Etihad Airways Partner Airlines Choose Starcom for Global Media

Publicis Groupe owned by Starcom Mediavest Group has won the global media planning and buying account for Etihad Airways and its three biggest partner airlines, Alitalia, Air Berlin and Jet Airways.

This win is the first of an estimated 21 major global and North American media reviews currently taking place.

Several agency networks were invited to the pitch, which was called in April, including Etihad Airways’ incumbent media agency, MediaCom.

Starcom was unable to disclose the names of the other agencies that participated in the pitch. Incumbents for the other airlines involved were OMD for Air Berlin, Mindshare for Alitalia and Dentsu Aegis Network for Jet Airways.


The combined media spend of all the airlines is unknown. But when MediaCom and Digitas LBi won Etihad’s media and digital accounts, respectively, in 2012, the estimated spend was £103 million. Numbers from the AdAge Data Centre place the Etihad Airways global media spend at £81 million in 2013.

According to a statement, Starcom is tasked with delivering scaled benefits for the Etihad Airways Partner (EAP) airlines by aligning media spend across key markets.

Shane O’Hare, Etihad Airways’ senior vice-president of marketing, said: “The deal will provide millions of dollars in added value. As part of the larger group of airlines, we want to use our size to leverage the right contracts that enable us to continue to grow our commercial operations.”