Maturity in the Middle East ðŸ§
As capital and talent flow into the region, the comms brief is shifting from volume and optimism to strategy, intelligence and counsel that challenges.
There is no mistaking the momentum in the Middle East, particularly when it contrasts so sharply with the mood elsewhere in the PR world. But growth often brings its own set of specific challenges — accompanied, dare I say, by a broader responsibility to societal expectations that are changing fast.
I was reminded of this at an event I moderated with Ashbury in Dubai on Wednesday, which featured in-house leaders from the region's financial sector, alongside agency founder Adam Harper and advisory board member Tori Cowley, who also serves as Taylor Birchwood chair after previously leading comms for HKEx and LSEG.
Healthy communications spending in the Middle East, to say nothing of the bold initiatives that regularly emanate from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, encourage the notion that industry progress will proceed unfettered. Few things in life, though, unfold quite so smoothly. Where the PR sector is concerned, it is always worth keeping this in mind, especially amid the temptation to reduce this region to an attractive set of numbers on a spreadsheet.
