UAE telco Etisalat is understood to have consolidated its creative advertising account into Impact BBDO following a protracted review.
The telco had reactivated its dormant creative advertising pitch in October 2011, with the review taking more than a year to reach a conclusion. Both Impact BBDO and Lowe MENA had been incumbents on the account, with the entire business now understood to be with Impact BBDO. No one at Etisalat was available for comment. It will be a sizeable loss for Lowe, with Etisalat one of the UAE’s biggest advertisers.
The account covers all of Etisalat’s UAE operations, including its subsidiaries e-Vision, the Etisalat Academy, and the Etisalat Foundation. Impact BBDO is now responsible for all of the telco’s above, below and through-the-line advertising, including print, TV, digital and direct marketing, with the account understood to be run on a fixed retainer basis.
Etisalat’s media buying and planning account was also under review, with Initiative the incumbent on the account. No decision is believed to have yet been made.
Etisalat is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world and is headquartered in the UAE. It operates in 18 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, servicing more than 100 million customers out of a total population of approximately 1.9 billion.
