Bahrain's national carrier sponsors new series - Who's Who in the Middle East

London, 21 July 2010:  CNBC, the leading business and financial news channel, has announced a new branded-content deal with Gulf Air, the Bahrain-based international airline. The campaign is running on CNBC across Europe, the Middle East and Africa until February 2011.

Gulf Air is sponsoring Who's Who in the Middle East, a series of vignettes featuring interviews with leading business figures from the region, including Joseph Ghossaub, chairman and CEO of Menacom; Khaled Hassan Rashed, CEO of Corecap and Mohammed Al-Habtoor, CEO of the Al-Habtoor Group. Gulf Air branded opening and closing billboards air around each vignette. Who's Who in the Middle East airs during peak programming throughout the business day.

CNBC has also produced a combination of 60 and 30 second advertising spots for Gulf Air, which will run throughout the campaign. Filmed on location in Bahrain, the messages of the spots vary; some spots will showcase Gulf Air as a leading carrier in the region while others will feature Gulf Air employees giving a personal narrative about their passions, which reinforces the care and attention that lies behind the airline and its employees.

Paul Maraviglia, Vice President Sales, EMEA at CNBC, said: "We are very pleased to announce this branded content deal with Gulf Air. It's yet another example of the innovative and targeted advertising solutions we can provide high-profile brands as they seek to reach the C-suite audience in the EMEA region."

Kyle Haywood, Chief Commercial Officer, Gulf Air added: "As the carrier with the largest network in the Middle East connecting the region with rest of the world, the campaign with CNBC across the EMEA region will further enhance Gulf Air's position as an international carrier with a leadership position the region. We look forward to welcoming more business travellers onto our flights, which serve a diverse network of worldwide destinations through Bahrain, the business Hub of the Arabian Gulf."

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About CNBC in EMEA:
CNBC, First in Business worldwide, is the leading global broadcaster of live business and financial news and information, reporting directly from the major financial markets around the globe, with three regional networks in Asia, EMEA and the US.  In EMEA, CNBC is the only real-time, pan-regional business and financial news network dedicated to CEOs, senior corporate executives, the financial services industry and investors.  The channel is available in approximately 130 million homes, 1,400 banks and financial institutions and leading hotels across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  Additionally CNBC.com gives you access to live streams of all three CNBC regional networks and to the world's most comprehensive archive of business news videos ever assembled. CNBC is a wholly owned subsidiary of NBC Universal. NBC Universal is the broadcasting unit of the General Electric Company (GE).

For further information, please contact:
Richard Lambert / James McKeown at Braben:
Email: cnbc@braben.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7025 8021

© Press Release 2010