Omnicom Media Group MENA has announced the promotion of Elda Choucair from COO to CEO. Elie Khouri will now concentrate on his role of Chairman and ensure a seamless transition at a time when the holding group has shown substantial growth over the last year.

Elda’s tenure as COO has seen her focus heavily on the group’s response to the impact of the pandemic. She has further demonstrated her leadership talent by successfully addressing both internal and external challenges and played a crucial role in transforming OMG’s regional operations by readying its resources for new and emerging market expectations.

In the last couple of years, the holding’s networks, OMD, PHD and Hearts & Science, have secured impressive account wins and award recognition at the MENA Effie and the Dubai Lynx. They also enhanced their talent pool through skill development and recruitment and deployed several new processes and platforms to respond to challenges with speed, precision and effectiveness.

A 15-year veteran at the group, Choucair held senior account positions at OMD and led PHD for over 10 years. Under her leadership, the regional media planning network grew seven-fold and became a key player in the region. Her success in creating a future-ready positioning for PHD made it a compelling proposition for both staff and clients, recognised by prestigious awards and accolades.

She will continue to report to Elie Khouri, who founded OMG two decades ago and whose career at Omnicom spans over 30 years. In that time, Khouri has stimulated the group’s growth, in scale and service offering. and steered it to a leadership position on a broad range of metrics. The company has long been recognised as one of the best employers in the UAE and a leader in sustainability.

Choucair will now assume the full control of all OMG MENA operations and accelerate their transformation to stay ahead of the curve. She is also an active industry figure, as vice chair of the Advertising Business Group, board member of the IAB GCC, and the IAA UAE Chapter, and a founding board member of the Unstereotype Alliance.

“Elda is a true success story in her own right and has never stopped impressing everyone around her. Her vision, coupled with her pragmatism and attention to detail, means that she knows where we need to go and how to get there,” said Elie Khouri, chairman of OMG MENA. “Her relentless dedication and drive have earned her immense respect. Elda certainly has an impeccable track record of advancing 360° growth, capability expansion and overall excellence at both agency and holding levels.”

“Our regional management’s ability to stimulate growth for our clients, our staff and our agencies in the face of adversity is truly remarkable. Credit goes to Elie who has engineered and nurtured this inspiring culture of course but also to Elda, who’s embraced it fully,” commented Mike Cooper, OMG CEO for EMEA and APAC. “Elda’s contribution to our success in the region to date has proved critical. Her energy, commitment, client skills and professionalism will serve her well in her new role to assure the best outcomes for all our stakeholders and clients. She is the perfect person to take OMG MENA forward.”

“Navigating complexity and ambiguity certainly makes leadership exciting and rewarding in equal measures. Our industry, in the midst of a deep and rapid transformation, provides plenty of both and if we are to make complex simpler and better for our clients, we owe it to them to start with ourselves,” said Elda Choucair, CEO of OMG MENA. “We’ve already had plenty of opportunity to innovate and adapt to new conditions of course so we’re well used to questioning and challenging the status quo. We’re ready for what lies ahead.”

This article was first published in Campaign Middle East

Claire Fletcher has been appointed as head of engagement at OMD UAE. She will be developing new ways brands can connect and engage with audiences by placing empathy and human connection at the forefront. Through a multidimensional strategic approach with content, creators, experiences, and technology, she will be building innovative practices where brands, products and customers intersect to enrich the overall customer experience in today’s world.

Claire offers over 9 years of experience in the advertising industry, having spent 7 of them working with diverse brands and categories across MENAT/GCC. In her previous role, Claire spearheaded an addressable content arm allowing her to work closely with global markets, successfully merging data, tech, innovation, and eCommerce to deliver personalization at scale.

Having led the social media departments across creative and media agencies, Claire will be focusing on building agile teams, products and methods to create work that leans on dynamic content, thinking and futuristic experiences to execute solving business problems creatively.

This article was first published on Campaign Middle East

Omnicom Media Group MENA announced the appointment of Maroun Hassoun as Regional General Manager of OMD MENA. Maroun has moved from the Group’s PHD Lebanon office over to OMD to run the business in the Lower Gulf, Iraq and supporting Wissam Najjar, COO of OMD MENA in leading the mobile telecommunications company, Zain, across the region.

Maroun offers over 15 years of regional media experience with 7 years of specialised expertise in telecoms. Prior to this move, Maroun led PHD Lebanon as regional general manager where he built a new market leader from scratch and grew the business three-fold in less than 3 years. His exuberant enthusiasm, determination and rigour have led him to achieve impressive milestones for the agency and in 2018 he was recognised as the office leader at the OMG MENA awards due to his great work in building disproportionate growth in Beirut.

This appointment comes at a time when OMG MENA is fast-expanding its role and services in the Gulf and particularly in Saudi Arabia. Today, the group has offices based in Riyadh and Jeddah managing business operations across KSA.

Chairman and CEO of OMG MENA, Elie Khouri states: ‘Saudi is increasingly becoming a key player for media and communications in the Gulf. They are rapidly equipping themselves and laying down the right foundations with future-leading tech and innovation for transformational growth. We are solidifying and up-skilling our talent and leadership in KSA to guide and optimize their vision in response to the Kingdom’s own acceleration and development.’

Maroun will be assuming this new role effective immediately, reporting directly to Wissam Najjar and will be based in Riyadh. Najjar comments, ‘We look forward to welcoming Maroun to OMD and witnessing how he leads the team and Zain into the next chapter of its advancement in the region and beyond.’

 

This article was originally published in Campaign Middle East.