Communicate Online | Activate the digital transformation reshaping the GCC advertising & marketing industry
The View
Natalie Cooke
Natalie Cooke Chief Client Partner M+C Saatchi Group Middle East
Jai Sharma
Jai Sharma Founder Envelop Designs Arabia
Anand Vengurlekar
Anand Vengurlekar Senior Lecturer in Innovation and Design Thinking INSEAD
Hubert Boulos
Hubert Boulos CEO Das Kapital Dekuple Group
Alex Malouf
Alex Malouf Founder and Managing Director Narrative Shapers
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Retail media’s creative problem is getting harder to ignore in the GCC

Retail media’s creative problem is getting harder to ignore in the GCC

Retail media is becoming a more important advertising channel across the Gulf, but new research suggests brands may be underestimating one of its biggest weaknesses: creative…

AI and travel recovery take centre stage as ATM 2026 opens in Dubai

Artificial intelligence, resilient travel demand and a wave of new airline and hospitality investments dominated the opening day of Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2026 in Dubai…

NEWS

MFORMEDIA appoints Ziad Kebbi as managing director as it shifts to IP-first content model

Dubai-based production company MFORMEDIA has appointed entertainment executive Ziad Kebbi as Managing Director, as the company begins a major restructuring aimed at building an IP-first content…

NEWS

Marketers are starting to advertise to AI agents

For years, marketers have been trying to influence what ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other AI platforms say about their brands, adapting to the rapidly changing rules…

NEWS
Branded

Transparency in the storm: How the GCC managed crisis communication

By Hoda Rizk

Ounass expands into physical retail activations with Stage

By Communicate Staff

Aramco remains Middle East’s sole entrant in Kantar BrandZ global top 100

By Communicate Staff

From Homepage to Doorstep: How Lenovo’s Omnichannel Campaign with Amazon Ads Drove Success During Peak Shopping Season

By Communicate Staff
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Insights

YouTube ad growth slows amid TikTok, Netflix challenge

YouTube generated more than $40 billion in advertising revenue in 2025, but its ad business is entering a slower growth phase as competition from TikTok and…

Retail media’s creative problem is getting harder to ignore in the GCC

Retail media is becoming a more important advertising channel across the Gulf, but new research suggests brands may be underestimating one of its biggest weaknesses: creative…

INSIGHTS

Saudi businesses put AI, digital tools at centre of trade strategies: Study

Saudi businesses are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence, automation and digital infrastructure to strengthen their ability to compete in international trade, with nearly two-thirds viewing AI…

INSIGHTS

AI agents, social commerce predicted to reshape 2026 shopping

Artificial intelligence, social commerce and hybrid shopping experiences are set to fundamentally reshape the 2026 retail season, with AI chat agents alone expected to account for…

INSIGHTS
BRANDS

Luxury store openings fall 46% as brands shift to bigger flagships

New US luxury store openings fell 46% year over year in the first half of 2026, to 123,334 square feet from 227,000 square feet a year…

NEWS

PUMA and AL-HILAL Bet on UV Ink to Make Brand Loyalty Glow in the Dark

PUMA and Saudi football giant AL-HILAL have unveiled their 2026/27 third kit, and the standout feature isn’t the cut or the colorway — it’s the chemistry.…

BRANDS

The Discount Is Dead. Long Live the Narrative.

Every Back-to-School campaign in the GCC this year has a discount attached to it. That part hasn’t changed. What has changed is how hard brands are…

BRANDS
AGENCIES

AI can render a place. It cannot know one.

Earlier this year I sat in a review looking at around forty images of a destination. Every one of them was beautiful. Not one of them was…

AGENCIES

Dana Sarkis isn’t rebranding Hearts & Science and she’s betting on what comes next

Dana Sarkis isn’t starting from scratch. When Omnicom Media folded Hearts & Science into the newly launched Hearts United, Sarkis kept her seat as Managing Director…

AGENCIES

SOCIALEYEZ Adds Two More Wins to Its Saudi Arabia Roster

SOCIALEYEZ isn’t slowing down in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Middle East creative agency has landed two new client partnerships in Saudi Arabia: Mueen Business…

AGENCIES
Cannes Lions Special Issue

Cannes Lions Special Issue

June 2026
The FMCG Crisis Playbook

The FMCG Crisis Playbook

March 2026
Best Brands and Best Marketers

Best Brands and Best Marketers

February 2026
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Chevrolet

MOFILM

Ad of the week Autodesk | Giant Spoon

Autodesk celebrates human creativity in ‘The World Is Yours for the Making’

The campaign travels across the built and digital worlds, celebrating the people behind the places, products and stories that surround us. By keeping its technology in the background, Autodesk positions its software as an enabler of human ideas—because tools may expand what is possible, but people decide what is worth creating.

Ranking

MENA’S CREATIVE PULSE – TOP CAMPAIGNS

MENA creativity has entered its main character era. From AI-powered seat maps and blind football seats to seasoning-led fandoms and parking spots turned media space, the…

NEWS

Best Brands and Marketers

The Brands and Marketers Who Actually Won 2025 In 2025, marketing noise was everywhere. Visibility was easy to buy, reach was easy to inflate—but true distinction…

NEWS

Top 70 CEOS

Influence doesn’t always announce itself with titles or corner offices. Sometimes it’s quieter, moving people without visible force. To build this Top List, we looked beyond…

NEWS
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