Real Estate and Dubai’s development constantly appear in the same sentence, and the talking point of the end of 2012 and the start of 2013 has been the mortgage cap by the UAE central bank, which we now discover never was.

Was this just some clever reputation management by the Central Bank?

The Governor, Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi, has been quoted as saying that ‘no Central Bank ruling had been issued on the mortgage cap and the news in circulation is a `misunderstanding.’ He has reportedly said that the circular was only a warning to banks to be prepared for rule change in the future.

Every Public Relations practitioner knows that in an ideal world, research should be conducted before developing an appropriate PR strategy or launching any programme or activity. We all know that Public Relations research has the potential to build the foundation not only for better Public Relations, but better organisations in general. But in reality too few companies or organisations are prepared to invest appropriate funds to do this.

Continue reading »

They knock out your brain cells all day long. They are unanticipated and come at unexpected instances – when you’re driving to work or burning those extra calories on the treadmill.  They fizz up like your glass of tonic. Sometimes they make sense and other times they don’t. But how can you tell until you work them up.

I’m talking about ideas and implementation is the key. You can never really know what your ideas are worth before you bring them out and about. When inspiration kicks off, it’s on a roll. But how you move with it…that’s what matters.

So how do you filter and translate those ideas into something tangible and treasurable? Continue reading »

The demands for coming up with something creative and interesting on a regular basis has increased tremendously in recent years. The race to keep up can seem like an uphill battle sometimes, but the question remains:

Where do good ideas come from?

They don’t always come out from thin air, and they could take months or years in order to develop, but for now: look at the world around you.

Find inspiration from others and find inspiration from within yourself. Have a crazy idea? Right it down; who knows when it might come in handy later.

Good ideas become great with maturity. They need time to grow into what they were meant to become.

Do you have a good idea?

When it comes to the world we live in, I’m caught between two: the ‘real world’ and the ‘virtual world’.

For the past year I have been working so many different angles on so many different accounts in so many different industries and, while my previous articles we more concentrated on the digital world and how establishing a strong solid presence online works to your benefit, it’s time to address traditional media. Yes, offline is still important. Jumping into online full on, and leaving traditional behind, is a mistake you can’t afford to do.

Of course, I’m of the online camp. It’s cheaper and more measurable, but I still think you need the two to tango.
Continue reading »

I’ve asked my 5-year old nephew, why he loves 3-D movies so much?
He looked at me with those wondering eyes exclaiming, “What kind of question is that?”
Then he replied, “Well because I am there!”

3D movies put us right in the action, which makes the experience even more thrilling. We find ourselves consumed with an alternate universe – there is no escape.

When it comes to PR campaigns, we have to be ahead of the game, so 4D PR comes into play.
Continue reading »

Of course I’m talking about my passion for the very popular series Mad Men, featuring fictional ad man, Donald Draper, about to premiere its 5th season. If you’re a fan then you share my enthusiasm.

I love this show. Not just because of its poignant depictions and complicated characters, but because it takes us into a world we, ad practitioners, are very familiar with. It depicts the raw effort, creativity and ambition of a self-made guru of his art. Moral failings aside, there’s something in Draper every professional admires – his confidence, his instinct, his charisma.
Continue reading »

Have you heard about the newest kid on the block building up a storm on the social media scene? It is Pinterest, the next big social media phenomenon and some are even saying that ‘pinning may be more engaging than tweeting’.

What is it?
Pinterest is a board-style photo sharing tool that allows online users to create and manage theme-based image collections. The platform is still in beta mode (testing mode) so you need to request an invitation to get access to the tool (but don’t worry, you’ll probably get one).
Continue reading »

Creative ideas are everywhere in the world and they’re even better when they’re used to educate people. We like the anti-littering awareness campaign called “Metel Ma Shelta”, which is designed by the graphic design students Mohamed Olaymi, Nadine Razzouk and Lama Shehadeh, to get people to stop littering on the streets.

Concept: In Lebanon there are still some incidences of people throwing garbage on the streets. The graphic design students wanted to do something about it. Continue reading »

Let me start by saying that I am one of those people who wake up in the morning, have my coffee and log into Facebook to check the news, status updates, friend’s pictures and recent events. I do that every single day, but lately I’ve been noticing something odd happening in the right hand column of the page. There are ads (yes, I know they’ve been there before) but lately, they seem to know exactly what I thought I wanted but forgot that I ever did.

If you haven’t tried clicking on any of them yet, then it’s time we take a deeper look at what companies have been doing lately with Facebook Ads.

Why should my company use Facebook?
You’re still asking why? How’s about this one – over 800 million users are using (the figure will probably be more by tomorrow). Need another one, you’re not just talking to everybody and making a lot of white noise, you are actually targeting people who are interested in what you have to offer. Continue reading »

Yes, our C&Bers have been busy at it, ever since we launched our new blogging approach. It was all thanks to my Twitter Epiphany (some are thanking me for it, while others are wishing me bodily harm), which was:

I recently had an epiphany. I’m new to Twitter (I know, I know, where have you been?) But the point is: I recently had a revelation. On my way to bugging and begging my way to more follows, I tried several things. First the Retweet, then follow more people and finally find interesting things on the Twitter boards that I could Tweet in my own words (you all do it too and you know it).

Ok, so where’s the ‘aha’ moment? I’ll tell you. I love to write and I love to come up with cool ways to attract people to read the links I post, but now that I have more followers, why not use that to express the only thing I really love to hear? (That would be me!) I love to say it in my own way, and I would rather be doing this when I need a break from writing a press release than play Solitaire on my desktop (does anybody even do that anymore?) or surf aimlessly on OMGFacts.com. So call me a nerd if you need to, but I pledge that at least 50% of what I Tweet from this point forward will be PR – and things related – literally from my perspective.
Continue reading »

© 2013 See & Be PR Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha