‘The web is a joke’

Current web offerings by most large businesses in the region are “a joke”, and are being driven by techies rather than the business, according to Flip Media CEO Yousef Tuqan.

Tuqan is currently on a mission to explain the value of the web to firms here, via a series of free on-demand internet masterclasses, where a team from Flip rolls up and explains why your website sucks the opportunities that digital offers.

“Most companies still don’t give the web the respect it deserves. If you look at a lot of the biggest banks out here, the biggest retail groups, the web is a joke. They spend so much money building these terrific brands offline, in retail environments, in advertising, they spend literally millions building those brands – then they fall down in the one place where their customers are,” said Tuqan.

Tuqan sees this as a result of web projects traditionally being bolted on to the IT department’s remit, resulting in a website designed by techies, for techies – and not being driven by business requirements. This also leads to bizarre requirements such as a company’s entire IT infrastructure being linked in to its static, corporate website (and we all know where that sort of thing leads, don’t we...)

“I think that’s one reason why we don’t see decent stuff on the web, and there’s still a changing mindset among a lot of people. A lot of these are very old businesses, and they’re thinking in an old-business way. But I think one of the many things in this credit crunch, one of the good things that’s come out of it from a business point of view, is that companies realise that they cannot play by the old rules any more, and these things matter,” explained Tuqan.

His frustration at the lack of decent web offerings is almost palpable, given the opportunity that exists for early adopters. Well, late adopters, obviously, but earlier than everyone else here.

“I keep saying to people, there’s two reasons to go on the web: it’s where your customers are, and it’s where your competitors aren’t. If you’re part of a retail bank in the UAE, just look at what your competitors are doing – and it’s just awful. There’s a great opportunity to differentiate yourself – everybody has nice advertising, everybody has a nice logo now, but not everybody has a decent website. And why don’t you? It’s not hard to do, it doesn’t cost very much,” Tuqan said.

“This is one of the reasons I’m trying to do these internet masterclasses. I’m trying to empower people within the business to understand that it’s not Star Wars. It’s communication and it’s marketing, and it doesn’t have to be scary or difficult to be able to do it,” he added.

Along with poor corporate websites, Flip is also going after marketing managers at firms which aren’t engaging with the web. Tuqan cites FMCG as one sector that’s underperforming woefully when it comes to digital advertising.

“If you look at the split in terms of industries, FMCG is less than 4% of the digital spend, which is laughable, when you consider they probably make up 25% of pan-Arab TV, out-of-home, print. Where are the chocolate bars and the teas and coffees and diapers and soft drinks? These are the guys spending the most money in every media but digital,” he said.

“If these guys ever wake up to the power of what the web can offer then, it’s a huge opportunity for us to grow. This is why I’m offering to go and see these people for free, even if they’re aligned with other agencies, because I know that ultimately the industry as a whole will benefit from that,” added Tuqan.

(And of course, should these companies consider switching agencies, Flip is no doubt hoping that a certain specific digital agency will be at the forefront of the client’s mind when it comes to asking for pitches...)

There is also a slight sense of urgency about Tuqan’s masterclass drive; he feels that, five months into the year that many said would be digital’s year in the region, not much has changed.

“The industry needs to take some responsibility for this as well. In 2009 we’re at this magic crosshair, with clients wanting more accountability and being smarter about where they spend their money, and digital coming in with this incredibly affordable medium – and we haven’t made that case to them, that we are bang in the sweet spot of what you need,” said Tuqan.