Left to right: Dinesh Lalvani, Yousef Tuqan Tuqan, Mohammad Itani and Martin Diessner.

Flip Holding Ltd is delighted to announce the promotion of Yousef Tuqan Tuqan and Mohammad Itani as CEOs for Flip Media and Neo Digital.

Yousef Tuqan Tuqan has been promoted to CEO of Flip Media, with overall responsibility for the development and growth of the largest interactive agency in the Middle East.

An industry veteran with over 11 years of regional experience, Yousef has served as Account Director at Flip Media since 2005, and has been responsible for business development and client servicing for the agency.

“Yousef has been one of our most vocal ambassadors, and has played a leading role in growing our agency into a global network of 150 dedicated Internet professionals.

His passion and experience have been invaluable in maintaining our leadership position, and this promotion is a vote of confidence in his ability to lead Flip Media into its next phase of growth,” said Managing Partner Dinesh Lalvani, Flip’s cofounder.

Mohammad Itani has been promoted to CEO of Neo Digital, Flip’s sister agency and the first dedicated online media agency in the Middle East. Mohammad has served as Head of Media since 2005, and has been instrumental in the growth of the agency and its reach beyond Dubai.

He has also been involved in the development of Neo Digital’s Search Engine Marketing team, which boasts 4 full-time specialists and one of the largest booking volumes in the region.

According to Flip Holdings’ Group CEO Martin Diessner, “Mohammad has shown great leadership in times of ongoing change in the industry, and has earned the respect and admiration of his clients, his team and his partners across the online media landscape.

I am confident that Neo Digital can continue to maintain its position as the fastest-growing and most innovative independent online media agency in the region.”

Managing Partners Dinesh Lalvani and Martin Diessner will continue their daily involvement in the group’s operation from Dubai, with a greater focus on the development of Brand Central, the most powerful enterprise-class advertising management and serving solution in the Middle East; and Chameleon, Flip Media’s complete website content management solution.

According to Dinesh “these key promotions represent a vote of confidence in Yousef and Mohammad to continue to lead their agencies into their next stage of development.

Both have been the faces of Flip Media and Neo Digital since their appointment in 2005, and we are proud to work alongside them as we continue to offer the best and most comprehensive digital marketing solutions in the region.”

Neo Digital, the largest independent online media buying agency in the region was originally established as a sister company of Flip Media in March 2005. In just under two years, Neo Digital has firmly positioned itself as a leading player at the forefront of online media buying agencies and is serving more than 60 clients in the GCC and beyond.

Neo Digital currently holds the largest market share of online advertisers amongst all independent players. Staffed by a team of specialist media buyers and planners, Neo Digital are responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships with clients and suppliers, pre-campaign planning and analysis, campaign management and tracking, and post-campaign reporting and auditing.

"Even though online advertising has increased in prominence over the last few years, educating clients about efficiency, reliability, transparency and measurability still remains one of our primary activities", comments Mohammad Itani, Media Manager, Neo Digital. "One of our main responsibilities is to actively source, research and recommend new web portals to our clients, enabling them to personalize communication and extend their reach with relevant audiences in a highly cost effective and targeted way. By utilizing sophisticated campaign management tools, like Brand Central, a 3rd party verified online media tracking service for advertising and media agencies, we are able to optimize our client's advertising campaigns to their full potential", added Mohammad Itani. Another key strength is being able to negotiate highly favorable rates for clients based on the size of market share."

"We recognized at an early stage that establishing a dedicated online media planning and buying unit would bring many advantages to our clients and by separating this activity from our creative business, both Flip Media and Neo Digital have been able to truly focus on providing best of breed online solutions that are impartial and objective, and really deliver outstanding results", added Martin Diessner, CEO, Flip Media.

Award-winning regional interactive agency Flip Media has beaten off strong competition from many top worldwide interactive agencies following a competitive pitch to redevelop Qatar Airways' website.

The scope of work sees Flip Media retained to completely redesign the airline's website www.qatarairways.com and developing templates for use in the back end content management system. The updated website will feature additional functionality designed to enrich the user experience and have a fresh and contemporary look and feel. Additional enhancements will see a wealth of new features to the website over the coming months.

Work commences immediately and the remit extends to include Qatar Airways' online marketing communications and promotional campaign sites.

Qatar Airways said that the revamped website would be more vibrant in line with the Five Star service which the airline is renowned for worldwide. The airline said that Flip Media would support its e-commerce objectives.

Martin Diessner, CEO, Flip Media added, 'We are delighted to be appointed by Qatar Airways and are very excited to be working on this project. Our team has extensive experience and understanding of the aviation industry, having worked for several well-known airlines over the last three years. This stands us in good stead to deliver a truly world class interactive solution for Qatar Airways.'

Qatar Airways currently operates a fleet of 52 aircraft to more than 70 online destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Far East and Indian subcontinent from Doha, the airline's hub and capital of the State of Qatar.

Qatar Airways is one of only four airlines in the world with a Five Star ranking for service excellence awarded by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry monitoring agency.

Flip Media has announced that HSBC Private Equity Middle East Limited has acquired a significant equity stake in Flip Media Investments Ltd.

Flip Media Investments Ltd. is the holding group of Flip Media FZ-LLC, the region's leading, independent interactive marketing agency, Neo Digital FZ-LLC one of the region's leading online media agencies, Flip Media Pvt. Ltd. India, and other subsidiaries.

Martin Diessner, CEO, Flip Media stated, 'The involvement of HSBC increases our range of opportunities as we now have the support and involvement of one of the world's leading financial institutions as a major shareholder who has extensive experience in the region and is committed to helping us develop further'.

David Price, Managing Director of HSBC Private Equity Middle East added, 'We are very pleased to be investing in Flip Media. It is one of the most recognized digital agencies in the region and it has a proven track record across the Middle East and beyond.

Our investment is intended to provide a strong institutional platform for the company's further regional growth. Investing in Flip Media is very much in line with our policy of backing profitable and well managed businesses.'

Panasonic Marketing Middle East is the latest addition to Flip Media’s burgeoning roster of international and regional powerhouse brands and clients. Tasked to launch dedicated bilingual Arabic and English websites to support Panasonic’s recently launched Lumix digital cameras and Viera television products, Flip Media will additionally develop a powerful Press Room application to quickly and easily disseminate news and corporate communications to consumers and media alike.

The Lumix site aims to promote Panasonic’s range of Lumix digital cameras and will encourage users to interact with the brand through interactive features, user tips and competitions. A complete guide to the Lumix products and information on the technologies that makes them superior to their competitors will be readily available online.

Detailed product information on the entire range of Panasonic’s Viera high definition flat panel LCD and Plasma televisions will also be presented interactively and users will benefit from unique creative elements that bring the Viera televisions and their technologies to life.

The Press Room aims to become the premiere point of reference for Panasonic Marketing Middle East and will enable both customers and the media to keep abreast of the latest news, product and technology launches, information and events. Key attributes of the site include a user friendly interface and customized password protected areas for media and channel members who will be able to obtain proprietary content as well as download high resolution images and access other resources.

According to Ajit Nair, Panasonic Marketing Middle East “We appreciate that having an online presence plays a critical part in communicating with customers when they are researching and comparing products, and especially new technologies. Often consumers will have carried out their research on the Internet and decided which brand or product to purchase before they step into a retail store. By enhancing our online communication, this allows Panasonic Middle East to connect with consumers directly at a much earlier stage and provide an informative and interactive experience.”

“It’s refreshing to see more brands taking a proactive approach to integrating their marketing communications efforts for the benefit of consumers. We are delighted that Panasonic Marketing Middle East has chosen to come on board with us and we’re looking forward to doing some outstanding work for their brands.” added Yousef Tuqan Tuqan, Account Director, Flip Media.

The websites can be visited at www.panasonic-news.ae and www.panasonic.ae/lumix