Edelman deal for Dubai’s Dabo is a marriage of opposites

The two distinct approaches to communications could pay off big time for both parties – and for Abu Dhabi as a communications hub for the region.

Matthew Harrington, global chief operating officer for Edelman, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Abu Dhabi. Christopher Pike / The National

Think Edelman, and you think hard-nosed strategic advice in the corporate and governmental corridors of power; think Dabo, and you think glitzy launches in the razzamatazz of Dubai’s glittering media scene.

Bring the two together and you have … beauty and the beast: a marriage of two distinct approaches to communications that could pay off big time for both parties – and for Abu Dhabi as a communications hub for the region.

At least, that is the plan put together by Edelman, one of the oldest, biggest and most august communications groups in the world.

The 63-year-old American firm announced the acquisition, for an undisclosed price, of Dabo & Co, the much younger Dubai public relations outfit.

Matthew Harrington, the chief operating officer of Edelman’s global business, was one of the architects of the deal. He sees similarities and synergies, rather than differences.

“We’ve been talking to Dabo for about a year, I guess, and it quickly became very apparent that the firms are very similar in terms of culture,” says Mr Harrington, who is from Boston, but is now based in New York, the global headquarters of Edelman.

“We’re both independent minded. Dabo is the creation of two sisters, Edelman is in the second generation of family ownership. We share set values and an entrepreneurial spirit. Their approach mirrors the way we go about our business,” he says.

Dabo was the eponymous brainchild of Lucy and Camilla D’Abo, who more than a decade ago saw an opportunity in branded and consumer marketing in the UAE, their family home. Since then, they have built the firm into a force in PR, event management and digital marketing.

Edelman set up in the region in 2008, choosing Abu Dhabi as its base. That was unusual, because most communications firms were located up the road in Dubai, regarded as the main media hub of the region.

“We have a traditional focus on public and corporate affairs, and a strong interest in certain businesses, like technology, education and health care. The government is at the centre of these sectors, and we wanted to be at the heart of it too. So Abu Dhabi was the natural place to be, and it’s proved to be very successful. With the addition of Dabo, we’ve strengthened both Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” says Mr Harrington.

The combined firms will have about 150 employees in the UAE, making it one of the biggest communications operations based here, and the only one to have its regional headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

Edelman has a string of top-notch names as clients in the UAE’s business scene such asMubadala, Cleveland Clinic, Abu Dhabi, the capital’s tourism and transport authorities, and the Dubai-based conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim.

What does he see as the particular features of the media scene in Abu Dhabi?

“Of course, all clients are focused on one thing: how to get their story told. But in Abu Dhabi clients benefit from the fact that there’s still a strong print culture in media here. Elsewhere in the world, we’re seeing the collapse of traditional print media, but not here in Abu Dhabi.

“Print is struggling in America, and it’s challenged in Europe, where electronic channels are becoming all important. But that isn’t the case in the Middle East and in Asia, where print is still strong, and media groups offer newsprint as well as electronic. I ride the New York subway, and I like to feel newsprint in my hands. But I’m one of a small number of people who do that now,” he says.

Part of the Edelman job in the regional market, he feels, is to educate clients as to the complementary nature of print and electronic media. “It’s a global phenomenon, but the region has its own particular characteristics,” he says.

With 5,000 employees in 65 offices around the world, Edelman can bring a global perspective to the communications business in the UAE. “A big part of the job is to teach foreigners about the UAE. What we can show them is a country and an economy that have strong aspirations and a strong strategy to be innovative across a whole swath of sectors.

“We can also show them a country and a society that has a strong level of confidence and trust in its leadership, in politics and in business. In our global survey of confidence in governments and business, the Trust Barometer, the UAE scores very high in contrast to many countries of the world. People here are very optimistic about their government and their institutions,” he says.

One challenge Edelman faces throughout the world is to persuade clients of the benefits of transparency. “I always counsel that more transparency is a good thing, it increases the levels of trust. But for some clients that can be a bit of a journey, and some have to be persuaded that it’s better in principle to communicate. If that’s not the natural feeling, it’s our job to make the client more comfortable with the idea,” he says.

The other message to the world is that the UAE is a “strong island of security” in a troubled region. “The deal with Dabo reinforces our confidence in the region and the UAE in this respect,” Mr Harrington says.

He declines to identify which new projects, or new clients, Edelman and Dabo may have in their sights. But he does point out that his firm is advising Milan on that city’s world Expo, beginning in a few weeks. “We have the expertise and background to advise anybody in this field,” he says, meaningfully.

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