New Middle East Communications Manager at Estée Lauder

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Estée Lauder Middle East has appointed Hannah Raven-Wright to the role of Middle East Communications Manager. Hannah most recently worked with Edelman DABO as Senior Account Manager, where she worked across a range of consumer PR accounts including Majid Al Futtaim Holding, MINI Middle East and BMW Middle East. In her new role, she will manage the PR, communications and influencer campaigns for three of Estée Lauder Middle East’s brands; Bobbi Brown, Clinique and Aveda from strategy through to execution.

“I am thrilled to have joined the Estée Lauder Companies,” says Hannah. “It is extremely exciting to be looking after three brands I have been a consumer of for many years.”

Jennifer Gibson goes freelance

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Jennifer Gibson, former Editor of good magazine, part of Motivate Publishing has gone freelance. Having joined Motivate in 2016, Jennifer has over 15 years of experience in journalism and has worked on as well as contributed to a number of titles including VIVA, Hello! Middle East, What’s On Dubai, Emirates Man, Emirates Woman, Jumeirah, The National, The Telegraph and Gulf News. She also worked in broadcasting as News Presenter and Commentator on Dubai 92 as well as Dubai Eye. Following her relocation to the UK, she will continue to work across publications in the UAE and UK as a freelance Editor.

“It has been an honour to edit good magazine since August 2016, to work with an incredible team of brilliant people and to meet so many of the innovators, entrepreneurs, environmental activists and charity campaigners who are doing so much to take community life here in Dubai forward,” says Jennifer. “The time has come for us to make a move to be closer to our families, but I look forward to continuing to work with so many of the brilliant editors and journalists I’ve met during my time here – and to the opportunities my continuing work here will allow for lots of visits to escape the Scottish weather!”

Geometry Dubai welcomes new Executive Creative Director

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Brand experience agency, Geometry has promoted Julian Hernandez to the role of Executive Creative Director of its Dubai office. Having joined Geometry in 2015, Julian worked as Executive Creative Director of the agency’s Hong Kong office, where he mentored the creative team and led the creative output across its list brands including Coca-Cola, Huawei and Pernod Ricard. In his new role, he will focus on creativity with an emphasis on genuine local insight to shape the agency’s new approach to shopper marketing.

“I’d like to see more culturally relevant work coming out of our office and the use of non-traditional channels to influence consumers in unconventional ways,” says Hernández. “The old ‘surprise and delight’ approach has never been more valid – even in our complex region – so that’s what we’re aiming for across a wider scope of touchpoints. To do so, we need to surprise consumers with brand experiences that enrich their lives, rather than interrupt them.”

Momentum/CAI appoints new Managing Director

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Momentum, part of Middle East Communications Network (MCN) has promoted Lina Fateen to the role of Managing Director of its Cairo office, Momentum/CAI. Lina joined MCN in 2002 as a part of FP7/CAI and most recently held the role of Deputy Managing Director at Momentum, where she worked on relaunching the agency as a full independent brand experience agency. In her new role, she will report to MCN Egypt’s CEO, Sahar El Zoghby and lead her team to produce award winning work to drive clients’ business award-winning building a brand reputation and setting standards of excellence for future openings of Momentum across the MCN network.

“My career at MCN has been a fantastic journey of valuable insights and experiences enabling me to build and foster a successful organisation with the right people here at Momentum/CAI,” says Lina. “And now with the continued opportunity to lead this company, I am excited to unravel the next steps in developing strong synergies with our clients for further award winning success.”

New Executive Creative Director at Tonic International

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Dubai-based independent creative agency, Tonic International has promoted Joao Camacho to the role of Executive Creative Director. Having joined the agency in 2016, Joao most recently held the role of Creative Director, where he restructured the creative team and transformed it into a high-level competitive department. In his new role, he will work on developing the digital aspects of the agency to build stronger, more loyal relationships between brands and its consumers, utilising the data as well as analytics at hand to drive the agency’s creativity.

“Creativity is not a service, it is a product,” says Joao. “I firmly believe that by treating creativity as a product, it sets the tone of an agency and truly accelerates its clients’ businesses. The services that an agency provides with creativity are a given, the way to do better is a combination of creative factors and discipline.”

Amr El Kalaawy gets promoted at FP7/CAI

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Full-service advertising agency, FP7/MENA has promoted Amr El Kalaawy to the role of Managing Director of its Cairo office, FP7/CAI. With over 20 years of experience in the advertising industry in Egypt, Amr joined FP7/CAI in 2007 and most recently held the role of General Manager, where he aided in growing the digital offering and developing a creative vision for the agency. In his new role, he will report to FP7/CAI’s CEO, Sahar El Zoghby and work towards enabling valuable collaborations with sister agencies leading to a richer, integrated product offering for current and future clients.

“I look forward to expanding FP7/CAI’s business and leveraging our relationship with our sister agencies within MCN Holding as we look to help clients exploit the changes we are seeing in today’s dynamic & digital market,” says Amr.

House of Comms appoints new Head of PR

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Integrated communications agency, House of Comms has promoted Tryphena Greenwood to the role of Head of PR. Having joined House of Comms in 2016 as Senior Account Director, Tryphena was instrumental in developing the business by bringing in significant accounts including government, travel and tourism. She also helped in streamlining the process around recruitment and daily operations of the agency. In her new role, she will report directly to the managing partners and run the PR division of the business.

“When we appointed Tryph, nearly two years ago, we knew we had found ourselves a solid, experienced and extremely dedicated leader,” says Kaja Evans, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, House of Comms. “At such a senior level, it is rare to find someone who is such an all-rounder in terms of skillset but Tryph brings stellar new business abilities, wider business acumen, excellent account handling skills, solid training experience in order to develop and grow the team and buckets of creativity. Her promotion to Head of PR, is much deserved and we look forward to continuing to develop the integrated offering of the agency through Tryph and our senior team.”

Burson Cohn & Wolfe appoints new President

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Global communications agency, Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW) has appointed Sunil John to the role of President of its Middle East operations. Having founded ASDA’A Burson-Martseller in 2000, Sunil was most recently the agency’s CEO. In his new role, he will report to Donna Imperato, Chief Executive Officer of BCW and oversee the Middle East’s operations as an independent entity within the newly created global communications powerhouse.

“With a population of 350 million people, some 60 percent of whom are under the age of 30, the Middle East is a dynamic region poised for exceptional growth across all sectors and markets,” says John. “The scale of the new BCW network, our focus on ever greater integration, and now our flexibility as an independent regional entity will give us a distinct advantage in pursuing exciting opportunities across the region.”

Heba Abdalla joins Motivate Publishing

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Motivate Publishing has appointed Heba Abdalla to the role of Senior Digital Editor. With over 12 years of digital media experience in the region, Heba most recently worked with Savior Flair Arabic as Managing Editor, where she headed the magazine’s Arabic website, Styly.com. In her new role, she will be managing a number of Arabic digital launches for Motivate’s lifestyle and business division including the upcoming launch of Emirates Woman Arabiya.

“We have very exciting plans in place, with a spate of new Arabic launches coming up, opening up our titles to a much wider audience,” says Heba. “Soon, extensive premium Arabic content will be just a click away. Our next launch will be Emirates Woman in Arabic, which will provide engaging luxury, lifestyle and fashion content for the smart, savvy female Arab reader.”

New appointments at IHC

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Integrated communications agency, IHC has promoted Alexandra Williams to the role of Managing Director of its Dubai office. Having joined IHC in 2016, Alexandra most recently held the role of Associate Director, where she was a part of the growth period of IHC particularly within the construction, engineering and technical sectors. In her new role, she will focus on growing the business, agency operations and overall client delivery.

The new appointment will also see the promotion of Ian Hainey, most recently Managing Director to take on the role of CEO. In his new role, he will remain strategically engaged with IHC Dubai, while focusing on continued global expansion, after client wins in the UAE and Brazil.

“I’m proud to take on this role, which I see as the very beginning of where we are taking this agency,” says Alexandra. “Having been at IHC for a relatively short period of time, the synergy was instant from joining and we have moved forward at an incredible rate. I’m under no illusions as to the importance this office will play over coming years, as the Dubai team should remain the creative engine behind our ambitious global expansion plans.”

Hainey, adds ”Word of our services has spread quickly between business decision makers, because we deliver hard-PR for clients targeting specific industries, supported by quality social media, digital advertising and powerful content. This has put IHC in an exciting position, where we are winning top clients across other geographic areas, with recent client wins in the UK and now Brazil, where we are launching our services in May 2018.”