While this number may seem significant, it represents less than one per cent of the total worldwide users of the Internet. Clients are still slow on the uptake in accepting the Internet as a new medium for communication. A large majority of multinationals, whose international sites are award-winners and benchmarks for excellence, appear reluctant to even enter this market. Companies who have invested millions in their worldwide presence, have largely ignored the Middle East market or have had their local agents create a shadow of the work they present online on their international sites. Some multinationals, like BMW, have developed regional sites that are on a par with their global counterparts due to stringent corporate visual standards, but BMW is an exception.
Clients are still unwilling to pay for world-class design work on the Internet.
Apart from multinationals, regional clients also share the blame for not promoting the development of top-notch websites. However, their limited knowledge of the technology and creative requirements of a website, does not deter them from trying to dictate to agencies on their site's look and feel. This is not always in their best interest, and smaller agencies with inexperienced account managers have trouble asserting their position when it comes to design and concept. The frustration felt by many local agencies fed up by competing with weekend warriors, is a talking point across the region. While they have no objection to spending millions on over-priced fliers and brochures, offer them an Internet solution that has permanence and added value, and they gawk at the price.