M&C Saatchi Names Zaid Al-Qassab As New Global CEO
M&C Saatchi has named Zaid Al-Qassab as its new global CEO. He is Channel 4’s CMO in the UK right now. Al-Qassab will take over for Moray MacLennan, who resigned in September. Zaid will assume control of the business which is experiencing negative growth.
M&C Saatchi Appoints Zaid Al-Qassab as Global CEO
Zaid will start working in the M&C office on May 13. He started working at Channel 4 in 2019 as CMO, overseeing marketing, digital, product, communications, PR, advertising, media, and continuity. He was also in charge of the channel’s digital content and brand entertainment agency, 4Studio, as well as its award-winning in-house creative agency, 4creative.
Previous Achievements
Al-Qassab, a former employee of BT, is among the most senior marketers in the UK. He is not employed in the agency industry. On the other hand, he has managed social media and branded entertainment unit 4Studio as well as in-house agency 4Creative at Channel 4, where he has been employed since 2019 as CMO. Additionally, he worked for Procter & Gamble for two years in marketing and business capacities, most notably as the Managing Director of the company’s health and beauty division for the UK and Ireland. Zaid has been employed by the Advertising Standards Authority since 2018 and presently holds the position of non-executive director.
M&C Saatchi Announcements
Al-Qassab left Channel 4 in January, although he would continue to work there until the end of March, the channel announced. On May 13, he will start working at M&C Saatchi, pending regulatory due diligence. The announcement was made one week after Jo Bacon, the global client lead for Ogilvy and WPP at Unilever, was named CEO of M&C Saatchi. She takes over for Camilla Kemp, who departed the company a year ago.
Here’s what they said
Zillah Byng-Thorne, the executive chairman, said,
“We are delighted to have attracted someone of Zaid’s calibre to lead M&C Saatchi into its next phase of growth. Zaid has proven leadership qualities, has managed global teams, and his client-centric focus, dynamism and commercial acumen will be highly valuable as we look to accelerate our growth trajectory. The advertising and marketing landscape is fast-moving and a modern, forward-thinking, agile leader like Zaid will help shape M&C Saatchi for excellence on the global stage, supported by our exceptional regional leaders across the UK and globally. It is truly an exciting moment for us.”
Zaid Al-Qassab, on his appointment added,
“I have long admired M&C Saatchi’s creativity and industry-leading work and I am delighted to be joining one of the most recognised advertising brands in the world. I believe M&C Saatchi has a unique growth opportunity, capitalising on its combination of advertising and specialist marketing services, and its unrelenting focus on creative solutions built on client understanding, with an agile, global, integrated offer.”
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Publicis Groupe Announces the Launch of B2B Creative Offering, Publicis Pro
Publicis Groupe EMEA has announced the launch of Publicis Pro, a B2B creative offering. The offering brings together B2B agency Octopus Group and 400 B2B specialists from across its global network. The Octopus Group name will be rebranded as Publicis Pro. It will be led by Octopus Group co-founders Jon Lonsdale as CEO and Pete Hendrick as Managing Director. Lonsdale will answer to Publicis Groupe’s EMEA CEO, Demet Ikiler. Focusing on B2B strategy, creative, influence, and commerce, the core team of sixty will pay particular attention to the UK, Germany, and France. Previously, Octopus focused on the UK market.
Publicis Rebrands Octopus Group with the launch of Publicis Pro
In 2021, Publicis Groupe purchased the London-based Octopus Group. It noted business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients as “big growth areas” in the B2B space. About sixty people worked for Octopus at its Farringdon office at the time. It relocated to the Chancery Lane office, home of Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett. Furthermore, it joined Publicis Groupe’s UK creative practice. Since then, Octopus has expanded its customer base in the manufacturing, telecom, financial services, and technology sectors, according to Publicis Group. Companies like Sharp Europe, Smartsheet, Rolls-Royce, and Twilio have awarded Octopus new business.
Octopus Group acquired in 2021
At the time of the acquisition, the deal was Publicis Groupe‘s most significant UK-specific M&A move in the creative space since 2014, indicating adland’s return to the acquisition trail following the Covid pandemic. Octopus Group has a range of tech-first capabilities, including creative, content, digital experience, and public relations. Its clients, which it did not share with Publicis at the time of acquisition, included technology, financial, and professional services brands like Siemens, Adobe, Logitech, Smartsheet, Cognizant, and ACI Worldwide.
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Investors
The principal investors in Octopus Group were the company’s management. Lonsdale, Finance Director Ben Holden, Board Director Nicola Pestell, Chief Strategy Director Billy Hamilton-Stent, and Hendrick are among them.
Here’s what they said
As reported by Campaign Asia,
The group said,
“The will enable Publicis Groupe to better connect international business audiences with new data and marketing services, accelerating growth for its global B2B and B2B2C clients and becoming a new centre of excellence across the EMEA region,”
Demet Ikiler stated,
“We want to make Publicis Groupe a centre of excellence for B2B clients, and to better serve our existing B2C clients who require B2B expertise. By building out Publicis Pro across our key markets in the region, we are already uncovering exciting new growth opportunities.”
Jon Lonsdale added,
“This is the natural next step in Octopus’ journey and will allow us to offer clients more access to talent, tech and data as we scale and supercharge our existing offering across Publicis Groupe. Publicis Pro brings an exciting opportunity to launch new services, including AI tools, that are specifically designed for complex B2B audiences.”
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