General Electric has handed its advertising account for the Middle East and North Africa to Wieden+Kennedy.
The win represents the Amsterdam office’s first foray into the region, with the agency beating a number of regional outfits to the highly sought after account. The incumbent on the business was Impact BBDO.
Confirming the appointment, Rania Rostom, GE’s communications director for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, said: “With GE’s longstanding presence in the Middle East and a fast-growing footprint, we needed a creative partner to help build our brand even further and give us a competitive advantage. Wieden+ Kennedy has a track record of using creativity to deliver effectiveness and we look forward to making some great work to build the GE brand together.”
Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and one of the world’s most respected independent creative agency networks, Wieden+Kennedy has offices in the US, São Paulo, London, Delhi, Shanghai, Tokyo and Amsterdam. It does not have a presence in the Middle East.
The appointment of Wieden+ Kennedy, whose clients include Coca-Cola, Levi’s and Heineken (pictured above), to the GE account is the latest example of a renowned international agency without a Middle East operation winning a regional brief. In 2010, indie outfit StrawberryFrog not only picked up lead agency status at Emirates, but walked off with the brief for Emaar’s Downtown too. Prior to that, Fallon won the advertising account for ADCB.
