Louis Hakim, Vice President of Royal Philip Electronics and CEO of Philips Middle East and Chairman of ABG

Louis Hakim, Vice President of Royal Philip Electronics and CEO of Philips Middle East was elected last month, as chairman of Advertisers Business Group (ABG), formerly known as GCC Association of Advertisers (GCC AA). Louis replaces former Unilever Chairman, Jan Zijderveld, who is departing from the Middle East on to a new opportunity at Unilever based in Singapore.

Alongside Louis Hakim's election, the newly appointed members of the committee include Sara Sahely, Manager of Group Advertising of Emirates, who was re-elected as Vice Chair, Raef Labaky from Nestle, Mark Butterfield from Unilever, Margie Gilbride from Beiersdorf, Chareeka Jolly from Kraft and Fadi Ghosn from General Motors.

"We will cooperate together to form a strong representation of the brand community at large, ensuring the implementation of the ABG's vision of taking the lead in setting global best practice standards in Media and Advertising", says Louis Hakim, Chairman of ABG. "We will also develop communication campaigns to raise awareness and drive interest around ABG."

Through his new role, Louis together with the team aim to keep the momentum on People Meters and constantly evaluating the regular updates on the progress and results, in addition to pushing forward a quantifiable auditing process of print publications using Castor.

"As an association, we will work on building bridges with large organizations on common topics of interest where learnings and successes can be shared. Moreover, ABG will also seek to enhance its membership by providing quarterly or semi-annual forums to give marketers the opportunity to discuss issues and challenges facing them in the Middle East. These forums will be followed by workshops where potential solutions can be generated in addition to promoting cross learning between brands through sharing challenges and best practices", added Louis.

Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry recently launched the new Advertisers Business Group (ABG), bringing the total number of business groups that represent different economic sectors and operate under the umbrella of the Chamber to 19.

The official launch of the ABG was made during the handing over ceremony of the group's trade certificate in which the annual General Assembly meeting of the new group was also held. The ABG, previously known as the GCC Advertising Association (GCCAA), is a member of the World Federation of Advertisers.

The ceremony started with a speech delivered by HE Engineer Hamad Buamim, Director General of Dubai Chamber, in which he officially announced the foundation of the ABG. Greeting the founders of the new group, Buamim highlighted its importance and anticipated role in enhancing the business of advertisers in Dubai. He stressed the Chamber's commitment to support ABG and all other initiatives in its drive to lend more transparency and raise the standards of professionalism in the media industry in the region.

Buamim underlined the leading role played by Dubai Chamber in representing and protecting the interests of the local business community through setting up a number of business groups aiming to activate relations with its members, consider their suggestions regarding the development of the advertising sector and convey these suggestions to the government authorities concerned.

'Establishing the ABG would highly contribute to the development of advertising industry in the region, thanks to the strategic importance of Dubai as one of the world's business hubs in the Middle East. The main mission of the new group will be organizing business among the advertising agencies in Dubai, adopting efficient plans that help improving their sector and working continuously to overcome all obstacles that could hinder their work in the future,' said Buamim.

He pointed out that Dubai Chamber considers the business groups that work under its umbrella as 'strategic partners' rather than just clients. They enjoy the right to get the best services from the Chamber and, at the same time, have a commitment to contribute effectively to the development of national economy through enhancing the business of their sector.

The Director General of Dubai Chamber handed over the ABG's trade certificate to it Chairman, Jan Zijderveld, who is also the Chairman of Unilever North Africa and Middle East. Buamim expressed his comfort for the ABG choosing three of Dubai Chamber's present and former employees to join its new Board of Directors. They include Hisham Al Shirawi, Member of the Chamber's Board of Directors and a prominent Dubai-based businessman, Nuha Safar, Director of Marketing & Communication at the Chamber, and Mohammed Al Bassam, a former senior executive at the Chamber and a successful businessmen.

Jan Zijderveld, Chairman of ABG and Chairman of Unilever North Africa and Middle East, was highly satisfied with the establishment of the ABG, mainly because the group is currently handling two major projects that would effectively contribute to the improvement of the statistical database related to media publications on different mediums. He said the new group will help advertisers make sure of the worthiness of the money spent on commercial advertising and spectators' interaction with TV programs.

'The Advertisers Business Group (ABG) is designed to provide regional advertisers with a united voice. The advertising industry is growing: there are more TV and radio channels, more magazines and newspapers, and all are operating with more complexity. There is an increasing need to get accountability for our money. The whole world is demanding accountability,' said Zijderveld.

The first project to be handled by the ABG is the TV people meter project which aims at monitoring television viewership. The project was long awaited by advertisers, media agencies and TV channels alike as there is no common currency for tracking TV viewership in the region. The project is expected to be implemented next year in Saudi Arabia and in the UAE the year after.

The ABG's second project is called (CASTOR). It is an initiative by the group to promote auditing circulated printed materials. The ABG is lobbying the auditing of more than 70 different titles of publications audited by BPA, aspiring in the near future to audit as much as possible of newspapers and magazines, including those registered at Dubai Chamber.

'The Chamber's involvement and active participation at this time is a key issue for the group as it will lend credibility and authority to our collective effort to create a professional media environment to keep up with the growing advertising spent in the region,' said Zijderveld.