How the Omicron variant has shifted consumer sentiment in the UAE
December 13, 2021
A bump, then a boost. That's what the last week of November and the first week of December looked like for consumer sentiment in the UAE on news of the Omicron variant. On the 26th of November, the WHO declared the COVID-19 variant 'omicron' a variant of concern. The same day, oil dropped 10%, while stocks…
Food audiences in the GCC growing despite platform fragmentation
September 12, 2021
With the disruption of Tik Tok, Reels and Youtube algorithm changes, we could be forgiven for assuming brands would have an increased battle on their hands for attention. We looked into Sila data to put a microscope on Foodies; creators and their audiences over the last 24 months. We wanted to understand the effect that…
YouTube losing the viewership battle in the GCC
August 24, 2021
Social video viewership and performance - GCC We took a step back from our last article: When is a view not a view, where we did a deep-dive into the advent of the Instagram Reel; to look at the overall performance of video across the 3 major platforms; Instagram, YouTube and TikTok in the GCC.…
The who, where and why of Arabic student travel trends
August 10, 2021
With the Saudi market representing the largest percentage of the Arabic travel conversation in the GCC, as uncovered in our last travel article; “GCC’s travel intent rises steadily. Who are the audiences driving the demand?”, it is no wonder that the major demographics were male youth.
COVID-19 and the business sentiment
July 20, 2021
It is safe to say, the world did not see a pandemic coming and businesses were hit by a heavy storm. An economic crisis is still ongoing which has both caused a recession in some nations and in others a depression. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. A challenging period for businesses…
GCC’s travel intent rises steadily. Who are the audiences driving the demand?
June 22, 2021
The devastated tourism sector will be happy knowing a healthy and rapidly growing appetite for travel within the GCC, with travel demand rising. With the increase in travel signals, we’ve been able to track a more in-depth set of trends and insights from GCC travellers. With GCC rising travel demand is being met with the obvious…
GCC’s future travel destinations: June 2021
June 14, 2021
Being able to travel again is what will be the giant re-set of the post-Pandemic area. We're not allowed to do the primary thing that keeps us going - travel. We at D/A see it as the great 'normality' marker to return to some semblance of normality. So what are the future travel destinations, and…
Ramadan insights for 2021: A DEconstructing series webinar replay
June 10, 2021
D/A held a webinar to share insights garnered from our Sila tool and interpreted by our D/A Labs team. The focus of this was to understand better what happened in the consumer's eyes during Ramadan 2021 in Saudi Arabia & the UAE. DEconstructing: Ramadan 2021 D/A Paul Kelly was joined by Dr James Piecowye from…
Is organic part of the UAE and KSA health conversation?
May 30, 2021
FMCG brands in the MENA region are investing in the worldwide organic produce trend with heightened marketing efforts on the shelf and online, communicating the lifestyle and health benefits of buying organic. In response, consumers are becoming more conscious, but is the conversation one-sided? Collecting ambient feedback via our Arabic AI platform, Sila, and deep-diving…
COVID-19 Vaccinations: The business and economy takeover
May 6, 2021
COVID-19 vaccines, probably the most talked about topic of the year. Whether it be in news, gossip or chat rooms; this is one topic that you could not easily miss or avoid. If 2020 was known to be the year of COVID, then 2021 has definitely been the year of the vaccine; and whether you…
Consumer sentiment rebounding, business struggles.
May 6, 2021
The Sila Consumer Confidence Index update: April 2021 As the chasm in confidence between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates private sector grows; we’re also seeing greater separation between business expectations and economic sentiment among consumers more generally in the GCC’s two largest economies. 16 months of data D/A has built out the region’s…
Travel, a GCC need that is long overdue.
April 28, 2021
It's been over a year, a Ramadan and a half, 100+ new crypto currencies; yet we're still suffering the pandemics’ consequences. WE MISS FLYING OUT! Travel has now become a GCC need. You know it’s got to a peak point when you start reminiscing about everything bad about travel; the passport control lines, the walk of…
