Best Advertising Agencies in Dubai (2026)

Introduction

Dubai is where most of the big advertising networks run their Middle East and North Africa business, and the 10 agencies below are the network offices doing the strongest work there in 2026. Each one handles bilingual Arabic and English campaigns, and most also run Saudi and wider GCC accounts from the city.

The past year brought two big shifts. Omnicom completed its acquisition of IPG at the end of 2025, which brought McCann and the regional FCB and MullenLowe offices into the same group as BBDO and TBWA. Omnicom retired FCB and MullenLowe as global networks, though both Dubai offices were still trading under their names when the Dubai Lynx 2026 shortlists came out. On the awards side, Saatchi & Saatchi ME was named MENA Agency of the Year at Dubai Lynx in October 2026, with FP7 McCann Dubai second, and Publicis Groupe Middle East took Holding Company of the Year at Campaign Middle East’s Agency of the Year awards in December 2025.

Every agency here has an active Dubai office in 2026, confirmed through 2026 awards entries or the agency’s own site. The list is unranked. Ownership, the size of the Dubai team and where your account would be led from matter more than any order.

The best advertising agencies in Dubai

1. Saatchi & Saatchi ME

Publicis Groupe · Dubai · saatchime.com

Saatchi & Saatchi ME had the strongest year of any agency in the region. At Dubai Lynx 2026 it was named MENA Agency of the Year, and Saatchi & Saatchi took Network of the Year, on the back of 31 awards. Its creative leader, Sebastian Boutebel, took silver for Creative Leader of the Year at Campaign Middle East’s December 2025 awards, where the agency was also runner-up for UAE agency of the year.

The winning work spans healthcare, FMCG and social causes: “Ruby Blooms” for Nana took three Grand Prix, “Lunar Treats” for Oreo won the Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix, and “The Leave of Absence” for ItsHerWay won Integrated. With Publicis KSA it made Saudia’s “Let It Fly”, and it worked on “Empty Plates” for the UAE Government Media Office. Other clients include Carrefour, Visa, e& and Nivea.

2. Publicis Middle East

Publicis Groupe · Dubai · publicis.ae

Publicis Middle East is the flagship agency of Publicis Groupe Middle East and Turkey, which Campaign Middle East named Holding Company of the Year and Integrated Marketing Agency of the Year in December 2025. Nathalie Gevresse, who leads Publicis Communications UAE, won Head of Agency (Creative) at the same awards.

At Dubai Lynx 2026 the agency collected 16 awards, including the Entertainment Grand Prix for Jeep’s “Rescue Squad”. Its client list leans towards retail and FMCG, with work for Pizza Hut, Home Centre, LEGO, KitKat and RAM. Publicis runs Leo and Saatchi & Saatchi as separate agencies in Dubai, so it is worth confirming which one is pitching.

3. Leo UAE

Publicis Groupe · Dubai · leoburnett.com

Leo UAE is the Dubai office of Publicis’s Leo network, known as Leo Burnett until Publicis shortened the name. As Leo Burnett Middle East it won Agency of the Year and Network of the Year at Dubai Lynx in both 2023 and 2024. Nada Abisaleh of Leo was named Outstanding Woman in Advertising or Media at Campaign Middle East’s December 2025 awards.

Its 2026 Lynx entries show a fast-food and sportswear bent: a bronze for Puma’s “Leak for Real”, plus shortlisted work for Heinz and two McDonald’s campaigns, “Fried Spiders” and “Frog Legs”.

4. VML

WPP · Dubai · vml.com

VML is WPP’s merged creative network in the region, combining the former Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R. It was Dubai Lynx Network of the Year in 2025 and finished third in 2026. The Dubai office won a Gold at Lynx 2026 for “Hungerflix” for HungerStation.

Much of VML’s most-awarded regional work in 2025 and 2026 came from its Riyadh and Amman offices, including campaigns for stc, flynas and Mentos. For a Dubai-led brief, ask which office will run the account day to day.

5. Memac Ogilvy

WPP · Sheikh Zayed Road · ogilvy.com/ae

Memac Ogilvy is Ogilvy’s MENA agency, based in Al Saqr Business Tower on Sheikh Zayed Road. It won the Audio & Radio Grand Prix at Dubai Lynx 2025 for Al-Futtaim Toyota’s “Journey into Herstory”, and took seven awards in 2026, including Golds for IKEA Alsulaiman’s “Is That a Pinntorp?” and Kinokuniya’s “The Untranslatables: Sahtein”.

The agency’s own site lists Coca-Cola, IKEA, KFC, Nestlé, Volkswagen, Jeep, Honda and UNHCR among its clients. Automotive and retail accounts make up a large share of its recent awarded work.

6. FP7 McCann Dubai

McCann Worldgroup (Omnicom) · Dubai · fp7mccann.com

FP7 McCann Dubai is McCann’s regional lead office, now part of Omnicom after the IPG acquisition. It was runner-up MENA Agency of the Year at Dubai Lynx 2026, where “Recipe for Change” for Arla won four Grand Prix and “Sponsored Balls” for the Testicular Cancer Society won four Golds. In 2025 its “Selfless Shelves” campaign for Puck took three Grand Prix.

Other recent clients include McDonald’s and Harley-Davidson, the latter with McCann Health Dubai. Manar Munjed of FP7 McCann UAE was named Arabic Copywriter of the Year by Campaign Middle East in December 2025.

7. Impact BBDO

BBDO (Omnicom) · Sheikh Zayed Road · impactbbdo.com

Impact BBDO works from Emirates Towers on Sheikh Zayed Road. It was Dubai Lynx MENA Agency of the Year for the seventh time in 2025 and won Cannes Lions MENA Regional Network of the Year for the seventh year running. Campaign Middle East named it Creative Agency of the Year in December 2025, and Ali Rez, its regional chief creative officer, Creative Leader of the Year.

Its best-known recent campaign is “The New President” for Lebanon’s Annahar newspaper, which won Grand Prix at Dubai Lynx and a Gold Lion at Cannes in 2025. Clients named on its site include Floward, Lay’s, Cheetos, Etihad and the UAE Government Media Office.

8. Horizon FCB Dubai

Omnicom · Sheikh Zayed Road · fcb.com/location/dubai

Horizon FCB Dubai sits in Capricorn Tower on Sheikh Zayed Road. Omnicom retired FCB as a standalone global network in December 2025 and placed it under BBDO, but the Dubai office was still entering work as Horizon FCB in 2026, with “Vitamin See” for Centrum shortlisted at Dubai Lynx. Alex Pineda joined as chief creative officer in July 2025.

Its recent work includes a long run of campaigns for DHL Express, plus Nissan and Lipton. Given the network change, ask how the agency’s name and reporting lines will look over the next year.

9. MullenLowe MENA

Omnicom · Dubai · mullenlowemena.com

MullenLowe MENA took its current name in 2016, when Lowe MENA joined the merged MullenLowe network. Omnicom moved MullenLowe under TBWA after buying IPG, and the regional agency continued to trade under its own name through 2026, with “Don’t Look Down” for Fixby on the Dubai Lynx shortlist.

It worked on “Double Moon” for the UAE Government Media Office, named Dubai Lynx Advertiser of the Year in 2026, alongside Saatchi & Saatchi ME and Virtue.

10. Dentsu Creative

dentsu · Dubai Internet City · dentsu.com/ae

Dentsu Creative is the creative agency of dentsu’s MENA business, which has its head office in the Dentsu Building in Dubai Internet City. Its Dubai team was shortlisted at Dubai Lynx 2026 for “The Undesignable Logo” for Ceer, Saudi Arabia’s national car brand.

It sits alongside dentsu’s media and data agencies (Carat, iProspect, Merkle and dentsu x), which suits clients who want creative and media buying under one group.

What to look for in a Dubai advertising agency

Start with where the account will be led from. Many networks run Saudi and GCC business out of Dubai, while others have built large teams in Riyadh. Both models work, but the creative director on your account should sit where your decisions are made, and it is fair to ask for that in the pitch.

Check the network position after the 2025 to 2026 consolidation. Omnicom now owns BBDO, McCann, TBWA and the former IPG agencies, and Publicis runs three creative brands side by side in the city. If your competitor is already a client of a sister agency, ask how the group handles conflicts.

Ask for Arabic-first work. Bilingual campaigns are standard in Dubai, but some agencies still write in English and translate. Look for Arabic copywriters with their own credits, the kind of work Campaign Middle East’s Arabic Copywriter of the Year award recognises.

Finally, look at how the agency runs production and approvals. Regional campaigns often have separate cuts for the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, in two languages, with several client stakeholders signing off each one. An agency with one clear place for the latest versions and a tracked review process will save weeks across a campaign.

How Fabric helps advertising agency teams

Fabric gives an agency one workspace for files, client feedback and team knowledge, with AI search across all of it. Dubai agencies often run the same campaign for several markets at once, and the agency setup keeps each client’s briefs, scripts, edits and call notes in one space.

Film edits and print files sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space, and heavy video opens without a full download. Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed recordings, so a team can find last year’s Ramadan scripts or a past Arabic voiceover by describing it.

For review, share a file or folder with the client as a commenter; shared links work without sign-up. With annotations, clients leave timestamped comments on video and audio, draw on a video frame or an image and attach a comment, and the team marks each comment completed as changes land. There is more on this in Fabric’s review and approval guide. Final work can go out with password protection, and link analytics shows when each named recipient opened it.

On Team plans, self-writing docs keep a page for each client from meetings, Slack and the workspace, covering decisions, deliverables and open items. That helps when an account moves between offices or teams.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans, and self-writing docs on Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best advertising agency in Dubai?

It depends on the brief. On 2026 awards, Saatchi & Saatchi ME was Dubai Lynx MENA Agency of the Year and FP7 McCann Dubai was runner-up, while Impact BBDO was Campaign Middle East’s Creative Agency of the Year for 2025.

What happened to Horizon FCB and MullenLowe MENA?

Omnicom retired FCB and MullenLowe as global networks after acquiring IPG at the end of 2025, placing FCB under BBDO and MullenLowe under TBWA. Both Dubai agencies were still working under their own names on the Dubai Lynx 2026 shortlists.

Where are advertising agencies in Dubai based?

Many network offices sit along Sheikh Zayed Road or in free zones such as Dubai Internet City. Impact BBDO is in Emirates Towers, Memac Ogilvy in Al Saqr Business Tower and dentsu in Dubai Internet City.

Do Dubai agencies handle Saudi Arabian campaigns?

Yes, most of them. Saatchi & Saatchi ME made Saudia’s “Let It Fly” with Publicis KSA, and Memac Ogilvy has won awards for IKEA Alsulaiman. Some networks, such as VML, now lead much of their Saudi work from Riyadh.

What is the difference between an advertising agency and a creative agency in Dubai?

The terms overlap. This list focuses on network offices that make campaigns across TV, outdoor, digital and social. For independent shops and integrated idea agencies, see the best creative agencies in Dubai.

Related lists

Advertising agencies in other cities: New York · London · Los Angeles · Chicago · Toronto

More in Dubai: Creative agencies · Marketing agencies · Branding agencies · Social media agencies · Video production · Content studios

Run your agency on Fabric: Fabric for agencies · Fabric for creative teams · Best client portal tools