Latest news with #Gur
Campaign ME
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Campaign ME
Property Finder ‘drives success' by offering SuperAgents keys to branded supercars
Property Finder has taken to the streets to celebrate the brand's 'SuperAgents' in a bold and unconventional way by offering them keys to branded supercars, including Ferraris and Lamborghinis, for an exclusive three-day driving experience. Who are these 'SuperAgents'? Property Finder leverages artificial intelligence through its Agent Data Assistant (ADA) to create an AI-driven ranking system that identifies top-performing agents based on stringent criteria. This initiative identifies 'SuperAgents' and incentivises elevated agent performance, allowing consumers to connect with trustworthy, capable agents. Such SuperAgents were rewarded through the supercar activation in the UAE, with supercars bearing the slogan 'Property Finder Drives My Success' captured on social media by these agents and passers-by, extending the brand's reach and impact. The eye-catching cars, featuring Property Finder's distinctive branding, were handed over to 'SuperAgents' from ten leading agencies including: Betterhomes, Allsopp & Allsopp, haus & haus, Driven Properties, fäm Properties, MD Properties, Engel & Völkers, Treo, Provident Estate, and Metropolitan Premium Properties. In conversation with Campaign Middle East, Sevgi Gur, Chief Marketing Officer at Property Finder, said, 'The supercars wrapped in Property Finder branding provided a bold way to reward top-performing agents while reinforcing our brand's premium positioning. Instagram was chosen as the primary channel because it's where both agents and consumers actively engage, making it ideal for sharing and amplifying success stories.' 'By encouraging agents to post and resharing their content, we extended the campaign's reach organically. This approach directly supports our objective of celebrating excellence, increasing agent motivation, and strengthening Property Finder's leadership and visibility in the market,' Gur added. For the three-day activation, red cars were leased from three different rental agencies to ensure that the vehicles matched the brand's distinctive colour. All the designs on the cars were created in-house at Property Finder. The campaign intended to to reinforce Property Finder's brand positioning as an industry leader that celebrates talent and drives innovation Commenting on the success metrics of the activation, Gur explained, 'Our main goal was to celebrate our top-performing agents. With this in mind, success will be measured primarily through agent feedback. Secondary metrics include: Social media reach and engagement of Property Finder content; new followers to Property Finder's Instagram channel; media engagement and interest in the activation; as well as quantity and reach of user generated content.'
Campaign ME
19-05-2025
- Business
- Campaign ME
Podcast: Property Finder CMO on purpose, performance, brand and business priorities
On the latest episode of Campaign Middle East's On The Record podcast, Sevgi Gur, Chief Marketing Officer, Property Finder discusses the balance between long-term brand health and short-term sales; the growing role of AI-driven data analytics and insights on predictive marketing; as well as the ethical considerations around trust, transparency, privacy and personalisation that need to be prioritised within marketing strategies. Beginning the conversation with the brand versus performance debate and the ideal framework to fuel both, Gur says, 'When we begin the discussion on brand and performance, there's this assumption that there's no brand in performance. However, the conversation needs to start with the need for investment in brand and investment in performance – both of which are part of the holistic strategy.' 'Marketing is an investment into business growth. To ensure this, the starting point should be a clear understanding of the business strategy and the growth model of the company. Then, from there the ideal framework would be based around the brand development model. Depending on the maturity of the brand, marketers will have to decide whether they need to invest more into brand equity – for example, if the brand is new to the market or is entering a new region, it's a no brainer that the business needs to invest in upper-funnel brand awareness, without which you cannot drive performance,' Gur added. For a brand such as PropertyFinder, which has already reached 99 per cent brand awareness within the market by investing in brand, the strategy then shifts to maintaining that brand equity within the market, which in turn drives user acquisition and engagement. Gur said, 'We're extremely clear about the role of each investment and the metrics that we can drive. Generally, with brand investment, you can expect more upper funnel metrics to move – sessions, downloads, direct traffic – but also, I'm a big fan of measuring the heart of the brand; so, we also measure brand health, consideration, loyalty and more.' Through the conversation, Gur also delves into: used cases of artificial intelligence and large-language models within marketing; how to build trust within the brand and within the industry; strategies that CMOs can put into place to effectively align marketing initiatives with cross-functional business priorities, especially by breaking siloes and working better with their product, sales and finance teams. For more insights from a very intriguing conversation, watch the full video above. CREDITS: Guest: Sevgi Gur, Chief Marketing Officer, Property Finder Host: Anup Oommen, Editor, Campaign Middle East Production: Surajit Dutta, Content Production Manager, Motivate Media Group Videography: Mark Mathew, Creative Content Producer, Motivate Media Group Studio: Ahmed Abdelwahab, Studio Manager, Motivate Media Group Editing: John Melencion, Content Producer, Motivate Media Group
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli reservists fired after calling for hostage release even if it requires immediate truce
The Israeli military has fired Air Force reservists who publicly called for an immediate return of the remaining hostages in Gaza even if it requires an immediate ceasefire, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In a letter published in Israel's major newspapers, hundreds of Air Force reservists and retirees said the IDF is fighting a war for political purposes without a military goal. 'At this time, the war mainly serves political and personal interests and not security interests,' the group wrote. 'The continuation of the war does not contribute to any of its stated goals and will lead to the death of abductees, IDF soldiers and innocent civilians, and to the attrition of reservists.' The letter says the signatures include pilots and air crew. The letter didn't call for a refusal to serve. The public letter is another sign of the growing discontent within Israel at the continuation of the war after 18 months and the failure to return the remaining 59 hostages still held captive in Gaza. Nearly 70% of Israelis support ending the war in exchange as part of a deal to free the remaining hostages, according to a recent poll by Israel's Channel 12. Israeli reservists have become increasingly vocal since Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas last month and returned to war, feeling the personal and financial strain of multiple tours of reserve duty and questioning the Israeli government's commitment to negotiating a return of the hostages. The simmering frustration is a potential issue for a military that relies heavily on reservists in wartime. The IDF Chief of Staff and the Air Force commander decided to fire the reservists who had signed the letter, including those who in active service. It's unclear how many of the hundreds of signatories are active or reserve, but the IDF said it was analyzing the list to see how many more are still in the military. 'It is impossible for someone who works a shift in (an Air Force) pit to later come out and express a lack of confidence in the mission. This is an impossible anomaly,' the IDF said in a statement. An IDF official said most of the signatories are not active reservists. Reservist navigator Alon Gur, whose name appears on the letter, was permanently dismissed last month, according to the IDF, after he said on social media that Israel had reached the point where 'the state again abandons its citizens in broad daylight' and 'where the king becomes more important than the kingdom,' according to widespread reports in Israeli media. Gur, who posted the statement the day Israel relaunched military operations in Gaza, said he had informed his squadron commander that he was leaving the military. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz slammed the letter and lauded the decision to fire the signatories. Netanyahu cast the letter as written by 'an extreme fringe group that is once again trying to break Israeli society from within.' 'Refusal is refusal—whether it is stated explicitly or disguised in euphemistic language,' he said in a statement. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has threatened to quit Netanyahu's government if the war ends, congratulated the IDF Chief of Staff and the Air Force commander for ousting the 'refuseniks' – a term used for those refusing to serve in the military. 'This swift action is essential to make it clear that we will not again accept refusals and calls for rebellion against the IDF,' he wrote on social media. The move to clamp down on the public protest appeared aimed at stemming increasingly vocal discontent among reservists and preventing a repeat of 2023, when waves of reservists said they would refuse to serve in protest of Netanyahu's judicial overhaul efforts Nearly all of those reservists ultimately answered call-ups they received after Israel was attacked on October 7, but that wartime unity has begun to falter as the war has dragged on.
CNN
10-04-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Israeli reservists fired after calling for hostage release even if it requires immediate truce
The Israeli military has fired Air Force reservists who publicly called for an immediate return of the remaining hostages in Gaza even if it requires an immediate ceasefire, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In a letter published in Israel's major newspapers, hundreds of Air Force reservists and retirees said the IDF is fighting a war for political purposes without a military goal. 'At this time, the war mainly serves political and personal interests and not security interests,' the group wrote. 'The continuation of the war does not contribute to any of its stated goals and will lead to the death of abductees, IDF soldiers and innocent civilians, and to the attrition of reservists.' The letter says the signatures include pilots and air crew. The letter didn't call for a refusal to serve. The public letter is another sign of the growing discontent within Israel at the continuation of the war after 18 months and the failure to return the remaining 59 hostages still held captive in Gaza. Nearly 70% of Israelis support ending the war in exchange as part of a deal to free the remaining hostages, according to a recent poll by Israel's Channel 12. Israeli reservists have become increasingly vocal since Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas last month and returned to war, feeling the personal and financial strain of multiple tours of reserve duty and questioning the Israeli government's commitment to negotiating a return of the hostages. The simmering frustration is a potential issue for a military that relies heavily on reservists in wartime. The IDF Chief of Staff and the Air Force commander decided to fire the reservists who had signed the letter, including those who in active service. It's unclear how many of the hundreds of signatories are active or reserve, but the IDF said it was analyzing the list to see how many more are still in the military. 'It is impossible for someone who works a shift in (an Air Force) pit to later come out and express a lack of confidence in the mission. This is an impossible anomaly,' the IDF said in a statement. An IDF official said most of the signatories are not active reservists. Reservist navigator Alon Gur, whose name appears on the letter, was permanently dismissed last month, according to the IDF, after he said on social media that Israel had reached the point where 'the state again abandons its citizens in broad daylight' and 'where the king becomes more important than the kingdom,' according to widespread reports in Israeli media. Gur, who posted the statement the day Israel relaunched military operations in Gaza, said he had informed his squadron commander that he was leaving the military. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz slammed the letter and lauded the decision to fire the signatories. Netanyahu cast the letter as written by 'an extreme fringe group that is once again trying to break Israeli society from within.' 'Refusal is refusal—whether it is stated explicitly or disguised in euphemistic language,' he said in a statement. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has threatened to quit Netanyahu's government if the war ends, congratulated the IDF Chief of Staff and the Air Force commander for ousting the 'refuseniks' – a term used for those refusing to serve in the military. 'This swift action is essential to make it clear that we will not again accept refusals and calls for rebellion against the IDF,' he wrote on social media. The move to clamp down on the public protest appeared aimed at stemming increasingly vocal discontent among reservists and preventing a repeat of 2023, when waves of reservists said they would refuse to serve in protest of Netanyahu's judicial overhaul efforts Nearly all of those reservists ultimately answered call-ups they received after Israel was attacked on October 7, but that wartime unity has begun to falter as the war has dragged on.
