From Our Own Comms Correspondent

In our new feature, we go around the world to explore the wide world of communications and international correspondents provide their take on local issues. Each month we’ll bring you one highlighted story, with more from global communications on Communicate’s iPad edition.

A ripple but not a wave

Communications in the MENA region is still a fledgling industry. Brand and comms correspondent Nada Haddad writes of changing times from Beirut.

If the corporate communications function began in the US and the UK in the 1970s, communications in the Middle East region only dates back to the late 1990s. Few companies here had a communications officer then, and those that did were mulinationals following internal policies. 

There remains a general misconception that communicators work only in PR or even telecommunications. Despite this, it is fair to say that in 2013, the demand for communications in the Middle East is very much on the rise and is becoming an established corporate function. Most large corporates already have a communications officer and a few even have a communicationsdepartment. This marks a change in the perception of communications in the Middle East region, but it is only a ripple so far, not yet a wave.

Companies or organisations that try to communicate to their stakeholders on their own without first seeking the advice of a communications professional perpetuate this misconception. They will invent a brand name and ask graphic designers to develop a brand or logo without asking what the brand or logo evokes in the minds of their stakeholders, and whether it captures the essence of their business and its objectives. There is little strategic thinking behind either brand or logo; no analysis or thought about brand positioning, concept, market or competition. There is no vision of building a brand or of brand and communications strategies working together, let alone working in alignment with an overall business strategy. As a result, companies often see their image and communications lurching in an unplanned direction, in complete disharmony, betraying an initial lack of thought and analysis.

This improvised method applies to all communications streams, be it PR or digital. The lack of success that this ad hoc approah achieves also underlines a prejudice against communications: it is simple, it is easily done, anyone can do it. In some companies, when a communications function did exist, it was managed by default as a subset of the HR department. This not only illustrates, but also perpetuates, the misunderstanding that communications not a specialty in its own right with specific, unique techniques and skills that can only be executed by communications professionals.

This misconception is further reinforced by the dearth of mature communications curricula in Middle Eastern universities. The very nature of communications tools and channels means that we see only the end result, be it a finished website, published collateral or a logo. The end user or the uninformed onlooker has no concept of the work that went into the implementation: the hours of meetings and brainstorming, the emails, the reviews and edits before it is finally released. There is a tendency to say: “A logo? What does it take? I can do it for you.”

On a more positive note however, the above behaviour shows a general acknowledgement by people and organisations that communications is a crucial component of their work. The root of this acknowledgement may lie in the increasing value that people ascribe to the importance of communication in a globalised world and an age of information where voices must be heard in order to exist. But there is still a lot to be done for communications to be taken seriously in the Middle East region. And it does take time to accept, change and embrace new ideas, even if they have been percolating for some time.

The challenge remains to convince all those who do not yet abide by a professional way of doing things, whether in business or government, that for them to successfully develop a proper image and to achieve their strategic objectives, it is essential to work with communications professionals. Until that happens, let us keep talking about communications and the return on investment (in the broadest sense) that they bring.