappearance, offline and online, and the cancellation of the Campaign Middle East Awards took the advertising and marketing fraternity in the UAE and Middle East by surprise as you must have read in my earlier post.
(In the picture: The last (hoping not) Campaign ME issue we received, dated 4th February 2007.)
My creative counterparts - copywriters, art directors - are in mourning because they loved to see their work featured in the pages of Campaign - they are sighing and saying things like: “At least tell us who won in the Campaign Awards.”
Samer Marzouq of Ad Blog Arabia shared our concerns over the fate of Campaign ME.
More news is trickling in now and it’s these times when one misses the weekly publication more because any useful scoop on advertising would have been found in the pages of Campaign.
Roy Greenslade’s blog at Guardian Unlimited gives us a ray of hope that Campaign ME magazine may be coming back soon when it finds a new publisher.
Brand Republic’s report on 9 February had quoted Tim Bulley, Haymarket licensing director, referring to ITP - the publishers of Campaign in the Middle East under Haymarket’s licence, as saying: “We are willing to work with them to resolve the situation.”
On the other hand, grist from the blogging mill tells a different story.
Dubai Media Observer, the media critique blog that had also gone missing some time back, has come back with anonymous contributors. They have already said farewell to Campaign ME, because they believe that Haymarket is now in talks with Motivate - the other publishing giant in town.
Martin Diessner of Flip Media had mentioned something similar in the comments section of my earlier post. Dinesh Lalvani posted about it on the Flip Blog.
But Scott MacMillan, in his feature in Communicate, pointed out that Simon O’Herlihy, general manager of business development at Motivate, denied that they are taking over Campaign ME. Scott’s also broken the news that the former editor of Campaign Middle East, Tim Addington, is leaving the Gulf to join Tim Burrowes at Reed Business Information in Sydney.
So I guess if we do have Campaign ME making a comeback, things will be different now.
Till then, we have Communicate published by Medialeader to bring us advertising and marketing news and AdVocate produced by Motivate for the International Advertising Association (IAA) UAE Chapter.
Latest information on this can be posted in the comments section or sent emailed to me at farrukh_copywriter@yahoo.com
Technorati Tags:
Advertising, Creativity, Advertising in UAE, Advertising Publications, Haymarket, Campaign ME, Campaign Middle East, Campaign Middle East Awards, ITP, Motivate
Where is the Campaign ME website? Campaign ME blog? February 9, 2007
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising, Advertising Awards, Advertising Publications, Advertising in Dubai, Advertising in the UAE, Campaign ME, Journalism, Marketing , 21 commentsCampaign ME has gone missing online. Our favourite Campaign ME blog about advertising in the UAE and Middle East is not to be found either. Both web links are leading us to ‘ArabianBusiness.com’. What’s going on?
My friends who had nominations in the Campaign ME Awards are worried. And of course creative buddies who used to get the joy of seeing their work and names in the creative showcase are wishing this is all a bad dream. That we’ll wake up tomorrow to another crisp copy of Campaign ME magazine in the agency… full of news, views, the lure of greener pastures in the last pages, and of course, the spicy bits from our well-informed reporter - The Spin.
Someone pinch me. Wake me up. Tell me this isn’t happening. I want my online fix.
Finders will be rewarded.
PS: Gulf News is also on the Campaign trail…
Technorati Tags:
Campaign ME, Campaign ME Awards, Campaign ME blog, Advertising in the UAE, Advertising Publications, Middle East Advertising, Creative Awards
Advertising Website Review 2: Adrants - Marketing Sherpa’s “Best Blog On Advertising” July 2, 2006
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising, Advertising Publications, Marketing , 6 commentsMarketingSherpa recently announced results of its voting for the Top 10 Best Blogs & Best Podcast of 2006. More than 230,000 people had been invited to rate their favourite marketing related blogs and podcasts based on four criteria: (a) Personality, (b) Usefulness, (c) Design & readability, (d) Would you revisit?. The response was huge.
The coveted “Best Blog on Advertising” Award was won by Steve Hall’s Adrants. I interviewed Steve to find out what makes his blog tick.
Adrants had started as a personal blogging experiment for Steve Hall during a period of unemployment in 2002.
“My background was media, account service and new business on the agency side. Initially, I was hoping to get a job,” replied Steve when I asked him what his initial reasons for starting Adrants were. “I had heard that people were getting jobs because those hiring were reading blogs,” he said. But the blogging experiment brought in more than just interested readers.
“The focus changed when I realized enough ad revenue was coming in that it could sustain me,” Steve said. In March 2004, Steve was ready to launch it as a business that would get him his bread, butter and jam. And he did.
Today, Adrants gets 600,000 pageviews per month and 275,000 unique visitors. A newsletter version of the blog reaches out to 13,000 subscribers. Steve runs the blog on his own and is supported by a team for the sales.
I don’t think Steve’s looking for a job anymore.
Secrets of Blogging Success
By Steve Hall, Publisher, Adrants1. Be concise.
2. Have a sense of humor.
3. Mostly know what you’re talking about. Actually, not being 100 percent right all the time makes for much better reading.
4. Learn where and who can give you stories.
5. If you want to make it a business: Realise that businesses take commitment. It’s not a hobby.
I’d love to know which one is your favourite advertising blog… fill me in.
