CMO Council MENA | The Seven Sages of MENA

As reported in Gulf Marketing Review, The CMO Council (Chief Marketing Officer Council) has expanded into the Middle East through launching CMO Council MENA based in Dubai.

For those who don’t know what the CMO Council is, it’s a private, non-profit organization which consists of elite senior marketing and brand decision-makers from top brands like 20th Century Fox, AAA, Apple, Coca-Cola, Yahoo!, YouTube and many more. It’s like the Seven Sages of Greece that used to be the source of wisdom for the whole world!

Ine must wonder whether this council will have representatives form brands like Emirates, AlJazeera, MBC, Nuqul Group, Qatar Airways, Etisalat and other Arabian top brands. Time will tell.

The plan is to have this chapter based in Dubai, then to start looking for local marketing gurus in order to form new chapters all over the region.

But is it really functional or is it just another prestigious-fancy VIP club?

Basically this council should teach marketing directors and executives how to spend their budgets and how to plan, implement and monitor the performance of marketing activities of companies they work in. In other words holding them by the hands to show them the way. Most likely the board will meet twice a year and will set the direction of regional chapters, providing insights into activities and programs being planned or executed on behalf of the members.

The approach is somewhat flawed- having a elite selected from large scale companies who consider themselves to be “the ultimate marketers” maybe offensive to other CMO across the region. It’s like a VIPs only club.

But then how good this council will be for the Middle East?

Dubai is leading the way in this region, all new major players land in Dubai and as a result of that all developments happen there, while other cities are left without much development, which explains the huge gab between Dubai and the rest of the Middle East.

The marketing scene in the Middle East certainly needs improvement, but it can’t remain as it is now. There is a need to open up more communication channels between Dubai and other cities, to share expertise rather than hide it.

Will this council improve marketing in Arabia? Hopefully.