Jamal Khashoggi
Jamal Khashoggi

Teneo Strategies has inked a $2.1M six-month pact to promote the narrative and messaging for construction of Neom, the $500B mega-city, a pet project of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to diversify the Kingdom’s economic base.

Steve Lipin’s Gladstone Place Partners dropped Neom in October 2018 following the murder and dismemberment of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad.

Doug Band, Teneo president & co-founder, and Richard Powell, vice chairman, handle the account.

Band was a counselor to President Bill Clinton and creator of the Clinton Global Initiative, while Powell was chief communications officer at Bloomberg LP and COO of Burson-Marsteller.

For Neom, they will create “customized value propositions for investors and partners,” work with its marketing team to “develop materials and engagement opportunities for effective communications that will build awareness and confidence” in the project and deliver a “crisis management playbook with detailed protocols for responding to crises, content and messaging and monitoring and tracking mechanisms,” according to Teneo's agreement.

Teneo’s contract runs through October.