MindShare Interaction has announced establishing 3 new offices in Q1 2008. KSA offices were established in Jan of this year, with two key branches based in Riyadh and Jeddah, aiming at providing direct and on the ground support to all MindShare’s roaster of clients in the Saudi local market.
The move to KSA also aimed at establishing direct and strong relations with key local digital media publishers, aiming at enhancing the agency’s reach of key Saudi portals.
Tunisia offices were established later on in April, to serve as the first North African Interaction hub, which will eventually grow the agency’s reach to the rest of the North African market.
When asked why he chose those two markets in specific for the expansion plan, Mr. Duri Al Ajrami the MD of MindShare Interaction explained: “KSA is the largest media consumer market in GCC. In the last six months only, Internet usage doubled and is forecasted to grow in folds over the coming 2-3 years. We felt that the time has come for us to start putting real investments in growing the local Saudi digital market, and to ensure direct servicing and education for our clients.”
“Tunisia is one of the fastest growing internet markets in the region, usage grew 15 times over the past 6 years, and penetration doubled from 8% to 16% in the past 6 months alone. We do feel that Tunisia will offer us an excellent stepping stone to all other NA markets, as it is a very good representative of its region, and full of key digital talent that we plan on cultivating and spreading into neighboring countries,” added Al Ajrami.
Other than KSA and Tunisia, MindShare is also planning to establish offices in Kuwait by Q3 2008. This will increase the number of regional offices to 5: Dubai (Head Quarters), Riyadh, Jeddah, Tunisia & Kuwait. MindShare Interaction today has a team of 18 digital media professionals, with high expertise in digital media strategy, planning, buying and analytics.
