NEW YORK, July 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- McCann Worldgroup
today announced expanded roles for three of its top regional
leaders.
Alex Lubar, President of McCann
Worldgroup Asia Pacific, has been named President of the McCann
advertising agency network in North
America. Ghassan Harfouche,
Group CEO of the Middle East Communications Network (MCN), McCann
Worldgroup's and Interpublic Group's partner network in the
Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, will add responsibilities as President
of McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific. And Ji
Watson, CFO of McCann Worldgroup APAC & Representative
Director of McCann Worldgroup Japan, has been named CEO of McCann
Worldgroup Japan.
As with Lubar and Watson in their previous roles, Harfouche also
will partner closely with Prasoon
Joshi, APAC Chairman and CEO & Chief Creative Officer of
McCann Worldgroup India, who continues to provide vision and
direction to McCann Worldgroup regional leadership.
"Alex, Ghassan and Ji have each demonstrated an impressive
ability to drive client growth and creatively effective marketing
solutions before and even during the difficult period of the
pandemic," said Bill Kolb, Chairman
and CEO of McCann Worldgroup. "What they've accomplished with their
teams in their respective regions, including expanding our
integrated communications offering to clients, has been a key
element of how we've continued to build our business as we prepare
for the era of increased client activity when the pandemic ends.
They are all great collaborators who know how to leverage our
culture and capabilities to help our clients achieve success."
Lubar moved to Singapore two
years ago to assume his Asia
Pacific leadership role after an international career with
the McCann Worldgroup network. He first joined McCann in
New York in 2012 and two years
later was promoted to global CMO, overseeing all integrated new
business activity for McCann Worldgroup across the globe. In his
new North American role, Lubar will drive creativity, growth and
further integration across all McCann brand agencies. He will lead
a region that has been highly recognized for its business and
creative achievements.
"Alex has proven to be one of the most dynamic leaders in our
industry and expanded upon the success of every region where he has
held a leadership position," said Chris
Macdonald, Chairman and CEO, McCann. "I know that Alex will
elevate our award-winning operations for the McCann brand across
North America to even greater
success in providing creatively-effective solutions for our
clients."
"I am thrilled to work with McCann teams I know well in
North America, especially now,
when our agencies are leading the industry in innovation,
creativity and growth, and I look forward to helping us build on
our success and playing a key role in making McCann Worldgroup the
leading global marketing solutions network," said Lubar.
Ghassan Harfouche, who joined MCN
in 2011, leads a network in the Middle
East, North Africa and
Turkey that encompasses 14
different Interpublic Group advertising, media and PR agency brands
in 15 cities across 13 countries. His experience includes working
with many of the agency brands that are part of the core offering
of McCann Worldgroup, including FP7 McCann, Commonwealth//McCann,
MRM, McCann Health, Momentum, and Weber Shandwick in addition to
other IPG media, promotional and ad agency units in that region.
The MCN Network has enjoyed tremendous success under his
leadership. According to the 2020 Global Effie Index, FP7 McCann
Dubai was ranked the most effective individual ad agency in the
world and FP7 McCann was nominated as the Most Effective Agency
network. Weber Shandwick was named the best agency in the
Middle East at PR Week Global
Awards and Weber Shandwick UAE was the PRCA's Large Consultancy of
the Year. MCN Mediabrands was recognized as the number one
media group in MENAT by RECMA every year since 2017; UM, Initiative
and Magna occupied the top three positions on RECMA's list; and UM
was the number one Media Agency network in MENAT by RECMA and
number two in the world.
"I consider myself fortunate to be working with the most
innovative and creative global marketing network in McCann
Worldgroup because they have been the greatest possible partner in
building the most successful network of agencies in the
Middle East, North Africa and Turkey," said Ghassan
Harfouche. "I look forward to seeing our network continue to
grow in size and influence."
Harfouche joins Prasoon Joshi,
Chairman of McCann Worldgroup Asia and CEO & CCO of McCann
Worldgroup India, who is widely recognised as one of the industry's
most celebrated leaders, in overseeing the APAC region's operations
of 26 offices in 13 markets (including affiliate agencies).
Joshi said, "I congratulate Alex on his move and all he has
achieved for our region during his tenure, and look forward to
partnering with Ghassan in this next phase. Ghassan's experience
working with the highly creative and effective agencies we have in
the Middle East and North Africa will make him a great and fitting
partner in the Asia Pacific
region. His deep understanding of integrated marketing solutions
will also greatly benefit our clients who are increasingly
expanding the ways in which they are connecting with
consumers."
Ji Watson, who takes over as CEO
of McCann Worldgroup Japan, while retaining her role as CFO of
McCann Worldgroup APAC & Representative Director of McCann
Worldgroup Japan, has nearly 30 years of marketing industry
experience. She spent the first 20+ years of her career in senior
management roles on the client side, working for Turner
Broadcasting, Coca-Cola and Samsung. She moved to the agency side
with global roles at Ogilvy for seven years before she joined
McCann APAC in 2016.
"Ji is central to the growth and expansion of our operations
across APAC," said Bill Kolb. "Over
the past two years, McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific has placed
increased focus on bolstering individual markets under strong local
market leadership, as we leverage scale and expertise across the
region to deliver the best possible solutions for our clients. Ji's
expertise in the Japanese market and her experience in leading our
agencies in the region are critical to our success in APAC."
"I am thrilled by this opportunity to lead our operations in
Japan and continue to serve our
agencies in APAC," said Ji Watson.
"We see tremendous room for growth and to expand our clients'
brands and businesses in APAC and on a global scale."
In addition to Joshi's APAC leadership and management of
South Asia, and Ji Watson's dual roles in Japan and in APAC, other sub-regional hubs are
led by:
- Emily Chang, CEO, McCann
Worldgroup China – former CMO for Starbucks and Apple and a
passionate advocate for inclusive leadership;
- Nick Handel, President, McCann
Worldgroup Southeast Asia, and APAC Regional Director for MRM –
over 10 years with the network in Asia, leading multi-award winning agencies and
the network's APAC MRM business.
Bill Kolb, global Chairman &
CEO, McCann Worldgroup said: "APAC
is a region of enormous significance for us as it encompasses the
second and third largest advertising markets (China and Japan). Greater connectivity between the
regions will lead to increased opportunities. We have some of our
best talent in the network focused on APAC and I'm excited to see
what the future holds."
McCann Worldgroup has been consistently recognized globally as
among the world's leading networks both in creativity and
effectiveness. McCann Worldgroup was named the 2021 Webby Awards
Network of the Year for the second consecutive year. It was ranked
by the Global Effie Effectiveness Index as the most Creatively
Effective Network three years in a Row (2018, 2019, and 2020) and
was named the #1 advertising agency network for creative
effectiveness in the 2020 WARC Effective 100 rankings. It has been
accorded recent "Global Network of the Year" honors at the Cannes
Lions International Festival of Creativity and by both Adweek and
Campaign magazines.
ABOUT McCANN WORLDGROUP
McCann Worldgroup, part
of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), is a creatively driven
global marketing company whose professionals are united across 100+
countries by a single mission: To help brands earn a meaningful
role in people's lives. McCann Worldgroup was named "Global Agency
of The Year" by Adweek magazine, "Network of the Year" by the
Cannes Lions, the world's most creatively-effective marketing
services company by the Effie Awards (for three consecutive years),
"Global Network of the Year" by Campaign Magazine and "Network of
The Year" by The Webby Awards two years in a row. The network
comprises McCann (advertising), MRM
(science/technology/relationship marketing), Momentum Worldwide
(total brand experience), McCann Health (professional/dtc
communications), CRAFT (production), Weber Shandwick (public
relations) and FutureBrand (consulting/design).
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SOURCE McCann Worldgroup