Publicis Groupe has launched Digitas, a connected marketing agency, in the Middle East, earlier in May 2019. The agency is set to provide brands in the Middle East with access to a  diverse expertise across data, strategy, creative, media, and technology all under one roof. We spoke to Tony Wazen, Chief Executive Officer Middle East of Digitas, about their recent launch.

What is Digitas?

​Digitas is the Connected Marketing agency, purposely built around a diverse set of capabilities that enables us to identify better insights, make stronger connections, and drive critical business outcomes. Digitas is wired for Marketing transformation and offers brands access to all digital marketing solutions under one roof in order to truly transform their marketing ecosystems within the fast paced action happening today. Digitas focuses on a single customer view to maximize customer lifetime value, as we connect media with data, technology, and create experiences to win in the moments that count.

What will Digitas do differently in comparison to the existing parent company, Publicis Media?

Digitas is a one-stop shop for all marketing solutions needed to win in today’s market. Our roots are grounded in Media, CRM and data, but we are a powerhouse in digital experiences, creative, social, search and technology. We’re an integrated, full-service agency, but we work with the speed and scrappiness of start-ups, always listening and always optimizing. While media remains a key component of Digitas’ Middle East offerings, the solutions have been expanded to cover the entire Marketing spectrum.

Can you talk to us more about the technology that you will focus on for your clients?

Consumer experiences are generally disconnected due to different tech stacks from various providers, Digitas works towards integrating these technologies to provide better end-to-end customer experiences. Without the proper technology setup, brands are losing out on opportunities.  Our role as the Connected Marketing Agency is to ensure that the proper technology infrastructure is expertly set up to drive better efficiencies from various Marketing operations. As of today, Digitas covers the full spectrum of technology services from website/app design and development, to UX and UI, to tech stacking, to tagging and much more.

What are some issues Digitas may face working here in the Middle Eastern region and how does Digitas plan on overcoming that?

The fragmentation of today’s marketing solutions is a definite challenge. In the Middle East, brands have been accustomed to working with different agencies for their creative, media, data, technology and other scopes. Bringing everything together is still fresh for a lot of brands yet we have no doubt that we will overcome that as there is an absolute need for our solution today. Customers are tuning out from the conventional advertising and they hold the power when it comes to which ads they interact with. Brands need to transform the way they market from pushing media to building relationships from the first impression to a lifetime of advocacy.

The Digitas clientele already consists of some big names, what are some of the challenges these clients are facing that you will help them with?

We’ve had extremely positive outcomes with our existing clientele since we’ve launched Digitas in the Middle East. Our priority right now is to support them across our entire solution. Our Connected CRM offering has the ability to enhance the overall customer journey, start building relationships with customers and improve efficiencies when prospecting for new customers. The battle for increasing market share is never ending for all brands which is where Digitas’s Connected CRM can truly make a difference by delivering growth through retention. Nowadays with the pressure on all businesses, choosing an agency that is siloed by capability means having a singular focus, it slows down a CMOs ability to create a superior customer experience, placing the burden of connecting it all up on the client’s team. At Digitas, our purposefully diverse skill set means we are fluent across the marketing ecosystem, capable of connecting everything ourselves or orchestrating across a client’s agency ecosystem to do the same.