Buchanan Middle East

WPP Group PLC
31 October 2006


For Immediate Release                                            31 October 2006



    WPP COMPANIES BUCHANAN COMMUNICATIONS AND JWT FORM NEW SPECIALIST AGENCY



                              BUCHANAN MIDDLE EAST



 NEW AGENCY AND JWT TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL PR AND ADVERTISING/DESIGN SERVICES TO
                      MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA CLIENTS



Two WPP companies, Buchanan Communications, the financial PR specialists and JWT
PR, a subsidiary of JWT Middle East & North Africa, one of WPP's leading
operations in the region have joined forces to create a new specialist agency in
the Middle East. Called Buchanan Middle East, the agency operates across the
MENA region and employs 26 people.



BME is the brainchild of Roy Haddad, Chairman and Chief Executive of JWT MENA
after the potential for a financial PR business closely linked with a creative
advertising and design agency was recognised by Nagib Badreddine, CEO, JWT,
Saudi Arabia.



The Buchanan name has been adopted to emphasise the focus on financial
communications. Potential clients are offered a seamless PR and creative design
and advertising service with Buchanan and JWT working as a team.  The new
company has already won financial PR/IR business in Saudi Arabia. Initial Public
Offerings ("IPOs"), are currently generating the majority of new business wins
and new business opportunities. Most are scheduled for 2007.



The formal launch of Buchanan Middle East will be held on 20 November at the
stunning Trilogy Roof Top, Souk Madina, Dubai. The dress code is black tie.



However, while financial PR was the reason behind forming Buchanan Middle East,
particularly to respond to the need for IPO expertise, consumer PR represents
the majority of current business activity in BME. Clients include: Sony
Ericsson, MBC Group, Diamond Trading Company, HSBC, Visa International, KPMG,
and Victory Heights to name a few.



Recent projects won include Aldar Properties, Canaccord Capital, AIG MEMSA, AIG
Takaful, Virgin Megastore and more.



Key Executives:



Chief Executive of Buchanan Middle East is Amjed Shacker. Mohamed Ghozeil is
Managing Director for Saudi Arabia and Director of IPOs MENA, Lisa Rutherford is
Managing Director for UAE and Director of Consumer PR MENA, and Samantha Bartel
is Director Financial PR MENA. Amjed and Mohamed operate across the region from
Riyadh and Lisa and Samantha, from Dubai. In London the creation of BME has been
driven by Tim Anderson, Director and James Strong, Account Director.



Executives from the London-based Buchanan Communications work on all MENA IPOs,
bringing an unmatched IPO experience to the process. Buchanan Communications has
an established 10% share of the London market. Its clients are increasingly
international, with seven of its 22 IPOs in 2006 based in six countries. BME
extends this internationalism, but instead of principally being IPOs on the
London Stock Exchange, they are on exchanges in the MENA region with the first
in Saudi Arabia.



Buchanan Communications also contributes industry expertise. Executives are
allotted to IPOs according to their sector specialisations. They contribute from
the very start of an IPO project, beginning with the initial company analysis
for the pitch to developing the company presentation and the writing of press
releases.



IPOs are top priority because of the demand from investment banks. However, BME
is also responding to demand from financial institutions which need financial PR
support. In some instances Buchanan Middle East is already providing consumer
services such as event management and product promotion, however increasingly
clients want the range of services provided widened to include financial PR.



The depth of human resources in London gives BME much greater capacity than
would otherwise be possible. Equally, the consumer facing resources in the
agency are applied to supporting financial PR.



*Please see the attached link for the map of BME's offices by country:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/2540l_-2006-10-30.pdf



Background of BME Executives



Based in Riyadh:



Amjed Shacker, Chief Executive MENA. Joined BME from SAGIA which he re-branded,
and helped launch the King Abdullah Economic City project and two consecutive
economic cities. Prior to SAGIA, Amjed was at Kingdom Holding Company and Saudi
TV's English Channel as an anchorman.



Mohamed Ghozeil, Managing Director. Joined BME from Leo Burnett, Saudi Arabia
where he was Director of Planning and Communications. Clients included Saudi
French Bank (The Saudi Arabian division of Credit Agricole). Prior to this he
was Group Communications Director at Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, Saudi Arabia.



Based in Dubai:



Lisa Rutherford, Managing Director, UAE. Joined BME from Promoseven Weber
Shandwick, where she built the Corporate & Finance division. Formerly a
political and business journalist in Australia and the Middle East.



Samantha Bartel, Director. Joined BME from Tonic Communications LLC, Dubai which
she created. Prior to that Samantha worked in London for Impact Media and before
that, Siemens in China.



Tim Anderson, Director Buchanan Communications and BME, said:



"The speed of development of Buchanan Middle East has been breathtaking. No
sooner were we discussing its formation than we were winning our first IPO. We
have many competitive advantages; the number of offices across the region, our
establish client and income base and the London expertise. But our greatest
strength is the quality of our people in BME who are based in MENA. This
combination gives Buchanan Middle East the most enormous potential."



Amjed Shacker, BME CEO, said:

"While PR services have been available in varying formats in the region, the
depth of subject matter know-how and the need for local expertise leave much to
be desired by clients. The BME team offers customized communications solutions.
That's our value proposition."



Contacts:


Riyadh                                                                         [phone]
Amjed Shacker
Mohamed Ghozeil

Dubai                                                                          [phone]
Lisa Rutherford
Samantha Bartel

London                                                                      [phone]
Tim Anderson
James Strong










                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange