Dubai: The Dubai-based communications and multimedia agency BPG is going for a corporate makeover, which will see it focussing more on ‘specialist consultancy services’ aimed at meeting client needs. This will be accompanied by a digital-first policy as the agency leverage recent client wins, which have boosted its billings portfolio by over $6 million.
“In 1995, BPG 1.0 was born after winning an integrated mandate from the Dubai Government to build and execute Dubai Shopping Festival,” said Avi Bhojani, Group CEO of BPG, which is part of the WPP Group. “We evolved into BPG 2.0 in 2003, after winning mandates for public advocacy in Iraq.
“It’s now time for BPG 3.0 after a significant, game-changing creative win in Saudi Arabia. We are transforming into an agile integrated agency, able to scale up swiftly to meet client demands and deliver disruptive work in a fast-evolving commercial landscape.”
Latest wins include those for Jumeirah Group, with the BPG remit being to provide design, content, and creative for the luxury hotel company, which operates a 6,500 plus key portfolio of 25 properties. BPG also has a multi-year remit with one of Oman’s larger banks, which includes delivering brand, advertising, content, and CX across the country, as well as supporting regional expansion.
BPG will continue its expansion, with 15 key hires across PR, Media, UX, content and creative in the UAE. It will also offer ‘productization’ to meet specific client needs.
As part of the changes, Souheil Arabi has been promoted as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing BPG’s MENA-wide expansion, consulting and productization initiatives, in addition to consolidating the Kuwait practice. With the network since 2001, Souheil had built up BPG Kuwait.
“BPG’s success has been built on our continuous evolution and collaborative culture,” he said. “With this transformation, we go a step further: leveraging technology to create an agile, integrated and collaborative platform, built around exceeding client needs and creating customer delight, keeping our customers’ needs at the heart of all that we do.”
Darius LaBelle has been promoted as President - BPG UAE, while Viju Varghese is President - BPG Kuwait. Ketaki Banga has been appointed Chief Communications Officer, and Mark Soufiar Chief Media Officer. Aaron Arthur is now Chief Creative Services Officer, overseeing Kuwait’s creative output as well as building a cloud-based remote services offering. Ramy ElSakka, Chief Creative Officer will oversee all branding, creative and content output out of Dubai.
A ‘silo-free culture integrates all disciplines, from advertising and public relations to media buying, digital marketing and more, into a unified offering built around customers' needs’, BPG said in a statement.
“We can truly put customers at the heart of both our strategy and our product by leveraging integrated teams in content, comms, media, data, experience, and brand on every brief,” said Darius LaBelle, President, BPG UAE.
