Promoting the environment

Provision of office space, publicity, media monitoring, press conference and seminar support…in fact, all of our public relations work during the initial years was courtesy of FP7.

Dar Al Khair, meets up with Donal Kilalea Board Member/Partner, Fortune Promoseven, to learn more about the company and its environmental stance.

Dar Al Khair:Provide a brief background to Fortune Promoseven, including how the name originated. How did the company get where it is?

D. Kilalea: The company was created in Beirut in 1968 by seven young students, hence the name Promoseven. Promo, of course, stands for promotion. The main push for its establishment came from Akram Miknas who, based in Bahrain, is Chairman of the group. The name fortune is linked to an association with an advertising agency of that name in Hong Kong in the late 70s; and the name stuck.

I joined Fortune Promoseven in 1983 in Bahrain, where its head office was at the time. I moved to Dubai in 1986 to restructure the office here and the company has grown from six people working then to today, over 300 in the UAE. It has over1000 in the group as a whole led by a very strong dynamic team.

Business developed through growth of clients and expansion into countries where the clients were going. These were Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and Cyprus as well as all the gulf countries. FP7 has always believed in producing creative that works.

Which are the various business divisions of FP7?

FP7 is an advertising agency. We also have Promoseven Weber Shandwick, which handles public relations. Further, there are: 7 Below for promotions; Promo 7 RM for direct marketing; Brand beat, a corporate identity company; UM7, a media buying company; and, finally, Promo7 Sports Marketing that I started three years ago.

Does your company have an environmental policy?

We certainly do. Being in advertising, our paper consumption is large. We give all our used paper to the Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) for recycling. As a matter of fact, we initiated paper recycling 10 years ago. Since 1992 we have been producing our stationery on environmentally-friendly (non-chorine bleached) paper.

Besides, we stopped the use of spray gum - the adhesive spray used for art work - in our studios a decade ago on account of the environmental damage it causes.

What does your association with EWS-WWF mean to you?

We believe that EWS-WWF and all that the organisation represents are vital for this country and its people. We worked with the WWF when it first wanted to set up an office in the UAE, handling all their publicity for free.

Have you taken up any environmental public relations work/projects with other companies?

As I mentioned, we were the first PR company to work with the WWF when it came to the UAE. There have been other environmental projects we have handled - with Sony Gulf FZE for instance. This was a conservation research and education project for Zayed University students. We have also worked with EEG and Coke, again undertaking PR for an environmental education project.

Do you have a view that you'd like to share with us on the implications of rapid economic development on the UAE environment?

We have to be very careful that development does not happen at the expense of the environment. I am always distressed to read the annual WWF Living Planet report and see the fact that the UAE is consistently mentioned now.