Dust storms, blistering heat, as dry as a dessert can get……I will take all that ANYDAY over the humidity in Dubai!!!!! Just got back from there and I love this weather!!

You cannot be outdoors for 5 seconds without being covered in sweat in Dubai!

The results of the latest poll are in. As always, each survey is valid for 24 hours.

I was pleased to see that each age group was selected! Also, someone in the comments section said that most issues discussed in this blogs are beyond teenagers’ interest, which is probably true to some extent. This might mean that these results only represent the readers of my blog, but at least it gives a sense of the poeple who go around blogs here in Kuwait.

Selection   Votes 10 - 15 1% 1 16 - 18 8% 6 19 - 21 20% 16 22 - 25 35% 28 26 - 30 21% 17 31 - 35 8% 6 36 - 40 4% 3 41 - 50 3% 2 50 + 1% 1 80 votes total Poll results are subject to error. Pollhost.com does not pre-screen the content of polls created by Pollhost customers.

61% of readers are over 22 years old, which probably means most of them are employees. An interesting stat is that when I posted the survey, by around 2 pm, there were very few under 22, and the 22-25 & 26-30 were very close. This is probably because of all the people blogging from work, while the non-employees have different times to check

I love how symmetrical the graph is though, nice range!

This survey will be of a different kind. The previous two surveys have been opinion polls, this one will be straightforward and just facts.

During a discussion with a couple of friends yesterday, I was asked to describe the Kuwaiti “blogger” profile. I couldn’t describe it because it ranges in age, sex, beliefs, professions, and every other aspect.

Therefore, I decided to try and make out some sort of study to find out more about bloggers and the people who surf blogs. I will start out with trying to find what age group dominates the Kuwaiti blogosphere, and what is the average age of a reader.

This is excellent stuff!! While browsing through statcounter.com, I was looking at a section that tells me which pages people went through on my blog. Anyway, one of the links was to a translating sight, and I checked it out and saw that someone translated my article to French to read it using google’s translation service.

So, I decided to go a step further, and play “telephone kharbaan” by translating the post over and over again through different languages. I took it from French back to English, to Italian, to English, to German, to English, to French, to Portugese, and then back to English (at least I think this was the orde!).

This is the original post -

Today my wife and I went for dinner at the restaurant in Fanar, the steak place near the back exit, totally forgot the name!! Anyway, just for kicks, we decided to count how many non-7ijaabed women we can spot from our seats, which look directly towards the exit and the escalators that go to the cinema, with a view of the elevator. The place was so packed that we had to park 2 blocks away, so its not like we saw a total of 10 people. In the more than one hour we were there, we counted a total of 7 non-7ijaabed women!! We’re talking literally hundreds of people passing by, out of which only SEVEN were non-7ijabed! I was shocked to be honest by the low number we counted! It is very different that the world I know, the people I mix with on a daily basis I guess! What percentage of Kuwaiti women are 7ijaabed do you think??

Aaaaand, this is the end result of the translation -

Today my woman and that lunch to the restaurant in forgotten Fanar completely I look for, I place of biqueue in proximity of Hinterausganges, names! as moreover it is in favor of cracks soon that it was decided us the conteggio, how much m.me von Nicht - 7ijaabed inscatoliamo more to repèrer of our headquarters, that they look at, to guide it exit and to escalier mobile that it enters in it I film with a sight of the elevator. The place was packed on im ways as we must park 2 we block distant, therefore its point, as we see a number total of 10 people. In the biggest part now, where we erano we, a total number 7 of m.me von Nicht - 7ijaabed counted it! it says the word of the hundred of word of the people, who ignore neighbor, a external part only SEVEN not 7ijabed eravamo! I was shaken on honest being of the low number, that we count! It is very different that the world, that I know the people with the daily mixture exactly guess/advise! Which in percent of m.me koweitiennes is 7ijaabed that ideias?

LOL!! I absolutely love this! The original post is below. Enjoy!

Maybe this is the reason we have so many wars?? Bad communication?!

What is the best corporate brand in Kuwait?

Selection   Votes NBK 52% 35 MTC 25% 17 Gulf Bank 1% 1 KPC 1% 1 Wataniya 3% 2 PWC 1% 1 Global Investment House 6% 4 Kipco 0% 0 Kuwait Finance House 3% 2 Other… 6% 4 67 votes total Poll results are subject to error. Pollhost.com does not pre-screen the content of polls created by Pollhost customers.

No Surprise here, NBK won best Kuwaiti brand. Congratulations to them and they definitely deserve it.

Second place went to MTC, which sounds fair .

All other brands were close, but Global Investment House barely edged itself to third place with 4 votes.

Obviously, this poll is not scientific in any way, and the results can’t be taken too seriously because of the small sample, but it still tells you something about what people think when it comes to brands.

To all the people who think marketing is just spending money and that the best way to cut costs is through decreasing spending on marketing, please look at the results. NBK and MTC probably spend more money on marketing than all the other companies in Kuwait. Wataniya also spend significantly but every ad seems to be for a different company, there no real character (or in this case, brand) in their ads.

Also, history plays an important role. Many of the comments mentioned NBK as the bank from childhood days. I think the “Hala hala Zaina” ad was a very important factor in cementing the bank’s identity in many of the 80’s youth, who grew up thinking that NBK is the best bank.

Service also was a factor in making the choice, as seen from the comments. NBK, from my experience at least, do have great customer service most of the time. Go into any branch of NBK, then go to any other bank, and you will notice a difference in the friendliness and customer relations. Same goes with MTC I guess, even though Ive had a few annoying experiences.

A third and important factor I think is HR. In Kuwait, hiring has become a big part of PR. Places like NBK, MTC, and even Global to some extent have successfully made it a ‘privilage’ to be working in those companies. They created a reputation of being a great place to work for, where you learn alot. Whether this is true or not, this is the image they successfully created!

Any more analysis on why the results came out the way they did, or what makes a successful brand in Kuwait, are welcome in the comments.

Once again, congrats to NBK and thanks to everyone who participated.