The 8th ART EDITORIAL

Advertising deserved in the past to be an art standing side by side with the known seven arts of man. Ads turned into melodies and songs and were "distributed" by drums and loud musical voices. Now, however, it turned to be an indispensable component of economic development.

Marketing has crossed borders and oceans through the used information technology revolution. When you place an ad on internet you actually send it not only to your neighbor or to people living by you, but to as far as Damascus,Beijing and Ohio and all four corners of earth.

But this vital economic activity is still, in the Arab world and in the GCC countries lagging behind Western societies.

Statistics indicates that the advertising business in East Asia is about 300 billion dollars annually. The comparable figure in the Arab world is 4 billion dollars which is even less than the parallel amount in Israel alone. Per capita, expenditure on advertising in the Arab world is 7 dollars while it is 600 dollars in the US.
Arab entrepreneurs and businessmen look at advertising as a burden on their budgets, not as an investment necessary to develop their companies. Most of them tend to cut advertising budget to the minimum, this hurts their businesses before it hurts the advertising sector.


THE 8 ART EDITORIAL
Advertising deserved in the past to be an art standing side by side with the known seven arts of man. Ads turned into melodies and songs and were "distributed" by drums and loud musical voices. Now, however, it turned to be an indispensable component of economic development. Marketing has crossed borders and oceans through the used information technology revolution. When you place an ad on internet you actually send it not only to your neighbor or to people living by you, but to as far as Damascus,Beijing and Ohio and all four corners of earth. But this vital economic activity is still, in the Arab world and in the GCC countries lagging behind Western societies. Statistics indicates that the advertising business in East Asia is about 300 billion dollars annually. The comparable figure in the Arab world is 4 billion dollars which is even less than the parallel amount in Israel alone. Per capita, expenditure on advertising in the Arab world is 7 dollars while it is 600 dollars in the US. Arab entrepreneurs and businessmen look at advertising as a burden on their budgets, not as an investment necessary to develop their companies. Most of them tend to cut advertising budget to the minimum, this hurts their businesses before it hurts the advertising sector.	But potential for growth in the advertising business in the Middle East seems very promising indeed. According to a report issued last year by Dubai Press Club, our advertising market is growing rapidly, though still pretty small. The regions advertising expenditure went mainly to TV and only in specific periods like the holy month of Ramadan. Still, the same report predicted that electronic media will be able to achieve the highest growth in the sector in spite of the fact that it starts from a relatively low point. It goes without saying that advertising is an art that requires professionalism, creativity and a deep understating of the mutual interdependence of media and publicity One of the missions of advertising companies is to do its share in improving the media environment in general.Both, media and advertising go hand in hand together. Therefore, it is not surprising to see advertising companies being active in the media sector. This is one of the reasons why we choose to issue this newsletter which combines both parts of that equation. By issuing this new newsletter our company, the Middle East Publicity and Advertising intends to open a form to discuss issues on both sides. We will examine what is going around us on economic fields and on advertising industry as well. We will pay a special attention as well to specific issues like advertising and tourism, the role of women in our industry and society and the breathtaking economic growth that the UAE is achieving now. We hope this electronic newsletter will benefits the two interrelated spheres and will contribute to the other publications that are sent to about 60.000 readers in the UAE and beyond our borders. Editor-in-Chief
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