REGIONAL NEWS
Publicis boss to
NEWS IN BRIEF
drive digital growth
New network CEO Richard Pinder says Dubai agencies must embrace online opportunities
Flippin’ good
By PAUL McLENNAN debt, it will come out of the
awards haul
DUBAI Publicis Worldwide’s financial crisis faster than UAE Flip Media scooped
new network boss, Richard those countries that “have nine gongs at this year’s
Pinder, says he will be ensur- the big, slow manufacturing Summit Creative Awards
ing the group’s Dubai agen- baggage” in the United States. The
cies do all they can to grow As for Publicis, Pinder says, Dubai-based agency won
their digital business. “Once the crisis is abated we Gold for non-profit web-
Pinder was last week pro- will continue our growth pat- site maketheswitch.ae, as
moted to the newly created tern in the region. We don’t well as three Silvers and
role of chief executive of Publi- see that involving [setting up five Bronzes. Chief execu-
cis Worldwide, which includes many] more offices, but more tive Yousef Tuqan Tuqan
businesses such as Publicis, about growing what we have (pictured) says, “The UAE
Publicis Dialog and Publicis and investing in digital. Our was awarded 49 awards
Modem. Its client list boasts [regional] agencies are doing and we won nine of them,
the likes of Hewlett Packard, well. I would not say I am un- which is more than any
P&G, Airbus and Carrefour. happy at the 2008 results [but] other digital agency.”
“Dubai is facing a major I am pushing for more focus
correction from the world on digital and more recogni-
financial crisis,” Pinder (pic- tion for our creativity.”
tured) tells Media Week. “But Publicis, with 9,000 em-
Hackers target
in the medium term we be- ployees in over 80 markets, is Google Morocco
lieve Dubai will continue to the largest agency network of
grow. So we are determined the Publicis Groupe. Pinder MOROCCO Google Morocco
to invest here and grow our joins the group’s manage- was inaccessible for several
digital offering in particular.” ment board and reports di- hours last week as Pakistani
The former Leo Burnett re- rectly to the overall chairman hackers redirected users
gional president is confident and chief executive officer to a different webpage. Ac-
that once Dubai reduces its Maurice Lévy. cording to Google, the site
wasn’t hacked—rather,
Market
locally-hosted domain infor-
BE International launches
mation for Google Morocco
researchers
was “altered”. The distinc-
tion is key for Google, as it
get busy
Qatar promotion team
seeks to clarify that its own
software did not suffer a se-
curity breach.
UAE Nielsen and Ipsos have car- DOHA Communications agency BE In-
ried out individual surveys gaug- ternational is expanding its Doha opera-
ing consumer confidence and how tion, following the opening of a new pro-
Secret document
much people trust opinion polls, motions division called BEI Qatar.
led to Saberi
respectively. Services will include the provision of
The UAE was placed among the promotional staff at trade shows and arrest
top ten most optimistic countries other marketing initiatives.
in the latest Nielsen Consumer BE International managing director IRAN American-Iranian
Confidence Index, which tracks Brian Beagan says his agency can act as journalist Roxana Saberi,
concerns and spending habits an “alignment breaker”—or a middle who was freed from prison
among 26,202 internet users in 52 man service—which can organise a spe- last week, was convicted of
nations. cialised promotion for an advertiser’s spying partly because she
Meanwhile, Ipsos found UAE res- client. “Two of our jobs have come out had obtained a confidential
idents are more trusting of opinion of the big agencies, which is one of the Iranian report on the US
polls than people from other coun- reasons we are doing this in an emerging war in Iraq, it has emerged.
tries in the region. It found 50 per market. PR, events and promotions can The revelation from Saberi’s
cent of respondents in Egypt trusted all be alignment breakers,” he says. lawyer comes after the 32-
opinion polls, 54 per cent in KSA, Beagan adds that Doha is in a “robust year-old freelancer was
59 per cent in Kuwait, 63 per cent in position” and that his office will “beef released from prison early,
Lebanon, 66 per cent in Jordan and up the creative department”, while also having served four months
68 per cent in the UAE. actively marketing the company’s other of an eight-year sentence.
divisions.
04 / 17 MAY 2009
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