Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
Only a few days ago we wrote “Has Al Barq Digital Closed?” and we can now bring you confirmation that this is so.
The owner, Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC) is currently trying to sell the assets of the business.
This new business lasted, almost, not quite two years. We first wrote about it in the middle of July 2010.
June 5th, 2012 at 21:24 @933
Andrew Wood and myself started the technology build in Dubai/Abu Dhabi in August 2009 not long after I decided not to renew my employment contract with the resurected VMG2.
The passion in the digital media team was clear to see and all concerned work extremely hard to get this business off the ground. Excellent hardware/software solutions were built and the sales team on stand by to market and sell the space were very well established and connected. To quote a phrase, ‘all the ducks were in a row’. A very well funded and well scrutinised ‘row’.
The only ‘hole’ in the plan was a strong ‘contracted’ pipeline of venues/locations. The delicate process of building such a pipeline was made all the more challenging due to cultural issues such as the short term nature of media contracts (and the reluctance to sign contracts longer than 1 year) and the ‘dutch auction’, fattest cheque book wins style of placing these contracts. Which usually resulted in some particularly poor screen network executions being deployed because of the size of their backers wallets!
So, no matter where in the world you decide to open your network, volume of screens and locations will always be vitally important to sales performance and business success, as we all know in this game.
In the period that Andrew started and developed this business, this was his biggest challenge I believe and ultimately the one that the business just could not overcome.
It is a real shame that ADMC have taken this decision to exit the space but equally a very brave one. Culturally they are not inclined to throw good money at bad business and with the exit of ex-pat Senior Exec’s and a move toward ‘home grown’ senior management, failure to grow a business with significant investment is usually dealt with in such a swift manner.
Had Man City not won the Premiership this season then I would have put good money down that Mr Mancini would have been enjoying the Italian sunshine once more this summer .. and not the light drizzle that is currently falling in Manchester, as I write this piece. The arabs aren’t afraid to put money into something they believe will work .. and lots of it. But if it fails, they make change …. and swiftly, irrespective of the size of the investment they have made.
The kit on offer is well worth a look – though it will cost you 1000 AED (approx £176) to enter the process. And if you want to take a look – you can always book a nice jolly to Abu Dhabi to view the kit (currently 41 degrees C).
If you’re interested then e-mail your interest to this chap.
Altayyeb.Mukhtar@admedia.ae
I don’t know him but he is the gentleman who invited me to bid for the kit yesterday.
Happy pitching!!