Performance and search marketing added to media brief.

OMD has been selected by luxury hotel company Jumeirah Group as its SEM agency. The competitive pitch resulted in the Omnicom Media Group network adding the international SEM assignment to its media planning and buying contract.

Search Engine Marketing is a critical element of the sales process for the tourism sector today and Jumeirah used the pitch to ensure its performance in this field was optimal. OMD not only demonstrated that it had the specialist skills to manage the regional and international requirements of the brand but also clearly identified the benefits of integration with the rest of the media account. OMD, which was retained on the above-the-line media planning and buying account at the end of 2014, will now service the brand’s SEM needs from Dubai, with hubs in China, Germany, Russia and the UK.

“We value our partnership with OMD and were impressed by their digital capabilities in the previous above the line pitch. It therefore made sense to invite them to the SEM pitch,” said Ross McAuley, Vice President of Brand, Digital and Loyalty at Jumeirah Group. “They presented us with a compelling combination of technology and expertise, integrated with the rest of our media operations. With such a persuasive proposition, extending the scope of work on our business was the right decision for us.”

“Many advertisers believe expertise only rests with specialist agencies but Jumeirah isn’t one of those. As an innovative and forward-thinking company, they’ve seen the value of an integrated expert offering and the efficiencies and synergies it brings,” explained Nadim Samara, managing director of OMD UAE & Lower Gulf. “Adding performance and search marketing into the mix means that we are now in an even better position to positively and demonstrably impact their business results.”