HOC Creative was born in 2023, to bridge an important gap in the marketing and creative content industry in the GCC region: The need for localized and culturally-aware marketing and creative services. This gap, which caused global giants such as Ikea to post erroneous signage in their major stores in the region, originated in the reverse-engineered marketing industry model that dominated the region for decades: English first, English foremost, and Arabic in the back-seat. HOC Creative is here to change this into English and Arabic together, both calling shotgun in every trip.

An obsolete business model in the marketing industry

With the rise of the marketing industry in the GCC region, especially in the 90s of the last century and the first decade of the new century, global marketing agencies came to the region with a huge appetite for such a rich emerging market. Naturally, they brought their successful practices with them. However, with the advancing years, many of them failed to adapt to their new environment, and they maintained their predominantly western mentality in managing the market. This is manifested in many aspects, including the following.

• Western mentality in strategy, brainstorming, and idea generation
• English-first content
• Low budget dedicated for localization and arabization
• Using random translation agencies for localizing marketing content

If you look at these four practices, you will immediately notice that the main chunk of budgets and efforts is dedicated to the messages received by the minority of the audience: English messages, while the Arabic content, that is meant to reach the wider audience segment in the region, gets the small leftover of the time and budget dedicated to the project. This is counterintuitive.

Our value proposition at HOC Creative is simply changing this. We are a GCC home grown creative agency that offers A to Z marketing and content services in Arabic, by Arab professionals with long experience and bright minds.

Beyond cultural sensitives

Our approach to both marketing and creative content in Dubai and Saudi Arabia focus on delivering culturally-aware content and culturally-attractive campaigns. This goes beyond the simple concept of avoiding taboos and culturally sensitive topics or expressions, which is a common practice content creators and localizers should adopt in every file. Producing culturally attractive campaigns means working on how the audience in Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates would like to see things done, and based on their specific values and consumer behavior at the same time.

Key Takeaways

• An English-first approach to content and marketing does not work in countries like UAE or Saudi Arabia
• Hiring a local agency with local knowledge and experience is not an added value, it is the key value generator
• Understanding the culture means understanding consumer behavior, traditional and modern values, and visual preferences, not only avoiding taboos and sensitive issues

Dr. Ali Mohamad is the CEO of HOC Creative