du appoints Leo Burnett as its creative agency

du CEO Osman Sultan says du is an exciting brand and his duty is to ensure that it becomes part of the language and an integral part of the diverse community that makes up the UAE. 'We are passionate about our brand because not only does it represent what we are, but what we can do for our customers.

'We want people to instantly recognise us and know what we are doing; that we are confident, honest, and friendly and that sometimes we will surprise them.

'Leo Burnett shares our passion and will help us to communicate with people from all walks of life in the UAE.

'This was an extremely competitive selection process with very high quality presentations. In the final analysis, Leo Burnett stood out with work that came closest to what we were looking for from an agency. Not only do they have depth and breadth of knowledge about the telecom industry and a history in the region that goes back nearly three decades, but they also demonstrated creativity, passion and enthusiasm for the du brand.'

du is the brand under which the Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company will be providing its services. du will begin providing mobile services across the UAE in the second half of 2006 and will follow with a phased rollout of other services, including fixed line, broadband Internet and pay TV.

Farid Chehab, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett MENA said: 'Creatively this was by far one of the most challenging briefs as the task was to not just create equity for the brand, but enable du to introduce a new language to its stakeholders.'

Raja Trad, CEO of the Leo Burnett Group of Companies, Middle East and North Africa, said, the group was proud to win such a challenging and high profile assignment that will certainly have an impact. 'We thank the team at du for entrusting us with the task of building a brand that we believe, has all that it takes to become an iconic brand in the region.'

Kamal Dimachkie, Managing Director of Leo Burnett Dubai and Kuwait, said, the decision reflected the confidence du had in the Leo Burnett team's ability to help them meet their ambitious business targets. Leo Burnett provides not just creative advertising, but communication work and consulting.

du joins Leo Burnett MENA's strong portfolio of telecom clients, which already include Saudi Telecom in Saudi Arabia, MobiNil in Egypt and Areeba in Syria.