J. Walter Thompson Middle East and North Africa and Google MENA have entered into a partnership that will debut with a global first, the technology company's "Google All-Stars Academy" – a program that aims to propel the region's leading marketing communications brand into the next level of digital engagement with consumers. The four-day intensive program will be held in August and feature cutting edge content unavailable anywhere else, with sessions from Contagious, the Zoo, YouTube and Media Monks together with hands-on workshops. Partly inspirational, partly informative but above all transformational, the Academy will support J. Walter Thompson MENA's commitment to providing brands with solutions for consumers in the region who are "joining the dots in multiple areas of their consumption patterns and lifestyles" and are "increasingly comfortable with technology that is cognitive, intuitive and adaptive to their needs." The "Google All-Stars Academy" is built around the data giant's collaborative model and the evolution of the consumer's relationship with brands, as they define ‘online' as being the most memorable channel for brand advertising. Commenting on the Academy, Alex Brunori, Head of Creative Agencies MENA, said "the Google All-Stars Academy is a transformational program that we are happy to launch with J. Walter Thompson and its senior key players and ‘rockstars' across disciplines and offices in the regions. It's an exclusive workshop, and a global first for Google. The Academy will cover the whole industry process from an innovation point of view, aligning stakeholders on the principles of the collaborative model. It will be the blueprint for future-proof solutions in a modern, integrated, digitally savvy communications agency, facilitating ground-breaking thinking and ways of operating." Vatche Keverian, CEO, J. Walter Thompson MENA, said "the digital revolution has fundamentally changed the way consumers interact with, and choose, brands. As a result, the entire strategy around effective brand communications needs to evolve at a pace that matches the changes in consumer behavior. At J. Walter Thompson MENA we have leveraged digital technology for more than 16 years, most recently establishing our new offering, NewsLab, which focuses on online communities and content. The Google All-Stars Academy is the next exciting step on our road to fulfilling peoples' needs and expectations of brands in the region." The Academy will complement further trainings that J. Walter Thompson, as a selected partner, will receive throughout the year, based on Google's products, platforms and tools.
