Some thoughts about Dads

Myself and the charismatic Nicolas Chidiac of Leo Burnett have been looking for a term to describe the unfortunate phenomenon of overestimating someone's intelligence during your younger, less experienced years; and then post a significant time lag you reconnect only to realize the gross overestimation you had made during your earlier years.

So after long heated debate, myself and the cerebral Nicolas coined the term Paternal Enchanment to describe over estimating someone intelligence when you don't know any better and Paternal Disenchantment when that moment of that tragic epiphany of 'he's not as astute as I thought he was' strikes.

Attending Click 2009: Dubai

Here I was randomly invited to Click 2009: Digital and Online Marketing Summit, when I am requested to fill in for a panelist (a PHD professor of Corporate communications at Singapore Management University) who did not make it. What’s the topic? “Effectively Using Online Social Media and Networks to Boost Your Marketing Efforts” I thought piece of cake, no one knows anything about the topic anyway so I might as well sit and preach – or at least give my opinion.
The first question asked to the panelist was: “Do advertising agencies understand social networks and how to best get ROI”? I found it a perfect opportunity to bash every ad agency in the region (if not globally), then a sense of ethics kicked in. I answered the following: “does Mark Zuckerberg understand social networking and how to best get ROI, because Facebook is not making money” needless to elaborate on the financial situation of other social networks.
We cannot blame advertisers and marketers (solely) for the issues we are facing in monetizing social networks and the internet. Obviously a banner ad does not work, and the only forms of digital advertising that have gotten some traction in terms of ROI are applications and widgets (the good ones at least). But is this advertising, or does it classify as product development? Is it something that the digital media owners should offer, or are they things brands should create from scratch with the likes of R/GA?

Yes it is time, we are in dire need for you to quit your job, and setup the next Agency 2.0 that will remodel digital advertising, make the difference, and rake in the billions.

Other highlights of the summit included:
- The Tragic Assassination of a Soap Bar: A very good presentation by Leo Burnett’s Strategic Planning Director Nicolas Chidiac
- A person presented the Nakheel water saving initiative as an example of a great campaign LOL! Because all of the people who believe in water conservation and making a difference will actually purchase property from the maker of the Palm, the world, another Palm etc.
- The other presentations and conversations I had there were pretty much stating the obvious, or trying to sell ads on certain digital properties
- I learnt about Netlog, a Social Network focusing on Teens and Youth with a claimed 2.5 million users from the Middle East