Google Integrates Gemini AI Into Search Ads Platform
As the consumer search experience changes, generative AI can help advertisers by improving ad effectiveness and expediting the creation of campaigns. Google has incorporated its latest AI model – Gemini – into the Search Ads platform to enhance advertising efficiency. Early Ad Strength scores, which gauge the relevance, caliber, and diversity of ad copy, have increased as a result of advertisers creating more effective search campaigns with less work. The goal of the integration is to facilitate the creation of ad campaigns and improve the way that advertisements relate to online searches as they change.
Enhancing search engine marketing with Gemini-powered chat in search ads
In the upcoming months, Google Ads will join the list of core products that will support Gemini, the company’s largest and most powerful AI model. To improve its advertising solutions, the tech giant is now testing Gemini. The conversational experience is presently powered by Gemini. English-language advertisers in the United States and the United Kingdom can now fully access the conversational experience in Google AdWords through beta access. Over the coming weeks, it will be made available to all English-language advertisers worldwide. In the coming months, Google will be adding more languages.
Through a chat-based interface, the conversational experience workflow is intended to assist in the development of search campaigns. It blends knowledge with Google AI. With its Gemini AI model, the company has introduced a conversational experience in Google Ads that runs on servers in data centers as well as mobile devices. Advertisers can create relevant ad content with a conversational experience. Advertisers have expressed that it can be difficult to produce captivating images that boost performance as search becomes more visual.
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What are the advantages for advertisers?
More advertisers now have access to a feature that may speed up and simplify the process of creating search campaigns, giving them more time to concentrate on other critical activities necessary to achieve favorable campaign results. A new chat-based feature in Google Ads is called the Conversational Experience. Generating text and assets more quickly, it facilitates optimization and speeds up the creation of search campaigns by combining knowledge with Google AI.
How does it operate?
Conversational experience can be helpful.
- Developing fresh search ad headlines and descriptions
- Coming up with pertinent keywords
- Proposed pictures
- Proposed links to websites
Advertisers only need to enter their websites to create these assets; Google AI will then create relevant ad content, including headlines, descriptions, images, and keywords. The selection of elements for their campaigns is entirely up to advertisers. They can also use the chat feature to tweak and modify the content that has been generated. All generative AI-created photos in Google Ads, including conversational images, will have an invisible SynthID watermark and open standard metadata.
Generative AI in search ads
Using generative AI and images from landing pages, Google has designed the conversational experience to suggest images specific to a campaign. This allows advertisers to approve all campaign assets—including images—before the campaign’s launch. Ads for small businesses that use Google AdWords’ conversational experience have a 42% higher chance of publishing search campaigns with “Good” or “Excellent” Ad Strength. Overall, advertisers ranging from “Poor” to “Excellent” see an average 12% increase in conversions.
Generative AI is expected to improve 84% of Google Search queries. It will result in an annual impact on ad revenue of over $40 billion. According to estimates, the industries most affected by technology are healthcare, e-commerce, and B2B technology.
Adopting a brave and conscientious AI strategy
Google is as excited about AI’s potential to create value for advertisers and customers alike as the industry is. As AI keeps developing quickly, new opportunities and use cases appear frequently. Google is still dedicated to creating and implementing this innovative technology responsibly. They will keep investigating the potential of artificial intelligence.
Here’s what they said
Tom Foster, Paid Search Manager at Page1 said in the blog
I found the conversational experience very easy to use. It helped me create even more high-quality ads with ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ Ad Strength, which has further improved the performance of my campaigns.
Read More: Google Cloud Introduces New Generative AI Tools for Retailers
Dentsu Expands Partnership With AWS To Scale GenAI Capabilities
Dentsu declared that it has expanded its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) by implementing two essential services. This move will enable Dentsu to employ generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) at a larger scale, resulting in increased innovation and opportunities for its clientele. Dentsu’s complete enterprise-grade GenAI stack is enhanced by new, unique technologies offered by Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker. Impactful outcomes are already being produced by Dentsu’s AI strategy, which aims to enable the safe and widespread use of tools across the global business for the development of both client-ready products and operational innovations. Dentsu is producing genuine, responsible results with AI-driven client campaigns already in use and the broad adoption of AI-powered tools to improve workflows, drive efficiency, and unleash creativity.
Innovation Acceleration with GenAI
Dentsu will be able to accelerate innovation for its global workforce of over 72,000 workers by implementing GenAI. Dentsu’s product and engineering teams will be able to implement open-source and third-party models more readily and swiftly thanks to the use of Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker. Dentsu staff now have access to a wide variety of cutting-edge technologies from the outside, international technology community. Amazon Bedrock is a fully managed service that provides a wide range of tools for creating GenAI applications that adhere to Dentsu’s strict security, privacy, and responsible AI guidelines. It also provides a selection of high-performing foundation models from top AI companies via a single API.
Machine Learning Implementation
Dentsu’s data scientists and developers can quickly and easily create, train, and implement machine learning models at any scale thanks to Amazon SageMaker. It consists of modules for building, training, and deploying models that can be used in tandem or separately. As a result, Dentsu’s client teams have unprecedented access to platforms. It enables them to rapidly innovate and prototype at scale, developing new goods and services that will improve client outcomes. Additionally, it gives Dentsu access to best-in-class features for implementing AWS-exclusive models like Amazon Titan. The model offers a variety of highly effective image, multimodal, and text model options.
During a private preview program with AWS, Dentsu Digital, Japan, spearheaded the use of these new services within Dentsu. The team has collaborated closely with Dentsu colleagues worldwide to swiftly apply GenAI to prototypes and upskill and support staff.
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Here’s what they said
Saturo Yamamoto, Dentsu Digital Inc. Executive Officer in charge of AI, said,
Dentsu has been developing multiple AI solutions on AWS, and we continue this tradition with our latest advanced customer experience enhancement service brand ”∞AI (mugen AI)”, some components of which also leverage AWS infrastructure. We have been actively evaluating methods to harness the potential of Amazon Bedrock immediately following its release, intending to integrate these AI capabilities into our service progressively. We eagerly anticipate continuing to contribute to our clients’ growth and transformation through our products, as we have done so far.
Atul Deo, General Manager, Amazon Bedrock added,
Generative AI is one of the most transformational technologies of our lifetime, significantly impacting productivity and creativity. Using Amazon Bedrock, dentsu established new ways of improving productivity that combine technology with the knowledge of local teams. For example, dentsu is able to easily experiment with and evaluate top foundational models for advertising use cases, privately customizing them with their own data securely. This opens up new opportunities for dentsu to become more efficient and cost-effective, whilst increasing team creativity. We look forward to growing our relationship with dentsu in these next years and supporting the development of generative AI-powered tools that enable customers to boost productivity and power innovation.
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Publicis Worldwide India Wins Creative Mandate for Pramerica Life Insurance
Publicis Worldwide India, a division of Publicis Groupe India, has been awarded the integrated creative mandate for Pramerica Life Insurance. The agency has started a moving and motivational two-part digital campaign for the brand called “This is my Climb” as part of the mandate.
Publicis Worldwide bags creative mandate
The first movie shows the family of defense personnel, demonstrating the men in uniform’s unwavering devotion and dedication. Additionally, it honors the unsung heroes and reaffirms Pramerica Life’s commitment to supporting them and their families through all of life’s obstacles.
In the second movie, a father uses all his strength and sacrifice to support his child’s dreams, putting aside his own ambitions and goals in the process. The dedication of Pramerica Life Insurance to helping people at every stage of their ascent is demonstrated in both movies.
Purpose of the story
Stories of purpose, hope, and resilience are portrayed in the campaign, and they speak to people of all ages. It delves deeply into the emotional core of human experiences through powerful short films. Furthermore, it skillfully fusing the themes of purpose and resilience in people’s “This is my climb” narratives.
Read More: Saatchi & Saatchi Bags Ibis Global Strategy and Creative Business
Here’s what they said
Amaresh Jena, Chief Marketing Officer at Pramerica Life Insurance said,
This is my Climb is not just a campaign; it’s a manifestation of our brand’s aspirations and goes beyond storytelling, embodying Pramerica Life Insurance’s core goals. Our objective is to imbue each life we touch with a profound sense of security and empowerment, echoing our vision. Aligned with our mission to be a trusted friend, guiding individuals to informed insurance choices, the campaign aims to provide support during life’s challenges and inspire enduring confidence.
Oindrila Roy, Managing Director at Publicis Worldwide India, added,
We are thrilled to be partnering Pramerica Life Insurance. It is a highly respected brand with a strong commitment to providing innovative and customer centric life insurance solutions. We are confident that our deep understanding of the category coupled with our creative expertise will help Pramerica exceed its business goals in India.
Srijan Shukla and Pratheeb Ravi, ECD’s at Publicis Worldwide India stated,
The campaign is conceptualized around a simple truth that there are challenges and struggles in everyone’s life. But it is these climbs and struggles beyond which lie real success. These climbs might seem very ordinary but are in fact tough on the individuals who actually face them. Pramerica Life wanted to be a partner in these extraordinary climbs of ordinary people. The films focus on the lives of ordinary people and celebrate the moment when they decide to take up the climb. We wanted to keep the stories honest and authentic so that the audience resonates with them.
Read More: Häagen-Dazs Names BBH As Its Global Lead Creative Agency
Häagen-Dazs Names BBH As Its Global Lead Creative Agency
Häagen-Dazs, General Mills’ iconic luxury ice cream brand, has named BBH as its global lead creative agency, rekindling one of advertising’s most innovative creative partnerships. With this appointment, the agency-brand relationship that has existed since the 1990s has come back to life. The decision follows a competitive pitch process involving VCCP and Dentsu Creative. General Mills and Oystercatchers collaborated to facilitate the review. In 2019, the account was acquired by Forsman & Bodenfors, a creative agency that operates under the Stagwell umbrella.
BBH Returns as Häagen-Dazs’ global lead creative agency
BBH’s appointment signals Häagen-Dazs’ recommitment to disrupting the sector with a new global brand platform and a unique visual identity, reuniting consumers with the brand’s pure indulgence, and increasing sales at double the anticipated category growth rate. Early in the 1990s, BBH worked with the upscale ice cream company on campaigns that highlighted adult sensuality, such as the well-known “Dedicated to Pleasure” press campaign. Notably, BBH oversaw the 1995 “Heat” TV ad campaign for Häagen-Dazs.
Häagen-Dazs’ previous creative collaboration with BBH
In a statement, Häagen-Dazs claimed that its yearly sales increased nearly fivefold in the first year of the company’s collaboration in the 1990s. Karen Martin, CEO of BBH London, expressed her enthusiasm about reconnecting with the iconic brand, emphasizing their shared passion and vision for the work ahead.
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Forsman & Bodenfors’ campaign with Häagen-Dazs
Forsman & Bodenfors’ work for the brand comprised last year’s “The Rose Project,” a global initiative honoring Häagen-Dazs’ female co-founder Rose Mattus by promising bursaries to women trailblazers all over the world. The company has also produced experiences, such as the 2023 “Flavors of Love” pop-up in Convent Garden. In an unusual move, the brand requested agency commitment to gender inclusion and ownership of the ideas presented in their 2019 pitch. The company was owned by Saatchi & Saatchi from 2015 until 2019.
Here’s what they said
Manuel Garabato, global brand director of Häagen-Dazs, said,
This isn’t our first date with BBH. After appointing the agency in 1990, Häagen-Dazs rapidly became the most talked about ice cream brand in the world, thanks to the combination of the brand’s disruptive adult positioning and the cultural and creative brilliance of BBH. Now we’re rekindling that relationship to create a bold and challenging approach to the category with a distinctive new global brand platform.
Karen Martin, chief executive officer at BBH London, added,
Häagen-Dazs has a unique place in the creative legacy of BBH and getting the chance to reconnect with such an iconic brand feels like an incredibly special moment. We share the same passion and vision for the work and can’t wait to get going, again.
Toby Southgate, the global chief executive of Forsman & Bodenfors, stated,
We have had a great run on Häagen-Dazs and are really proud of the impact we’ve had over the last few years. We wish the whole Häagen-Dazs team every success in their new relationship with BBH, and we look forward to the evolution of the work.
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Bisleri Announces Launch Across UAE with Sports Collaborations
Bisleri, a popular Indian packaged drinking water brand, has recently expanded into the UAE. The brand has partnered with franchises and sporting events across the nation to help with its regional expansion. It makes use of sports’ broad appeal and power to raise brand awareness and encourage customer interaction in the area. As Hydration Partners, Bisleri has worked with some of the largest athletic events and teams in India over the past year. Likewise, the brand is using the same approach in the UAE.
Market penetration through sports alliances
As the Official Hydration Partner, the brand has partnered with the Dubai Marathon. They have also teamed up with teams from the International League T20, commonly known as DP World ILT20, a cricket league based in the United Arab Emirates. The Gulf Giants, Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Sharjah Warriors, Dubai Capitals, and MI Emirates are among the teams.
As these teams’ and events’ official Hydration Partners, Bisleri claims to make sure that both customers and athletes are properly hydrated during the competition. Through the partnership, Bisleri will also be able to create consumer experiences and have a visible and consistent brand presence at events. Together with the partner teams and events, the brand will also produce digital content.
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The infrastructure and established legacy of Bisleri
With an amazing history spanning more than 50 years, Bisleri has established a solid reputation for providing clean, safe, and healthy water. This reputation supports the company’s recent entry into the UAE market. With 128 operational plants, more than 6000 distributors, and 7500 distribution trucks, mostly in India and its surrounding areas, the Indian multinational enjoys a strong infrastructure.
Dedication to sustainability
In addition to its business activities, Bisleri International is renowned for its dedication to sustainability. The organization leads programs that promote recycling, water conservation, and general sustainability, enhancing its reputation as a meticulous business.
Here’s what they said
Tushar Malhotra, Head of Marketing, Bisleri International Pvt. Ltd., said,
We are delighted to start our foray into the UAE with sporting associations such as the iconic Dubai Marathon and partnering with some of the most exciting teams – Sharjah Warriors, Dubai Capitals, MI Emirates, Gulf Giants, and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. This is in continuation of the robust sports marketing programme which we have built in India that has been very successful in strengthening the connect between Bisleri, hydration and sports as we endeavor to promote a fit and healthier lifestyle for our consumers.
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McCann Worldgroup Wins EFFIE India Agency of the Year
McCann Worldgroup won the EFFIE India Agency of the Year award at the 2023 The Advertising Club’s EFFIE India Awards. Ogilvy India took second place, followed by Leo Burnett. Mondelez India was named the EFFIE Client of the Year, and Enormous won the coveted Grand EFFIE for Jaguar’s “Unimaginable Brand Extensions” campaign.
The EFFIE India Awards 2023
The awards recognized agencies and clients for their outstanding work in marketing and advertising communication, which established new standards for effectiveness. With participation from 79 agencies, EFFIE India received a record-breaking 1,276 entries this year, the highest in its 23-year history.
EFFIE is widely acknowledged as a strong testament to an agency’s capacity for brand development. It continuously stands at the pinnacle of advertising efficacy, praising and recognizing a campaign for its creative strategy, well-executed execution, and powerful messaging.
Top 5 Agencies
Leading the pack with eight gold, fourteen silver, and eleven bronze was McCann Worldgroup. Followed by Ogilvy with six gold, ten silver, and eleven bronze. Leo Burnett (three Gold, nine Silver, and nine Bronze), DDB Mudra (two Gold, seven Silver, and seven Bronze), and MullenLowe Lintas Group (seven Silver and six Bronze) complete the top five.
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Here’s what they said
Prasoon Joshi, CEO, McCann World Group India and Chairman, APAC said,
I am extremely delighted and proud of McCann winning the Agency of the Year at the Effie India 2023 Awards. Today, In the world’s changing landscape where our industry faces extreme challenges in defining the approach to the future, McCann India is an organisation which holds ideas and thinking at the core of our business and propels our bossiness and clients forward. Effectiveness comes from this culture of belief in creative excellence driven by strong consumer insights. This is McCann India’s hallmark supported by a robust our McCann Global’s culture of strong creative and strategic leadership. What is remarkable is the the width and the diverse set of businesses, we have won awards for Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Nestle India, MasterCard, Reckitt, Dabur, Hero and many others as mentioned.
Rana Barua, President, The Advertising Club, stated,
The EFFIEs stand as a testament to the power of impactful storytelling and strategic brilliance in our industry. My heartfelt gratitude to the advertising fraternity for their unwavering support, making these awards a celebration of creativity and effectiveness. Congratulations to all the winners for crafting campaigns that not only captivate but also leave a lasting impact on our audiences. Your creativity continues to shape the future of our industry. Here’s to another year of pushing boundaries and inspiring innovation in the world of advertising.
Mitrajit Bhattacharya, Chairperson, EFFIE India, commented,
EFFIE India continues to showcase its unwavering commitment to celebrating excellence in advertising, honouring both exceptional work and the talented individuals behind it. I’d like to extend my gratitude to the esteemed judges who dedicated their time and expertise to assess a remarkable 1276 entries, setting a new record. Their commitment is truly commendable. A heartfelt thank you also goes out to our sponsors, the entire Ad Club managing committee, the EFFIE committee, EFFIE New York, and The Ad Club secretariat for their tireless efforts in making it a resounding celebration of creativity and innovation in the advertising industry.
Pradeep Dwivedi, Co-Chairperson, EFFIE India, added,
In yet another splendid year of the EFFIE India Awards, what stands out is how agencies and brands continue to put in their hard work. Their meticulous contributions in ideation, flawless execution, and the art of brand-building are truly commendable. EFFIEs has always added and will continue to add a profound insight into the concept of advertising awards. A big congratulations to all the winners and the participants.
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LiveRamp Reveals Habu Acquisition for 200 Million Cash and Stock Transaction
The industry-leading data collaboration platform, LiveRamp, announced that it has finalized plans to acquire data clean room software provider Habu. The acquisition is set for about $200 million in stock and cash. LiveRamp’s capacity to provide global data collaboration at scale, across all clouds and walled gardens, will be further accelerated by this acquisition. This will enable customers to overcome fundamental challenges and unlock potent use cases for measurement and analytics.
For the first time, businesses will have a single, easy-to-use platform to connect data. It will enable data connection across clouds, warehouses, and clean rooms. These will include Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Snowflake, and now Azure and Databricks. Furthermore, it will consist of measuring campaigns across all programmatic and media channels. It will also measure campaigns across walled gardens, like Amazon, Google, and Facebook.
A single platform for activation, measurement, and collaboration needs
Data clean room software from Habu makes it safe, easy, scalable, and intelligent to collaborate across decentralized data. It is renowned for providing cross-cloud interoperability, walled-garden insights, and data actionability for marketing and technical users alike. With Habu’s technology, multinational corporations and media outlets can safely share first-party consumer information. Publishers and business partners can access this information for more targeted and efficient marketing. Businesses are inundated with data, and even the most advanced ones struggle to fully appreciate the value of their information.
These structural issues are resolved by LiveRamp and Habu working together to connect data and enable interoperability across walled gardens, cloud environments, and clean rooms while upholding governance and privacy standards. Together with LiveRamp’s best-in-class enterprise identity, connected ecosystem of more than 900 global partners and customers, and flexible collaboration capabilities regardless of where data resides, these potent qualities create the only industry-wide interoperable platform for data collaboration across all cloud, walled garden, and media partners worldwide.
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Why should we care about this acquisition?
Secure virtual spaces known as “data clean rooms” allow first-party data from multiple independent sources to be resolved to a single customer’s profile while maintaining anonymity for that profile. Even though the technology has many benefits, as of a year ago, its adoption was limited. This was due to its high cost, the requirement for skilled personnel, and the low degree of digital maturity in many businesses.
Organizations are scrambling to amass an abundance of first-party data as signal loss rises and privacy regulations tighten. However, to develop and compete with partners while maintaining privacy. Data clean rooms are now among the top data collaboration techniques for securely combining and analyzing data to use insights to drive new business opportunities.
Whichever platform or partner is selected, these cutting-edge capabilities will give the company a significant competitive advantage. Meanwhile, it will also assist with business growth and customer relationships. Data clean rooms also offer the perfect basis for future innovation, with enterprise AI initiatives seeing rapid adoption.
The Habu acquisition will allow LiveRamp to deliver differentiated capabilities to customers to:
Streamline and simplify cross-cloud collaboration
Reduce complexity and IT infrastructure limitations while streamlining and simplifying cross-cloud collaboration by connecting data across clouds, warehouses, and clean rooms seamlessly.
Achieve single-view measurement
Realize the first-ever single view of measurement across all major CTV and TV platforms, media networks, walled gardens, and programmatic channels.
Enhancing enterprise identity
Get access to improved enterprise identity and connectivity solutions to dissolve data silos, confidently handle signal loss, and keep up with changing privacy laws.
Read More: Yahoo and LiveRamp Expand Partnership, Scaling Addressability
Data collaboration
Boost LiveRamp’s market-leading data collaboration network to provide access to the largest global network of publishers, walled gardens, retailers, brands, and agencies on a global scale.
Advanced AI initiatives
More data access allows advanced AI projects to train and improve analytical models. These in turn enable other enterprise use cases and inform marketing decisions.
Here’s what they said
Scott Howe, CEO of LiveRamp said,
LiveRamp enables next-generation data collaboration that delivers unmatched brand and business value. Through this acquisition, we will further empower our customers to unlock insights, use cases, and revenue streams by seamlessly connecting data and deepening measurement, across any platform or partner they prefer. Habu shares our vision, and together, we will help more global enterprises benefit from the transformative power of data collaboration.
Matt Kilmartin, CEO of Habu, added,
LiveRamp and Habu approached the data collaboration market with two complementary strategies that share the common goal of creating the largest data collaboration network rooted in privacy. As we look ahead to our next chapter as part of LiveRamp, we’re as committed as ever to our mission of paving the way for the next frontier of responsible data collaboration.
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IAB Europe Releases First Edition of Pan-European Retailer Digital Advertising Capability Map
IAB Europe, the leading European industry association for the digital advertising and marketing ecosystem, has released the first edition of its Pan-European Retailer Digital Advertising Capability Map. The first of its kind, this map showcases the digital advertising capabilities of European retailers in the grocery, beauty, fashion, marketplace, home, and DIY categories. It was created by an industry association.
Digital Advertising Investment in Europe
By 2027, digital advertising investment in Europe by Retail Media is projected to reach €25 billion (£21.4 billion). It’s well-known that Retail Media is revolutionizing the digital advertising landscape by giving companies new ways to connect with customers and leverage first-party data. With Retail Media Networks (RMNs) continuing to grow in popularity, it is more important than ever for brands to be able to assess their investment opportunities accurately. Thus, to anticipate this need, IAB Europe created the Retailer Capability Map.
What is the Pan-European Retailer Digital Advertising Capability Map?
With detailed information about the in-store, off-site, and on-site opportunities provided by European retailers, this map is an invaluable tool for media buyers. Crucial details about the various targeting and measurement options are also provided. The aim is to furnish media purchasers with the necessary data to conduct comparative analyses of retailer offerings throughout Europe.
With tens of local and regional retailers collaborating with various ad tech solution providers, Europe is by far the most fragmented region globally. Using a common set of criteria to assess on-site, off-site, and in-store offerings, measurement capabilities, and partnerships across various verticals, the map is a vital tool that aids all entities involved in retail media in navigating this complex ecosystem.
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Retail Media Resources from IAB Europe
The Map represents a critical turning point in IAB Europe’s plan to standardize and educate more about Europe’s retail media environment. A Retail Media Advertising Product Matrix, A 101 Guide to Retail Media, Retail Media Definitions, and A Retail Media Glossary are additional tools to promote knowledge of and investment in retail media.
Here’s what they said
Maurits Priem, VP of Monetization Europe & Indonesia, Ahold Delhaize said,
At Ahold Delhaize we are surfing The Third Wave together with our advertisers, aiming to raise the bar in advertising. As a front runner in omnichannel retail media we support the role of IAB Europe when it comes to professionalising our industry step by step. We welcome this first version of the Retailer Capability Map as a valuable next step and relevant tool for media buyers.
Laura Badea, Global Digital Commerce Partner, Wavemaker stated,
The Pan-European Retailer Capability Map is a foundational piece of work, developed by IAB Europe as part of their commitment to drive a unified vision and standards to underpin the fast growth of retail media space. It comes at a critical moment in the shaping of retail media as a key element in the strategic channel mix in Europe.
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Al Arabia Secures AED 522 Million Rights to Operate Outdoor Billboards in Dubai
Arabian Contracting Services Co. of Saudi Arabia has announced that its UAE subsidiary, Al Arabia OOH Digital Company, has been granted rights to operate outdoor billboards in Dubai. The Road and Transport Authority of Dubai has awarded the company a contract. The AED 522.84 million ($142 million) contract covers the installation, upkeep, and management of billboards for advertising in several locations throughout Dubai.
Al Arabia signs a 10-year contract with RTA
Al Arabia has been permitted by Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) to erect, run, and maintain outdoor billboards for 10 years and five months. This also covers the time needed for digital and static billboard preparation. By taking this action, Arabian Contracting Services Co. hopes to reach a wider audience geographically. Moreover, it looks to finish building out its network in Al Arabia, and offer unique digital advertising solutions to a range of clientele. Additionally, the project strengthens the company’s position in the Middle East’s outdoor advertising market.
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Outdoor Billboard Inventory
Al Arabia claims that this action has also been taken to increase and preserve its dominant position. Furthermore, this will also fortify its market share locally and regionally. The agreement covers 294 billboards in strategic locations throughout the Emirate of Dubai. Shiekh Rashid Al Maktoum Road, Al Khail Road, Umm Suquim Road, and Al Khawaneej Street are among the places where these can be found. 209 of these are static billboards, and the remaining 85 are digital. These billboards are static, but they can be changed into dynamic digital displays. They come in different sizes and types. Among them are:
- 143 Megacom-style billboards, comprising 80 static and 63 digital billboards
- 18 Unipole-style billboards, comprising 6 static and 12 digital billboards.
- 23 Bridge banner-style billboards, comprising 13 static and 10 digital billboards
- 110 stationary lamppost-style billboards.
Outdoor Advertising in Dubai
A preparation period is also included in the contract’s duration. It includes up to 31 days for static billboards and 182 days for digital billboards. Al Arabia OOH Digital Company, an Emirati company, was established to award the contract. The announcement coincides with the company’s announcement earlier this month. It unveiled a new $114 million project to erect, run, and maintain billboard advertisements on building facades in multiple Riyadh City locations. Al Arabia Out of Home Advertising Company owns 60% of the business in a joint venture with Mawaqie for Advertising Company, a Saudi company, which owns 10%, and an Emirati partner, which owns 30%.
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Publicis Group ME Names Joyce Hallak as CSO for Publicis Media ME
Joyce Hallak has been named Publicis Media’s Middle East Chief Strategy Officer, according to a statement from Publicis Groupe ME. This recently established role is in line with the Groupe’s continuous endeavors to enhance and improve its media competencies.
Joyce Hallak Joins Publicis Media ME as Chief Strategy Officer
As the leader of Publicis Media ME’s strategy agenda, which encompasses all brands and markets within its ecosystem, the appointment is a significant addition to the organization’s recently established executive leadership team. It also catalyzes enhancing the strategic direction of the Groupe’s media operations.
Joyce’s endeavors with Publicis Group ME
Joyce has worked for Publicis Groupe Middle East for 16 years. She began her career in 2007 as the Media Director at Starcom Lebanon. There, she oversaw all local clients before branching out to tackle more difficult markets like Iraq, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. She joined Mondelez EEMEA in 2015 as the client managing director. Herein, she managed 20 markets and spearheaded digital transformation to produce year-over-year media savings and media innovation. This assisted in bringing the team multiple awards at the MENA Effies, Cristals, and Dubai Lynx. In addition to managing major Mondelez brands like Cadbury, Oreo, and Trident, Joyce provided exceptional value across several markets for multinational corporations like Samsung, Heineken, and Visa. She was elevated to Head of Starcom for Levant in 2016, where she oversaw all regional operations.
Read More: Publicis Names Rajdeepak Das as South Asia CCO; Chairman, Leo Burnett South Asia
Responsibilities Ahead
In her role as Publicis Media ME’s Chief Strategy Officer, she will also be in charge of developing winning strategies that combine client needs with industry-leading standards. Furthermore, she will also be finding new business opportunities, and developing solutions for clients’ business challenges.
Here’s what they said
Bassel Kakish, CEO, of Publicis Groupe Middle East and Turkey, said
I’m thrilled to have Joyce take on a greater role within Publicis Media ME, she is a true strategist and a proven leader who exemplifies our vision of success, using strategy, creativity, and technology to create impact and growth for us and our clients. She will be an important leader as we continue accelerating Publicis Media ME’s transformation.
Tony Wazen, CEO, Publicis Media ME, said
The ever-increasing need for more innovative solutions is something clients expect from us, and our goal is to meet and exceed those expectations. Joyce’s background coupled with her immense ability to make the complex simple makes her a great addition to the team.
Joyce Hallak on her appointment expressed,
I am thrilled to be taking on this role as part of an exceptional team of specialists within Publicis Media. It is a fascinating journey to embark upon because there has never been a more exciting moment to be at the intersection of how brands forge meaningful connections with consumers. With our unique ‘Power of One’ proposition, together we are poised to develop winning strategies that seamlessly fuse media, creative excellence and performance solutions to deliver tangible business impact for our clients.
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