London group moves in to the Middle East

London consultancy Minara has opened an office in Jeddah to develop its corporate and brand work in Saudi Arabia.

The concept work for projects will be handled by six designers at Minara’s London office.

“Creative and artistic directors are not available in Saudi,” says Minara managing director Desmond Joseph.

Ali M Bajaber, general manager of the Jeddah branch office, says: “I believe that Saudi companies are not taken as seriously as they should by international firms. Primarily this is because of the generally outdated and weak identities Saudi companies have.”

Minara would like to have a design team in Saudi. “It depends on how the market there develops,” Joseph adds.

Current projects include exploring opportunities to reposition MD Foods’ Feta cheese brand, 3 Cows, a market leader in Saudi Arabia.