iris steps into the Middle East

Marking its foray into the Middle East region, iris Worldwide has merged with Dubai-based communications agency Expression in the local market and re-branded it as an iris office.Meanwhile, the network continues to eye locations in the West Coast of the US and Brazil as per its global expansion plans.iris Middle East will be led by Scott Feasey (pictured) as managing director and David Brook as creative director.The 21-strong team will offer services in advertising, branding, CRM, design, direct, interactive and strategy amongst others. The deal will allow clients to tap into the scale and resources of iris' global network.The office will launch with Expression's existing clients which includes Unilever, Lufthansa, Jumeirah International, Bridgestone, Gulf Food Industries, Ray-Ban, Carrefour Express, Dubai Chamber and Danone, as well as iris' regional clients such as Sony Mobile, Shell and adidas.The network has also recently won accounts such as Diageo and 3M.The partnership will see iris introduce its agency model and creative offering to the region. The opening follows iris' latest launch in November 2011 in Indonesia with Nava+ .Luke Nathans, regional CEO of iris for Asia Pacific, said: "Innovation is about cultural and geographical diversity and being able to participate in a world where interesting things are going on - this will enhance our partnerships with clients around the world."He added that Expression, which was founded in 2002, was admired by iris as it was "not bound by conventional media or discipline thinking."iris' Asia footprint spans offices in Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai, Delhi and Jakarta.