MediaCom gets Etihad’s ATL global media account

Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the UAE, has recently concluded a tender process to select global media agency partners.

MediaCom, part of the WPP group, has been selected to manage above-the-line media planning and buying. LBi has been selected to manage digital media strategy, search and affiliate marketing.

Both agencies will service the account globally from Abu Dhabi.

The selection is an outcome of a routine agency review process during which Etihad Airways invited select global media agency networks to respond to a creative and media brief.

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer said: “Etihad Airways is the fastest growing airline in the history of commercial aviation, so we sought out media agencies that can not only keep up with our pace of growth, but also help us bring our brand to a global audience in a more innovative and effective way. This is the first time we have split our ATL and digital media into separate contracts, which we elected to do simply to ensure that we are able to best leverage specialist agency strengths.”