MrWeb's MR-a-thon

When I arrived in Jeddah, the research industry was much smaller than now, I recall a few female researchers, working in a western style compound in a converted bungalow. They were well trained by my new boss, and guru, Robin Jones. He was a pioneer of marketing research in KSA many years previous, when the industry was very much in its infancy. In early 2000 virtually no women worked; eleven years later this has changed dramatically but there are still many jobs that are male only, including, lingerie shop assistants! These tend to be low-paid Filipinos that, well, are not interested in women. But there are calls for women to take these jobs, so maybe my former ASDA colleague could answer that phone someday, not for a lingerie shop of course!

On the client-side I had few agencies to choose from back then, and I found it necessary to write my own reports (business language is English) and had to do so right up to me leaving the client-side two years ago. And now I still do it (!) but on the agency-side.

Most global agencies are here now, the buoyant Saudi economy being the attraction, but the demand for business services dropped dramatically in 2009 as confidence here fell - influenced by the financial crisis in western economies, just as I joined MASMI!

Conducting research has its challenges, particularly with females. For example, we cannot video them nor can a male watch a group. I listen in, with a translator; I must restart those Arabic lessons. Similarly, a male cannot interview a female, although we sometimes do so in a public place, if accompanied by their husband or father, and he agrees. Meanwhile, we need more Saudis and other Arabs to have studied business and marketing which I suspect is a driver of demand for marketing research. For those that do want research, we often encounter some interesting discussions about what research can deliver.

From the headlines, and probably the sensationalist word-of-mouth stories from expats, Saudi Arabia must seem a forbidding place. For some, it takes some getting used to, notably for western women as they are unable to drive. Additionally, they have to wear the hated abaya - a kind of black cloak. But the streets are safe (can't say the roads are!) and everybody is very patient, very helpful and very pleasant. Indeed, you even shake the policeman's hand before and after he gives you the speeding ticket, not the experience I have had with British Bobbies.

One notable change is the decline in the number of westerners in marketing positions. This was exacerbated in 2003 when terrorists started targeting us; a good many Saudi police paid with their lives during that period, but luckily Jeddah was largely unaffected. N'vertheless, my employer paid for a safe area to be installed in our villa. Luckily, I can pass for someone from the Middle East so I was less concerned. This reminds me, of one Friday morning, some way out of Jeddah, I was making my way back from mountain biking in the desert and had stopped at a remote petrol station. A very kindly, and spindly, old Saudi gentleman asked me for a lift to the mosque and I obliged. It tickled me when he asked me if I was Palestinian. However, I found it very fulfilling helping this sweet old guy go and pray, regardless on one's beliefs or perceptions.