Prestigious accolade bestowed both globally and regionally
Following a tremendous performance in 2015, in terms of both new business wins and agency growth, PHD has been named ‘Media Network of the Year’ by industry journal Campaign both in the MENA region and globally. Both accolades were bestowed in December. Campaign Middle East described PHD’s performance in MENA as unprecedented and having set the benchmark for growth in a challenging market.
Among the many indicators used in the decision, PHD’s new business performance played a key role. In 2015, it had an impressive string of new business wins. The latest Pitch Cycle report produced by Paris-based research consultancy RECMA placed PHD above all agency networks for success in international pitches in 2015. PHD was appointed by Unilever, GSK, SC Johnson, Ferrero and Bayer globally, while regionally PHD secured 17 new accounts, including Pizza Hut, National Food Products Company and Dubai Parks and Resort among others. Despite being only 10 years old in the Middle East and smaller in size than other contenders in the running, PHD was successful in every pitch they entered and retained all its clients over the past 12 months. It closed 2015 with an overall 94% business growth rate. The MENA hub was also commended for being the most charitable office in EMEA among the PHD network, as well as for its talent development initiatives and a growing investment in data and analytics.
“We’ve come a long way since we started, and this achievement makes every single day of the past 10 years absolutely worth it,” said Elda Choucair, managing director of PHD UAE. “We are here today because of our consistent efforts to find a better way. We’ve invested in talent and culture, put our clients first and focused on long-term business results. We’ve long put digital and innovation at the core of what we do and this has fueled our growth, even in a shrinking market. We look at the future with immense optimism because we feel ready for it.”
Mike Cooper, worldwide CEO of PHD, added: “PHD’s challenger positioning and focus on strategic comms planning and creative thinking have really set us apart this year. Big brands are seeing the value in our global communications planning expertise and our success in that has led to PHD winning global buying assignments too. 2015 should be remembered as the tipping point, when buying-focused clients bought planning. I’m extremely proud of this achievement, which has been made possible thanks to the great talent in the network and our client partners.”