ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)
Collaborate Global, the global brand experience agency, has expanded into Abu Dhabi, establishing a new presence in the emirate as it continues to invest in its Middle East and Africa business.
The move represents a natural next step in Collaborate’s continued growth across the Middle East and Africa. In Abu Dhabi, Collaborate will work with government departments, destination brands and other entities to deliver brand experiences across markets, combining regional understanding with international delivery capability and helping bridge ideas developed in the UAE with audiences around the world.
Collaborate enters Abu Dhabi with an established track record of working with brands in the emirate, and more than two decades of experience within its regional team delivering experiences internationally.
Its local-to-global model connects on-the-ground cultural understanding with a wider international network, giving clients a single strategic and delivery partner capable of taking an idea from Abu Dhabi into multiple markets while maintaining its creative intent and relevance.
Gregory Mardikian, General Manager, Middle East and Africa at Collaborate, said: “There is no shortage of ambition in this region, but the environment in which brands and institutions are operating in has become much harder to predict.
Audiences are fragmented, cultural expectations shift quickly and ideas that travel badly can lose their relevance quickly. The approach of creating something centrally and simply exporting it into another market is becoming increasingly archaic.”
“What makes Abu Dhabi particularly interesting is that so many of the ideas being developed here already have international intent. Our job is to help those ideas travel without disconnecting them from the culture and ambition that created them in the first place.
That is where having people who understand this region, backed by teams and delivery capability in markets such as United Kingdom, Asia and the US, becomes genuinely valuable,” he concluded.
From Abu Dhabi, Collaborate will pursue opportunities spanning destination marketing, government-led campaigns, international roadshows and large-scale brand experiences.
The new presence represents a further investment in the agency’s regional business, alongside its established operations in Saudi Arabia and the UAE and its growing footprint across Africa.
Ben McMahon, CEO, Collaborate Global, said: “We are seeing strong demand for Collaborate internationally because clients increasingly want partners that can understand a market deeply while still operating globally.
Abu Dhabi has the ambition, investment and international outlook that makes it a natural next step for us, and we intend to keep investing in the region as that opportunity grows. Some of the most interesting ideas in our industry are now coming out of this part of the world, and we have the international capability to take them wherever they need to go.”
With established operations across Saudi Arabia and the UAE and a growing footprint across Africa, Collaborate works across brand experience, destination marketing and large-scale activations.
Its leadership team brings experience across tourism, government, FMCG, automotive, banking and telecommunications, alongside the delivery of experiential programmes across international markets.