Heroiks, the growth strategy and media activation consultancy with offices in Paris, Berlin and Bangkok, has opened in Dubai Media City, marking its first base in the Middle East.

The move follows hard data. Digital advertising spend across MENA hit USD 6.95 billion in 2024 – up 19.8% year-on-year, according to IAB MENA – with social video growing at 28.9% and retail media, search and CTV all accelerating. This data offers insights as to where budgets are flowing and which agency partners are building meaningful local infrastructure versus simply listing a regional address.

Heading up the Dubai operation is Hicham Auajjar, founding partner and CEO of Heroiks MENA, who brings over 15 years of regional experience, including founding Keyade Middle East and senior roles at GroupM across programmatic, search, social and data. 

Anthony Ravau, founder and president of Heroiks, said the expansion reflects the group's ambition to "connect our global expertise to the most promising markets." Auajjar added that advertisers across the region are increasingly looking for "more integrated and measurable approaches" – a need Heroiks is positioning itself to serve across the full media mix, from omnichannel activation to marketing mix modelling and attribution.

Within PR, the simultaneous deployment of Versus, Heroiks' GenAI creative unit, which has already supported 16 advertisers in the past five months across advertising, social content and AI consulting is of great interest. With AI-generated content increasingly influencing earned and paid media strategies, its presence can offer additional insights as to where the market is heading.

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