Ramadan 2026: A Different Approach to Marketing
Ramadan 2026 was distinct in its campaigns, messages, proximity, and emotional charge. It was also unique in its return to the essentials, as each brand had to stand out, according to Fatma Abbès, Marketing Manager at IAT. She was one of the experts who discussed the strategies, performances, and analysis of Ramadan 2026 campaigns during a panel moderated by Sana Mouldi, a marketing consultant and teacher, at the 2nd edition of 'Ramadanes'Comm' on April 2, 2026.
The Consumer and Numbers Decide
According to Fatma Abbès, the novelty lay in the fact that AI was now integrated into production and content, and that "asking GPT" was also a form of proximity. This is why public campaigns were very creative, especially product insight campaigns. Mohamed-Salah Ben Slamia, CEO of Muse Agency, explored the benefits of contradiction: "We could mark minds with a good spot or a spot that had gone wrong! It was the consumer and the numbers that decided. And estimates proved that the Tunisian was not the same depending on their situation in Tunisia. Therefore, creating a spot was great, but we had to constantly take into account the person we were addressing."
Engaging Campaigns and the Need for Innovation
This led Sawssen Toumi, Marketing Manager at Lloyd Assurances, to say that the campaigns were quite engaging, but it was necessary to take the time to analyze them and reflect on communication: "From one year to another, we had to innovate, be creative, deploy reflection and audacity at the same time. Think about the post-Ramadan period." Mohamed-Salah Ben Slamia retorted that differentiation and audacity had to be accompanied by a return to the essentials: "Why, for whom, were we doing advertising? What did the consumer want to learn? We had to understand their needs and offer something that resembled them, where they felt emotion. They had to feel that the brand was sincere. And new generations needed a different message."
The Increasing Importance of AI
Sendy Zardy, CEO of ComGuru, discussed the tool that had become increasingly omnipresent in communication and advertising: "Evolution had never stopped, and AI had imposed itself in content production, to the point where the consumer could no longer distinguish. Everyone had to adapt to AI as a tool and partner." Fatma Abbès added another factor: "The effectiveness of a spot did not reside only in visibility, but in creating resonance and provoking emotion. We had done the exercise with AI, but I felt that the difference was in the details during this Ramadan, because AI alone tended to give standard spots."
The Benefits and Limitations of AI
Sendy Zardy cited the example of the 'Malla Makrouna' campaign, which was the third to be created with AI: "I had observed the evolution from one year to another. The goal was to reach a new audience, rejuvenate the brand with trendy tools. It was clear that the more we used AI, the more expertise we had, the more we understood, the more we controlled." Sawssen Toumi also spoke of evolution: "The choice of texts was risky. A matter of dosage. We could use humor, but we couldn't touch the brand. We observed that the notoriety of the image improved from year to year, but there was a part of the spot that we had to create with AI." Mohamed-Salah Ben Slamia emphasized, however, that the use of AI was necessary when the budget/timing was limited: "AI was a tool that undoubtedly allowed us to save time, but for me, the human remained at the center of things, especially from a regional perspective."
The Future of AI in Marketing
For Sendy Zardy, there was no doubt that AI was establishing itself durably and would do more good than harm. And for Fatma Abbès, the AI trend was there, and it was necessary to dose, choose, and know how to exploit its potential.
