World's First Arabic Domain Name to Egypt

Egypt has taken a leap forward in the world of the Internets this week by applying to register the first all-Arabic domain name. Egypt’s information technology minister, Tarek Kamel says the measure will make the Internet accessible to the millions in the region who are unable to access an Internet dominated by Latin characters, so this is indeed a huge advancement.

The application was sent in on the very first day that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), an Internet oversight agency, opened the door for registering non-Latin script domains. So far six countries have submitted applications for domains in three languages.

The Egyptian government has filed an application to register the domain “.masr”, written entirely in Arabic. This name means “.Egypt”.

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El-Sheik, S. (2009). Egypt Applies for First Arabic Domain Name. In The Times of India, 16 Nov 2009.

What happened to Coca-Cola in Egypt

Here's another beverage-related case from Africa: the crisis that Coca-Cola went through in Egypt, in a nutshell.

Coca-Cola has been available in Egypt since 1945 but was then nationalised and produced by government-owned bottling plants until 1994, when the Coca-Cola Bottling Companies of Egypt was formed as a part of the privatisation policy. However, despite its long stay in the country, Coca-Cola has always had a smaller market share than Pepsi in Egypt. Coca-Cola products were identified as symbols of American imperialism, and there was also a general perception in the Arab world that Coca-Cola was for Jews and Pepsi for Arabs.

Since its privatisation, the Coca-Cola Egypt’s PR activities have been focusing on community service and what most would consider a two-way symmetrical philosophy of emphasising feedback through research of relevant publics and recognition that the company must make certain adjustments in its Egyptian operations. Among specific efforts are an employee literacy programme that has produced a 100% literacy rate among its 8,000 workers, and sponsorships and participation with nonprofit projects in the areas of education, health, youth sports, and the environment.

In 2000, Coca-Cola had to face perhaps the most serious accusation any company can endure in an Islamic nation, as a rumour spread through Egypt that Coca-Cola was anti-Islam. An accusation was made that if the Coca-Cola script logo was viewed upside down and in a mirror, it read as “No Mohammed. No Mecca.” This caused outrage and an instant drop in sales of Coca-Cola products of nearly 20%. Literature decrying the company and calls for its ouster from the country circulated in mosques, schools, and on the streets throughout Egypt. In certain jurisdictions, all Coca-Cola signage and advertising was ordered to be removed.

Coca-Cola Egypt’s response to the rumour was immediate, culturally sensitive, and reasoned. They requested to meet with the highest religious figure in the country, Egypt’s Grand Mufti Sheik Nasser Farid Wassel, and also arranged for an official panel of Islamic scholars to consider the matter. The outcome of this was that both the Grand Mufti and the group of scholars ruled there was no substance to the rumour (whose original source was never determined). The Grand Mufti announced this opinion publicly and went on to scold those who were disseminating the rumour for behaviour unbefitting their religion and for risking the jobs and welfare of thousands of Egyptian Muslims employed by Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola took the step of providing its sales force and delivery truck drivers with copies of Grand Mufti’s statement to display and distribute among businesses and customers. The company also followed up with an advertising campaign that included verses from the Holy Koran, running alongside the recently controversial Coca-Cola logo. Just a few weeks after all this, Coca-Cola regained its prerumour sales level and was once again challenging Pepsi for leadership in the Egyptian soft drink market. By realising the severity of the situation and by working with the religious leaders in a respectful and cooperative manner, Coca-Cola managed to avert serious damage and proclaim their innocence and contribution to Egypt’s economy.

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Keenan, K. L. Public Relations in Egypt: Practices, Obstacles, and Potentials. In Sriramesh, K. & Verčič, D. (2009) The Global Public Relations Handbook. pp. 179-195.
The thirsty camel from here.

Media in Egypt

The beginnings of modern mass media in Egypt date back to 1798, when the first mass circulation newspaper in Alexandria was established by Napoleon Bonaparte. Today, the Egyptian press consists of national daily and weekly newspapers and regional publications centered in the larger cities. Most media are in Arabic (the official language of Egypt), but there are also a daily and weekly newspapers in English, and a daily newspaper in French. Overall, of course, one has to understand that the newspaper readership is naturally low, explained by the literacy rate.

The areas of media outreach and media access are closely tied to media control in Egypt. Since the times of Nasser, the Egyptian media have been owned/controlled by the state. Privatisation of Egypt’s economy hasn’t really included the mass media industry, though some suggest that the process will just be slower as far as the media are concerned. The government today are less able to control what Egyptians view, now that the Internet and satellite television have been introduced.

The PR profession is continuously growing in Egypt. Some obstructions remain that will constrain the growth, and it is explained that it’s not likely that Egyptian PR will ever mirror the Western model completely. However, as the economy continues to move in towards privatisation and as the Egyptian government, culture, and the media become more welcoming of the conditions that accompany the privatisations, PR will find an environment where it’s increasingly welcome and necessary.

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Kevin L. Keenan: Public Relations in Egypt: Practices, Obstacles, and Potentials. In The Global Public Relations Handbook.

Egyptian PR Industry

In Egypt, PR is often considered synonymous with hospitality or customer relations. The service industry is probably the one most associated with PR jobs, and for instance hotels employ PR directors who are responsible for guest services. It can be said that there is a lack of understanding for the parameters of the PR profession in Egypt, and confusion exists among organisations with regard to the distinctions between PR, advertising, and marketing. Sales are often considered the primary goal of PR, with little interest in or patience for programmes or tactics that do not directly tackle sales. By one estimation, out of all who consider themselves part of the PR business in Egypt only 10% truly are skilled professionals.

The dominant coalitions in most Egyptian organisations have traditionally not included PR specialists, which is why they don’t have a very high regard for the contributions that PR could make to organisational effectiveness. A further challenge is the lack of formal training in modern PR theory and practices.

There are numerous obstacles and problems to be dealt with before PR is fully accepted as an effective and integral organisational function in Egypt, but there seems to be cause for optimism. The recent years have seen some changes as some international PR firms have entered into affiliation agreements with local agencies in Cairo. Also more sophisticated PR strategies and techniques have already been tried out, and the country’s economic and social systems are continuously evolving for the better.

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Kevin L. Keenan: Public Relations in Egypt: Practices, Obstacles, and Potentials, published in The Global Public Relations Handbook.

Facts and Figures: Egypt

To better understand communication in Egypt, I thought I'd post some elucidating facts. These are taken from The CIA World Factbook.

Population: 83,082,869 (July 2009 est.)

Literacy (age 15 and over who can read and write): in total population 71.4%, male 83%, female 59.4% (2005 est.)

Languages: Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes

Telephones: main lines in use 12.011 million (2008), mobile cellular phones 41.272 million (2008)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 42 (plus 15 repeaters), FM 11, shortwave 3 (1999)

Television broadcast stations: 98 (Sept. 1995)

Internet hosts: 177,443 (2009)

Internet users: 11,414 million (2008)

Specializing

As a result of the preliminary research and discussions within our group, we decided to focus our next postings on different countries. Some of the reasons why it would be difficult to speak about Africa as one entity are pointed out here.

From now on, Anna is our expert on PR in Ethiopia, Susanna focuses on Egypt and Tiiu tackles PR in South Africa. Hemmo has not made up his mind yet, but we'll let you know if he has.