Memac Ogilvy, a leading advertising and public relations agency, has begun rolling out a region-wide writing and storytelling course, starting with a day-long workshop in Bahrain.

Designed to hone the skills of the agency’s writers in all disciplines, including PR, advertising and client service, the workshop applied interactive exercises and material to demonstrate the art and science of writing.

The course covered a wide-range of topics, including the science of storytelling, the do's and don'ts of writing, developing eye-catching headlines, jargon busting and text editing.

Memac Ogilvy staffers, Mark Jackson and Joe Lipscombe, led the workshop. Jackson is the agency’s regional technology practice head and public relations director of the Bahrain office, while Dubai-based Lipscombe is a journalist, author, and editorial strategist, and the agency’s first editorial director.

“Storytelling is a powerful human need, and finding ways to express that in marketing communications can free brands to connect with people in the most potent way. Our workshop is designed to show how small changes in writing style can really benefit our clients, whether we’re supporting them with PR, advertising, social or digital campaigns,” remarked Jackson.

“We focused on the idea that great content comes from pushing boundaries and the courage to create ‘edgier’ pieces that stand out from the clutter,” he added.

Twenty one employees from Memac Ogilvy's regional offices in Jeddah, Bahrain and Dubai attended the workshop. Starting with Dubai later in May, Jackson and Lipscombe will hit the road to reach as many of the agency’s 700 staff across its 15 offices as possible.

Plans are also underway to make the workshop available to clients across the region.

Ghassan Boujacli, the managing director of Memac Ogilvy Bahrain, said the quality of employees and investing in their development through training and workshops lies at the heart of Memac Ogilvy’s group strategy.

"This workshop is only one of many internal growth strategies that we are pursuing across our network to maintain our lead," he added.-TradeArabia News Service