(Photo from Digital Media Forum)
The fourth Digital Media Forum (DMF), which kicked off in Cairo Monday, proves that Egypt is a very important market for the social media industry, Randa Nassar, General Manager of DMF’s public relations partner Weber Shandwick told the Daily News Egypt.
Nassar noted that the DMF management has wanted to hold the forum in Egypt since its inauguration in 2012, but they were waiting for the country to be more stable.
Most of the participants are young people who came to learn about digital media and to be exposed to different social media case studies from all over the world, Nassar said, adding that the forum event will benefit social media stakeholders as they will know more about the latest technologies and successful examples in digital media.
Head of Programming and Branded Content Access at UK-based MEC media agency Chantal Rickards said that she took part in the forum to talk about branding content and how digital entertainment has become incredibly popular around the world in all shapes, forms and sizes.
Reviewing digital media in the Middle East, Rickards said that some countries have made “great” leaps in the industry very fast, stressing that there are many successful examples in the region.
When asked about the challenges that face the digital media industry in Egypt, Rickards said there are no challenges; however, there are “massive” opportunities as the world is changing very fast and new technologies offer opportunities to be able to do things cheaper and in different and smart ways. “I think in Egypt particularly, you get to be able to do really clever things in digital media”, Rickards said.
“DMF Cairo is my second event for the Digital Media Forum. It is always very well-organised with speakers with good topics from all over the world and it generates lots of areas of interest for me particularly,” Rickards said.
Philippe Brodeur a digital consultant at HotAir Media said that he was encouraged to participate in the event to know more about digital media in the region, “I am exposed to different experiences here and it will make me a better digital marketer,” he said.
Regarding assessing digital media in Egypt, Brodeur said: “I was a bit surprised with how advanced digital media is in Egypt in terms of being able to scale very quickly”, he said, mentioning that there are digital media challenges in the country such as censorship and rights.
The DMF, an annual and regional conference that allows professionals and decision makers to meet and address the challenges and opportunities in the digital media sector is taking place in Cairo on 27-28 October.
The forum will examine which digital media powers are driving the future of media, what it takes to make an impact and what it takes for the community a positive impact for digital media on the economy and growing industries, according to DMF.
Over the course of two days, the forum provides workshops on digital media evolution and digital experience management.
The DMF is founded and organised by Spoton Media Services and Events, a Dubai-based digital marketing company that is delivering marketing solutions for the media landscape.
