McDonald’s has called a review of its public relations account in the Gulf.
The incumbent on the business is MS&L, which has held the account since it moved from Weber Shandwick in 2010 without a pitch. The shift in public relations agencies took place shortly after the creative advertising account moved from FP7 to Leo Burnett, also without a pitch.
Tarek El Kady, regional marketing director for the Middle East and Africa at the McDonald’s Middle East Development Company, said the company had last reviewed the market in 2001.
“In the past few years things have changed dramatically, with the evolution in digital and social media,” said El Kady. “At the same time, our business has developed to a stage that requires us to look at the current agencies in the market – a kind of an assessment to find out where we are and where we should be. We are trying to understand what is out there in the market, what’s available, and to see what our requirements are going forward.”
Last September McDonald’s launched a major marketing drive across the GCC with the creation of ‘Family Time Forever’. A 45-second TVC, which tells the story of a group of kids stealing their parents away from their work in order to spend time with them, was rolled out across the Gulf, supported by print, outdoor, digital and in-store activity.
