Dentsu MENA today announced that it has received its regional headquarters license from the Ministry of Investment and Ministry of Commerce in theKingdom, reinforcing its commitment toward Vision 2030, driving the transformation program, and supporting ambitious local talentAs one of the region’s largest media and advertising networks, dentsu already supports many of the government’s vision realisation programs, government ministries and portfolio of investment companies to bring the Saudi Vision 2030 to life for global audiences through a suite of integrated marketing solutions from media to creative and customer experience management. André Andrade, CEO of dentsu EMEA, said: “Opening a regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia is a strategic decision that demonstrates dentsu’s commitment to the Kingdom, our support of its transformation and confidence in its economic future. As we accelerate toward 2030 and beyond, we are fully committed to working with and supporting our stakeholders with the next phase of their transformation agendas.” Tarek Daouk, CEO of dentsu MENA, added: “I am delighted that dentsu MENA has inaugurated its new regional headquarters in Riyadh, and that we are the first of the major advertising holding companies to do so. We want to set the standard and help to build the regional headquarters ecosystem for the media and advertising industry. After more than fifteen years operating in the Kingdom, this is a natural step in our evolution where we aim to continue building longstanding, trusted and mutually beneficialrelationships with our clients, partners and people in Saudi Arabia.” With a rapidly expanding workforce of employees in Saudi Arabia, dentsu aims to become a significant contributor to talent development in the Kingdom. Fostering partnerships with the likes of Prince Sultan University, dentsu will expand its staff numbers over the next three years by recruiting Saudi graduates, with a particular focus on female talent, with the deployment of early careers recruitment programs, internshipand learning and development curriculums designed to accelerate gender diversity in leadership roles. Dentsu has also opened a new flagship office in Riyadh at Business Gate, from which it will service a growing portfolio of local and multinational clients in the Kingdom, building on its existing presence in Riyadh and additional office in Jeddah.

 Dentsu has partnered with social enterprise Abtaluna (‘Our Superheroes’ in Arabic) – a family support and awareness group for children fighting or who have fought cancer in the Arab world. The pro-bono partnership involving creative and media agencies from across the dentsu network aims to raise awareness and challenge taboos around a disease that impacts 18,000 children every year in the Arab world, and supporting WHO’s goal of a 60% cancer survival rate by 2030.The campaign taps into the opportunity for children impacted by cancer to learn new skills and try new experiences, while calling on society for collective action to donate their time and skills to support children fighting cancer in the UAE. Combining a digital platform and activation on social with a custom AR Lens and influencer marketing to create social pledges from artists, musicians, chefs, authors, scientists, athletes and creatives to ‘Be the Hero they Need’.Tarek Daouk, CEO of dentsu MENA, says: “Cancer is one of the world’s deadliest diseases and a child is diagnosed with cancer every 80 seconds globally. In the region there are limited support networks to connect those fighting the disease and inadequate awareness of the signs and symptoms of childhood cancer. The work Abtaluna is doing, and the personal battle Lama and her son Super Sam have fought to achieve it, is inspirational. ‘Here to Matter’ is a brilliant example of creative collaboration across dentsu’s agency teams that we hope will inspire society to unite and take action to support this cause be by connecting caregivers with volunteers willing to donate their experience and time. We are delighted to partner with Abtaluna and deliver on our shared responsibility as a B2B2S company – using our talent, skills and time to deliver services that have a lasting impact on society.”  Lama Andari, Social Entrepreneur and Children’s Book Author says: “Abtaluna was created to support families and loved ones whose superhero children are fighting cancer or were lost to cancer. My inspiration has aways been my own 4-year-old son Super Sam, who was diagnosed with Leukemia in April 2021. On our journey – we could not find any platform in the Arab world that connects and supports parents of children who have been forced to deal with cancer in their lives, and the unprecedented challenges they face. Furthermore, we must normalize speaking about Childhood Cancer and that’s why I also wrote a children’s book called “Super Kids”. Early diagnosis can save lives and unfortunately the community is insufficiently aware of the signs and symptoms. The whole community has an important role to play in learning about Childhood Cancer and supporting our Super Kids. The ‘Here to Matter’ platform will go a long way to ensuring our superheroes are not alone in their battle. I am proud of the partnership forged between Abataluna and dentsu. I am extremely grateful to have their support in raising awareness so we can all educate ourselves, inform our friends and work within our communities to tackle the stigma around childhood cancer and fight it together.”The ’Here to Matter’ campaign launches on 22nd of September and supporters can register as a requestor or contributor on the Abtaluna website. You can also show your support this September by donating hair to create wigs for people impacted by cancer with a free haircut at any one of 42 salons across 3 Emirates, full list of participating salons available on Abtaluna’s website.  The campaign is part of dentsu’s ongoing commitment to use the power of media and advertising to drive delivery of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.