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M&C Saatchi has appointed Zaid Al-Qassab, the outgoing chief advertising officer of Channel 4, as the subsequent chief government of the UK-listed company group.
An announcement to the inventory market confirmed the information on Thursday (22 February), after Sky Information first reported that M&C Saatchi was near naming Al-Qassab.
Zillah Byng-Thorne, the chief chairman, instructed buyers in January that the board had appointed headhunters Odgers Berndtson to help on the seek for a CEO, following the departure of firm veteran Moray MacLennan after three years within the prime job.
Al-Qassab is likely one of the UK’s most senior entrepreneurs who beforehand labored at BT and began his profession at Procter & Gamble.
He has not labored within the company sector. Nonetheless, at Channel 4, the place he has labored as CMO since 2019, he has overseen in-house company 4Creative and social media and branded leisure unit 4Studio, which each report back to him.
Channel 4 introduced in January that Al-Qassab was leaving however would stick with the enterprise till the tip of March. He’ll be a part of M&C Saatchi on 13 Could, topic to regulatory due diligence.
Byng-Thorne mentioned: “We’re delighted to have attracted somebody of Zaid’s calibre to guide M&C Saatchi into its subsequent section of progress. Zaid has confirmed management qualities, has managed international groups, and his client-centric focus, dynamism and industrial acumen can be extremely useful as we glance to speed up our progress trajectory.
“The promoting and advertising panorama is fast-moving and a contemporary, forward-thinking, agile chief like Zaid will assist form M&C Saatchi for excellence on the worldwide stage, supported by our distinctive regional leaders throughout the UK and globally. It’s actually an thrilling second for us.”
Al-Qassab mentioned: “I’ve lengthy admired M&C Saatchi’s creativity and industry-leading work and I’m delighted to be becoming a member of one of the recognised promoting manufacturers on this planet.
“I consider M&C Saatchi has a singular progress alternative, capitalising on its mixture of promoting and specialist advertising companies, and its unrelenting deal with inventive options constructed on consumer understanding, with an agile, international, built-in supply.”
M&C Saatchi famous in its assertion that “beneath Zaid’s management the broadcaster gained a spot as the highest model and quantity three inventive company in 2023 (Marketing campaign Lists), and he was voted one of many UK’s prime ten entrepreneurs by Marketing campaign in 2023.”
Al-Qassab beforehand labored from 2016 to 2019 as chief model and advertising officer of BT Group, which is listed on the FTSE-100.
He spent the primary 20 years of his profession in numerous UK and worldwide roles for Procter & Gamble, together with as managing director of the well being & magnificence division for the UK & Eire.
Byng-Thorne, the previous chief government of Future, joined as chair in June 2023 and has been eager to shake up M&C Saatchi and enhance its inventive credentials.
The company group suffered from an extended interval of turbulence, which included accounting irregularities in 2019 and the departure of its founders initially of 2021. The corporate additionally obtained two abortive takeover approaches in 2022.
The share worth stays roughly half the 330p degree at which it was buying and selling earlier than the accounting issues first emerged in August 2019.
The information comes per week after M&C Saatchi appointed Jo Bacon, the worldwide consumer lead for Ogilvy and WPP throughout Unilever, as its new chief government. She replaces Camilla Kemp, who left the enterprise final yr.
Editor’s be aware: Marketing campaign has up to date this story, after initially publishing a model on the night of 21 February earlier than a proper assertion in regards to the CEO appointment to the inventory market on the morning of twenty-two February.
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