Iain Jacob, Chief Executive Officer, EMEA, Publicis Media has today announced transformational market leadership appointments for the Middle East. Alex Saber has been appointed to the role of Chairman, Middle East, Publicis Media, and Steve Parker has been appointed CEO, Middle East, Publicis Media.
Jacob said: “I’m thrilled to announce Alex as Chairman and Steve as CEO for Publicis Media in the Middle East. Working with our talented agency brand leads, they will deliver our promise to drive new levels of productivity, business transformation, and client value.
“In Alex and Steve we have a powerful and unrivalled combination of leadership skills. Alex is a true pioneer and innovator and has been pivotal in establishing SMG as the leading agency in every market across MENA. Steve is also an accomplished leader who has driven transformation across SMG in the UK and has built worldclass scaled data, content and technology capabilities.”
The Publicis Media leadership will oversee all in-market commercial operations. They will be responsible for scaling the strength of Publicis Media across the Group’s four global agency brands – Starcom, Zenith, Mediavest | Spark and Optimedia | Blue 449 – and the seven global practices that support those brand with key capabilities, including: data, content, trading, performance, analytics and business transformation.
Jacob added: “We are reinventing the agency model. Speed and agile capabilities are what determine client success so we have organised ourselves to bring this to market through a new powerful and simplified model for our clients.”
Previously, Saber served as the SMG and VivaKi chairman in the MENA region after growing the business by over 50 percent. He also served as the COO of VivaKi for MENA, in addition to spearheading the group’s trading and commercial responsibilities.
“Our industry’s ever-evolving landscape, coupled with the velocity era of marketing, is paralleled with increasing client need for integration and consolidation of agency offerings,” says Alex Saber, Chairman of Publicis Media Middle East. “Publicis Media will simplify our offering for clients to deliver best-of-breed approaches, resources and talent across all areas of our business. I look forward to working with Steve Parker on delivering the promise of this bold vision and driving greater efficiency for our clients.”
Parker was co-CEO for Starcom Mediavest Group in the UK and is a 17-year veteran of the agency. During his time at SMG, he has been instrumental in driving major transformation in the UK, building world-class scaled data, content and technology capabilities. Under his leadership the business grew and diversified at a significant rate ahead of the market. Previously, Parker also held the positions Managing Director of Mediavest, Managing Director of Digital and Trading Director.
Additionally, Nicole Prüsse, who was previously CEO Central, Northern, Eastern Europe for ZenithOptimedia will become Chief Operating Officer, Publicis Media, EMEA. As well as ensuring that all markets have the strongest capabilities, Prüsse will also act as key lead for integration with the Starcom, Zenith, Mediavest | Spark and Optimedia | Blue 449 brands in the Publicis One markets, ensuring a consistent and unified approach across all markets.
Commenting on this appointment, Jacob said: “Nicole is one of our most accomplished leaders with a strong track record of growing and transforming business and markets. With a focus on strong performance, product excellence and innovation, Nicole is the perfect person to drive our expertise and organisation across the region and I look forward to working with her in her new role.”