An advertising agency in Sharjah that can design, print and install.

One idea, many formats

A good campaign has one idea that still works when it is cut down to a bus shelter poster, stretched across a hoarding, printed on a flyer and squeezed into a phone screen. Most weak advertising fails because each piece was designed separately, so the customer sees five different messages from one company and remembers none of them.

We start with the brief: what the business needs, who it is talking to and what one thing they should remember. Then we write the line and design the key visual, and only after that adapt it to each format. You approve the idea once, not every poster separately.

The Gulf Titles presentation at the top of this page shows the idea in practice. The identity for a Malayalam news and social channel was taken straight onto a bus shelter poster, so the advertising and the brand speak with one voice.

What we design

• Campaign concepts and key visuals, the line and the image everything else is built from. See campaign strategy and production.
• Outdoor advertising, billboards, hoardings, mall lightboxes and bus shelter posters, designed to be read from a distance in a few seconds.
• Print, flyers, brochures, catalogues, menus and company profiles, with the files prepared for the press. See visual communication systems.
• Signage, shop fronts, building signs, wayfinding and interior graphics that follow the brand guidelines.
• Digital ads, social and display ads that carry the same idea onto screens. Our digital marketing team in Sharjah can run them.
• Film and motion, short adverts, product films and animated versions of the key visual. See videography and motion graphics.
• Vehicles, because a branded van is advertising that drives itself around the emirate. See vehicle branding in Sharjah.

Production inside Abcon Group

Abcon Group began in 1997 and works across the UAE and Oman. Alongside Abcon Branding it includes Abjar Advertising, Concept Advertising, Abjar Signboard Works and German Printing Press, as well as the packaging companies Alfapack and GPack.

For a Sharjah client this matters in a simple way. The people who design the sign can talk directly to the people who build it, and the people who design the brochure can check the colour with the press. Problems that usually turn up at installation, such as artwork at the wrong size or a colour that prints darker than it looked on screen, get caught earlier.

We have also designed websites for two of the group’s own companies: Abjar Advertising and German Printing. You can read more about the group on our About page.

If the campaign also has to run in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or the northern emirates, our advertising agency page for the wider UAE shows the outdoor, print, social and film work we plan across several emirates.

Advertising, print and signage work

A film, campaign creatives, printed brochures and signage from our portfolio. The signage images are design mockups from the original identity presentations; they show how each identity was planned for the street.

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  AGs: an advertising film published on Abcon Branding’s YouTube channel. ↗
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  Travel campaign creative: jet-ski, underwater and city imagery. →
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  Visa service ads built on skyline, passport and aircraft imagery. →
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  Print: an open food brochure with red headings on yellow. →
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  Print: a foldout eye-care brochure in red, blue and white panels. →
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  Waqtal Mandi: the identity on outdoor restaurant signage. →
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  Trusline Distribution: the emblem on building signage. →
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  Burger Hub: storefront signage from the identity presentation. →

See the full portfolio

Writing for two languages

Many campaigns in Sharjah have to work in English and Arabic, and a headline that works in one language rarely works when translated word for word. We write the two versions side by side, so each one sounds natural and fits the layout. Arabic text often needs a different line length and a different place on the page, so we design both versions of every key format instead of flipping one.

The same goes for small print. Phone numbers, offer terms and addresses must be identical in both versions, so we check them line by line before anything goes to the printer.

Outdoor permits in Sharjah

Signs and outdoor adverts in Sharjah city can need a permit. Sharjah City Municipality lists a service for issuing and renewing outdoor advertising permits, open to individuals, businesses and government entities. Requirements can depend on the type of advert and where it goes, so check the current requirements with the municipality or the relevant Sharjah authority before anything is produced.

What we do is plan for it: we ask early where each sign or poster will go, leave time in the schedule for approvals and keep the artwork easy to adjust if an authority asks for a change.

What to bring to a first meeting

You do not need a finished brief. These help:

• What you are advertising, and the one thing a customer should do after seeing it.
• Where you want the campaign to appear: a single shop front, a few roadside sites, social media or all of these.
• Any dates that matter, such as a store opening, a product launch or a season.
• Your brand guidelines, logo files and any past campaigns, good or bad.

Questions and answers