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 Reps from Unilever, Saudi Telecom and Al Nisr Publishing have all clambered aboard auditing firm BPA Worldwide’s Middle East advisory board, joining other regional media and marketing bigwigs.
Akbar Shah, group planning manager at Unilever, Saudi Telecom adviser Noah Chancellor and Al Nisr’s Sanjay Malik are the latest additions to the 15-person team, which aims to inform BPA’s coverage of and work in the exciting and/or dynamic Middle East region.
“Coming, as they do, shortly after the appointment of Mohammed Al Tajer, Citibank's head of marketing, to the advisory board, these additional appointments strengthen representation from both the advertiser and media owner sectors and add considerable weight to the arguments in favour of transparent media in the region,” said BPA Worldwide president and CEO Glenn Hanson, in a press release.
“It is during a period of economic uncertainty and pressure like this that it is essential to underline to importance of transparent media data,” he added.
“All three of our new representatives will be powerful advocates for how audited media must be central to the industry's ability to draw advertising revenue from both regional and international brands, thereby making clear commercial sense for media owners and advertisers,” Hansen went on to say.
BPA is currently the only print-focused organisation fighting the uphill battle to get regional titles to submit to auditing, following the withdrawal of ABC a few years ago.
Many had hoped that the current recession might have driven more media owners to agree to auditing – and more advertisers to push for it – but we haven’t heard too much in the way of auditing news in 2009, although Mondanite, Leyalina and the regional addition of Marie Claire have all signed up this year.
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