The IAA's UAE Chapter hosted a networking event for the local communications industry yesterday, providing an opportunity for the 80 professionals in attendance to meet, share ideas and strengthen the community in the country. While providing a forum for discussion, the event also gave participants the particular opportunity to explore international best practise for integrated communications which it is hoped will inspire campaign design in the UAE and the wider region.

Taking one area of integrated communications, Peter Bidenko Regional Executive Creative Director of Leo Burnett in Dubai, showed how an idea that is based around a physical object can create a greater tangibility to campaigns. The presentation entitled Undigital, was a slightly tongue in cheek reference to the fact that much of the focus of audiences and advertisers around the world is moving online. However, Bidenko asserted that "The Thing" or the physical object, not only made the communications more real, but gave a good insight into how integrated campaigns need a brilliant idea at the centre of the campaign.

"It's not good enough to create traditional advertising and then add extra arbitrary channels and call it an integrated campaign," said Bidenko. "I was trying to demonstrate with the case studies that the idea must be at the centre of the communications."

The 'Undigital' networking event, sponsored by Starcom MediaVest Group, is just one in a series of IAA networking events run by its UAE Chapter. The events, which are a core part of the organisation's continued efforts to raise professional standards and a sense of community in the advertising and communications industry, see the social and the educational combined on subjects including the client-agency-customer relationship and new media and its effect on the advertising industry.

"We've seen some great work in recent years where they've used a physical object as the idea. When we see it, touch it, see other people interact with it, or even read about it, suddenly a little light goes off in our head that says that this is real," says Bidenko. "But like all our work these days, it just has to be interesting enough to stop us and draw us in for longer than a few seconds."

Speaking on behalf of the IAA UAE Chapter's Communications Committee, Reda Raad, chief operating officer of TBWA RAAD and committee chairperson commented, "Seeing so many of our industry colleagues come together in pursuit of knowledge and friendship is extremely rewarding. This sense of community is exactly what we strive to encourage at the IAA. We look forward for more to come and hope that this session has been true food for thought."