“Anghami for Brands Annual Gathering” Connecting Music Lovers with Their Favorite Artists and Brands

Anghami (the leading music streaming company in the MENA region) successfully hosted its “Anghami for Brands Annual Gathering” on Wednesday, September 26 in Dubai. The invite-only event was organized with the support of Anghami’s Exclusive Media Representative - Digital Media Services (DMS), the digital arm of Choueiri Group. 

The event covered the latest Anghami app updates, new advertising solutions and the announcement of the vision to double up on collaborations with the music community to support the rising scene, fill gaps in the Arabic music scene and bridge the East and West. 

Rami Zeidan, Anghami’s VP of Partnerships, set the tone for the day’s forward looking, fun-filled and musically charged agenda and stated “Today is all about celebrating how far Anghami has come since we started. Thanks to all of you and the power of music, we have grown to become a full-fledged music entertainment platform, focused on music, data, content and technology”. 

Next, a highlight presentation by David Price, Director of Insights and Analysis at International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), gave out valuable insights into worldwide trends and the role of local and global streaming services in key and emerging markets. David shed light on the potential in the Middle East by highlighting the importance on restructuring and reimagining the music economy which Anghami has been driving for the past 6 years, putting forth a rich music library for users looking for convenience, discovery, and autonomy. 

Image: DMS logo

An informative panel followed and featured Dani Afiouni (Marketing Director & Head of Consumer Engagement / Media at PepsiCo), Ahmed Soudodi (Head of Brand at Chevrolet, GM) and Rana Mardelli Danesh (Business Development Director at Estee Lauder Companies Middle East). They discussed how marketers can strike a balance between performance, engagement and maintaining brand value. 

Anghami’s Co-founder and CTO, Elie Habib, also featured prominently to unveil Anghami 4.0 – The latest version of Anghami, brimming with the latest technology upgrades. He stated that “We’re very proud of what I refer to as the entire last year of my life – Anghami 4.0 – which represents a totally revamped and future-proof interface, which takes into account upgrades and features which our users as well as our advertising partners wanted to see on Anghami. With these revamps, Anghami is now poised to be everywhere”.

Elie revealed various updates including a dark mode interface, a mixtape generator, a data saving feature, and a remote-control feature that allows users to shift from mobile to laptop seamlessly while controlling laptop from the mobile. He also gave a glimpse of upcoming features related to voice recognition, and song recognition. Aimed at maximizing the impact of mobile advertising and multiplying the impact per impression, Elie showcased new ad formats starting with Dynamic text ads that allows brands to speak to consumers by name based on time of day and music taste, reward based ads, shakable ads, and new targeting parameters based on behavior and mood.  

Anghami’s CEO and Co-founder, Eddy Maroun delivered the closing note, expressing pride in building the Middle East Music scene and attracting global players to a region that was clouded by piracy. Eddy stressed on Anghami’s commitment to a culturally rooted vision that will now focus on bigger collaborations with the music community to create “Anghami Originals” that will focus on filling market gaps, create the sound of the youth, and bridging the East and Western world for an Audience that enjoys listening to both Arabic and International music. 

DMS' COO, Michel Malkoun, also commented on the success of the event and stated “With Anghami 4.0 leading the way for better engagement and interaction, we are delighted with the turn-out today and confident that our brand partners will be onboard with the wide range of opportunities that Anghami will be delivering in the near future”.

The conference was followed by a cocktail reception, which led to highly anticipated surprise artist announcements, as attendees were enthralled by guest appearances from global music superstar French Montana, who together with Lebanese Canadian R&B / Pop sensation Massari, as well as Lebanese Pop Singer, Maya Diab, put on an exclusive performance after premiering the latest “Anghami Originals” music video, “Ya Nour El Ein”.