BEIRUT – Mr. Emile Kayrouz, a senior executive at Intermarkets has left the network for another network, last September, on the media side this time. Emile Kayrouz joined La Régie Libanaise de Publicité, as advertising and marketing director. Kayrouz was general manager of Intermarkets Lebanon, and assistant to the president of the network.

Kayrouz’s decision to leave Intermarkets was prompted by the desire “to reshape my future”, as he told Arab Ad. “I found it a good opportunity, and I found I had a lot in common with RLP’s president Mr. Najah Abi Assi, on both the professional and ethical levels.” Kayrouz felt he has many things to give on the media side, given his professional background, at a time when advertisers are becoming more cost-efficient oriented and media more competitive. Kayrouz will be deeply involved in development and would enjoy a partnership status in future projects.

RLP has currently a network of four offices in Beirut, Kuwait, London and Paris, and it represents a host of media, among which the Lebanese Assayad, Ashabaka, Sahar and Scoop,and the Kuwaiti Osrati, Al Yaqza, Burda Arabic edition, Al Watan International; it recently pitched for Tele Liban, and acquired the Arabic daily Ad Diyar. But Abi Assi may not be interested in relaunching his activities in Lebanon on a large scale if his bid for Tele Liban did not materialise.

Kayrouz is a 1974 AUB graduate in Economics. He attended post-graduate studies and earned diplomas of Advertising and Marketing Administration, and Institute of Marketing from the Watford College of Technology in London in 1976.

Kayrouz joined Publirizk for five months in 1975, as a marketing manager; he was then an Associate Manager at the Saudi Research monthly – Jeddah in 1976, then he joined Intermarkets as a Regional Account Director based in Bahrain in 1977. In 1980, he was appointed General Manager of Intermarkets Cairo office, then GM of the Beirut office in 1982. In 1988, he was promoted to the post of Assistant to the President of Intermarkets.
Kayrouz will be based in Beirut, but his job requires much travelling.

Originally published in ArabAd, 1988

Edmond Moutran

Edmond Ibrahim Moutran was born in Beirut, 1994 and graduated from Choueifat International College, Choueifat, Lebanon. Received his Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Higher Studies in Mass : Communication from Southwest Missouri j State University in 1972.
Joined Intermarkets as Gulf Area Manager in January 1973.
Eddy opened Intermarkets’ Bahrain office in February 1973, and remained as Head of Intermarkets Bahrain till 1983, when he became Managing Director of Burson Marstellar (a PR agency) in 1979 maintaining his duties as MD Intermarkets Bahrain as well.
Founded MEMAC (Middle East Marketing and Communications) in January 1984, with one client, four people, j and a capital of US $25K. 1984 Bahrain- 1986 Jeddah – 1987 Dubai – 1990 Kuwait – 1990 London- 1994 Lebanon- 1997 Egypt.
Today MEMAC has a network of 7 offices with 171 people, and a turnover of US$85 million.
Founding member of the GCCAA, is an IAA Bahrain member since 1977. e became a board member of Ogilvy&Mather Africa in 1996. Initiated and became the first Chairman of Middle East Advertising Agencies Association (MEAAA)

Originally published in ArabAd, May 1998

Fady Mouannes

Leading American advertising industry journal “Advertising Age” has named Intermarkets as the leading agency in Kuwait for the second consecutive year.

The findings are published in the journal’s recent worldwide Agency Report which identifies Intermarkets’ 1996 growth rate of  20.5%.

Intermarkets Kuwait Managing Director Fady Mouannes commented, “We are extremely proud to lead the field in Kuwait once again, which is a great accolade to a professional team effort and a tribute to all our clients.

“We were the biggest spenders in advertising volume in most of the local print media for 3 consecutive years 94, 95, 96. We continue to grow the operation and look forward to an even more successful 1997.”

Originally published in ArabAd, June 1997

Roger Fennings

Roger Fennings, Managing Director of Intermarkets Public Relations has announced a number of staff promotions and new appointments.

Bashar Al Kadhi

In current staff promotions, Bashar Al Kadhi is named Senior Account Director.

Fakher Daghestani

Fakher Daghestani is promoted to Account Manager.

Sue Nigoghossian

In new appointments, Melanie Gill joins Intermarkets Public Relations as Account Director. She joins the company from Total communications. Sue Nigoghossian is appointed as Account Executive. She was formerly with IPR.

In an earlier appointment, Nelly Abd-El Hamid joins Intermarkets as PR assistant.

Since its foundation five years ago as part of the Intermarkets group, Intermarkets Public Relations, names among its clients BP, Coca-Cola, Motorola, Nissan, Polaroid, TAG Heuer, Visa International and 3M.

Intermarkets Public Relations is the exclusive Middle eastern affiliate of Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s leading international public relations consultancies.

Originally published in ArabAd, July 1997

Kumar (left) and Costandi

Intermarkets Advertising announced that it has awarded a contract for upgrading and expanding its computer networking system to the Dubai-based Alan Technology.
The contract was signed in Dubai between Michel Costandi, Managing Director of Intermarkets and Sudhir Kumar, manager, Sales and Marketing of Alan Technology.
According to Costandi, the upgrading of Intermarkets’ IT systems is aimed at enhancing the agency’s response time to client needs.
“It is part of an ongoing overall corporate expansion strategy to ensure improved efficiency.”
Originally published in ArabAd, October 1998

Picture shows from left Ramzi Raad, Intermarkets Group Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Reg Lascaris TBWA Regional Director, Africa, Middle East, and Eastern Europe; Abdullah S. Al-Jehani, Saudi Arabian Airlines - Vice President Advertising and Marketing Programmes; Prince Bandar Bin Saud Bin Khalid Al-Saud, Chairman of Ailamia /Intermarkets Public Relations; and Yarub A. Balkhair, Saudi Arabian Airlines General Manager Public Relations and Editor-in-Chief of "Ahlan Wa Sahlan" magazine

After an exhaustive review which included presentations from six of the most qualified advertising agencies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian Airlines re-appointed Intermarkets Advertising to handle its worldwide marketing communications account in partnership with its international associates TBWA and its PR consultancy Ailamiah/lntermarkets Public Relations together with its international associates Burson Marsteller.
In his statement on the appointment, Abdullah S. Al-Jehani, Saudi Arabian Airlines Vice President Advertising and Marketing Programmes said:

“… after careful evaluation of the six presentations, it became obvious that Intermarkets with its established multi- disciplined communications set-up and its world renowned associates offered the full mix of creative excellence, strategic planning skills coupled with the product know how that would serve the Airline best in the long term.”

Erwin Guerrovich Chairman and CEO of the Intermarkets Group commented on the appointment saying: “We are delighted with the added responsibilities and look forward to continuing our close partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines expanding our task of helping in building the unique position of our client as a world class airline with a distinctive Saudi character – not to the travelling public in the Middle East only – but all around the world.”
Originally published in ArabAd, October 1998

Intermarkets Advertising, Jeddah held their annual summer barbecue recently. The Jeddah team got together with some of their clients and friends from the media.

It was a day of fun, good food and a pleasurable atmosphere.

No 1 gang

Managing director, Jihad Abboushi and business all the way

Hani Aljamal and a friend

Originally published in ArabAd, September 1997

Tylda Ghosn

In line with the forward vision of Lebanon’s future, coupled with the regional scope of operations Intermarkets has announced the following changes. Area vice President, Nadim Sfeir, will become general manager of Intermarkets-Lebanon and will be based at the Beirut head office. He will continue to assume his group corporate responsibilities over the Levant, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Tylda Ghosn remains Area Creative Director. Makram Zeenny, transferring from Damascus, will also be based in Beirut, and will assist Nadim on both Lebanon, Levant and Egypt territories.

Makram Zeenny

Nadim Sfeir

Originally published in ArabAd, October 1998

Paul Laramee, MD of Tam Tam, Intermarkets' associates in Canada, receiving the trophy from the President of the Publicity Club of Montreal

Intermarkets has been awarded the bronze prize of the “Prix de Nations – Liban” for their Sleep Comfort ad at the Mondial de la Publicite Francophone held recently in Montreal. The creative director of the entry is Tylda Ghosn.
The trophy was received by Intermarkets associates in Canada.
Originally published in Arab Ad, November 1998

Sonia Chaanine

BEIRUT – Intermarkets Lebanon is undergoing a major reorganization that will give the Intermarkets Group unprecedented strength in Lebanon. Joining Intermarkets Lebanon in key executive roles are Ramsay Najjar, Elie Khoury with The Agency Group and Sonia Chaanine and her team. Erwin Guerrovich, President of the Intermarkets Group, described the move as “another landmark.”
The Agency, a young and creative company headed by Elie Khoury which quickly made its mark in Lebanese advertising, is merging with Intermarkets. Top executives of The Agency are coming on board. They include Adel Kanaan, Marketing Director, Hannibal Raide, Associate Creative Director/Producer, and Abdo Saleh, Chief Art Director.

Elie Khoury

Sonia Chaanine, who recently set out on her own outside the Advise Group, and Ramsay Najjar, currently Associate Director of Trust Advertising, are also joining Intermarkets.
The reorganization creates a new executive board for Intermarkets Lebanon together with members of the existing management. Ramsay Najjar becomes Chief Executive Officer, Elie Khoury is Chief Operating Officer, Jack H. Makhoulian becomes Vice President for Client Servicing and Sonia Chaanine is Vice President for Sales Promotions and Public Relations. The new executive board is to report to Intermarkets Group general management.

Erwin Guerrovich

Erwin Guerrovich explained the rationale behind the reorganization: “We have always believed in mergers and acquisitions as a source of strength in manpower and development. It is part of our company philosophy. And in the history of our company we have accomplished mergers that proved highly successful in increasing both our professional strength and the scope for our activities. This new merger is another landmark which reflects our constant concern for progressive management for the benefit of our clients, staff and company.
Foremost among our objectives is to provide our clients with the full scope of still better services in all areas. The strong team that is being created covers account planning, marketing, strategic thinking, creativity and promotional/below-the-line specialization. It is a team that will complement our manpower throughout the area and contribute to our regional activities.”

Ramsay Najjar

Commenting on the merger, Ramsay Najjar described Intermarkets as a “finishing school” that creates top advertising executives and which he is now rejoining after an absence of some years. “I am proud that in this way I am achieving my original and professional destiny and moving towards self-fulfillment. The professional interaction and the outstanding performance of the corporate team will always be the most motivating environment for an ‘old timer’ like me as I rejoin my advertising alma mater.”
Elie Khoury said that “The approach of Intermarkets was no surprise to us. The company has a long history of successful mergers. During the negotiations it was clear that the chemistry was there. So was the unity of our goals.
“I am certain the merger will be most rewarding, not only to the company but mainly to our clients,”
Elie Khoury said. “It is certainly a great boost to our professional ambitions and a promising shift towards broader horizons.”
J.H. Makhoulian added that the merger “is undoubtedly a landmark for our clients and for our Lebanese agency. It will have far-reaching effects on the overall strength of our entire regional group.” Makhoulian’s experience covers Intermarkets operations in Kuwait, Dubai and Bahrain. “I am particularly proud to have been a part of the planning of that master structure over many months,” he said.
Sonia Chaanine noted that “a great deal of my professional reputation has stemmed from my interest and achievements in merchandizing and sales promotions. The limited attention that has been given to that element in the marketing package has always been a frustration. I welcomed the approach of Intermarkets because it will allow me to build a specialized unit inside the agency that will add further scope to our services.”

Originally published in ArabAd, November 1988