Unilever Consolidates MENA Media Duties With Magna

Unilever has consolidated its media mandate with Magna for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. On the back of a three-month review, the Middle East Network’s (MCN) Magna has been named the agency of record for Unilever, continuing a decade old relationship. The new contract will see the corporate major awarding Magna with additional traditional media planning responsibilities, that were so far handled by Unilever MENA in-house in some of the markets.

The two-year contract will now include Magna managing the entire scope of Unilever’s business in the region with the exception of the GCC markets, where the digital part of the media mandate is under PHD’s charge. No change has been made to this.

Unilever had recently awarded its global search marketing mandate to PHD and Resolution from Omnicom Media Group – the impact of which was seen in the MENA region as well.

“A key highlight of the outcome of the review is the renewal of the media contract with Magna in both the key ‘Mashreq’ and ‘Maghreb’ markets. Magna will manage the full scope of Unilever business, including planning on traditional media in Arabia. The scope allows for adding value to the Magna team structures so as to provide greater support to the marketing teams and introducing a plethora of new tools and systems to simplify workflows,” said Asad Rehman, Media Director, Unilever MENA, commenting on the MCN appointment.

“Magna has had a partnership with Unilever for over a decade now, and this added-in new responsibility to manage the full scope of the Unilever traditional media business in Arabia is both a recognition for this successful relationship and a challenge for Magna to deliver best in class strategic thinking and drive further media value in a highly dynamic media industry,” added Ghassan Harfouche, Group CEO, MCN.

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