Having in hand an Oxford Business Review comment on the issues “Morocco: On Campaign,” I found some choice items of interest:

….the sector's players to set up a joint commission and, together with HACA [the media oversight commission], to entrust Maroc Métrie, a consortium headed by the French audience rating leader Médiamétrie, with the mission of implementing a new rating system. Maroc Métrie won the tender with its well-tested audience measurement system, which will be based on a 750-family panel.

One of the items I find most irritating about Morocco, and the Maghreb generally (although if one removes the following national reference, perhaps the MENA region) is the eagerness to attribute monopolies to Franco-Maghrebine consortia.

While perhaps arguably this is a best solution given small market size and perhaps one can count on the French firm not being corruptible (a large assumption), it alls into a rather disagreeable pattern. Same thing is being set up in the financial sector for credit information, and I personally find it sub-optimal. But it is so very French, the approach.

Skipping ahead, some commentary on where the sector is heading:

While most sector insiders concur to say these changes herald a new era for the Moroccan advertising sector, there is some disagreement over where exactly the sector is heading to. Doom merchants were quick to point out that advertising budgets are limited, so that with more TV channels and radio channels available, the existing expenditure will simply be split between more players, which is seen as bad omen for the quality and diversity of programmes.

Perhaps, however I think with more targeted and better media, one may see an expansion of ad budgets. In short, despite my natural inclinations, I am disagreeing with the ‘doom merchants’ (that’s not a pejorative phrasing, now is it?).

Note advertising hours on the state channels (recall one of which is reasonably good and even watchable) will be reduced. Other than mechanically moving more potential ad time to the private sector, there’s no real rational for such. Instinctually as a liberal, I rather dislike the very concept of the state council, HACA, overseeing media in such a manner (it can also pronounce on the fairness of commercials, which in the past has led to amusing legal wars between companies engaging in mutual accusations of being “better” than the other – typically comical clownery when one gets State regulation involved in such things.)

I also give credence to the argument, cited here, that some domestic / MAghrebine oriented ad budgeting may be attracted back from the international Sats:

On the other hand, optimists are hopeful that with more diversity in programming, the sector will manage to recapture part of the audience it has long lost to satellite channels, which are thought to divert roughly half of the domestic audience away from national advertisers. Indeed, with better targeted and regionally focused programmes, the launch of new broadcasting media should bolster the advertisers' base.

All things being equal, I would guess that is true.

Now of course, the question is can all this be pulled off, or will it end in failure?

There is also the issue, right raised here, of attracting new advertisers, and not simply relying on the Big Group(s) and Europeans

According to Ali Bakkali, the head of Régie 3, The market has reached a plateau with large advertisers, and it now needs to attract small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs] to move up to the next level.

Well, forget the SME rubbish development speak that has infected the region, but mid sized Corporates might be reasonably attracted – and who knows, on the regional radios, one might have the Moroccan equivalent of the painful used car salesmen ads one gets in the US of A.

The article also takes note of optimistic, and for one not wildly unrealistic talk of some competitive advantage the Moroccans have over others

…. increased professionalism across the industry could help Morocco achieve its objective of taking a strong position as the advertising centre for North Africa. The country seems to have what it takes, with much more competitive subcontractors (such as publishers and production agencies) than can be found in its sub-regional competitors.

Moreover, while many Middle Eastern campaigns are lead by agencies based in Lebanon or Dubai, Moroccan insiders are hinting that the Maghreb's cultural differences and French-influenced culture could justify stand-alone campaigns, at least when Moroccan agencies develop the necessary creative skills. This calls for the emergence of high-level advertising training in Morocco, a key condition for Morocco to assert itself as the undisputed regional leader.

I would add that Leb-Dubai advert campaigns have never been that impressive to me (tending to the rather hum-drum copy-paste-Arabise Western campaigns format), and while it may be pro-Maghrebine bias on my part speaking, I think there is a base of enough freedom and creativity for the Moroccans to pull it off.

Of course the country seems to specialise in mediocre execution of attractive ideas, and generally pulling defeat (or at least second or third place) out of the jaws of victory, so I can’t discount failure.

Finally on the media landscape, of note, besides the new stations and channels expected to start broadcasting in late 2006 and early 2007 there is a second round of private licences to be doled out soonish (although soon in the Maghreb is a highly elastic concept, regardless perhaps rather sooner than later.

All in all, for those outsiders looking at the region for signs of positive change and potential vitality, here is a genuine story for you. One that might go a number of ways, but regardless, a genuine story rather than mere fluffery.