Silver for PHD as it turns 25

Global media network celebrates its silver jubilee

Dubai, April 28, 2015: PHD has kicked off its global celebrations to mark the 25-year anniversary of the agency’s opening of its original office in London. The year-long commemoration will take place through a series of activity in each of the network’s offices across the globe. The network has also created a microsite (www.phdat25.com), which allows anyone to join the celebration and leave a personal message. Staff, clients and partners – both past and present – have already started to post their anecdotes, illustrating the network’s journey to reach where it is today.

When David Pattison, Nick Horswell and Jonathan Durden launched Pattison Horswell Durden (PHD) in London in 1990, the agency was credited with inventing “creative media”. While competitors were all about buying clout, PHD’s strategic planning proposition focused on creative communications planning instead of buying. This planning led approach saw PHD pick up The Guardian Newspaper as its founding client, who still remains a client today. The growth of PHD over the years has been marked by a number of industry and media ‘firsts’, from launching the first sponsorship, partnership and content agency called Drum in the UK in 1993, to creating the first newspaper to be published with no ads.

PHD opened its first offices outside of the UK, in the USA and then Canada, in 2002, before starting a global roll-out in 2005, opening first in Dubai. Today, PHD is an international network with over 80 offices worldwide. In 2012, PHD launched Source – its proprietary global operating system that connects the network’s 3,000 planners through a gamified system to stimulate collaboration. Source has contributed to the network being appointed the global business of some of the world’s major advertisers, including Unilever, GSK and SC Johnson.

Over the years, PHD has picked up countless awards for its innovative and creative media ideas, from Campaign Grand Prix to Cannes Lions. In the Gunn Report for Media 2014, the network climbed to third place for most awarded network in the world and two of the four most awarded campaigns in the world come from PHD. WARC’s ranking of 2014’s most effective campaigns in the world also sees the network’s work for Unilever occupy the top two spots.

Mike Cooper, CEO of PHD Worldwide, said: “PHD has a very special heritage and one that is unlike any other media agency network. From a radical challenger proposition that started in 1990’s London with a headcount of four, PHD’s unique positioning as a leader in creative communications planning has evolved globally and today we are over 3,000 employees in over 80 countries and work with some of the world’s largest advertisers. We’re delighted that the founders and alumni are joining us to celebrate 25 years of keeping the founding principles of innovation, creativity and thought-leadership alive.”

“PHD has an incredible legacy and it is an incredibly proud feeling to be part of such an innovative and esteemed network,” said Elda Choucair, managing director of PHD UAE. “Just as the founders blazed a strategic trail through the media agency landscape in 1990, PHD is today defining strategic communications planning on a global stage.”

PHD continues to keep its founding principles of innovation, creativity and thought leadership alive and today, their philosophy is best summed up as ‘finding a better way’.

About PHD:
PHD Worldwide is known globally as an innovator in communications planning and buying across broadcast, print, digital, mobile, social and emerging media. Built on a culture of thought leadership, PHD’s philosophy is “Finding a Better Way.” PHD is one of the world’s fastest growing and most awarded media and communication agencies, with over 3,000 staff working in over 80 offices worldwide.

In the Middle East, it first opened in Dubai in 2005, creating a team for Abu Dhabi in 2008 and opening an office in Riyadh in 2010.  At the end of 2012, PHD was awarded 20 ‘Agency of the Year’ accolades including Adweek’s ‘Global Media Agency of the Year’, while the Cristal Festival named it Media Network of the Year in 2013. Not only has its philosophy of “Finding a Better Way” proved effective for its clients, which include Arla, Bentley, Hyatt, Mashreq Bank, Porsche and SC Johnson, it has also contributed to PHD being named a Great Place to Work in the UAE three years in a row, ranking third in 2014.

PHD is part of the Omnicom Media Group (www.omnicommediagroup.com), a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC)
www.phdmedia.com