Avi Bhojani, BPG Group CEO has been awarded Entrepreneur Of The Year at the Masala! Awards for 2012
Senna, Creative Director at BPG, adjudicates New York Festivals 2012 International Advertising Awards
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Dubai, UAE, June 5, 2012: Prasanna Hegde (Senna), Creative Director at BPG Group, was invited by New York Festivals (NYF) to be a Grand Jury Member at the 2012 NYF International Advertising Awards, held at the New York Public Library on May 2 and 3, 2012.
Senna, who was invited to adjudicate the awards, was a member of the exclusive worldwide group of 380 prominent Chief Creative Officers from 60 countries. He was the jury for the outdoor category and judged around 400 creative works from around the globe.
Commenting on his participation at the prestigious awards ceremony, Senna said: “It was indeed a unique opportunity and a great experience to be a part of this prestigious event, and more so an immense privilege to a member of the largest and most international advertising awards jury in the world.”
He added: “It was a great opportunity to be a live jury and critique hundreds of creative projects. I also had the honour of meeting some of the best creative minds from across the world and attend valuable seminars.”
New York Festivals International Advertising Awards are considered one of the most prestigious awards for creative advertising around the globe. The awards have completed 55 year of honoring the World’s Best Advertising in all media from over 70 countries such as art, design, digital, interactive, marketing effectiveness, integrated media campaigns, public relations, print, TV and cinema, among others.
For more info about the awards, please visit Visit www.newyorkfestivals.com
DIA Year 6 Students learn the ABC’s of Advertising
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BPG Group hosted a fun-filled advertising workshop for nearly 150 students from Dubai International Academy [DIA] on April 28 and 29 at its MAF Tower offices. The workshop for the 11-year-old Grade 6 students introduced the concept of advertising to the future budding admen and women through a presentation that introduced the main components used in developing advertising communications.
Later, the students were divided into different teams and assigned a syndicated case study – creating an advertisement campaign for Baskin Robbins. The students put on their creative hats and came up with a new flavor name, a tagline, new visuals and outdooradvertising options.
Not letting the students forget that presenting concepts is just as important as developing them, all teams were made to present their creative campaigns to the BPG team and their fellow student teams. The workshop was managed by Clark Williams, Olinda D’souza, Neha Khemani and organized by Samantha Abdulaziz, Tamara Salman, Remi Eid and Aya Badawy.
BPG Group Asserts: Go Digital or Go Bust
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Dubai, September 19, 2011: BPG Group, one of the larger marketing solutions groups in the Middle East, has called on the communications industry and organizations to immediately embrace the digital world or face being ousted from the business by rivals. This was emphasized to Team BPG and associates by Group CEO, Avishesha [Avi] Bhojani, at the Group’s 18thAnnual Offsite, titled iBPG 2011. The new integrated digital business model and the Group’s way forward were shared at the offsite, which was held from September 14 to 16 at Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort in Fujairah.
Avi also stressed the importance of strengthening integration from within. Unveiling the theme of this year’s workshop, ‘Digital Digital Digital,’ Avi emphasized that differentiation is the name of the game and BPG has already carved a niche as a media and medium agnostic communications solutions company.
Over 255 members of Team BPG and associates from 33 nationalities and representing 25 different companies attended the three-day event in addition to BPG Group Chairman, Abdulla Majed Al Ghurair; Andrew Scott, Chief Operating Officer, International Specialist Communications, WPP; and a large number of international experts and speakers.
“BPG has always believed in coming up with game-changing ideas and this has becomes more relevant in today's digital era. If WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Inter-Public and Havas don’t digitize fast enough, Google may just gobble us,” Bhojani also told the audience.
The offsite also included presentations by prominent speakers including Toby Hoare, Chairman and CEO of JWT Europe, CEO of Team HSBC/WPP and a Board Member of BPG Group; Mark Turnbull, Managing Director, Bell Pottinger Special Projects; Nick Vale, Global Planning Director at Maxus Worldwide; Sonal Dabral, Chairman of Bates 141 and Executive Creative Director Bates 141; Hamdi Osman, an independent management consultant and former Senior Vice President and CEO of FedEx Middle East, Europe, Indian Subcontinent and Africa Region; Bob Gilbreath, Chief Strategy Officer of Possible Worldwide; Andrew Keen, British-American entrepreneur and author of The Cult of the Amateur; and Andy Hayes, General Manager, Lambie-Nairn Middle East.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Bob Gilbreath said: “Traditional interruptive advertising is failing as we move into a Digital Age. Media agencies are driving the digital revolution. They are one step ahead of the client in knowing that the digital era is shifting our world.”
Another prominent speaker had a differing view of the Digital Age. “Thinking digitally is not only thinking of new media. It is thinking of a new world that is changing our lives entirely,” said Andrew Keen.
In his thought provoking talk on revolutions, Mark Turnbull said, “The great democracy of the internet is changing the world and the Digital Age. But if we talk about the democracy in the Digital Age we live in today, let’s do so with the confidence we have earned.”
On Day 2, participants attended one of six sessions that focused on various communications disciplines; essentials of branding and design, making meaningful marketing for a brand or business, five strategies to build next generation communications, is the internet killing our culture?, how award winning communication is created and presentation skills.
Finally, on Day 3, team members were broken into several groups and required to develop syndicated case studies comprising an integrated communications plan for a financial services company and a retail business. An eminent jury that included Bob Gilbreath; Vatche Keverian, CEO, JWT GCC & Chief Client Officer, JWT, MENA; Kenny Powar, President - APAC and EMEA, Possible Worldwide; and Avi Bhojani, adjudged the best case study.
Throughout the three days, a series of entertainment activities were also held, the main of which was The iBPG 2011 YouTube Video Awards – in line with the focus on the Digital Age. For months leading up to the workshop, participants were encouraged to create and promote videos that could go viral and culminated with an Oscar-like award night that saw the most viewed and most liked ones awarded in style. In all, 38 entries were received; five of them received over 20,000 views/hits together, with the winning entrant having 8,350 hits.
BPG Group is one of the region's larger marketing solutions consultancies and part of the WPP network. With offices and affiliate partners across the GCC, North Africa, Levant, and Iraq, the group is made up of Strategic Business Units that offer a wide range of marketing and communications solutions including advertising, activation, public relations, branding and design, public advocacy, media asset management, healthcare marketing, digital marketing, and strategy consulting...
Be-Whatever Graduate Training Program
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The first batch of 10 Be-Whatever trainees graduated recently after the successful completion of the six-month training program with the BPG Group. The trainees have been enrolled as permanent employees as Program Executives.
The Be-Whatever Graduate Training Program, an initiative by BPG Group launched in early 2011, involves finding the brightest graduates and investing in their growth and learning to mould them into marketing communication specialists and leaders of tomorrow.
As part of the training program, the trainees were placed in different SBUs of BPG and given a broad overview of every marketing function. The Be-Whatever program also included weekly in-house training sessions and bi-monthly external trainings. Over the training period, all trainees will gain hands-on exposure to multiple verticals of BPG Group such as advertising, public relations, media planning, digital, film production and specialist marketing services.
More than 900 applicants applied for the program’s first installment in April 2011, hailing from the UAE and internationally. After three rounds of interviews, the first class of 10 Be-Whatevers started work at BPG in September 2011. Those interested in applying for the Be-Whatever trainee program should send across their CV to bewhatever@batespangulf.com
Career Fairs
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BPG at career fair to promote graduate trainee program and to recruit the best young talent in the industry
BPG Group has been ever present at career fairs across various colleges such as American University of Dubai, American University of Sharjah, University of Wollongong Dubai, during the month of March, in order to promote the 'Be Whatever' Graduate Trainee Program.
Candidates were impressed by the program and showed great interest to be part of it. We connected with a lot of young talent who were enthusiastic, interactive, proactive and showed a willingness to learn. These are the kind of profiles we are looking for. We believe career fairs are a good opportunity to meet and develop local talent within the region.
Yorgos, Aya, Remi, Tina, Delphine and Olinda represented BPG Group at different colleges and universities. There opportunity for branding was enormous, so we gave away gifts such as stressballs, biz cards and leaflets with details about the 'Be Whatever' program.
In total, we met and networked with around 500 students at career fairs across colleges who expressed interest in fields like Account Management, Public Relations, Creative and Media. The aim of making an appearance at such career fairs is to ensure the company continuously builds a strong pool of talent to lead the business into the future.
Cirque De BPG – An evening to remember!
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Cirque De BPG, the BPG Annual Party for the year 2011 and held on February 2, 2012, was indeed special because of two reasons! First, the event was arranged by the 10 Be-Whatever Graduate Trainees… well done; and the second – the event theme was ‘Circus’, promising the best of excitement and entertainment.
Held at the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, the Cirque De BPG had it all! From the décor which were primarily feathers, red and white striped vases, to a special pop corn and candy floss machine adding to the authentic circus feel besides special performers, there was entertainment aplenty!
BPG employees walked in colourful circus outfits, along with their consorts. There was prizes up for grabs – the best dressed clowns walked away with gift vouchers, and so did the best dressed couple. And then, there was the lucky raffle for everyone present.
BPG Group Chairman Mr Abdulla Majed Al Ghurair handed over the prizes to the winners. The DJ played BPG’s favorite retro tunes that got the attendees swinging into the night.
Take a look at the snapshots from Cirque De BPG, and what made it special!
What is BPG 32?
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A new branding element – BPG 32 – was introduced in the reception and hallways of the BPG main office on the 4th and 6th levels of MAF Tower at the beginning of March. The BPG 32 branding elements included danglers, huge stickers on the glass doors and the entrance wood panels.
What made the campaign quite interesting is that it remained a mystery for the BPG employees for two days! To make the whole process more interactive and engaging, the employees were asked to guess the core message behind the campaign…. All the responses were collated; and a grand prize was up for grabs!
48 hours later, after scanning 100+ responses, the secret code behind the campaign was unraveled. While most of the employees got the first part right – BPG celebrating 32 years of success, there was another secret message hidden in BPG 32. It was a motivational message to increase BPG business by 32% in 2012 to reach its revenue targets across various markets and SBUs.
In other words, BPG 32 is a new business initiative, which reinforces that new business is not just the responsibility of senior managers or SBU heads, but also the wider responsibility of everyone in Team BPG.
Shortly, new initiatives under the auspices of BPG 32 will be unveiled, covering various aspects -- from strengthening the new business machinery to rewarding new business achievers, initiating creative, digital and PR challenges to formalizing new business information sharing. Watch this space!
And now the grand winner of the secret question – it is Newton Rebello. Many congratulations, well done!
DIA Students
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The “shadowing program”. Young students’ introduction to the world of advertising
During 29th January to 31st January, 12 students studying in the 11th grade at Dubai International Academy were given the opportunity to get their feet under the tables at BPG. Over those three days, each of them was put through their paces across various departments, ranging from creative and digital to account management and media. The department heads brought the students up to speed taking them through the nuts and bolts of day-to-day functioning. With daily tasks set for each of them during the three days, the program ensured the students were kept gainfully occupied and got a measure of how no two days are the same at a marketing communications company. At the end of their stint, the students came away enlightened, inspired and motivated.
