Novermber 1st, 2015: Students from the School of Communication and Media Studies at Canadian University Dubai (CUD) have been hearing from top executives at leading agency, FP7, about the challenges of advertising in a consumer-participation environment.
Sasan Saeidi, Managing Director of FP7 in the UAE, spoke to students about the evolution of advertising in the past century and highlighted how the social media phenomenon had transformed the way brands reach out to consumers.
Sasan revealed, “There have been three main eras in the industry since the 1920s, starting out with logic, moving on to emotion-driven advertising, and then to where we are today –the age of consumer participation – which has had an immense impact upon the way we operate as a sector.
“Not only do we have to take a holistic approach to advertising because of the growing number of channels and platforms that are available, we must also engage in active listening, to find out what consumers are saying about products and to help us refine our strategies to make them more relevant to consumer needs.”
Sasan went on to discuss some of the emerging factors that are impacting upon product selection, including the growing importance of corporate social responsibility in brand development, and the role of women as the gatekeepers of consumer decision-making. He also spoke about the importance of consumers as co-marketers and the need to develop advocates in the social media environment.
FP7 is part of MCN, the largest group of advertising, marketing and media agencies in the Middle East and North Africa, and part of the NYSE listed Interpublic Group. The company manages the advertising strategies for some of the biggest global brands, from L’Oreal and Harvey Nichols to MasterCard and Ford.
The guest lecture was organized by Dr. Franziska Apprich as part of CUD’s mission to embed applied learning into the curriculum, allowing undergraduate students to interact with industry experts and hear about the latest sector developments from leading professionals in the field. FP7 Human Resource Manager, Nina Hamdan, was also on hand to discuss student internship opportunities, to help nurture the next generation of creative talent.
Gallery
