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A personal blog post from Shelina Janmohamed, a senior strategist at Ogilvy Noor, on thought leadership and winning WPP’s Atticus Award for the Ogilvy Noor blog and AdCritique which she maintains.

Every so I often I write a personal “Insider’s View” of being part of Ogilvy Noor. As it is currently Ramadan, a particularly potent time of the Islamic year, I felt it is a good time to share some of my own thoughts on the world of the Muslim consumer.

In all our blog posts and industry thought pieces that I’ve had published, I’ve written plenty about the huge size of the global Muslim population – 1.8 billion – and the estimates of its vast spending power – anywhere upwards from $2.1 trillion and growing. Of course these figures alone are enough to start making brands sit up and take notice. We can see evidence of this every month when I post up communications from around the world which are successfully engaging with Muslim consumers.

And yet despite the eye-popping figures, and the obvious evidence of success many brands are having, we are still in the early stages of the industry’s growth.

That’s why for me personally it is so exciting to be part of Ogilvy Noor. Uniquely combining pioneering research, Ogilvy’s wider network of resources and heritage along with our team’s expertise, through my research, writing and strategy I am personally able to contribute to the industry’s development.

As part of running Ogilvy Noor’s website which includes the blog, twitter feed and Adcritique, I write a weekly thought piece tackling one aspect of the industry, the Muslim consumer’s needs as well as insights into culture, attitudes and values. It’s an area on which very little has been written from the perspective of brands. For this reason it’s fantastic that the work has been recognised by WPP’s Atticus Awards for consistent quality in our publications. And it feels personal because I’m responsible for those publications.

The opportunity for brands is enormous, and the chance for Muslim consumers to have a dialogue with them is open and full of potential. I personally hope through the thought leadership on our blog and in our publications that the channels between the two can be opened in order to successfully and effectively deliver to consumer’s needs.