MENA Forum Dubai 2023

WOO President Tom Goddard opened with a rousing call to action: “the stars are aligned” for OOH globally and in MENA in particular — in some MENA countries OOH already accounts for over 20% of the media market against a 6–7% global average. But he warned the industry to shift from local competition to sector-level cooperation. To embed growth, members need to:

OMG MENA CEO Elda Choucair brought the client view to the room in a keynote provocatively titled ‘What would you bring to a gunfight: a knife?’ — stressing measurement and an OOH currency, creativity, and sustainability. Regional perspectives followed from Ghada El-Kari of WGroup on the UAE’s digital transformation and Antonio Vincenti of Pikasso on North Africa; supply-side and sustainability panels featured JCDecaux, Arabian Outdoor, MPN, WGroup, Daktronics and Unilever — with COP28 in Dubai adding extra focus. Havas ME’s Serena Abi Aad and BackLite’s James Harrison made the creative case, and a buyer-side panel called for a common audience currency and quicker programmatic adoption.

Day two turned to the science of OOH: JCDecaux Group Chief Data Officer François-Xavier Pierrel on making data work; Talon MENA on data in practice; Gideon Adey’s audience-measurement panel with Seventh Decimal, OMD MENA, the OMA and Ipsos; Seventh Decimal’s ground-breaking UAE measurement build; neuroscience and the Neuro Impact Factor from Australia; and programmatic trading with Broadsign, Pikasso, Moving Walls and The Trade Desk — closing on the omnichannel opportunity.