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Corporate communications agencies in the Gulf have been enjoying something of a boom recently. Though not an industry sector traditionally associated with the business customs of the Middle East, the benefits of projecting a deliberate and positive image are being realised. Now, as with many sectors of the budding Middle Eastern economy, related businesses are reporting double-figure growth rates, none less so than Euro RSCG.

The French company (headquartered in New York) formed in 1992 by a merger between Euro Com, an advertising company formed by Havas, and RSCG, an innovative advertising agency formed by the respected Jacques Seguela, campaign advisor for President Francois Mitterrand amongst other things. Havas is the sixth largest adverting and communications group in the world and has retained Euro RSCG under its umbrella organisation.

The bonding of these two companies has left Euro RSCG in a strong position, with an enviable web of office locations and connections (including historical associations with the Agence France-Presse) as well as a robust creative heritage. The organisation has a worldwide presence in 75 countries with over 200 offices, most recently opening up an office in Dubai Media City to act as a base for Middle Eastern operations.

Though perhaps not a household name, the work of Euro RSCG is well known. They have been responsible for popular advertising campaigns (such as the Citroen advert where the car transforms into a dancing robot) and count companies such as Airbus, Volvo, Exxon Mobil, Nestlé, L'Oréal and Reckitt Benckiser among their customers. Winning these lucrative, worldwide contracts has been something of a change from the early days of advertising where 75% of international brands (and so the corresponding advertising contracts) were US owned.

It has taken some years for non-American companies to break into the US-dominated industry.

Despite this, last year the company won both the Campaign Advertising Network of the Year Award and the Advertising Age Global Agency of the Year Award. The fact that it is the first time an agency has won both awards in the same year as well as it being the first time a non-American company won the awards serves to show how much the company has accomplished.

Successful corporate communications is about strengthening the brand using a combination of selected media channels. As many people become impervious to traditional advertising methods these days, it has become more important to utilise all of the channels available as creatively as possible.

Furthermore, the international reach of many modern brands means that the most successful campaigns are tailored to account for the cultural relativism that they will encounter in different countries and regions. Euro RSCG's specific strategy for countering this relativism has been to call on their network of agencies worldwide to cooperate internationally on client contracts at the same time as working locally with the specific regional nuances. A double-faceted approach allows Euro RSCG to apply best international business practices to focused, creative campaigns.

According to Fouks, this hub-to-hub arrangement is the optimum means of ensuring publicity is targeted at the right audience to maximise the efficacity of client campaigns. It is archaic to follow the old formula, "where you decide everything in one place and then duplicate the decision everywhere else," he explains. Recognising the multicultural subtleties, the network of individual creative agencies Euro RSCG has on the ground means they can each understand precisely how each region works.

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