|
The Middle East has been fertile ground for public relations consultancies over the past couple of years, but most of the major players in the region are either the subsidiaries of multinational agencies or local firms led by expatriates. ASDA’A, founded in Dubai in 1992, is one exception. Led by partner and managing director Sunil John, ASDA’A (the Arabic word for “echoes”) has grown to span 11 owned offices, seven affiliates and 150 employees across the region. No surprise then that it should begin to attract the interest of the giant multinationals, and in May of 2008, following the acquisition of parent company The Holding Group by WPP, ASDA’A became the Middle East partner of Burson-Marsteller, jettisoning its former affiliation with Edelman—a move that John believes will provide it with access to even more multinational business as well as Burson’s robust professional development capabilities.
The firm provides clients with comprehensive coverage of the markets belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain & Oman); Levant (Jordan, Lebanon & Syria) and North Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia), as well as Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Malta, Cyprus and Pakistan. It is a unit of The Holding Group, one of the largest advertising and media buying companies in the Middle East with advertising, direct marketing and media buying units, which gives it access to the skills and experience of 1,200 employees across the region, while its affiliation with Burson adds international reach and access to first-rate professional development and intellectual property.
The firm grew by an impressive 27 percent in 2007, and is on track for similarly strong performance in 2008, with the corporate and financial practices leading the way and significant improvement in technology and public affairs. It also added several new clients including Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company), Abu Dhabi’s multi-billion dollar investment in the future of clean energy; the sovereign wealth fund of the Government of Dubai, the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD); Istithmar World, the private equity arm of Dubai World and Barclays Capital. Retained clients include Emaar Properties, one of the world’s largest property developers with a presence in 36 markets; Etisalat, the UAE-based telecom operator; the Kuwait-based M.H. Alshaya Group; General Electric; the Boston Consulting Group; Microsoft (for corporate work for the Gulf region and Xbox and the entertainment devices division); Qatar Airways; Rolex Awards for Enterprise; Starbucks; American Express Middle East; the UAE Ministry of Federal National Council Affairs; the UAE Ministry of Economy; the UAE Ministry of Presidential Affairs; AMD; Cisco Middle East; Dubai Financial Market; Emirates National Oil Company; Ford Motor Company; The Nielsen Company; and the World Economic Forum.
The firm offers a range of services that go beyond traditional media relations, working with a client roster that includes local, regional and multinational corporations across six major practice areas: corporate, financial, marketing, technology, healthcare and public affairs. Teams in each of those sectors can draw on the additional resources of specialists in the firm’s knowledge, media relations, event management, media monitoring and Arabisation units. The firm plans to launch energy, environment and climate change and digital practices—all of them in conjunction with existing BM EMEA capabilities—in the near future.
ASDA’A added depth of management over the past 12 months with several notable personnel moves, including Stephen Worsley, formerly head of ASDA’A conflict brand Polaris, who was named director of strategy; Severin Roald, who was working with Burson-Marsteller on the Qatar 2016 Olympics bid and is now director of ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller’s Qatar operations. In addition Sameh Hamtini, formerly technology practice leader, has taken over as director of regional operations in the Gulf while Rami Halawani has been appointed director of Levant and North Africa operations in addition to leading the consumer & Healthcare practices. Nicholas Nesson is the leader of the firm’s financial practice while Jonathan Tudor heads the corporate practice and Nedal Alasaad heads the public affairs group.
Highlights of the past 12 months include work on Masdar, helping to nurture the communications function of the start-up, coordinating with its wholly owned regional office network across the Middle East and North Africa. The agency also layed a critical role in ensuring the success of the inaugural World Future Energy Summit in January 2008 created and sponsored by Masdar, generating massive regional media exposure prior and during the Abu Dhabi summit and an equivalent level of interest in the subsequent ground-breaking of Masdar City by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. The firm was also retained by Saudi Aramco to lead communications supporting the IPO of Petro Rabigh, a Saudi petrochemical facility jointly owned with Sumitomo of Japan; led the global campaign for Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest tower and managed investor education campaigns for Dubai Financial Market in London and New York. Another highlight was the agency’s work on the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, which drew record number of applications from 16 MENA nations.
ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller has 11 wholly owned offices, 160 employees region-wide and 10 affiliates covering 18 countries in the MENA region. The firm provides clients with comprehensive coverage of the markets belonging to the Gulf Co-operation Council (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman); Levant (Jordan, Lebanon,
Syria, Iraq and Palestine Authority); and North Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Sudan and Tunisia) as well as Iran, Turkey and Pakistan.
|
Click for Advanced Search 
