The win follows a competitive pitch and a final two-way shoot-out, with Asda’a now handling all GCC-wide regional assignments for the fast food giant. Weber Shandwick is retained for certain individual markets.
Tarek El Kady, regional marketing director for MEA at the McDonald’s Middle East Development Company, said: “We felt that Asda’a is the best partner to go forward with and to implement our communications vision. In the next couple of months we will be working very closely with Asda’a to put together a communication plan that satisfies our requirements going forward.”
Sunil John, CEO of Asda’a Burson-Marsteller, said: “This is a fantastic win for us. We’re very happy to be working with a brand as iconic as McDonald’s, a market leader with a global reputation for its creative approach to business. McDonald’s has worked hard to establish itself in the region, and has done so with remarkable success in less than two decades.
“The pitch process was rigorous to evaluate agencies’ capabilities on a number of criteria. A cross practice team of colleagues from Asda’a Burson-Marsteller really enjoyed the challenge of developing an integrated, multi-channel proposal, bringing to life innovative ideas to the table, which won us the business.”