Thursday, Jan 26, 2012

Gulf News

Dubai While local advertising agencies may have to live with reduced client budgets this year, it may not be the case for their public relations (PR) counterparts. So believes Peter Rae, a long-timer in the industry who has just taken over as managing director of MCS Action, the UAE arm of Action Global Communications.

“Based on what I have seen in the past, when ad budgets are under stress due to economic circumstances, a lot of clients will then regard PR as a better way of spending within their reduced budgets,” Rae said. “They tend to spend fractionally more on PR and the return they get for a relatively smaller amount of money (compared to those on ads) is seen by many companies as being higher.

“I think there was never a point when clients had money to throw at projects, but the mood will certainly be circumspect.”

2011 budgets retained

Time will tell whether events will pan out exactly this way. Based on market sentiments, while there have been some cutbacks, for the most part clients have maintained their marketing and communications budgets at 2011 levels. The local ad and PR agencies can live with that.

“At the moment, the budgets we have locked down for 2012 look healthy; I don’t have any reason for uneasiness over budgetary constraints,” said Rae, who was director of communications for the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi prior to the move to MCS Action.

What the market could see a lot was clients asking for agency pitches. With few exceptions, clients have not been known for their fidelity to particular agencies over long stretches.

“My expectation is that we will have a lot of pitches in the first quarter, though it will depend a lot on the pitch cycles clients already have,” Rae said.

Subtle changes are, however, coming about in the way clients account for their communications budgets. “I know of one client who has moved from a quarterly system to a six-month period,” he added. “Sometimes they are US companies with a quarterly reporting structure preferring a quarterly budgeting system.

“But I don’t see a concerted move in this market from annual budgets to quarterly or six-monthly ones; to be honest, it works any which way.

Challenges ahead

“The challenge for the PR industry is to come up with creative suggestions for new ways of communicating with target audiences and in the ability to deliver them. One example is the use of social media, though there is a relative lack of understanding among clients as to its power.

“But it’s still fairly a new form over here and will increase its share in the next two years. At the Yas Marina Circuit, social media was one of the most successful ways of communicating with fans, and that was an eye-opener for me. The task now is to see how companies can use it across the board.”

Expansion in Abu Dhabi

Currently, clients in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah account for the majority of MCS Action’s billings. Rae reckons the time has come for more potential business to come out of Abu Dhabi.

“From a UAE perspective, 2012 will be a year of expansion for MCS Action — I see growth and at some point in the year, that will hopefully see us adding new talent.”

Courtesy: mcs Action

Bullish about 2012 prospects

Peter Rae, the managing director of MCS Action, believes PR firms must come up with creative suggestions for new ways of communicating with target audiences.

client demand

set basics right

These days, PR agencies can call on the latest technologies to make a strong case for their clients. But, while doing so, they seem to have lost sight of a few basics.

“Having spent eight years on the client side, I think agencies will need a better understanding of what their clients want,” Peter Rae of MCS Action said. “What they don’t often get is excellent PR writing in English and Arabic and really strong media skills. It’s a blind spot and not just in the UAE.

“These skills should be fundamental to the practice of PR, but sadly they are often not. My intention is to make it very much a part of what we offer. Clients want the basics right.”

— M. N.

By Manoj Nair?Associate Editor

Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.