PhD Degree Awarded to Mr. Abdo Ali Ahmed Al-Sufi in Public Relations and Advertising

PhD Degree Awarded to Mr. Abdo Ali Ahmed Al-Sufi in Public Relations and Advertising

Mr. Abdo Ali Ahmed Al-Sufi ‎ ‎was awarded a PhD degree in Public Relations and Advertising for his dissertation titled: Marketing Strategies Used in Advertising Local and Foreign Products and Their Relationship to Consumer Preferences for Their Brands, which was submitted to the Faculty of Mass Communication – Sana’a University. The dissertation defense was held on Wednesday, December 24, 2025.

The PhD Viva-Voce Committee, which was formed based on a resolution issued by the Graduate Studies and Scientific Research Council, consisted of the following:

The study aimed to:

• Identify the marketing strategies used in advertising local and foreign products.
• Determine the level of Yemeni consumers’ preferences for local and foreign brand names.
• Measure the relationship between the marketing strategies used in advertising and consumer brand preferences.

The study yielded a number of key findings summarized as follows:

• Social media platforms are the most widely used channels in advertising activities for both local and foreign brands.
• Informational strategies were most frequently used in service advertisements, while habit-creation strategies were predominant in goods advertisements.
• Yemeni consumers’ preferences for local and foreign brands were moderate overall.
• Quality and efficiency of foreign products were among the most important factors influencing consumer preference for foreign brands.
• There is a significant relationship between product attributes and form strategies and consumer preferences.

In light of these findings, the researcher recommended:

• Improving the quality of local products to enhance their competitiveness with foreign products and better meet consumer needs.
• Conducting longitudinal (tracking) studies by companies to monitor changes in consumer brand preferences over time in response to marketing conditions and competition levels.
• Undertaking further research on marketing strategies for local and foreign products across different brands and time periods.

At the end of the dissertation defense session, the PhD Viva-Voce Committee awarded the researcher First-Class Honors, with a recommendation that the dissertation be printed and circulated among other universities.

The dissertation defense was attended by a number of academics, researchers, and specialists, students, colleagues, and the researcher’s family.