Do you do branding on its own?

Yes. Positioning, identity and design systems are sold as their own engagement — you do not have to buy media with them. Most clients who start there come back for the campaign, but nothing in the scope requires it.

Do you rebrand, or only build new brands?

Both, and most of our brand work is repositioning something that already exists and already has customers. That is the harder job: moving perception without losing the people who already recognise you.

Who owns the artwork?

You do. Working files and full rights transfer on completion, in both languages, together with the guidelines that let an in-house team keep using them properly.

What makes you a creative agency rather than a design studio?

We were the first agency in the GCC to win international advertising awards, and the work is still judged on what it moves — 57M+ reach for Bahrainouna without extra budget, 95.8% awareness for Tamkeen from below 15%.

How does branding connect to everything else you do?

A campaign that has to run needs media behind it and often an event or activation in front of it. All of that sits in one team, so the idea is not re-interpreted at every handover.

Branding · Creative · Campaigns · Bahrain

Branding peoplerecognise and remember.

Positioning, identity and the campaigns that carry them — built in Bahrain since 1974, and judged on what they move.

What does a branding agency in Bahrain do?

It decides what a brand stands for, gives it a form people recognise, and makes the work that puts it in front of the right audience. Gulf Marcom has done that from Bahrain since 1974 — for national platforms, banks, airlines and retailers, in Arabic and English.

Brand strategy and positioning — what you stand for, who it is for, and why anyone should switch
Identity and design systems — naming, logo, typography, colour, tone of voice, and the rules that keep it consistent
Campaign concepts — one idea that holds up in film, print, outdoor, social and search
Production — film, photography, print, out-of-home and digital, made to spec for every placement

For Barakat that meant turning a 1976 produce wholesaler into a contemporary wellness brand: new visual identity, redesigned packaging, a reworked tone of voice and two sub-brands. For Netflix it meant evolving the Stacks design system so global storytellers could actually use it. For Bahrainouna it meant one national message carried by many voices.

Work that moved a number

57M+reach for Bahrainouna, with no increase in media budget

3×organic leads for AMEX Middle East

95.8%brand awareness for Tamkeen, from below 15%

How is brand positioning different from a logo?

A logo is a signature. Positioning is the argument the signature is signing. It decides who you are for, what you are against, and the one thing a customer should believe — and it is what makes the mark mean anything. Get the order wrong and you buy a new logo and keep the old problem.

So we run positioning first: audit, workshop, a written platform, then identity. The Barakat refresh followed exactly that order — the wellness proposition was agreed before a single pack was redrawn, which is why the packaging, the digital presence and the tone of voice all say the same thing.

What does a rebrand cost, and how long does it take?

It depends on how much of the brand is being rebuilt. A positioning platform and a refreshed identity for one market is a matter of weeks. A full system with sub-brands, packaging, bilingual guidelines and a launch campaign runs to months. We scope it after the audit, not before.

The honest version: cost tracks the number of touchpoints, not the number of logos. Ask for a scope and you get a fixed one, with the phases priced separately — so you can stop after positioning if that is all you actually needed.

Do you handle Arabic and English identity together?

Yes, and they are designed together rather than translated afterwards. Arabic type has its own rhythm, weights and line lengths; a bilingual identity drawn in English and flipped always shows it. Ours is typeset properly in both, from the logotype to the annual report.

Bahrainouna, Bahrain Noor El Ain and a decade of Emirates inflight titles were all produced bilingually. If a mark, a campaign line or a design system has to work in two languages, that constraint belongs in the first sketch rather than the last round.

Proof

Three brands, three different problems.

See all work

A wholesaler becoming a wellness brand, a global design system, and a national platform that had to reach everyone.

Frequently asked

Branding and creative, answered.

Do you do branding on its own?
Yes. Positioning, identity and design systems are sold as their own engagement — you do not have to buy media with them. Most clients who start there come back for the campaign, but nothing in the scope requires it.
Do you rebrand, or only build new brands?
Both, and most of our brand work is repositioning something that already exists and already has customers. That is the harder job: moving perception without losing the people who already recognise you.
Who owns the artwork?
You do. Working files and full rights transfer on completion, in both languages, together with the guidelines that let an in-house team keep using them properly.
What makes you a creative agency rather than a design studio?
We were the first agency in the GCC to win international advertising awards, and the work is still judged on what it moves — 57M+ reach for Bahrainouna without extra budget, 95.8% awareness for Tamkeen from below 15%.
See the work
How does branding connect to everything else you do?
A campaign that has to run needs media behind it and often an event or activation in front of it. All of that sits in one team, so the idea is not re-interpreted at every handover.
Media planning & buying

Branding & creative

Got something to say properly?

Tell us the business problem and we'll come back with the idea, the identity and the plan to run it.

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