Alex Blake-Milton is retiring after a memorable career in communications This is a simple post, an opportunity to show my gratitude for one person who has quietly gone about his business in the Gulf over the past 16 years following his time at Standard Chartered and Occidental Petroleum. During that time Alex Blake-Milton has led Brunswick to one of the largest advisory agencies across the region, with over 80 people consulting for a host of big-name clients. I want to focus on another side of Alex, the one which has always been there to support the industry. For several years, Alex was on the ..read more

The cheeky grin was an Ingham trademark The news is now known. After a short illness, Francis Ingham, the Director General of the PRCA, and Chief Executive of the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO), has passed away. Knowing Francis, he would be delighted by all of the praise that he’s been receiving online. And he’s always loved making headlines, be it now or with the expulsion of Bell Pottinger or his comments on Ukraine and Russia. Francis would be the first to admit he was no saint. In many ways, he was a polarising figure. You either loved him or didn’t, but you w ..read more

Have a look at the picture above. What do you notice? Obviously, they’re not real – these images are generated by artificial intelligence (AI). What else do you see? Apologies to anyone who isn’t the CEO. The more discerning among you may see that there’s no women in the images above (the possible exception may be the intern). This is one of many issues we are going to face with AI. To put it in the simplest possible terms, AI tools are created by people. They also use inputs and data from other people. And every person out there has biases, regardless of whether they are conscious or unconsc ..read more

Who are the role models for the Middle East’s marketing industry? It’s the end of the year, and that means awards. There’s one which is always steeped in mystery, that of the individual award. Be it a fellowship or an individual merit award, the process to decide who gets what isn’t often clear. Most are nominated by a group who then choose the final name. It’s also often unclear as to what these people are being chosen for, and little information is published after the purpose. There’s little in the way of openness, transparency or understanding of why these people represent the best in the i ..read more

While Elon Musk may joke about Twitter’s potential demise, many of the company’s crises are being caused by its new owner Mass firings and resignations, the loss of millions in advertising revenues, and arguments between employees and the new owner playing out in public; Elon Musk only bought Twitter less than a month ago, but both have been living in a constant state of crisis since then. From the beginning the signs were not good. Elon Musk disbanded Tesla’s communications function in 2020. And yet, despite the need to clearly spell out his vision to the workforce, the new CEO canned Twitter ..read more

According to the BBC, the World Service currently reaches 148m people in an average week Much of said of soft power, this notion of being able to influence and persuade others through concepts such as culture and entertainment. There is no better example of this than the British Broadcasting Corporation, better known as the BBC. For decades, the BBC has been the go-to place for information throughout much of the world. This was due to the BBC’s range of platforms, most especially its radio service. This week, the BBC announced the closure of ten different language services on its radio network ..read more

Firdaus was an exemplary marketing professional, one of the best I’d worked with Last Friday morning, I received several messages about my former boss. And I still am struggling to believe them. I keep expecting Firdaus Shariff to post something insightful on social media, or share a message about what the marketing team was up to. Firdaus was my former boss and the Vice President Middle East and Africa for Marketing, Communications and Digital Customer Experience at Schneider Electric. I’d known her from her days at Cisco , when she’d worked with my wife. My wife is a woman who is hard to imp ..read more

I feel for anyone who works in the service industry. Ever since the UAE moved from a Sunday-Thursday week to Monday-Friday, the sense I’ve gotten is that those working in the service industry have had to work out how to cater to both local/global and regional clients. For many, the answer has been simple – agencies are having to work out rosters of people working over the six days, from Sunday to Friday. I don’t know how sustainable this is. Dubai is the hub for the region’s creative agencies, many of whom don’t have offices outside of the Emirate. Will clients across the Middle East accommod ..read more

What will the impact of the past couple of weeks be on global brands in Russia? And will P&O Ferries and its parent company DP World come to regret the overnight firing of 800 UK employees? Image by vectorpouch Reputations are funny things. They take years to build, and can be lost in a moment. In many ways, the past month will become a period of intense research for those wanting to know more about corporate actions and their impact on reputations. First up, we have the tragedy of the war in the Ukraine. Responding to both public and political pressure, over 400 global brands have pledged ..read more

Zayed University has graduated thousands of communications graduates. The current College of Communication and Media Sciences is headed up by Dean Dwight Brooks (left) If I was to name one university I’d want to study communications at, it would be Zayed University. For sure, the media landscape is not as free or as mature as what you would find in the UK or the USA. And there are issues you cannot touch upon. What makes Zayed University’s College of Communication and Media Sciences so special is its people, in particular the faculty. For the past couple of years I had the honor of supporting ..read more