Etihad Airways settles global media pitch

Etihad Airways has appointed Starcom Media Group as its media agency.Etihad Airways Partner (EAP) airlines, Alitalia, Air Berlin and Jet Airways will also be working with Starcom going forward. The agency won the contract to become the airline group’s new global media agency, following a joint tender sent to several agency networks.According to a press statement, Starcom was selected by EAP to deliver scaled benefits by aligning media spending power across key markets and to "provide added value and centralised strategic advice and planning to meet the unique commercial needs of the airline grouping". Starcom will service the EAP airlines in key hubs in the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Italy and India, with central coordination from their EMEA head office in London.Shane O’Hare, Etihad Airways’ senior vice president marketing, said: “Starcom demonstrated that it fully understands the emerging media scene which has digital media at its core. The highly experienced team, resources, planning tools and buying clout in all the key EAP markets gave them a clear edge in the tender."Matt Blackborn, president, Investment and Diversification at Starcom Mediavest Group, said: “We are the foremost innovators in the precision media space and very much welcome this exciting challenge of working with the Etihad Airways Partner airlines across all their communications platforms. This is a unique client brief and relationship as it brings together multiple brands from the same industry and is ground-breaking in the agency world."