Inayat-ur-Rahman, Business Editor

The Mena Effie Thought Leadership Program (TLP) - Dubai was recently held at the Conference Hall in Dubai Knowledge Park. Part of the long-running Mena Effie Awards, the prestigious event lived up to its billing, bringing varied perspectives and insights around this edition’s theme: ‘Leveraging the Full Potential of Immersive Marketing: Challenges and Opportunities’.

“We are overwhelmed by the positive response to Mena Effie TLP - Dubai. The program succeeded in bringing actionable insights into immersive marketing, a niche that every marketer is fixated on but many find challenging to tap into. The tech-oriented discussions, keynotes from c-suite executives of leading brands, and purpose-driven dialogues shaped the narrative for the future of immersive marketing,” said Sahar Rafique, Managing Director of NordStella, the organizer specializing in hosting and publishing meaningful, insight-rich, and in-depth-yet-entertaining content.

NordStella’s streamlined agenda for Mena Effie TLP - Dubai enabled attendees to maximize their takeaways from the program. In conjunction with executives of leading organizations such as Snap Inc., NordStella facilitated a deep dive into emerging technologies that marketers can leverage to drive immersive marketing and deliver highly engaging experiences to end users.

Head of Creative Strategy at Snap Inc. Mena, Vishal Badiani, said: “We have been investing in immersive marketing for over 10 years now. For us, from a marketer’s point of view, immersive technology is very straightforward. It’s not VR or the Metaverse. It’s AR. Many marketers in this region have already been investing in Snap, it’s fair to say that this technology is quite scalable as it helps reach millions of people, and it is also efficient and measurable. When marketers say that AR is not for them, they need to pay attention to these elements and that it can easily become a part of their strategy”.

Badiani added that there are two strategic reasons why one should be thinking about AR. “First, millions of people are using it. There are over 250 million people on Snap globally playing with AR filters every single day. If we just look at Saudi itself – we have around 20 million people engaging with Snapchat every month. In a study we conducted with Deloitte, we found that the usage of AR correlates directly with the usage of mobile phones. It also explains how Gen-Z is going to become frequent AR users by 2025.”

Ana Júlia de Oliveira, Integrated Strategist at Impact BBDO, reinforced the concurrent need for the right messaging, saying: “The key for brands and marketers is to really use the right tools to create immersive experiences. At the same time, they need to make sure that it doesn’t overshadow the story that brands are trying to tell through those experiences. If brands and marketers approach immersive marketing with empathy, they’ll further be able to tap into how their consumers are feeling and their emotional quotient. For them to truly feel that way, the technology used in the process should leverage that and not curb it.”