LONDON: What does it feel like to win one of the region’s most prestigious awards in media and communication, after being told you “helped build” that very industry? For Elda Choucair, chief executive officer of Omnicom Media Group MENA, this year’s Dubai Lynx Advertising Person of the Year is an award she accepts with clear unease — one she is quick to attribute to the teams, clients and partners who have shaped the region’s media landscape alongside her.
“Honestly, closer to the uneasy end,” Choucair told Arab News.
“I’ve spent most of my career in rooms where the work speaks and the people behind it stay a step back, and that habit doesn’t disappear because someone hands you a trophy.
So my first reaction was gratitude, and my second was to think of the people who should be standing next to me.” No one builds an industry alone, as she says, but few have shaped this one as much as she has.
The Lebanese-born executive joined Omnicom Media Group MENA in 2006 and rose from senior account roles at OMD Worldwide to lead PHD Media, which grew sevenfold under her, before becoming group chief operating officer and, in 2021, CEO of the entire holding regional group.
She was the first woman to head a major media agency group in the Middle East and North Africa, and she steered Omnicom’s shift from traditional media buying into data, commerce, influencer marketing and artificial intelligence-driven services.
But her influence also reaches beyond the agency.
She is vice chair of the Advertising Business Group and sits on the boards of the Interactive Advertising Bureau MENA, Endeavor UAE and the Unstereotype Alliance, helping shape standards, talent pipelines and inclusion initiatives in a fast-changing market.
“I was part of several shifts, and I was lucky to be in a position to push some of them early,” she said ahead of the ceremony at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai on Oct.
“The first was taking PHD from a new, small agency brand to a challenger that competes at the highest level.
When it launched, the market was already saturated with media agency brands from every network.” Choucair stayed at PHD for over a decade, until 2019.
The challenge, she said, was to build a proposition distinctive enough to make the agency a “destination” for clients.
“It remains the most rewarding experiences of my career, because it proved that there is always room in the market, as long as you understand what clients want and focus on building a proposition that answers it.” The second shift came with the group CEO role, which changed the job itself.
“The question was no longer how to run an agency, but how to make my team successful: how to create a culture that empowers people, challenges and supports talent, and where radical candor drives the conversation at every level of the organization.” It also completed a journey that is rare in an industry where many people hop from one agency to another — and one that skeptics might say limits professional experience.
Choucair sees it the other way round.
“In 20 years I’ve never had a boring day,” Choucair said.
“Experiencing constant change within a familiar environment gives you a sense of safety that allows for real growth.
It offers the chance to be challenged, to stretch your capacity and capability, while knowing that you have support around you.” Her first big test came soon after, when she led Omnicom’s expansion into data, commerce and influencer marketing just as the region was cautiously leaving the COVID-19 pandemic behind.
“I don’t believe....
