Bahrain: PR spend rises as EDB hires Bell Pottinger

Public relations industry media reported recently that the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) has retained British firm Bell Pottinger, which was one of several Western companies bidding to provide public relations services, following a tender made public last October. Bell Pottinger has worked extensively for the Bahrainis since 2009, on contracts thought to have been worth around $12m; its bid for the latest EDB contract was worth around $16.5m, though it is not clear what the agreed contract has been valued at. According to public relations website The Holmes Report, Bell Pottinger will be supported in Bahrain by Consulum, a firm launched in 2013 by former Bell Pottinger executives, some of whom have previously worked on the EDB brief.