This document summarizes several trends observed in a Cheil Levant Trends Report from January 2015. It discusses the rise of virtual debates on social media, combining volunteering with leisure activities to live purposefully, baby boomers becoming more engaged with technology and social media, the potential for Arabic language and content online, harnessing social movements to unite large audiences behind ideas, ongoing concerns about internet privacy and security, initiatives that promote unity among diverse groups, the growing influence of social media on consumer behavior and sales, and the emergence of digital forms of romantic expression among Arab youth.

1. Cheil Levant Trends Report Jan/2015
The Trends we Think we Need to Keep an Eye on!

2. Virtual
Debates!
1
Social Networking Sites are now becoming platforms for debates. People are discussing
movies, TV shows, dogs, politics, trials and local affairs online on Facebook and Whatsapp
groups.
Furthermore, virtual teams of people rallying behind a thought or a person are now
made possible! We saw people virtually cheering for brand and other virtually cheering
for Hannity in their recent debate on Gaza last year.

3. Living well
while doing
well
2
Living for a cause and having a purpose have recently become a lifestyle implemented
by many, but when can one fulfill the purpose and live for a cause when a job is important
and one need to have fun? when can those people working from 6-9 with 14 days of
annual leave change the world?
The solution they found is in adding a component to life and to fun to make it matter, by
linking the activities they love doing for a cause. So they started going on charity hiking
trips and cycling trips combining a vacation and volunteering in one! Whether it is
cycling, hiking or baking! It can all be linked to a good cause now!

4. Grandma
is Online
3
Baby boomers are now grandparents and they are the first generation of digitally
connected grandparents! They want in on technology and they want in on trends. They
are now friends with their grandkids on Facebook and are using Instagram to search for
food recipes!
Seniors in general are proud people, and technology intimidates them because they
don’t want to be mocked for not knowing how to use it, so they averse from it. However,
those who want IN on this trend are fighting their way in the connected era, and
establishing their own presence with their own usages and their own habits! Touché!

5. Arabic!
4
From Arabeezi to ‫ﺑﻜﺘﺐ_ﺑﺎﻟﻌﺮيب‬
Arabic language is gaining fame and momentum. The creation of Arabic content and
Arabic applications would be welcomed and any early mover would gain fame!

6. Global Social
Activism
5
The Ice Bucket Challenge showed us that the target audience for any social movement
could really be everybody, living everywhere. Targeting the masses has been
something that marketers have been avoiding because it has become possible and
more efficient and effective to target and understand the niches. it seems however
that people would like to be united in masses behind an idea or a cause.

7. Are We
Digitally
Safe?
6
Speculations about internet security have always been debated. Youngsters are more
hesitant than seniors to share their information and after Apple’s image leak and Sony
Pictures hack, people’s doubts might have been confirmed. Would trust be an
increasingly troubling obstacle in the digital world?

8. Unite us
Please!
7
We are Social Creatures who are being torn apart by political, sectarian, religious, racial,
language and opinion differences. The labeling of people into groups goes against our
natural state and it confuses us.
Any initiative rallying people behind unity, gathering people around a shared cause,
building common grounds, spreading peace and letting people live by a unified code
would yield enormous success and momentum.
“Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than
human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as
not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god”

9. Social
Moment of
Truth
8
With the increasing impact of social media on people’s behavior and habits and with its
close link to the digital world which is providing people with an abundance of
information about brands, products and deals, the integration between digital and
sales strategies will soon happen. Brands are seeing the business value social media
would bring to sales.

10. Social
Romance
9
While Tinder is now witnessing 600M swipes per day, digital romance is still considered
an uncomfortable topic in the Arab world. Arab Youth are dreadful of rejection in a very
intimate society where families are known and the concept of dating is not accepted by
all. Those Arab youth however, have also taken romance to the digital world in their
own way. Social flirtation through “likes” and “Viewing Your Profile” are now becoming
a safer way for youngsters looking to show a romantic interest in somebody.

11. Thank You
For more information please contact Nimati Emam,
Strategy Director at Cheil Levant, nimati.e@cheil.com