Iris Worldwide expand into the Middle East

iris Worldwide will open its first office in the Middle East in Dubai this month. The move is due to a growing number of clients requesting the agency’s services in the MENA region following an amazing period of growth for the agency in Asia-Pacific.

iris has offices in Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai, Delhi and Jakarta and has signed an agreement with one of the most interesting and awarded agencies in the region, Expression.

Expression will formally join the iris network today, when Expression’s office – based at Al Thuraya Tower in Dubai’s Media City – will officially be branded an iris office. iris Middle East will be led by Scott Feasey (pictured above) as managing director and David Brook as creative director. Its 21-strong team will offer a full house of through the line creative services – in line with iris’ ‘creative diversity without borders’ premise – including advertising, branding, CRM, design, direct, interactive, promotional and strategy.

The office will launch with an impressive client base including Expression’s existing clients, which include Unilever, Lufthansa, Jumeirah International, Bridgestone, Gulf Food Industries, Ray-Ban, Carrefour Express, Dubai Chamber and Danone, as well as iris’ regional clients, which include Sony Mobile, Shell and adidas.

Luke Nathans, regional CEO of iris for Asia Pacific, said: “We’re thrilled to be entering the Middle East – it’s another great step forward for us. Innovation is about cultural and geographical diversity and being able to participate in a world where interesting things are going on – this will enhance our partnerships with clients around the world. We’re always looking for people that share our values, and there is a real synergy between Expression and iris. Expression, like iris, is not bound by conventional media or discipline thinking and we’ve admired each other’s work for a long time so this make a lot of sense.”

Scott Feasey, Managing Director of iris Middle East, said: “We’ve always been great fans of iris – they’re leading the pack with their forward-thinking approach to creativity. iris arriving in the Middle East will take consumer engagement and creativity in the region to a new level. We’re looking forward to offering the MENA region the iris way of building and growing brands. Our clients are really excited.”

The deal will allow clients to tap into the scale and resources of the iris global network, which includes offices in the US, Europe and China as well as award-winning digital, planning, research, CRM, social and creative capabilities.

Expression, which launched in Dubai in 2002, is one of the GCC’s most awarded independent communications agencies.