2015 has been the year of integration of Keyade Middle East within GroupM. Of course we had apprehensions and questions about our integration in a large media group but they all have been cleared out as 2015 was the year that saw this integration materialized.

In a local and regional environment of economic uncertainties, advertisers naturally tend to shrink their advertising spend and get more demanding when it comes to the outcome and return of each dollar spent. Performance and data-driven marketing is bringing a factual answer and an alternative to these advertisers. We believe our specialism in performance marketing brings a real added value to the group. By "our specialism" we mean our people and our technology who are at the core of our offering, putting our advertisers' objectives first and leveraging data and expertise to achieve those.

Keyade’s integration within GroupM comes at a time where the global group direction is to elevate the digital offering and we are proud to be a part of it along with other progressive performance units within the group (Light Reaction, Xaxis…). Is the integration successful? Hearing our peers and colleagues using “we” when talking about GroupM and Keyade is for us the biggest sign of success. It’s only the beginning of our integration and we have already kicked off multiple projects with our sister agencies. Our integration is an immense opportunity for our people to grow within a leading group that puts performance marketing at the top of its strategic priorities.

We are starting 2016 strengthened and optimistic about our future projects and plans.

Hicham Auajjar
Managing Director at Keyade Middle East

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Jumbo is a trusted distribution and retail partner for many of the world’s leading brands which has numerous stores in the UAE. Regarding the convergences between online and offline channels, the brand has always collected its customers’ emails, but only use them through an email remarketing tool.

Since the launch of Google Customer Match, which allows to match customers’ emails to Google logged users and then create personalized ads, Jumbo can target its offline customers through paid channels: on Google Search (whenever a customer searches for any product available on the website), and through Google Display Network (sending Gmail Sponsored Promotions in their inboxes). To Jumbo, the point of using Customer Match is that they can retarget their most valuable online and offline customers. The brand simply retargets this audience with customized promotional messages and maximizes the bids to be more efficient.

After several weeks testing the Customer Match campaigns, Keyade observed a significant rise in the conversion rate compared to standard campaigns.

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Hugues, can you tell us about your previous work experience and about your role at Keyade Middle East?

When I finished university in 2010, after graduating in Masters in Marketing, I chose Search Marketing because it was an industry with potential which I was attracted to. I made the choice to undertake an international carreer and had the chance to live and work in several cities around the world, like San Francisco, London and Dubai. During the last 5 years, I worked for different kind of companies, agency side and client side, BtoC and BtoB, world class group as local businesses. All these experiences have taught me that adaptation and flexibility are two of the greatest assets for a Search Marketer.

As a Team Leader, how would you describe your understanding of an agency’s added value?

Customer service is all about transparency. The added value of an agency lies in its people. Everyone is different and works differently and an agency that manages to get everyone working together got it all and will perform!

If you were to sum up Keyade Middle East in one word, it would be…

Diversity. Because of the business and because of our team which has come from all over the MENA region.