Power player

The Bates PanGulf empire

Bates PanGulf Group (BPG) is one of the leading marketing services agencies in the Middle East and has been operating in the region since 1980. As a full service integrated agency encompassing the disciplines of advertising, media investments, 360-degree communications, branding and design, direct marketing, healthcare communications and public relations, BPG has the experience and personnel to fully meet and execute any potential client's requirements in the region.

Over the last 26 years, BPG has expanded its reach from across the GCC, Middle East, Levant and North Africa. Headquartered in Dubai, BPG has owned offices in Kuwait, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, Doha, Baghdad, Beirut, Muscat and an affiliate office in Cairo and Amman. With capitalised billings of over US$170m and comprising 210 dedicated professionals from over 28 different nationalities, BPG is the agency of choice for many of the largest and influential companies within the region.

141 PanGulf

141 PanGulf is the through-the-line marketing services group within the Bates PanGulf Group. Today more and more clients are finding it harder to reach and target an ever-increasing media-neutral and fickle target audience. As the media landscape changes, 141 PanGulf looks for unique ways to market products and services to consumers in non-traditional ways.

PanGulf Media

Once the creative process has been finalised, the adverts have to appear in the most effective media. To ensure the best coverage and target specific audiences is the job of PanGulf Media. It not only handles buying for the Bates PanGulf Group, but also for over 20 advertising agencies in the Gulf marketplace.

PanGulf PR

PanGulf PR provides specialised public relations services across a network of fully-owned and affiliated companies that make up an extensive regional network in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, with the head office based in Dubai.

Healthworld
PanGulf

When it comes to specialised healthcare, you'll find Bates' marketing communications solutions very healthy indeed. Healthworld PanGulf was launched in 2005 and is an affiliate of Ogilvy Healthworld, the world's largest healthcare marketing and communications agency, with 38 offices worldwide. Its mandate is to provide world-class healthcare marketing and communications services to companies in the entire healthcare value chain.

The requirements of companies in the healthcare industry are highly specialised and the degree of government or self-regulation on marketing and communication activity tends to be high. Also, the very nature of the healthcare industry dictates that any organisation seeking to address its communications and marketing needs professionals who understand both the ‘medical' side and the communications dimension of the business. Such a team is not easy to assemble and it is therefore no surprise that until the launch of Healthworld PanGulf there was no specialist healthcare marketing outfit in the region. In the Middle East, Healthworld PanGulf offers integrated through-the-line marketing solutions to healthcare marketers of both prescription as well as over-the-counter remedies. The integrated one-window services include public relations, direct-to-doctor, direct-to-consumer, disease awareness, patient education and launch events including sales meetings, launch seminars and CMEs.

Bates PanGulf
Advertising

Specialising in thought provoking, hard hitting and effective TV, press and radio communications, Bates PanGulf Advertising is a classic above the line advertising practice.

Established in the 1980s, Bates PanGulf Advertising (then PanGulf Publicity) is one of the leading agencies in UAE and across the region. The agency prides itself on building sustainable competitive advantage for its clients and over the years has played a leading role in creating some of the most notable brands in the region.

PanGulf Design

PanGulf Design is the latest strategic business unit at the Bates PanGulf Group. Launched in the first quarter of 2006, it aggregates skills that have been acquired over the last decade at the agency to deliver world-class branding.

Branding and design, however, is not new to Bates PanGulf. It has played an important role in building powerful regional and arguably global brands (Dubai Summer Surprises and Dubai Internet City). The group has consciously built up the required skills in recent years so that currently the right teams are in place and the talent and skills have been steadily augmented.

The mandate of the design unit is to deliver a world-class branding and design capability to clients in the region - with special focus on local and regional businesses. This has a number of important implications: an acute understanding of the region and the specific markets that comprise it; the ability to ideate and create in a regional and market-specific cultural context; and to ensure that the processes and systems derive from global best practices. While all the major global branding and design companies operate in this region, our experience strongly suggests that there is a large gap in the market.