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28 March 2024

Local advertising gets the Blockberry Boost

Published

For the advertising fraternity in the UAE, Eid seems to have arrived a little early thanks to the Blockberry hullabaloo.

No, that isn’t a typo – that’s exactly what the UAE’s (and now Saudi Arabia’s) BlackBerry ban is being brandished in Twitterscape and other Web 2.0 offerings.

Usually, the holy month of Ramadan and the following Eid bring additional cheer to the local advertising sector, with a number of retail agencies, especially cars dealerships and food companies, deciding to up the tempo and offer deals galore during this time.

Yes, last year was different, with media spending down a quarter during the month over the previous year, but still ahead of the 50 per cent decline for the entire year, according to the UAE Chapter of the IAA (International Advertising Association).

But this year, analysts were – and are – expecting adspend to rebound from the dismal levels of 2009.

Enter the TRA (Telecom Regulatory Authority) with a decision that launched a thousand ads.

In one fell swoop, the TRA’s announcement to ban certain of BlackBerry’s services in the country starting October 11 reversed the summer advertising slump while also giving enough ammunition to local, regional and international media to keep the readers glued to their offerings.

The news even made it to the front page of the Financial Times (Middle East edition), a feat so far managed locally only by the Dubai World debt debacle.

In the four days since the announcement, there have been extensive advertising campaigns by the two UAE telecom service providers – etisalat and du – in the local media, anticipating and answering customer queries, and reassuring them on the continuity of the services through alternative packages featuring devices from other manufacturers.

But the party hasn’t stopped at that. Now, other smartphone manufacturers such as Motorola have joined the fray with full-page advertisements in some local papers urging you to “swap your old smart phone” for one of their offerings which, the ad proclaims, “unlike other Smart Phones, it won’t let you down!”.

And not just advertising – an international agency no less than Moody’s Investors Service jumped on the bandwagon when it issued a note on etisalat’s potential loss of revenue from such a decision, and maintained that, in its view, a majority of the UAE’s half-a-million BlackBerry users would make the switch to an available alternative before the D-Day.

Then, analysts of all hues and colours are offering their predictions on whether the TRA would ease its demands or if BlackBerry would chicken out and allow the UAE access to its codes.

With the October 11 deadline still two-months-plus away, it’s hard to say, at least at this stage, about who will blink first.

But one thing is for sure – the local media couldn’t have asked for a better battle to boost its bottom line. Long live Blockberry.