So here we are in Doha. The trip from Beirut and the offices of Shankaboot can only be described as luxurious. Not that we expected anything less, but we have been overwhelmed with the warm welcome and attention to detail.

Next stop, meeting with the chair if our panel and the other panellists. We’re taking part in a panel that’s right up our alley: “Going Viral: Creative Marketing in a Digital World” on Friday, 29 October at 11 a.m.

We’re the worlds first Arabic language web drama and even in the genre of web series, we are one of a kind. Wait until tomorrow’s panel and you’ll hear how we’ve used guerilla marketing in the streets of Beirut as well as the latest Online tools to become the coolest thing in Lebanon and across the region.

This is going to be exciting. We’re having a fantastic line up in tomorrow’s panel discussion and the facilities are spot on. Shankaboot will be a somewhat “wild card” on this one as we are the only web series featured in the panel and I think in the whole festival, but having said that, we are all looking to engage our audiences in a similar manner. The only difference is that whereas these guys are trying to drive people towards their Online content and ultimately from the Internet to the box office, we are also trying to drive people from the streets of Beirut to the Internet.

Lebanon is infamous for the slow Internet connections and the Internet usage is very different from the US, Europe and other countries in the Middle East.

I won’t spoil the plot, but for those of you who wish to know how to reach your audience through social networks and guerilla marketing, you sure don’t wish to miss this one.”

video#2

• Toni Oyry is a Finnish journalist, documentary filmmaker and a communications consultant. Currently Toni is the Project Manager of Shankaboot, the world’s first Arabic language web drama series produced by Batoota Films and funded by the BBC World Service Trust. He specializes in web based content distribution, Online social networks and Internet Marketing. Previously Toni spent two years at Al Jazeera English in its flagship and award winning documentary film program Witness. Prior to this he worked at Reuters Foundation (now Thompson Reuters Foundation) as a communications consultant specializing in new media and Online social networks.