A slow Fast Summer Ramadan

Sunglasses are fogging up and, instead of being invigorating, short walks in the sunshine are now torture. Summer is here, and this year it’s bringing along something new: Ramadan. The Holy Month will fall in the hot season for the next seven or so years. While summer in the Gulf is the slowest season of all, for marketers Ramadan is the busiest. Now that the two are overlapping, how will this affect Ramadan advertising?

It won’t – according to industry insiders. “Even if, let’s say, 18.5 million people leave the country to go on vacation, does this mean there is no one left in the country to advertise to? Is everyone out?” asks Mazen Fakhoury, managing director of Mindshare in Saudi Arabia.

Obviously, an entire country does not empty out in the summer, and while Fakhoury says Ramadan will be interesting to watch this year, he doesn’t expect many changes.

Mazen Hayek, official spokesman and group director of PR and commercial at MBC, says the TV network is expecting “the same unprecedented ratings for MBC1, which loyal viewers give to MBC1 every year.” Hayek adds that with ratings come advertising. “When you expect consumers and viewers to give you year-on-year tradition of ratings, you expect commercial advertising to follow. We know that during Ramadan, Muslim families gather to watch the exploits of other Muslim families on television, so we’re creating a dimension that reinforces the traditional feel. Advertisers love this,” he says.

Amer El Hajj, regional media buying director at Publicis Groupe Media, says that while Ramadan will continue to be an advertising-heavy month – regardless of the season – many advertisers are shying away from the Holy Month. “What’s happening honestly is that only those telcos and FMCGs or whoever really needs Ramadan advertising are on Ramadan programs,” El Hajj says. “Those who don’t need Ramadan, avoid it. A lot of brands don’t have activity during Ramadan because of the clutter.”

Telcos and FMCGs are typically the biggest spenders during Ramadan, with luxury brands coming in towards the end of the month to advertise gifts for Eid.

El Hajj says the ongoing football World Cup is unlikely to soak up a significant share of Ramadan spend, despite the high viewership of matches on Al Jazeera Sports. There are only a few sponsors on the channel, he says: African telco MTN, Pepsi, Qatar National Bank, KFC, and Hyundai.

“Clients who have budgets for Ramadan have budgets for Ramadan, and those who have budgets for the World Cup have budgets for the world cup,” says El Hajj. “Clients knew the World Cup was coming, so they’ve planned a certain budget for both. I don’t think this will affect Ramadan advertising very much.”

Telcos spent $102 million during Ramadan in 2008, according to Publicis estimates. That amount fell to $95 million in 2009 due to the financial crisis. Total Ramadan spend dropped 30 percent last year compared to 2008.

This year, El Hajj and other industry insiders expect advertising spend to remain at 2009 levels, with a slight increase of 5 to 7 percent in some categories, and a slight dip in other categories.