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Unilever, STC and Al Nisr join BPA advisory board

Global media auditor BPA Worldwide adds three new members to its Middle East Advisory Board, with senior representatives from Unilever, Saudi Telecom and Al Nisr Publishing.

Joining the Board are Noah Chancellor, who has been advising Saudi Telecom on its PSTN, Mobile, Data & Internet services portfolio for the past five years,  and Akbar Shah, Group Planning Manager for Unilever Gulf.

Sanjay Malik, who heads the Business Development and Sales & Distribution function for Al Nisr, publisher of Gulf News, has also joined the Advisory Board increasing the quota of media owners represented.

During the course of his career Chancellor, who is based in Riyadh, has held posts with commercial organisations in New Zealand, India, across the Asia Pacific region and in the Middle East. He holds an MBA in International Business and a Post-Graduate Diploma in International Relations from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.  He is also an advisory board member for the Middle East North Africa region of the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Council.
 
Shah, a media planner by profession, has spent the last 15 years working between India and the Middle East. He acts as a strategic planning resource for Unilever in the Gulf, managing Unilever’s media research requirements and communication inventory management as well as strategic planning on Hair & Oral Care and Foods & Beverages.
 
While Malik has a wealth of international newspaper and media experience. His previous roles include Associate Publisher and Head of Sales & Distribution for the India Today Group, India’s leading media conglomerate where he led strategy and marketing for the internationally acclaimed newsmagazine, India Today. He also spent three years in North America looking after the international editions of India Today.
 
“Coming, as they do, shortly after the appointment of Mohammed Al-Tajer, Citibank’s Head of Marketing, to the Advisory Board, these additional appointments strengthen representation from both the advertiser and media owner sectors and add considerable weight to the arguments in favour of transparent media in the region” said Glenn Hansen, BPA Worldwide President and CEO.
 
“It is during a period of economic uncertainty and pressure like this that it is essential to underline to importance of transparent media data,” added Hansen. “All three of our new representatives will be powerful advocates for how audited media must be central to the industry’s ability to draw advertising revenue from both regional and international brands, thereby making clear commercial sense for media owners and advertisers.”
 
BPA Worldwide established an office in Dubai in April 2006 and its Middle East Advisory Board provides input to BPA from local buyers and sellers. The current membership of 15 people comprises eight representing advertisers and agencies and seven media owners.  Other advertisers represented include Beiersdorf and the Al Jawad Business Group.

© 2009 Dubai Business Daily (DBD).