The agency has teamed up with WPP sibling Bates Pan Gulf in a move which sees account director Angela Lim and senior art director Raymond Chan move from Singapore to the Middle East to run the business. Batey Doha will also employ an Arabic copywriter and two other back-room staff.
Said Alan Fairnington (pictured), chief executive of Batey: "With Qatar Airways we've become business partners again, which is how I see the future of this agency. We're doing everything from the brand vision to the corporate video. It is like working with Singapore Airlines in the early days."
He added: "We're returning to the way Batey was 10 years ago. We're employing strategists rather than executioners. In the early days, we were closely integrated with our clients. We were business partners, not just suppliers. But once Ian (Batey) left we drifted downstream."
Batey has yet to unveil its first advertising for Qatar Airways, a client it has picked up since the departure of Singapore Airlines earlier this year. The agency is currently working on internal branding work, and will launch above-the-line campaigns in the coming months.
