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2015 SABRE Awards EMEA winners announced

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The 2015 SABRE Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Awards were held on 21 May, 2015 at The Roundhouse in London. Over 650 PR professionals from the EMEA region attended the ceremony to celebrate the winners, selected from 2,400 entries.

Among the agencies to have won were Roche Lebanon with Memac Ogilvy Public Relations for their Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, Al Baik with TRACCS for their Park it Right campaign, Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange with Weber Shandwick for their The DGC-X-Factor! How DGCX Transformed its Regional and Global Profile campaign and Canon with DABO & CO for the Canon Cabast trade show. UN Women with Memac Ogilvy Public Relations – Dubai, were also nominated as finalists for the Platinum Sabre award for Best in Show for their campaign, The Autocomplete Truth.

Global agency Weber Shandwick won five awards in total on the night, with Memac Ogilvy winning three. Ketchum was presented with four awards for its clients, and Burson-Marsteller and Edelman (including Elan and DABO & CO) won three.

CNN to launch global Traders programme

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CNN is set to launch a new feature strand called Traders, which tells the stories of individuals who trade goods and services across borders. CNN plans to cover the stories behind the global import and export markets by meeting characters who passionately believe in their business to trade products and services overseas. In each report, CNN audiences will also gain valuable business information to put each story in context of international trade and commerce. Traders will run as a fortnightly segment that is part of CNN International’s The Business View with Nina Dos Santos and CNN domestic’s CNN Newsroom Weekend.

“Traders is a content strand that makes sense of the drivers behind international trade in the context of globalised, connected business,” says Ellana Lee, Senior Vice President, CNN International. “By telling the stories of the passionate, innovative people working in global trade, CNN will bring import/export markets to life and show why this affects us all. Traders will add an intruiging angle to our wider business programming.”

Starcom MediaVest Group welcomes Marcus Brown

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Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) has appointed Marcus Brown as Global Growth Officer, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Marcus brings with him over 20-years of experience in galvanising clients, colleagues, prospects and the communication industry, to SMG.He was most recently a founding contributor to a new UK-based consultancy and has also been made a Tech London Advocate – a member of an advocacy group that supports tech start-ups.

In his new role, Marcus will be responsible for building SMG’s growth across the EMEA region and driving performance to deliver a combination of precision, content and technology to clients. He will be based in London, reporting to Iain Jacob, President of EMEA, Starcom MediaVest Group.

“I’m thrilled that Marcus is joining our team,” says Iain. “He joins us with an extremely impressive track-record of client wins and, given his extensive experience, will play an instrumental role in the next phase of our transformation, helping to build on our continued success.”

Marcus adds “It’s clear that within the communications industry, much of the innovation is coming from the media sector. Starcom MediaVest group has an admirable reputation for fueling transformation with some of the world’s most iconic brands.”

Style.com to become e-commerce site

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Condé Nast has announced that Style.com will become the home of its new e-commerce business platform. Launching in the UK in Autumn, the concept will replace the website’s news and fashion show reports content. Following the UK launch, the e-commerce website will grow to incorporate the market from the US, with other major countries to follow. How this will affect Style.com/Arabia is yet to be determined.

The new e-commerce platform will operate as a stand-alone business, although it will still come under the ownership of Condé Nast. It will look to connect fashion companies as well as upscale brands from other sectors – such as beauty, travel and technology – to potential buyers, including readers of other Condé Nast print and online publications Vogue, Vanity Fair and GQ. The new venture will be headed up by Franck Zayan, who previously worked as Head of e-commerce for Galeries Lafayette.

Leo Burnett wins at ADC Awards

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Leo Burnett was the most awarded agency at the 94th Art Directors Club (ADC) of New York Awards in Miami last night. The agency won a total of 32 awards including: The Tomorrow Award, The Designism Cube, 10 Silver, two Bronze and six Merit awards for its work from its global network of offices. Notably, Leo Burnett won the Network of the Year award, with Leo Burnett Dubai being named Agency of the Year, making it the first agency in the MENA region to have claimed the honour.

Leo Burnett Dubai was also presented with the prestigious Black Cube for Advertising, the best in show award, for it’s ‘Two for one’ campaign for du in the United Arab Emirates, headed up by Saad Yusuf, Group Communication Director, Leo Burnett, Dubai. This was the first time in the awards’ 94-year history that an agency from the region won the award, presented to entries in the Design, Digital and Advertising categories at the discretion of an unanimous jury.

“The ADC awards not only represent a great achievement for us but also represents many ‘firsts’ for us” says Saad. “The UAE’s first home-grown creative campaign, ‘du Tuesday’s’ global recognition over the past two years at international awards shows is reflective of a maturing UAE creative industry. These accolades couldn’t have been possible without the partnership of du, Ali Ali, Maged Nassar, DejaVu and our team at Leo Burnett Dubai.”

Grayling launches flagship African office

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Global communications consultancy Grayling has announced the launch of its new office in Nairobi, Kenya. The establishment of this office will cement Grayling’s presence in Africa and act as a regional hub for East Africa.

Grayling has developed a strong base of clients across the African continent, which until now it has represented through international offices and African affiliate networks. Part of Grayling’s Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) region, the new Nairobi office will coordinate with Grayling’s consultancy teams in Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai, Istanbul and Muscat and will be overseen by Loretta Ahmed, Grayling’s Chief Executive Officer, META.

“We are thrilled to expand our international network into Kenya and East Africa,” says Loretta. “We start with a 12-strong team that is 70 percent Kenyan and with a firm commitment to nurture and grow local talent.”

“Our clients are increasingly focussed on Africa – and its fastest-growing sub-region, East Africa, has been firmly on our emerging markets radar,” adds Paul Taaffe, Chief Executive Officer, Huntsworth, Grayling’s parent company. “With a highly-talented, Nairobi-based team and the experience of its global network, Grayling will be an important partner for local and international businesses throughout East Africa.”

LIGHTBLUE expands its UK presence

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Dubai-based independent experiential agency LIGHTBLUE will open a new London office in Shoreditch. The new office will serve existing LIGHTBLUE clients, such as Gruppo Campari, and will offer a strategic base for new business opportunities as the agency continues to grow.

The new Shoreditch office will be LIGHTBLUE’s second in the UK – their first, in Glasgow, was opened in 2013. The creative outfit also has offices in Cape Town, Melbourne and Dubai, with the latter serving as its head office where the company started over seven years ago. LIGHTBLUE’s portfolio of active clients includes Reebok, Adidas, Perrier, Sony PlayStation and Costa Coffee. Outside of Dubai, the agency works with Heineken, Budweiser and Tiger beer brands as well.

The expansion comes at the same time as LIGHTBLUE celebrates its continued experiential work with Gruppo Campari on its Italian brands in the UK.

“LIGHTBLUE’s growth into other markets has been steady and while it is common for companies with large networks to move to places like Dubai from London, it is quite rare to see an independent outfit like ours move in the opposite direction,” says David Balfour, Managing and Creative Partner, LIGHTBLUE. “I think it shows our ambitious intent and it’s a move that we’re all very excited about.”

Andrew Cecil joins Burson-Marsteller

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Global public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller has appointed Andrew Cecil as Chairman of its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Public Affairs practice. In this role, Andrew will be based in Brussels leading the agency’s practice throughout the EMEA region.

Andrew has over 20 years of international experience in senior government relations and corporate affairs. He joins Burson-Marsteller from Amazon in Brussels, where he was Director of Public Policy, leading public policy strategy and execution across Europe. A graduate of Law from the University of Bristol, Andrew holds an MBA from INSEAD Business School and has previously worked for the European Digital Media Association and Yahoo!

“I’m delighted that Andrew is joining us at a time when our business has significant momentum and opportunities for growth,” says Jeremy Galbraith, CEO, Burson-Marsteller EMEA and Global Chief Strategy Officer. “Andrew’s experience operating across Europe and his leadership of public policy at high profile companies, such as Amazon and Yahoo!, are a perfect fit for our client’s evolving needs and our business strategy of integrated communications.”

UNWTO and AVIAREPS sign MoU

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The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has officially signed a Memorandom of Understanding (MoU) with global airline and tourism management company AVIAREPS. As part of the agreement, the two organisations will join forces to promote international tourism to various destinations around the world that are in need of destination marketing assistance.

The MoU was signed by Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the UNWTO and AVIAREPS’ Chairman and CEO, Michael Gaebler.

“In partnership with the UNWTO and our mutual belief in tourism as a positive driver for inclusive economic growth, AVIAREPS is excited to work diligently with our tourism and aviation partners to provide destination marketing expertise and assistance for a number of worthy recipients around the globe,” says Michael Gaebler, Chairman and CEO, AVIAREPS. “Through these actions, we aim to make a positive difference with tourism providing tangible results for people on the ground.”

Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of UNWTO adds, “We look forward to working with AVIAREPS, a valued UNWTO Affiliate Member supporting destinations around the world improving their international presence and tourism competitiveness in the area of marketing.”

Facebook introduces Ads Manager App

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In an effort to make it easier for the two million businesses using Facebook advertising, the social network has launched an ads manager app for iOS devices.

According to the official announcement on Facebook for Business, by using the app marketers can:

  • Track ad performance
  • Edit existing ads
  • Edit ad budgets and schedules
  • Receive push notifications
  • Create ads

Allowing users to manage advertising campaigns on the go, the app is currently available for US users in the iOS store, with plans to make it globally accessible in the next few weeks and an Android version to launch later in 2015.