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TRACCS completes acquisition in Morocco

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TRACCS has completed its acquisition of a stake in Marrakech-based agency L’Allure PR, extending the agency’s operations to Morocco. Established in 2005, L’Allure PR aims to offer a range of strategic communications solution to its clients. The new acquisition will see TRACCS and L’Allure work across clients in Morocco to expand its presence across North Africa.

“The launch of TRACCS Morocco is a natural extension of our wider growth philosophy and by joining forces with L’Allure, we are entering a high potential and high value market that we see as contributing significantly to our long-term strategy,” says Mohamed Al Ayed, President and CEO, TRACCS. “Together, we will work to develop and empower a new generation of homegrown PR practitioners with a deep indigenous understanding of local customs and cultural sensitivities in Morocco.”

Hello! Middle East secures Hillary Clinton exclusive

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Hello! Middle East has secured an exclusive interview with US Presidential Candidate, Hillary Clinton. The seven-page regional exclusive interview will be available across the Middle East from Thursday 13, 2016. It features Hillary speaking about her family, life challenges and reasons why she believes she is ready to be the next US President along with rare pictures of former President Bill Clinton and their grandchildren.

“Being involved in such a game-changing cover is a dream come true, especially given that Hillary Clinton is undoubtedly the most talked about woman across the globe right now,” says Selina Julien, Editor-in-Chief, Hello! Middle East. “Showing Hello! and Hola‘s unrivalled access to the A-list, the rare interview with newly launched sister publication Hola! USA, shows the nurturing side of the wife, mother and grandmother as she takes on Donald Trump in the race to the White House.”

Facebook launches Workplace

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Facebook has announced the launch of its new business-connecting tool Workplace, to help organisations and employees collaborate across the MENA region. Workplace will serve as a communications platform that will include familiar Facebook features such as; news feed, groups and messages, as well as dashboards with analytics and integrations, which is a new Workplace-only feature.

“Facebook has spent its first 12 years connecting people in their personal lives. With Workplace, we are now able to help users improve productivity through collaboration on a platform that they are already familiar with,” says Jonathan Labin, Head, Facebook MENA. “We now want to help companies in the MENA region build connections between co-workers and transform how teams work together. Organisations are stronger and more productive when everyone comes together.”

Vipen Sethi, CEO, Landmark Group adds “For a large and diverse company like ours, Workplace is an ideal solution for our employees to connect and collaborate faster and more efficiently across teams and regions. Landmark employees also have the option of using the Workplace App in Arabic, which is especially great for Arabic-speaking team members.”

Boxing News Middle East launches

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The Middle East’s first and only dedicated boxing news portal has launched under the title Boxing News Middle East (www.boxingnewsme.com). The Dubai-based platform has been created to highlight local and regional boxing talent, events and news through insights, features, analysis and hard-hitting opinion pieces that cover issues on the sport in the region.

The online platform has the facility for boxers to upload their fighter profile as well as submit alerts to the news team to highlight any upcoming fights.

Al Arabiya welcomes Sara Hamdan

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Online news station, www.alarabiya.new/English has welcomed Sara Hamdan to the role of weekly Columnist. With over 12 years of experience in journalism, Sara is currently working on a part-time project with Google as well as her blog holidaysinheels.com and previously worked for The New York Times. In her new role, she will be writing one column per week that will be published every Sunday on topics of fashion, food, travel and lifestyle on the Al Arabiya English platform.

Nation Media Group appoints The MediaVantage

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Dubai-based media company, The MediaVantage has been appointed as the exclusive sales representative for Nation Media Group in the Middle East. Founded in 1959, Nation Media Group is an independent media house in East and Central Africa with operations in print, broadcast and digital media. The MediaVantage will now have the rights to sell advertising and commercial opportunities across all titles owned by Nation Media Group to clients and media agencies in the Middle East.

“The Middle East continues to be an attractive market for African investors as well as visitors and we feel that now is the time to appoint the right media representative to manage our commercial interests,” says Joe Muganda, CEO, Nation Media Group. “The MediaVantage is clearly the market leader and we are delighted to have selected Manoj Khimji and Imane Eddinari along with their team to partner with us and represent Nation Media Group.”

Manoj Khimji, Managing Director, The MediaVantage, adds “We are delighted to add all titles owned by the group to our current roster of leading African media. We look forward to offering complete media solutions from the African continent to clients and agencies in the Middle East. Joe has the right vision and ambition to match our capabilities and offer innovative opportunities to advertisers in the region. Together we look forward to a strong and profitable partnership.”

Society magazine launches revamped website

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Society magazine, part of Gulf Times newspaper, has re-launched its website with a new design that offers enhanced usability and functionality. The Qatar-based publication offers a range of features that include; lifestyle and social issues relevant to Qatar expatriates as well as nationals. The redesigned website will now feature a comments interface, boxes for rating content and e-mag with a page-flipping effect.

“For the past few months, as we’ve been putting out the magazine, we’ve also been busying ourselves behind the scenes, crafting something new and different,” says Amjad Vanimal, Editor, Society. “The result is a fresh-looking website that’s up and running from today. We have listened to our readers’ feedback and made improvements to make it easier to navigate our website and find what they are looking for faster. The talented design and technical team here at Society have put their heart and soul into the new website. This is just the start of a journey that will continue to improve over the coming months and years so please watch out for more changes coming up.”

Cheil MENA wins with #BeFearless campaign

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Cheil MENA and several other Cheil Global offices including HQ in Seoul, Germany, UAE and Russia, have been awarded for their contributions to the global #BeFearless campaign. #BeFearless is part of “Launching People”, an overarching campaign, in a search for innovative ideas that can demonstrate how powerful technology can be when it comes to solving real challenges that society faces. By using Samsung’s innovative VR technology to help people conquer their fears by simulating similar environments, the campaign was awarded Bronze in the PR category at The Spike awards; Asia’s oldest awards for excellence in creative communications and managed by Lions festivals.

The #BeFearless campaign also took a Gold Lovie in Mobile & Applications: Experimental & Innovation at The Lovies Awards as well as winning the People’s Choice award in that category. It also scooped up a Silver Lovie in Mobile & Applications: Best Practice category.

“Cheil MENA is proud to be recognised amongst its global Cheil Worldwide counterparts for work in new technology and digital application but more so, we are proud to be able to help create something that has the potential to do good for so many people trying to overcome their fears in life,” says Keesoo Kim, President and Head, Cheil MENA RHQ