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‪Omnicom Media Group MENA will stage its first conference in Saudi Arabia on March 14. It will feature Professor Scott Galloway, the renowned Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business, entrepreneur, investor, media commentator, author and podcaster, as headline speaker.

‪Omnicom Media Group, the holding company of agency networks OMD, PHD, Hearts & Science as well as several consultancies and specialist units, is ramping up its presence and footprint in the Kingdom. Along with its Omnicom Group sister companies, it has partnered with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology’s Ignite development program, advising and supporting on several of its activities, particularly in building a pipeline of digital talent. These include training schemes and industry events, among other initiatives.

‪With this conference, Omnicom Media Group brings its international thought leadership to the Saudi marketing community, lining up expert speakers from the USA, the UK, Australia and beyond.

With attention spans dropping and media doing their best to keep people glued to their screens, the battle for this increasingly finite commodity is raging. Not only between media platforms and channels or brands, but also with consumers who are getting more and more aware of its value.

‪This will be the first time Professor Scott Galloway speaks in Saudi Arabia.

At “The Battle for Attention”, Professor Galloway will share his sharp insights in the world of media and tech and incisive analysis of the trends that shape it. He will focus his presentation on what it will take to prevail in the attention economy.

‪Omnicom Media Group has led from the front on this topic, particularly working on optimizing for attention as it drives brand KPIs, improves performance, and reduces waste. To explore this planning metric that continues to deliver value and how the marketing discipline will evolve, the holding company has called upon Jean-Paul Edwards, Managing Director-Product at OMD Worldwide, Prof. Karen Nelson-Field, CEO of Amplified Intelligence and Luca Allam, CEO of PHD MENA.

It will also reveal unique and exclusive insights from a proprietary study on attention in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

‪“A market with Saudi Arabia’s ambitions and goals warrants the presence and input of leading thinkers and academics like Professor Galloway. His observations and predictions have garnered a mass following because, not only are they well informed, he also doesn’t hold his punches with his signature wit,” explained Elda Choucair. “This event will shed a new light on the way forward, towards a more engaging, quality and rewarding media experience, for consumers, brands and platforms. Attention is a far more meaningful metric and a KPI that has the potential of delivering a paradigm shift in the way marketing and media operate.”

‪The private, by invitation-only event will be held at the Double Tree by Hilton KAFD, in partnership with leading Saudi media companies SMC, Al Arabia and MBC Media Solutions (MMS).