Posts

BPG Cohn & Wolfe makes senior appointments

/in , /by

BPG Cohn & Wolfe has made three new appointments following the expansion plan of its corporate and technology practice. Hala Sarieddine has taken on the role of Account Director having previously worked with Weber Shandwick and most recently with Hill+Knowlton Strategies. Also appointed to the role of Account Director is Ajith Henry who has experience in handling financial services clients and previously worked with APCO as well as ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller.

Mara Carpencu joins the team as Associate Account Director having previously worked with Active DMC, where she worked across integrated communications campaigns for international B2B and B2C clients she brings with her experience in communications and events.

In their new role, they will join the senior management team at BPG Cohn & Wolfe and build the current client portfolio of the agency, which includes KPMG, HMD Global – the home of Nokia phones, Booz Allen Hamilton and Omantel. They will also deliver innovative solutions to build, protect and enhance the brand value of the agency’s clients.

“We are excited to welcome Hala, Ajith and Mara to our team,”says Ketaki Banga, Business Director, Corporate and Technology, BPG Cohn & Wolfe. “Our technology and corporate practice has grown to over 16 accounts in the past three years and we credit this success to the entrepreneurial culture encouraged at every level in the BPG Group.”

Exponential announces results of mobile research

/0 Comments/in /by

Digital advertising intelligence company Exponential Interactive has revealed its results of the research conducted into what people in the Middle East’s choice of mobile phone brand says about them, and how this can be used for marketing and advertising techniques.

Exponential Interactive conducted an analysis of the anonymous online behaviour of 1.1 million people in the Middle East and North Africa during the third quarter of 2014, researching mobile phones to compare the strongest – or most ‘over-indexing’ – interests across topics which include film, cars, travel and shopping.

Of the five brands measured, the results of the research found that Apple is the only one more likely to appeal to women, while Samsung, BlackBerry, Nokia and LG are all more likely to be of interest to men. Geographically, Abu Dhabi residents are the most likely to be interested in Apple, whilst Dubai residents are the most likely to be interested in BlackBerry.

As confidence in e-commerce increases across the region, LG owners are leading the way as the most likely to make purchases on a mobile phone, while Apple owners are the least likely.

“The research throws up challenges to stereotypes and interesting reinforcements about the type of people who own different phone brands,” says Amer Attyeh, Regional Business Head for the Middle East and North Africa, Exponential Interactive. “For instance, iPhone owners were perceived as the young trendsetters but they’re actually the most likely to be into golf, fishing and looking at home insurance – things generally associated with older demographics. More practically, this type of data helps companies advertise more effectively. For instance, it shows Apple would do well to use rap and hip hop music in marketing activity. Meanwhile, sponsoring BMW-related events could pay dividends for Nokia. As The Hunger Games scores highly among people interested in LG, the brand might consider using star Jennifer Lawrence in marketing activity.”

BBM Channels collaborates with Hootsuite

/0 Comments/in /by

BlackBerry has announced that BBM Channels – the BBM subscription service – can now be managed with social relationship platform Hootsuite, allowing social media teams to engage with their Channel followers directly from the Hootsuite dashboard. The integration will allow Hootsuite owners to incorporate BBM Channels into their social strategy, leveraging a mobile and highly engaged audience. All users across Hootsuite’s Free, Pro and Enterprise tiers will be able to manage their BBM Channels, and for social media practitioners, community managers and digital marketers, Hootsuite will make it easy to incorporate content from other owned social media channels into their promotional strategies on BBM.

“Managing a brand’s social media presence is a juggling act,” says Matthew Talbot, Senior Vice President, Emerging Solutions at BlackBerry. “Marketers need tools that can help them automate and streamline the management of content across multiple platforms. With Hootsuite, we’ve made it as simple as clicking a button to share posts on BBM Channels to other social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and vice-versa.”

The owner of a BBM Channel can engage directly with their subscribers from the Hootsuite dashboard – posting messages, sharing pictures, sparking discussions, moderating and responding to posts, and sharing other brand-related content. As the community interacts with the content, the dashboard provides real-time analytics to the Channel owner that measure and report users’ activity.

Greg Gunn, Vice President of Business Development at Hootsuite adds, “With the undeniable popularity of messaging apps, brands are looking for ways to join in the conversation. Our collaboration with BlackBerry on the BBM Channels app will empower users to leverage social strategies in real-time across multiple platforms, straight from the Hootsuite dashboard.”