Brand Guidance During Current Situation | HAVAS MIDDLE EAST’S CLIENT ADVISORY

2 MARCH 2026

The Situation

On 28 February 2026, joint US–Israeli strikes on Iran triggered retaliatory missile and drone attacks across the Gulf on 1 March, hitting the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman.

The human and physical toll is still emerging, with casualties and infrastructure damage reported across multiple markets, alongside airspace closures and widespread travel disruption.

The situation remains highly fluid. Please continue monitoring official government channels in each market for the latest guidance.

This is unfolding during Ramadan, a time when communities across the region are already in a heightened state of reflection, togetherness, and emotional sensitivity. That context makes every brand decision more visible and more consequential.

The guidance below covers general principles that apply across all disciplines, followed by specific recommendations for creative, social, PR, and media.

General Guidance

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Guiding Principles

• Lead with humanity. Consider how communications will feel to affected audiences. Tone-deafness is remembered.
• Act decisively, then calibrate. Remove obvious risk quickly. Refinement follows as clarity improves.
• Not all markets require the same action. Tier your response by impact and sensitivity.
• Measured presence over total silence. Going completely dark can signal instability. Appropriate, steady presence signals composure.
• Protect long-term equity over short-term visibility. Your audiences will remember how you behaved, not just what you said.

Market Tiering

This guidance applies to all brands, but the level of response will naturally differ for global brands, regional brands, and regional brands with global footprints. Each carries different exposure and audience sensitivities, so calibration should reflect that while staying anchored in the same core principles.

We recommend categorising your markets into three tiers and responding accordingly.

Directly Impacted

Criteria:
Physical disruption, operational impact, safety concerns, or brand HQ in affected area.

Response:
Pause high-visibility campaigns. Maintain essential service communications only (safety, operations, customer support).

Regionally Sensitive

Criteria:
Geographic proximity, cultural or emotional connection, heightened public sentiment.

Response:
Reduce media weight, shift tone to neutral and service-led, tighten brand safety controls, increase monitoring.

Operationally Stable

Criteria:
No operational disruption, baseline public sentiment.

Response:
Continue with enhanced brand safety safeguards and heightened monitoring.

Immediate Actions Across All Disciplines

• Pause all non-essential content across social, digital, and broadcast. This includes organic posts, paid campaigns, scheduled influencer content, and dark ads in affected markets.

• Audit everything that is live. Pull anything featuring humour, celebration, aggressive sales messaging, or aspirational lifestyle. Review language for inadvertently insensitive terminology (e.g. blast, dominate, explosive, attack).

• Hold all events, launches, and activations. This includes Ramadan events. Even if logistically possible, the current environment makes visible brand gatherings a reputational risk.

For post-Ramadan activities, continue planning but build in flexibility to pivot quickly.

• Activate enhanced monitoring. Track brand mentions, sentiment shifts, and adjacency risks. For directly exposed brands, we recommend daily reporting until the situation stabilises.

• Prepare reactive holding statements in case of media enquiries. Factual, empathetic, brief. Run through legal before release.

Before Anything Goes Live

We recommend running all content through these five questions:

Is this respectful of the current emotional climate?

Would this feel tone-deaf next to a news update?

Does this add value to the audience right now, or just add noise?

Would our own employees feel comfortable sharing this today?

If uncertain on any of the above, can it wait?

If the answer to any question is yes or uncertain, hold.

Creative

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Not every campaign should stop, but every campaign should be reassessed.

Pause or adapt campaigns that include:

• Celebratory tone
• Aggressive sales messaging
• Patriotic or national symbolism
• Competitive or combative language

A note on Ramadan

People across the region are experiencing a deeply traumatic Ramadan. Families are evacuating, sleeping in basements, missing iftar.

We cannot be showing happy families gathering at home, cooking together, and celebrating as if the world outside is normal.

Many Ramadan campaigns will have already gone live, but for any that have not, we strongly recommend holding them. The emotional disconnect between the content and the reality people are living through is too significant to ignore.

Visual guidance

Avoid:

• Fireworks
• Explosions
• Smoke
• Crowds celebrating
• Military imagery
• Maps of the region

Favour:

• Close human moments
• Nature
• Daylight
• Craft and product detail
• Neutral environments

Safer territories

Service-led content, community support, education, practical value, and calm brand building that emphasises brand values without volume.

Do not force solidarity messaging unless your brand has a genuine, credible role and will follow with real action. In this region, audiences are highly attuned to authenticity.

Prepare recovery creative. Warm, restrained, community-minded. Have it ready but do not deploy prematurely. Knowing when to come back matters as much as knowing when to stop.

Social & Content

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Pause all organic publishing across markets. This includes scheduled content, campaign launches, product pushes, influencer reposts, cultural and reactive content, and entertainment formats.

This is a controlled strategic pause, not disengagement.

Community management stays active.

Pause:

• Polls
• Quizzes
• Playful comments
• Banter
• Trend participation

Continue responding to:

• Customer support
• Service enquiries
• Complaints

Tone: calm, neutral, empathetic, non-political.

Influencer and partner monitoring

Pause all branded collaborations. Remove reposts where needed. Monitor partner output for adjacency risk. Brand safety extends beyond owned channels.

Content production

Postpone all shoots, production sessions, and content creation in affected areas. Team and talent safety is the first priority. No exceptions.

Sensitive keywords

For brands that have previously faced boycotts or political sensitivity, activate keyword filtering, limit comments on first resumed posts, and turn off automated replies.

X (Twitter)

Pause all activity. The platform is politically charged and volatile.

Re-entry only when the situation stabilises significantly, content is strictly informational, and leadership approval is secured.

Phased restart

When conditions allow, the first wave of content should be:

• Informational
• Product education
• Service-related
• Minimalist in tone and visuals

Avoid heavy music, flashy edits, or aggressive calls-to-action.

Start with lower frequency. Monitor sentiment within the first 12–24 hours and be ready to pause again immediately.

Restart must remain reversible.

PR & Communications

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Pause all proactive media outreach.

This includes:

• Press releases
• Launches
• Thought leadership pieces
• Press kit send-outs
• Content follow-ups
• New media briefings

Continue operational communications where genuinely needed:

• Travel advisories
• Service updates
• Safety information

Ramadan events

We strongly recommend cancelling at this stage.

The situation remains fluid, with no clear visibility on stabilisation. Even if tensions ease, public sentiment will still be in a period of reflection.

Hosting celebratory or highly visible gatherings risks being perceived as misaligned with the broader mood.

Post-Ramadan events

Continue planning but build flexibility across logistics, communications, and vendor commitments.

Influencer campaigns

Pause in line with social guidance. Hold off on campaign amplification until the environment allows.

Internal communications

If your teams need support with employee messaging, we can help.

People are worried. Clear, empathetic internal communications protect both your workforce and your brand.

Reputation monitoring

For brands with direct exposure (aviation, hospitality, tourism, government-linked entities, infrastructure), we recommend dedicated daily reporting on:

• Sentiment
• Share of voice
• Narrative framing

until the situation de-escalates.

Media

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Apply market tiering (Pause / Calibrate / Continue) to each channel.

Programmatic

Pause open exchange buying. Shift to curated PMPs, publisher allowlists, and premium video/CTV.

Activate pre-bid blocking for conflict, violence, extremism, and misinformation.

Avoid all news inventory.

Paid Social

Pause in directly impacted and regionally sensitive markets.

In stable markets apply restricted inventory filters (Meta, Snap, TikTok: Limited inventory).

Exclude news and politics categories.

Pause UGC formats.

YouTube

Exclude expanded inventory and news channels.

Use YouTube Select or direct buys.

Tighten topic exclusions.

Paid Search

Maintain brand and service campaigns.

Exclude conflict-related keywords.

Monitor search query reports daily.

OOH & DOOH

Review placements for proximity to affected areas.

Pause large-format placements in sensitive markets.

Use DOOH flexibility to rotate or pause by location.

Swap celebratory creative.

Broadcast & Print

Hold new bookings.

Reposition committed placements away from news programming and front-section editorial.

Influencers

Pause new launches.

Brief existing partners on tone.

Do not pressure posting.

Monitor adjacency risk.

Owned Channels

Review homepage, app, and email.

Pause celebratory messaging.

Maintain service communications.

Budget Planning

Some channels may remain unsuitable for weeks. We are preparing reallocation scenarios so your investment continues working when conditions allow, without lost momentum.

48-Hour Reassessment. We will reassess conditions every 48 hours and advise on whether to maintain, adjust, or begin phased re-entry. Context changes; Posture should too.

What Happens Next

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This situation is evolving rapidly.

Here is how we stay ahead of it together:

• Your Havas team is monitoring the situation in real time and will flag developments requiring immediate action.
• Updated guidance will be issued as the situation evolves.
• Immediate consultation is available if you face a specific challenge, pressure to act, or an emerging reputation risk.
• We will advise on the right time to re-enter communications and camcommunications and campaigns.
• Posture reviews will take place every 48 hours as conditions evolve.