Initiative Talks event to discuss the importance of content from an audience entertainment perspective
The importance of developing high quality subject matter for marketing communications is the topic under discussion at the forthcoming ‘Initiative Talks’ forum, which takes place on January 27, 2016. Titled Stand Out Content, this year’s edition of the annual event will analyse the vital elements that make up effective and entertaining content, including script-writing, direction, production, generating entertaining content for viewers and the results for creators.
“’Stand Out Content’ came as a natural progression for the series of conferences that we’ve been holding in the region, which started with mobile in 2013 and progressed with an in-depth look into video at the close of 2014. People’s content palette is evolving rapidly, with the pace of change driven mainly by technology. It all adds up to creators needing to change the way they form content and producers needing to adopt new techniques and invest in platforms that fit the viewers’ preferences. It also means that platform owners need to find new distribution channels or shape up to meet both viewers’ needs and the growing pressure from advertisers for better results,” said Faysal Zok, Managing Director at Initiative KSA.
Taking place at Madinat Theatre, Dubai, Stand Out Content will host a number of key speakers on the subject of content creation, with international experts attending alongside senior industry figures from the MENA region. Key speakers already identified for the event include Fadi Ismael, Director of Group Drama (Production/Distribution) at O3; Anas Bukhash, co-founder of Ahdaaf Sports Club and Bukhash Brothers; Karim Sarkis, CEO of Sync Media; Khulud Abu Homos, EVP – Programming & Creative Services of OSN, as well as other prominent media sector personalities.
A key component of Stand Out Content will be three panel discussions, with the first aimed at uncovering how content is instigated, what inspires creators and what dictates the content creation process. The second session will discuss the critical elements that producers look at when evaluating which content to develop and how they sell it to platform owners, while the third session will be given over to the role of platform owners in spreading content, scheduling and placement and how advertising can help.
Stand Out Content is the third edition of Initiative Talks, a programme that has been devised to act as a thought-starter as well as be a platform for key media players in the region to network, establish contacts and create valuable partnerships. This year’s edition follows on from the success of the previous Initiative Talks event, which looked at the progression from television to video and highlighted the marketing opportunities presenting in a region where video consumption is the highest per capita in the world.
The Initiative Talks programme of conferences is built on the results of extensive studies undertaken by the organisation across the pan-Arab region, which examine behaviour, trends and predicted outcomes for various forms of media; from the well-established broadcast and video formats to the newly emergent ones, such as digital and social media. Initiative Talks 2016 is being organised in partnership with LOWE and sponsored by Digital Media Services (DMS – Choueiri Group).
Initiative is a global communications network within IPG Media brands, one of the world’s preeminent media services entities and part of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). The agency operates with a network of over two hundred media specialists, having offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Jeddah, Cairo, Beirut and Morocco. Other MCN group offices include Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia and Algeria.