Yvan Goudard is an accomplished creative professional with more than eighteen years experience, covering Tahiti to Afghanistan, North Africa, Europe and the Middle East. He is responsible for delivering creative TTL campaigns, and well-known for being a 'freelance creative cell' in winning pitches.

Q. Who have you worked with in the Middle East?
A. I joined McCann Riyadh in 2004, and then  was promoted a year later in McCann Jeddah. After three years, I moved to the UAE where I joined a regional agency. After a couple of months, I decided to leave them and I started to freelance under the name of Froggystyle, an autonomous "creative cell". For the past few years, I got the chance to work with a wide range of international agencies such as TBWA, Ogilvy, JWT, Draft FCB to name a few, in the GCC but also in exotic countries such as Ivory Coast, Afghanistan, Egypt, Tunisia and more. I also work with smaller local agencies, like most recently Bob’n Bab Lebanon, and directly with the clients.

Q. Is you specialty mainly a copywriting or creative?
A. I do both. I started with art but my major in France was literature and philosophy, so I like to work with words as well. But I wouldn’t limit specialties to the art/copy couple. First and foremost, it is a state of mind, curiosity, the ability to identify yourself with the target, knowledge of the market, understanding marketing needs …etc.

Q. Tell me some campaigns that you are proud of in the Middle East
A. A favourite of mine is the TVC’s we did for ADWEA (Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority) with French Vision in Abu Dhabi. They had a very low budget and crazy deadline, but it was a great challenge. I also really enjoyed working with TBWA on Etihad Airways.

Q. What are the main obstacles to producing top level creative work?
A. The issues we face most are the lack of planning and weak marketing. Very often we don’t get any research or if we do it’s very little, except on large budgets. Another issue is the lack of consumer insights; quite often the decision-maker chooses the creative work based on his personal preferences rather than solid consumer data. There are many stories to tell, like one client who was showing some corporate ads we did to his kids and his maid, to see if they would understand it, and give us feedback on their comments, while it was targeting decision-makers of large corporations. Another issue I am facing, is that very often I hear clients telling me they don’t have a budget for photo shoots, or even stock images. It can sometimes be frustrating.

 
Q. Do you see good work coming out of the Middle East, compared to Europe, for example?
A. The region produces some pretty good work, and there is also a lot of trash, like in any market really. I often hear creatives complaining that they would be less restricted elsewhere, but the thing is that there is censorship in every market, and that includes Europe. You can’t just put anything anywhere. Agencies like Tonic Communications or The Classic Partnership proved that the region can produce world class advertising.

 
Q. What's the difference between working as a Creative Director for network agencies and freelancing as a "Creative Cell".
A. The good thing about freelancing for agencies, is that they call me to solve an issue. It makes you a “short-time hero”, relieving them from a specific problem. What I like about freelancing is that 70 per cent of it is pitching for new clients, so the conceptual thinking and executions are less restricted by final production constraints. When it is directly with clients, then there is not much difference except that here I can focus 100% on one job and I don’t face the interruptions of the daily routine of an agency. 

Q. What do you think of all the Creative Directors and Designers starting to work on the web?
A. The web is a media that MUST be taken into consideration. As far as I am concerned, I believe it should be part of any media plan. I don’t really like to segregate online and offline. Each media answers specific needs and reaches a specific target. TV, outdoor, BTL are also important vectors of information. The web is part of the big media family and should be treated as such.

Q. Tell us about froggystyle.biz, is it an online portfolio or just an experiment in blogging?
A. I started off with a website to showcase my work, as an online portfolio. I spent months putting things together, developing everything myself in my spare time. Then, as new work needed to be added to my portfolio, I found it difficult to keep it constantly updated, so I started to put my work in a blog format as a temporary measure, creating a “blogfolio”. Then I found it so practical and, in return, it gave me so much positive feedback that I kept it that way. It is interesting because I can get direct feedback from all sorts of people, including the targeted audiences for each ad.

Magnus Nystedt is Director of Communications at CENTIMETERCUBE, a Dubai-based architecture, design, and publishing company, where he also serves as Managing Editor of Shufflegazine, a monthly Apple lifestyle magazine. Magnus is a massive Apple fan, launching and running EmiratesMac.com since 2005. He is now considered an authority on all things Apple in the Middle East.

Q. Tell us about EmiratesMac.com and the beginnings of Shufflegazine.
A. EmiratesMac.com started as a blog back in 2005, when we moved to the UAE. Then, in early 2006, it grew into the forum you can see today, where anyone can register for free and ask for help with problems or just hang out with other Apple fans. EmiratesMac is also an Apple User Group registered with Apple in California, the only such group in the GCC, and we have monthly meetings in Dubai for members. The user group got started in 2006 and as a part of that we started Shuffle, the user group's monthly newsletter. From April 2007 Shuffle was printed in up to 9000 copies and distributed mainly in UAE but also in other countries in the region. When I started working for CENTIMETERCUBE in July 2008 the work began on turning Shuffle into the commercial Shufflegazine magazine and the first issue of the new magazine came out in October 2008.  We've faced many challenges over the short life of Shufflegazine and we've learned a lot, that's for sure. It's still a very small team, about 10 people, who work on the magazine and we do everything ourselves, from writing to translation, design and more. It's important for us to have that local connection and a critical part of that is that all content is in English as well as Arabic. Omran Al-Owais, the owner of CENTIMETERCUBE and Editor in Chief of Shufflegazine, was actually, at first, a bit hesitant towards including Arabic but now we all agree it's a vital aspect of Shufflegazine. That local connection, in ownership, production as well as language, makes Shufflegazine a very unique offering in the market. We're all very passionate Apple fans so we write about the things we love and use every day. 

Q. How has the response been to an Apple only publication in the UAE and which other markets are looking promising? Tell us about Apple user numbers in the UAE or GCC if possible (Mac, iPhone ... etc). 

A. It takes time to get a new magazine out to the marketplace so readers can get a hold of it. But we're very excited with the just-announced partnership with Abu Dhabi Media Company and their distribution department. They're distributing Shufflegazine since our April issue and from May it's been going out to most of the countries in the GCC. Even though Shufflegazine has been available in a handful of outlets across the GCC until now, this will be the first widespread exposure to markets outside the UAE and it will be many months yet before we can gauge the reception of the magazine.  In terms of how many Mac users there are in the Middle East, it's almost impossible to say. The few organizations that we can assume would know those numbers, like Arab Business Machine (ABM), the exclusive distributor of Apple products in the region, don't publicize any such figures. All we can do is to look at the worldwide figures for Mac users, sales, iPhone customers, etc. and "guesstimate" what the corresponding numbers are for this part of the world. What I'm certain of, however, is that the Mac is increasing in market share here faster than elsewhere, because we see that in shops, on EmiratesMac.com and of course with Shufflegazine. That iPhone finally arrived here in UAE and Saudi Arabia in February which also helps of course, as it is an effective "gateway product", luring first-time Mac customers to spend money on an Apple computer. 

Q. Have you received any support or appreciation from Apple's international or regional headquarters? 

A. When Shufflegazine was Shuffle, the non-profit newsletter given away for free, they sponsored EmiratesMac User Group to produce the newsletter, which was great help. Now that it's Shufflegazine we haven't yet reached an understanding with ABM, the local Apple distributor, over Shufflegazine. We of course feel that being the only Apple-focused magazine produced in the Middle East, with articles in Arabic and English, means they should be a natural part of Shufflegazine, so we look forward to what will develop in the future. We know for sure that both ABM and Apple Inc. in California know about Shufflegazine because we know people in both companies and we also follow the traffic to their web sites. But regardless of our relationship with them, we produce the magazine for our readers, for Apple fans. Whether you're a long-time Apple fan or someone who is just starting out, Shufflegazine should be a magazine you'd want to read and learn something from. Combining the printed magazine with online services like blog (on Shufflegazine.com), free online issues (at shufflegazineonline.com), behind the scenes photos (at shufflegazine.tumblr.com), Twitter (at twitter.com/shufflegazine), Facebook (shuffle.to/facebook), and more, we're confident we're reaching out to Apple fans throughout the region. With the two web sites, especially EmiratesMac.com since it's been established longer, we get a lot of traffic. I receive many emails every week asking where to buy Apple products or where to get service. In that respect, I guess we've come full circle; as that's why I started the site in the first place. Now users around the region have a place to go to for help, support, chatting, and more.   

Q. What is your favorite Apple product or the Apple products are you using daily? And who are the biggest competitors of these products? 

A. My favorite Apple product of all time is Powerbook 12-inch. It was a great computer in a small package, especially for its time. Even the MacBook Air today, even though it's very thin, doesn't provide me with that same feeling. Today, I of course like my MacBook and my iPhone and I use them all the time. At work I use a Mac Pro with dual Apple displays for most work. At home we have an Apple TV and a Mac mini serving as our media center. I also have, of course, various iPod models and Apple software. So I use on a regular basis a lot of the things we write about. As Managing Editor I also oversee the reviews of new products in Shufflegazine so I have the good fortune to try some of the coolest things coming out to the market.  In terms of competing products there are plenty of them but they all fall short of Apple's offerings in one way or another. For example there are plenty of cheap Windows computers but they all are hampered by the very fact that they run Windows. Macs are generally more reliable, more secure, and an all around better choice for most users. If someone wants an MP3 player there are many alternatives to iPod and most of them are cheaper. But they all lack the integration with iTunes, which is one aspect of iPods that make them so versatile and user friendly. If a customer doesn't want an iPhone there are many great phones that do pretty much the same thing but they lack the iPhone's touch interface and again they don't have the iTunes connection. Increasingly it seems that customers around the Middle East are realizing the better value Apple's products represent in terms of usability, design, reliability, and more.

Q. What’s next for CENTIMETERCUBE?                             
A. We just recently combined our two offices to one office in Deira, Dubai. That's allowed us to streamline some operations and take advantage of being in one location. CENTIMETERCUBE is an architecture, design, and publishing company and some would say those are pretty disparate activities but we see them as very complimentary; everything we do is based on design in its various forms. The architecture arm of CENTIMETERCUBE is a part of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Young Business Leaders, which allows us a certain credibility and access to markets that would be hard to reach otherwise. As a locally owned and operated company we feel we offer something truly unique to the market, whether it's architecture or publishing. We look very favorably on the future of CENTIMETERCUBE and we’re excited about all opportunities open to us.

Maddy Reddy is Founder & CEO of Content Syndicate, an internet based platform that helps publishers and corporations commission, distribute, buy and sell previously published and/or tailor made content in more than 200 languages.

Q. Kindly introduce yourself and your company.
A. I'm a technology journalist by profession, or that's how I started my career more than ten years ago.
Content Syndicate was born out of my first hand experiences, issues, challenges, opportunities from the publishing/content space. In the process, spoke to hundreds of publishers before I decided to take the plunge nearly two years ago. Being an IT journalist, also gave me a huge advantage as I had first hand view of using technology to empower businesses and consumers. Content Syndicate's Words on Demand service® helps governments, agencies, corporates and publishers to commission, distribute, buy and sell tailor-made content for print and web media in more than 200 languages. We're able to do this, thanks to our online platform. Having serviced more than 300+ corporate clients and 80+ publishers for a range of content services in our beta phase alone, we are one of the region's fastest growing content services firm. Ranging from editorial, copywriting, translation services for newspapers, magazines, websites, newsletters, brochures, manuals, press releases and marketing collateral, we help our clients maximize the impact of their internal and external communication. Select clients  include: JAFZA, Du, DWTC, Royal Sun Alliance, ITP, Al Tayer Group,  HSBC, Al Mana Group amongst others.

Q. Your company provides its services through a ‘traditional’ channel or through the portal. Kindly contrast the nature of business offered by each, and tell us what kind of activity the portal generates.
A. We leverage our online platform, or portal, if you wish to call it that to help our clients. Because of our unique and disruptive business model, our highly scalable patent pending platform can scale up to offer content in any major language, regardless of the client's location, need or time with minimal costs. Thanks to the model, we can handle hundreds of languages, thousands of projects easily. The content providers and buyers can be located anywhere. We bypass the bottlenecks, faced by traditional firms. Mind you, we don't have hundreds of employees either.  Its simply a case of leveraging technology combined with a scalable business model. Ofcourse, few things like meeting clients, follow-ups, building relations and trust is still traditional. Nothing can replace that.

Q. Would you say the content market in the Middle East is still in its ‘infancy’, and what kind growth are you projecting? Which segments do you see the most growth in?
A. Yes, its very much in its infancy. There's limited content, there's not enough original, relevant, authoritative content.  However we see this as a great opportunity, and we're addressing it.
Its hard to give break-ups, but publishers of print, web, broadcast, radio content have the biggest potential as they are the biggest producers and consumers of content. Even though its still in its infacy, its clearly a multibillion dollar market - much smaller than mature markets - but then there's positive growth. Being a web-based business, our reach goes beyond the region. That's a huge advantage for expansion and geographic diversification. I wouldn't hazard a risk, and put numbers, percentages as I'm no market analyst, but as a company we're growing rapidly, we have raised substantial funding, we are hiring and getting better every week.

Q. How has the global economic recession impacted the content development business in the Middle East?
A. With the tough market conditions, more and more publishers, agencies, corporates are turning to firms like us, as we bring in huge cost savings. We help them save time, money in procuring, selling, buying this content. The savings in terms of money, translate to between 40-60%.  For publishers alone, if they had to set-up a syndication platform, it would cost them hundreds and thousands of dollars. We're able to offer that for free, besides help them make money. Plus, we're creating a whole new stream that complements their current advertising/subscription model. We're able to do this because of our focus, scalability, distributed model, large volumes.  In short, the future looks bright and very promising. 

Q. What’s next for Content Syndicate?
A. Our platform is currently in private beta. That's scheduled to go live in a few months; more clients, bigger and stronger team; audio and video content; expanding outwards from Dubai towards the rest of the Gulf and other emerging markets. We've also signed up some major publishers, who we are working closely with for the formal launch. Looking at raising a Series A funding later this year, got a lot of interest for that.  Numbers aside, the most important thing we ask ourselves - how can we create more value for our customers, team, investors and partners.  As long as we keep getting answers to that, we'll continue to progress. Its easy to go overboard and carried away, but like they say, one step at a time, one dollar at a time.  In our case, its one word a time.

Q. Tell us about industry recognition and accolodaes Content Syndicate has earned?
A. In February 2008, we were selected in the top 3 of 150 start-ups by the Arab Business Angels Network®, a subsidiary of Dubai International Capital (DIC) at DIFC.
We are the Winner of ‘Best New SME’ ‘Best SME across GCC’ and co-winner of the ‘Best young entrepreneur’ at 2008 Visa® Business Awards.
And Winner of TiE-ISB® 2008 Connect Business Awards for Best Start-up.
Content Syndicate is a Finalist in Lloyds TSB® 2008 Awards for Best Entrepreneurial start-up Award.
And, in September 2007, Content Syndicate was a finalist at Seedcamp®, a leading business launch pad in London. We were selected from 260 start-ups in 42 countries for our innovative business model and service.

Ralf Langwost, CEO/Founder & Mastertrainer of IdeaManagement, has devoted himself to his passion for great ideas and has travelled the world spreading his knowledge. Ralf also tells us about his activities in the region and that many people in the Middle East, sadly seem to be "okay with copying ideas", and how he plans to change that.

Q. Kindly introduce yourself and Idea Management.

A. IdeaManagement is a new working methodology for everybody who wants to come up with more relevant ideas in a shorter time. This is especially useful for all people in the creative industries like communication, media and brand management. In order to construct this methodology we interviewed 77 top-creatives worldwide and analysed what they have in common. These common patterns we teach to the worldwide community of creatives and idea managers like Copywriters, Art Directors or Account Managers and Strategic Planners in companies and agencies.

Q. What countries/regions do Idea Management activities span and kindly mention the industry recognition your workshops and training courses have received.

A. We basically cooperate with leading associations all over the world, for companies like Nokia in Finland or Samsung in Korea but also BBDO in Chile and Chicago. Our approach of applying the principles of quality management to the idea is very relevant for them especially in tough times; the advertising dollar must be spent most effectively. Members of the Art Directors Club of Europe, delegates of the Cannes Advertising Festival and the organizers of 42 Effectiveness Shows around the world appreciate what we do and recommend us to their peer groups. Still our work is mostly recommended mouth by mouth, but is has brought us to all countries where advertising is meaningful and ideas have become the main differentiator for an effective communication result.

Q. What is the "Catch the Big Idea" event all about?

A. Catch the Big Ideas demonstrates how to come with a Great Idea in the shortest possible time. Therefore the working and thinking pattern of top-creatives are applied practically and on real jobs. Here people learn from the most effective processes like from Sir John Hegarty, Dan Wieden, Marcello Serpa and many others. They apply what these “spirits” have in common to foster and develop their own skills. Therefore we reflect the briefing from the client, find inspiring insights, develop a strategy and jump in an outstanding idea by asking outstanding questions. Also presentation skills are trained as all presentations are limited to 60 seconds. When somebody has really understood the problem and the idea, this is no problem – as we say: You must have understanding to be outstanding. This approach is appreciated by clients and creatives as an IdeaManagement Idea must always stand the hard test to be right, and one can learn how to do it.

Q. You recently held workshops in Dubai and Kuwait. What’s your feedback on the levels awareness in the Middle East, and how advanced do you feel are the region’s markets?

A. Yes, I had the chance to speak to a group of 100 leading managers in Kuwait and I was invited by the IAA Kuwait chapter. The challenges in the Middle East are many fold. First people have to understand the power on an idea and how to direct this energy to a really great business or communication solution. This is what they have in common with many other people around the world. What I found different there was that many people seem to be okay with copying ideas – and this is a bit sad. It takes away originality and recognition for great work and it does not allow great and unique market successes that are driven by ideas. The reason for that might be that the market is still young and education in advertising is not existing, rare or too much. In order to be outstanding you need outstanding training and that is what we bring to the MENA region with our Dubai Workshop. For us, it is also a way to let people test this way of thinking, as we will also offer our successful Certified Creative Professional Qualification in autumn this year in Oman for the entire region. This is a full 6 day workshop but people will need this knowledge to perform on a worldwide top-level and in our Dubai Workshop on 8 – 9 June 2009 they can test this idea process.

Q. What other fields of training do you believe may be suitable for professionals in the Middle East?

A. Everything from basics to advanced skills that, is supported and guided by best practices. That is the good news. The MENA region should and can afford to learn from the best worldwide. It can avoid mistakes others did and can develop faster. But to buy into this kind of knowledge people have to be aware that a good education always has its price. Asking for a University degree and paying a ground school fee would not work. So my recommendation is always to go for the best quality, because if you spend 2 days in a training session and it is not good enough – you just wasted 2 days of your life.

Q. What else do you have planned for the region, any other cities/countries coming up after Dubai and Kuwait?

A. For autumn – after Ramadan – we will offer a 6 day intensive workshop in Muscat/Oman in the beautiful Shangrila Ressort Hotel. This training is outstanding as it is our first boot camp in the MENA region and it will invite a group of high performers who will enjoy the atmosphere and worldwide, best practices in managing ideas. From copy to art and account management – it will be a special group of people from all over the world and the region. Our workshops are very international – in Dubai with participants from Europe, Vietnam, Ukraine and others they offer a fantastic platform for networking with like minded people.

Q. Is there anything else you would you like to add?

A. Yes, most often we hear the senior people saying: I should have done this workshop 10 years ago; it would have saved me a lot of time and effort. I think it would also have saved a lot of money and will give great tools to the next generation that shows the world that great ideas can come from everywhere.

Ralf Langwost will be holding a Workshop in Dubai on the 8-9 of June, for more information please click here.

Brendon Ogilvy is the COO of Real Opinions, and in charge of its latest initiative: Effective Measure, a measurement tool that offers unprecedented accuracy and understanding of website visitors.

Q. Kindly introduce yourself and your company.

A. Brendon Ogilvy, COO of the full service market research and leading digital research company Real Opinions. We have offices in Dubai and London. We comprise of former Nielsen Online (nee Nielsen//NetRatings), TNS and GfK (nee NOP) senior executives who have an intimate knowledge of not only the Middle East but also the global digital research industry accumulated over more than 10 years. Real Opinions was established after viewing the growing impersonalised approach and inability of global organisations to keep pace with new technologies and approaches to benefit clients. What appears to be happening in the website measurement industry (and in the Middle East in particular) is that global companies are trying to squeeze as much revenue from their products which were developed years ago. With the passing of years, flaws in some of these approaches have opened up like a major issue and this has presented the opportunity for us to take the lead not only in the Middle East but globally. We see innovation as being integral for our organisation and the industry. The Internet favours those who are quick and innovative, not big brands who aren't performing.


Q. Tell us about Real Opinions latest initiative, Effective Measure. Kindly describe how it works.

A. Real Opinions latest initiative is called Effective Measure. It offers unprecedented accuracy in the measurement and understanding of website visitors to give Internet advertisers the confidence to advertise on websites and also help websites to understand who their visitors are to improve the user experience and loyalty. To do this, websites simply register for the free 2 month trial at http://register.effectivemeasure.com and install our tag code on their website pages. We then automatically collect the actual behaviour of website visitors such as pages visited, length of time on each one and when they return to the website. We then fuse this data with an in depth survey which discretely appears at the bottom right corner of their browser as a random visitor interception of 1 in 10 visitors every day tracking throughout the year for those who have not filled in the survey before. This survey allows us to profile visitors in terms of their demographics, personality, values, attitudes, interests, lifestyle and purchase intent. Websites can also add some of their own unique questions, such as opinions on their website. All this information can be accessed and analysed in our interactive online reporting interface which allows websites to view all the data and survey results in full, while Internet media buyers and advertisers can identify their target market and see how to efficiently reach them across all the websites involved and maximise the impact of their Internet advertising budgets.

We believe Effective Measure's single most important feature is what we're calling 'Digital Helix'. This solves the issue of over calculation of unique website visitors (often called unique browsers for those in the industry) caused by visitors deleting their cookies which are small pieces of text stored on a user's computer by a web browser which contain the user's settings or other data used by websites to identify them. For example, if someone visited a website in the morning they would be recorded as 1 visitor. If their cookie was deleted at lunch time (either by themselves, anti-virus software or automatically by their browser) and visited the same website again in the afternoon, then a competing audience measurement system would calculate this person as 2 unique visitors. Our 'Digital Helix' has a global patent on a solution which acts as a bridge to identify this person as a returning visitor. To better understand the magnitude of this, Nielsen Online (nee Nielsen//NetRatings) reported back in 2005 about the impact this is having upon accurate calculations. We believe this issue has escalated greatly since then and to back this up a recent survey we conducted and presented at the AME Info Digital Marketing Conference 2009 with business people in the Middle East showed that over 60% delete their cookies on at least a monthly basis. This means, some websites reporting visitors on a monthly basis could be overestimating their figures by over 60% for this target group. On the plus side, these websites have a higher level of returning visitors, but for Internet advertisers this has a huge impact on the number of people seeing their Internet campaign and the impact it is having.


Q. In your opinion, how critical is such information to digital media buyers in the Middle East? How have agencies responded?

A. Support has been tremendous. We have involved the leading Internet media buyers right from the start by hosting round table discussions and forums to help evolve Effective Measure to meet their precise requirements and to ensure it becomes an integral part of their website advertising selection process. One of the issues agencies had was the inability to consider hundreds of websites and compare them against each other accurately. Effective Measure solves this and also allows them to identify what combination of websites to select in order to increase the number of people campaigns reach and reduce the overlap of audiences across them (i.e. reaching the same people on different websites). They see Effective Measure as validating their Internet media buying plans for their advertising clients which is paramount in these economic times. At the end of the day, agencies are dedicated to helping their clients reach their objectives and rightly so. We believe the accuracy and transparency provided by Effective Measure will actually help grow the popularity of Internet advertising with advertisers and we will also be approaching advertisers to help educate them about the benefits of Internet advertising and Effective Measure. We will also be conducting training sessions with Internet media buyers to ensure they make the most of Effective Measure's features. With our innovation hats on, we are already rolling out a post campaign evaluation tool and we will be making further announcements in the coming months. We are encouraging all digital media buyers to use Effective Measure by giving them access to it for free in perpetuity.


Q. How appealing is this service to online publishers? Tell us about the levels of response and cooperation you have had so far, and the levels of awareness.

A. If online publishers have ever experienced the feeling of being invisible in terms of attracting Internet advertising, then Effective Measure will ensure they will be seen by automatically including them in the list of websites media buyers are evaluating for advertising. Instead of spending valuable time showing how unique and valuable their website visitors are in credentials, media buyers will be able to see this for themselves tracked every minute of the day throughout the year rather than view the traditional stagnant presentation of an audit conducted months and in some cases years ago. We are also working with ABC Electronic (ABCe) and have been made an associate to ensure users have complete confidence in Effective Measure from this third party.

In addition websites are able to monitor how their visitors change over time in not only actual behaviour but also who they are and their experience to help evaluate what they should continue doing more of or change. As an example, if a website is changing content, design or their marketing, then this can be tracked and correlated with results in Effective Measure for their website. Effective Measure also allows them to compare their website to others and we believe this transparency will help websites to diversify themselves and become more user centric. Overall, participating websites and the industry should benefit enormously.

This will and should change the landscape of how advertising is spent online, i.e. spend will not only be determined by quantity of traffic but also quality of traffic, enabling media buyers and advertisers to reach new audiences.  This gives smaller sites an advantage and a place at the table which has not existed before based on the richness of their traffic and their ability to attract certain types of visitors to their sites.


Q. Do you foresee any issues with online publishers who may resist this measurement initiative? Have you received any comments or concerns in this regard?

A. Take the scenario that a website had previously been audited for a month in a time period they know their website visitors would be high and they also focused their marketing effort to drive visitors during this time period which wasn't sustainable for the other 11 or perhaps 10 months of the year. If they then marketed these results in the marketplace then I could see there would certainly be resistance on their part to be involved with Effective Measure. Like others we have talked to in the industry, the uniqueness of the Internet isn't about how many, but who in particular is visiting your website to enable advertisers to develop target campaigns to increase their effectiveness. Effective Measure allows all websites to be involved and show how unique each one is. Advertisers and media buyers will have the final assessment on which websites to advertise on and Effective Measure is there to help with this process.


Q. This is the first year you offer the Effective Measure service. What would be a reasonable target, or market coverage percentage, that you would like to achieve to become the industry standard?

A. To help Effective Measure to be an industry standard, we will be educating the marketplace on its unique benefits by conducting regular training and insight forums for all those involved to make the most of it. We have over 100 websites participating in the trial in the Middle East alone and we will be making some announcements in the coming weeks of the websites involved with their feedback on the trial.


Q. Anything else you would like to add?

A. We would like to invite all interested parties to visit our website www.real-opinions.com for news on our upcoming forum in Dubai where we will be releasing the results of our trial and encourage online publishers, Internet media buyers and advertisers to interact with each other to help further the industry. For websites who would like to participate in the 2 month free trial, then they can register here.