Ramadan

Ramadan

Food prices are supposed to go down, TV viewing is expected to go up, and the government is giving away $1 million to the best Arabic drama during the holy month this year.

August 31, 2009 12:11 by kippreport

While Ramadan is usually a slow period for many industries, marketing takes on a very active role during the holy month. “Ramadan accounts for 25 to 30 percent of total ad spend during the year [in Saudi],” Mazen Hayek, the marketing, PR and commercial group director at the MBC network told The National.

Bassam Yehia, a manager at the Pan Arab Research Centre (PARC), told the paper that he expects ad spend to increase this year. “It will increase 15 to 20 percent compared to last year,” he said. “Now all the companies have taken care of their problems, which happened from the beginning of the year to now. Everything is settled.”

According to research, more than $1 billion was spent on print and TV advertising during Ramadan, between September 13 and October 12 in 2007.

Brands like Vimto and Tang specialize in advertising during Ramadan; Vimto started marketing 15 to 20 years ago, and the brand is aggressively marketed to showcase itself as a drink for special occasions.

This year, the Dubai Shopping Festival Office has launched for the first time an advertising campaign to highlight shopping offers by retailers during the holy month. The ‘Ramadan in Dubai’ campaign is being vigorously promoted across the city through danglers and posters.

However, media reports claim that the economic slowdown has had a negative effect on TV program sponsorship, with ad spend seeing an estimated decline of 30 percent this Ramadan.

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