Europe’s Transform Awards to debut in Middle East

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Europe’s revered Transform Awards Programme is launching its inaugural Transform Awards MENA, to be held in Dubai in June 2014. The event, which until now has been held exclusively in London, is Europe’s only awards dedicated to creative agencies’ rebranding work. But, with the expanding number of prestigious ad and branding agencies in the Middle East, Cravenhill Publishing, the awards organisers, has broadened its reach to the MENA region.

“There is obviously an immense amount of rebranding, repositioning and brand transformation talent in the Middle East and North Africa and Transform Awards MENA is an excellent platform to celebrate that,” says Andrew Thomas, Founder of Transform, and Managing Director, Cravenhill Publishing.“The European Transform Awards are seen as a very real assessment of best practice, creativity, strategy, implementation and effectiveness and I’m sure the event here in Dubai will carry equal kudos. It is an award every agency will want to have in their cabinet.”

Omnicom MENA ranked third best employer in UAE

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Omnicom Media Group MENA has been recognised as the third best employer in the UAE by the Great Place to Work® Institute. In its third year to participate in the survey, the Group has moved up four places in the global research and management consultancy’s ranking of the country’s 15 best employers. In its assessment, the Great Place to Work® Institute notes that Omnicom Media Group MENA’s keen focus on work/life balance makes it a leading example of how to integrate health and wellness into a company’s culture.

“As the field widens, staying in the top 15 gets harder every year, and improving our position so significantly is a remarkable feat. It is a very clear endorsement of the policies and practices we have put in place,” says Elie Khouri, CEO, Omnicom Media Group MENA. “This benchmark is a very important factor of our talent management approach and we deeply value not only the feedback but also the inspiration it provides us. The results speak for themselves and we couldn’t be more humbled by the endorsement of our teams.”

 

Ultratravel Middle East trebles circulation

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Ultratravel Middle East has announced it will vastly increase its circulation effective from the Spring issue, available from March 20, 2014. The magazine will treble its print run, with over 174,000 copies to be released in separate Arabic and English editions.

Two major newspapers will carry the bulk of distribution, with 109,000 Arabic copies being delivered with Al Ittihad and 65,000 English copies going out with The National. Additional copies are to be released in high-end golf resorts, spas and hotels.

“The increase in circulation reflects what an exciting market this is,” says Adam Portingale, Associate Publisher, Ultratravel Middle East. “Even if we halved our new circulation, it would still be by far the biggest luxury travel and lifestyle magazine in the region.”

Getty Images expands UAE sports photography team

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Getty Images has announced the addition of two new sport photographers to its Dubai office, as the company looks to expand its offering of premium sport coverage and assignment work in the Middle East.

Award-winning photographer Warren Little joins from the London office, where he has been based for the past 14 years. Specialising in golf and rugby, Warren has represented Getty Images at some of the world’s biggest sporting events including the British Open, European Tour, the Rugby World Cup and at summer and winter Olympic Games. He has also worked on assignment for some of the biggest global brands including Nike, Adidas, Dunhill and Guinness and was awarded first prize in Sports Feature at the Press Photographer’s Year.

Francois Nel joins Getty Images from Gulf News, the largest English language newspaper in the Middle East, where he has been covering all the major events in Dubai for the past five year as a staff photographer. Previous to that he worked as a sport and news photographer at Die Burger Newspaper in Cape Town, in his home country of South Africa.

“It is a really exciting time for sport in the Middle East,” says Lee Martin, SVP Global Sports Business, Getty Images. “Some of the world’s major events are already held here and with the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the focus on sport is only going to intensify. As the world leader in sport photography, we already service this region with best-in-class coverage of its sporting events, which we then distribute globally. Warren Little and Francois Nel are both exceptional professionals and will be huge assets to Getty Images Middle East as we further expand our services in the region.”

As the official photographic partner to the IOC, Getty Images will be sending a team of 80 specialist sport professionals to cover the Sochi Winter Olympics.  In addition to covering Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Sochi, Getty Images will cover all 16 featured sports and will capture moments from every medal event, uploading more than 2,000 images per day to gettyimages.com.

Omnicom Media Group award key achievers

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With business results that exceeded expectations across many of its operations in 2013, Omnicom Media Group MENA presented two leadership awards to standout staff members. The OMG MENA Leadership Award went to Chadi Farhat, while the Best OMG Office Leader Award was given to Rania Hafez of OMD Egypt.

Previously the general manager of OMD Lebanon, Chadi Farhat quickly made his mark in his first year as the new Regional Executive Director of Investments at Omnicom Media Group MENA. He strengthened and reorganised the investment teams within the group to deliver the strongest results for our clients. Farhat also introduced new processes and working models to increase the effectiveness of the function. By reinforcing the collaboration with all offices, business units and divisions, he enhanced the group’s holistic and integrated approach to clients’ investments.

Rania Hafez, General Manager of OMD’s Cairo office was also recognised for her efforts, despite the market facing significant socio-political unrest. She delivered double-digit growth in billings and grew revenues substantially. Far from being conservative in her approach, Hafez also solidified OMD’s position as Egypt’s only fully integrated media agency after expanding its digital capabilities to include creative and development. What’s more, the office’s awards performance led OMD to being named Communicate’s Media Agency of the Year.

“The energy that our teams put in the pursuit of excellence in every fact of our operations, even in the face of uncertainty, is truly remarkable,” says Elie Khouri, CEO, Omnicom Media Group MENA. “What Chadi and Rania have done is to raise the bar further still and our recognition of their achievements is not only deserved, it also acts as a benchmark and an inspiration for the rest of us.”

Ahlan! Hot 100 to celebrate 10th anniversary

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It has been announced that the annual coffee table book Ahlan! Hot 100 will be published on March 6, 2014, with 100,000 copies distributed across the UAE with Ahlan! and Ahlan! Arabia, and as a stand-alone publication in all leading bookstores throughout the month. Ahlan! Hot 100 celebrates the most talked-about people in the UAE and features entrepreneurs, style icons and personalities who are shaping the landscape of the Emirates.

The Ahlan! Hot 100 has its own dedicated microsite at www.ahlanlive.com and will have its own App and digital edition available for download.

This year sees ITP’s proudest product celebrating its 10-year anniversary, which will be marked with a lavish party on Wednesday 5th March, for an exclusive VVIP guest list. The event will be held at Warldorf Astoria, Palm Jumeirah.

Team start work on Women’s Health Middle East

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The Women’s Health Middle East team have now commenced work on the new ITP Consumer-run publication, with Yi-Hwa Hanna taking the reins as Editor-in-Chief. Previously Deputy Editor of Good Housekeeping, Yi-Hwa will be joined by ex-Shape Editor, Ashley Lane, after the title ceased publication in December. Gareth Lloyd-Jones is publisher and will oversee all commercial opportunities for the brand. The first edition of Women’s Health Middle East will hit the newsstands on March 1, 2014.

While the publication will focus on health, nutrition and fitness, the women’s glossy will also cover fashion, beauty, advice, travel, food and lifestyle.

Al Khaleej top Arab Daily in UAE says Ipsos

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Sharjah-based Al Khaleej newspaper has emerged as the top daily for Arab readers in the UAE for 2013, an Ipsos survey has revealed. According to the survey, 73.7 per cent of Emiratis and 68.9 per cent of Arab expatriates read Al Khaleej.

The Ipsos reports measure the size of the local newspaper readership, including readers who follow more than one local newspaper. They are counted in ratios specific for all newspapers followed by them. In the Emirates, the breakup of readership for Al Khaleej was as follows: Dubai 32.8 per cent, Abu Dhabi 29 per cent, Sharjah 20.8 per cent, Ras Al Khaimah 6.1 per cent, Ajman 5.8 per cent, Fujairah 3.7 per cent and Umm Al Quwain 1.8 per cent.

Increase in Ad revenue forecast for MENA in 2014

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MAGNA GLOBAL, a strategic global media unit of IPG Mediabrands has released estimates for advertising revenues in 2014. The MENA region had experienced a slight drop in 2013, largely blamed on the instability in Egypt, but is due to bounce back with growth projected at over 6.3 per cent for the entire region encompassing the Middle East and Africa.

The overall global growth in advertising revenues in 2014 is expected to hit more than 6.5 per cent to reach $521.6bn, which records the strongest year-on-year growth since 2010, which had closely followed the recession. The projections show an increase from last year in global advertising revenue of 3.3 per cent, to reflect the acceleration of the global media economy in 2014. The football World Cup in Brazil, the Sochi Winter Olympics, and the US mid-term elections have been earmarked as the major non-recurring events that will contribute up to 7.5 per cent in the new year in comparison with a modest 1.8 per cent growth in 2013.

Another major contributor to rising global advertising revenue is the digital media spectrum, which has displayed the quickest growth in 2013 rising 16 per cent to $118bn. Within the sphere of digital media, mobile platforms (over 85 per cent) doubled in size to reach $16bn while social networking (over 58 per cent) generated almost $9bn in spending. Digital media also grew in programmatic trading avenues to reach $12bn globally. This mainly included real-time bidding as well as automated platforms for video and display inventory buying.

For more information, visit www.magnaglobal.com or follow @MAGNAGLOBAL