RAMADAN STARTS IN JANUARY

The cycle used to be seasonal. Now it's hourly.

Every year the same thing happens. The first week of Ramadan arrives, the biggest advertising month in the country begins, and half the market is still approving artwork.

The brands that own Ramadan did not start in Ramadan. They started in January.

Concept in January, casting in February, shoot in March, edit and approvals before the crescent. By the time the month begins their only job is to publish on schedule and watch. The brands that start late spend the month reacting instead: buying media at peak rates, shooting on short notice with whoever is free, producing work that looks like every other brand that also started late.

The audience can tell. Ramadan is the one month of the year when Egyptian viewers actively compare advertising, and mediocre work is not ignored, it is discussed. There is a cost argument too. Production rates in Cairo rise steeply from February onward, and a campaign locked in January costs materially less than the identical campaign locked in March.

None of this requires a bigger budget. It requires a calendar. Decide the idea while nobody else is thinking about it, produce it while everyone else is still writing briefs, and spend Ramadan doing the only thing that matters that month, which is being present every single day without panicking.