By Greg Hazley
Morocco, which experienced violence in one of its top tourism cities among the “Arab Spring” uprising, has brought in New York-based HL Group to guide its tourism PR in the U.S., following an RFP.
Walls at Marrakesh, Morroco.
Photo: MNTO |
Chakib Ghadouani, who handles marketing for the Moroccan National Tourist Office in New York, told O’Dwyer’s HL was recently engaged through 2013.
HL beat three other firms for the account, which could reach seven figures over the three-year span, according to the RFP, which calls for general tourism PR support like media relations and press tours targeting the U.S. market.
5W PR worked with the MNTO in 2010 on a pop-up information center campaign in New York to promote travel to Marrakesh, the Mediterranean resort city rocked by a bombing on April 29. Casablanca was hit by terrorist bombings in 2007.
HL, which also has a Los Angeles outpost, is led by Armani vet Michele Cerwin and its ranks include PR executives with earlier stints at Freud Communications, Tiffany & Co. and CBS News.
A non-profit tied to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI hired Dutko Grayling Worldwide in May to bolster ties with the U.S.
Brown Lloyd James, the New York PR firm which operates in the Middle East, this spring worked a $40K strategic communications assignment for Morocco as a subcontractor to Gerson Global Strategic Advisors, which has a $2.5M pact through 2012.
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