Seven agencies have been invited to pitch for the advertising business of Saudi Telecom’s products and services portfolio.
Leo Burnett, Y&R, JWT, Memac Ogilvy, Grey, Saatchi & Saatchi and Jeddah-based 3-Points Advertising are all involved in the pitch.
As reported previously in Campaign, Saudi Telecom (STC) called a review of its creative and media accounts in April. So far, Starcom has retained the company’s media planning and buying business, and the corporate account has already been pitched for, although the result has not yet been made public. JWT and Leo Burnett are incumbents on certain aspects of the business.
In 2009, STC was the most important pan-Arab advertiser, spending $70 million according to the Pan Arab Research Center, putting it in the number one spot ahead of the likes of Mobily, Coca-Cola, Dove and Zain. The vast majority of its pan-Arab spend was on television.
In March, STC was named ‘Advertiser of the Year’ at the Dubai Lynx awards in recognition of its innovative use of marketing. Founded in 1998, STC is the kingdom’s national telecommunications service provider. It recently launched Viva in Bahrain.
