The sun sets on Emirates Evening Post: Another UAE publication bites the dust April 23, 2007
Posted by Farrukh Naeem at copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising, Campaign ME, Emirates Evening Post, Farrukh Naeem, Journalism , 6 commentsEmirates Evening Post was missing in action yesterday and it was sad to read about it in today’s Khaleej Times. Ben Flanagan’s report on ArabianBusiness.com notes that it is the end for the publication because of licensing issues. A three-month grace period had been granted to the paper in February by the UAE National Media Council (NMC), the report says.
The UAE’s only English newspaper that brought us fresh news in the evening - before the morning newspapers woke up - will take with it some fond memories. I had a chance to meet (and be interviewed by) some of its wonderful reporters over the years - Bobin James whose pictures of live concerts I absolutely loved, Veena Kuruvilla who I crossed paths with on her humanitarian beat, Kamakshi Matai and most recently, Vinod Kumar.
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 , 22 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
