Blog
Pharmaceutical Case Study: How Sanofi got 400% engagement rate
Establishing a pharmaceutical brand is hard enough with the over-saturated nature of the industry, brands also have to push against the ever-growing tide of brands online. The battle for eyeballs and attention is fierce, for any industry. Balancing between being part of a serious industry and engaging social media users is tough for pharmaceutical products. Finding that inner balance is French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi, whose social media accounts are an example of how social media and big Pharma can exist. We look at 3 of their OTC products social media accounts (Maalox, Novaldol, Telfast) and their health awareness campaign, Sanofi Diabetes, who have been able to keep fans quite engaged this past year. Keeping it Light-Hearted Sanofi and their digital agency, Eureka, have bee...
Stan Lee’s 16 Quotes to Inspire Success in Your Life and Business
The patriarch of Marvel Comics, who helped usher a new era of comic books and entertainment, Stan Lee was just announced deceased, a year after his beloved wife Joan B. Lee. Stan Lee’s influence stretches past his colorful and witty comic books, his work influenced a new revolution of movie franchises and helped evolve comic characters into multi-layered and flawed beings. His work has left a huge imprint on today’s pop culture, where his characters have now become household names even to those who don’t read comics. Not only was Stan Lee a brilliant comic book writer, he was a leader who led Marvel Comics into a new era where flawed, more relatable, superheroes were the main focus, bringing the comic book company into a new level. He tried “to make them real flesh-and-blood characters wit...
MENA’s first GEN-operated Entrepreneurship Hub to open in Egypt by 2021
Since early November, Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) by the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) has been in full swing, helping entrepreneurs of all ages explore their potential through dozens of events and activities. Although this isn’t GEN’s first time in Egypt, this year they teamed up with leading real estate developer, Tatweer Misr, to develop MENA’s first GEN-operated entrepreneurship and innovation hub. Yesterday at a groundbreaking event, Tatweer Misr and GEN executives were met with Dr. Sahar Nasr, the Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, who presided over the MOU signing. Together with Tatweer Misr’s CEO and Managing Director Dr. Ahmed Shalaby, GEN Egypt’s President Amr Abou ElAzm, and GEN President Jonathan Ortmans, the Minister set the first stone for th...
Hyde Park Developments Launches Farida Osman new personal brand
Young Olympian swimmer Farida Osman is an upcoming public figure, in and outside the pool. She is a growing aspirational brand, one that many brands are after. Personal brands have become an important factor for athletes of any sport to stay on the top of their game. Personal branding’s benefits for the athlete lasts past their prime, enabling them to use their gained influence in many different ways. Last weekend, Hyde Park Developments helped Osman launch a new brand identity as part of a global sponsorship with the swimmer. The Branding Earlier this year, we reported that the real estate developer would be working on creating a new “brand” for the swimming superstar. According to Hyde Park, they endeavored to create a sustainable brand, something that would show the beliefs and v...
MAYDAY: New roadside assistance app to save the day with ride-hailing-like tech
In 2017, CAPMAS announced that there was over 9.4 million registered cars in the country, not to mention those that are currently not registered. And although car accident rates have dropped 24.6% in 2017 compared to 2016, with around 17,201 damaged vehicles, the amount of cars left on the side of the road isn’t really declining. Whether it comes from a spoilt tire or engine failure, or even a full-on collision, cars are often left on the side of the road for hours, causing traffic jams and other issues. Inspired by a personal incident, Islam Ahmed, Amr Essam and Mohamed Abo El Fotouh have founded a new app in hopes of answering the question that lingered on their mind during their incident. “Why there isn’t any easy access and reliable roadside assistance service in Egypt?” Providing Rel...
Are local audiences ready for AR and VR? CGEVO talks about immersive experience
The local marketing scene continues to be full of potential, talent and self-imposed limitations. Many marketers remain persistent in the classic ways of mass audience reach and books from college years past. Although there is a growing number of marketers, both traditional and digital focused, that are pushing boundaries to reach audiences with more exciting and/or more tailored advertising and marketing, a gap remains. In order to move forward, local marketers need to look further into the future of content provided to potential consumers. With so many new technologies that could be easily taken and implemented in various markets and marketing techniques, there are a lot of novel and innovative ways to grab attention in today’s world. Think Marketing Magazine recently spoke with upcoming...
CIB dabbling: Targeting Gen Z with new youthful campaign
We have always had a tumultuous and complicated relationship with banks, many still prefer to hide money under beds and with a Gam3ia. Yet it seems like the Commercial International Bank is looking to change that by aiming towards the younger generation, with the intention of changing their minds. Few months after their double win as the World’s Best Emerging Markets Bank and the Best Bank in Egypt by Global Finance, CIB is back with a new campaign with the hashtag #Al_Bank_b2a_3ala_keifak. Using the “dabbing” trend that started in the 2010s, the bank is targeting youths within the Gen Z group. Now, while the Gen Z group is more tech savvy, they are not the most financially focused generation. A majority of local Millennials seem to have only finally grasped hold of financial planning, and...
CIB wins Best Emerging Markets Bank award, shows power of local banking
Emerging markets are just that, emerging and constantly growing. They are growing forces of economic power that are still evolving and still innovating. While established markets are looking for reasons on who to blame for stagnant growth, developing markets continue to build upon success and failures with stubbornness. Although the MENA private banking industry may not be as dynamic and exciting as Asia’s emerging market, we still have a lot of strength in the world of numbers. Just recently, Egypt’s local private bank Commercial International Bank (CIB) was awarded as the World’s Best Emerging Markets Bank of 2018 by Global Finance Magazine. On a press release, Joseph D. Giarraputo, publisher and editorial director of Global Finance stated “The world’s best banks are forces of continuity...
Controversial Toyota Fortuner Ad: is it sexist or gender positioning?
In a world where every word spoken or written is criticized, being politically correct has taken center stage as an important focus for many brands. For some consumers, politically correct means to become neutral, advertising to a broad neutral audience rather than singling out a certain segment or group. But, audience segmentation has been part of marketing almost since its inception, and has successfully launched brands to meteoric heights. There is a reason why segmentation has always worked for marketing. It is because people want to feel special and people want to avoid being sold something they aren’t looking for. Unfortunately, the consumers of today can be extremely critical of brands but criticism can be misplaced. Case in point is Toyota’s newest campaign for their 4×4 Fortu...
NASA Girl’s BBQ turns to be social experiment on fake news
For the last few days, hundreds of Egyptians have fallen in love and filled with laughter after a young woman’s random Instagram story about a “space rocket barbeque” went viral. Young Sarah Abou El-khair posted on her Instagram stories a wild story on how NASA, or SpaceX, could help “end world hunger” through an “ingenious” cooking alternative. Ever since then, the young “public figure” (as titled on her Instagram) has gained almost national fame. With her story filled with screenshots of famous celebs and companies asking for her hand, it seemed like a crazy movie plot come to real life. Which in the end was closer to the truth. Abou El-khair has since then announced that the entire thing started off as a fun joke between friends, that quickly spiraled into a social experiment on ...
How is Egypt’s Current Image?
The country continues to push through as a fresh batch of news hits the airwaves, both good and bad. Egypt’s reputation and image remains constantly changing, falling on both sides of the spectrum, with local and international views largely on different sides. But local and international perceptions haven’t always been so divided. Unfortunately, international media strives on sensationalism which has created a completely different national story, a different national narrative. To see just how divided these views are, we asked some international representatives and executives how they personally see Egypt, and how they see it is perceived internationally. Sam Werberg – Press Attaché/Embassy Spokesperson, US Embassy Cairo “From a personal perspective, I see Egypt as a wonderful...
Samsung and Apple caught deliberately slowing phones, penalized by Italy
For many years, and many generations of smartphones, brands have been accused of reducing the performance of older phones to push sales of new phones. Last year, phone manufacturer Apple admitted to this practice, after several reports by users. The iPhone manufacturer admitted last December that they had released a “feature” that occasionally reduced processing power on older phones to prevent them from unexpectedly shutting down. They went on to state this was necessary for older batteries that could overload. After the statement, various countries launched probes into the “planned obsolesce” of Apple’s iPhones, and it looks like they took the initiative to jump on Samsung as well. Apple and Samsung are being fined by Italy’s Anti-trust organization Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e d...