TBWA\ Rizk split

Advertising agency Rizk Group teams up with global firm HAVAS after 11-year affiliation with TBWA\

Lebanon-based Rizk Advertising, member of Rizk Group, announced that it has formed a new affiliation with international advertising firm, Havas.

The Lebanese-owned advertising group split from international advertising agency TBWA\. Rizk Advertising had been operating in collaboration with TBWA\ since 2001.

According to Serge Dagher, the General Manager of Rizk Advertising, the affiliation with Havas began in late December 2011. Dagher said that Rizk Group’s shareholders’ base has not changed with the new partnership with HAVAS. The Rizk family holds the majority of the group’s equity.

Rizk group established its PR branch, Rizk Public Relations (RPR), in March 2011. RPR works in association with Dubai-based Ketchum-Raad Middle East, a joint venture between global firm Ketchum and TBWA\RAAD Middle East.

According to RPR’s managing partner Mark Daou, Rizk Advertising and TBWA\ ended their partnership after their business interests changed.

Daou said that RPR occasionally works with Ketchum-Raad, but is not affiliated with the firm.
TBWA\ seeks to expand its operations in the country.

Rizk Group was founded in 1965 by Andre Rizk. The family-owned group now has subsidiaries in Syria, Qatar, Yemen, Sudan, and Afghanistan.

HAVAS group owns fifty percent of Euro rscg Middle East, which has an office in Beirut and was founded as a joint venture between HAVAS and Chalhoub Group.