Riyadh: OMD MENA, the media agency network of Omnicom Media Group, has announced the appointment of Ziad Soukkarie as Managing Director for Saudi Arabia. His mission at OMD will be to cultivate talent, foster team success, enhance client capabilities, and outpace the market in terms of growth.

Soukkarie brings with him over 18 years of industry experience gained in the region, mostly in KSA. Most recently, he was the General Manager of UM KSA. Over the years, Soukkarie has navigated the rapid evolution of the local media market and led the team handling the country’s largest advertiser. He owes his success to his deep understanding of the country’s marketing landscape and the needs of its advertisers.

“Working with Saudi Arabia’s growth momentum and its ambitious vision, Ziad’s experience and proven track record to date bodes well for our next chapter in the Kingdom,” commented Saleh Ghazal, CEO of OMD MENA. “Ziad is ideally placed to help us accelerate our growth, with his grasp of the dynamics and mechanics of the unique Saudi market. I am delighted to have a seasoned and respected leader joining the executive team and confident that we will create an exciting future for our talent, clients and partners.”

“I’ve always had the greatest deal of respect for OMD, and I now realise it is because we share the same vision and values. Joining OMD feels like a home coming of sorts, a natural step in my professional journey,” Soukkarie explained. “I am very excited about what’s coming next, and I look forward to meeting, exceeding even, the ambitions of our business partners.”

About OMD MENA:

Part of Omnicom Inc’s media services division, Omnicom Media Group, OMD is the world’s largest media network with more than 12,000 people working in over 100 countries.  In MENA, it operates in 11 countries and has close to 600 employees serving many of the most successful and well-known global and regional brands. To deliver better business outcomes and unlock growth for its clients, OMD makes “Better decisions, faster”, combining technology, data, innovation, creativity, empathy, and evidence.

OMD is currently ranked the best performing global media network overall by both RECMA and COMvergence. Thanks to an impressive list of account wins, COMvergence has confirmed OMD MENA showed the highest net growth in agency billings throughout the region in 2023. Notable recent wins include Dubai’s Department of Economy & Tourism, Burberry, The Rig, Events Investment Fund, Saudi Ministry of Culture, Saudi Formula One Grand Prix, SAIB and RAKBank, among many others.

OMD has an illustrious track record at prestigious industry awards. In 2023, Omnicom Inc. was named Most Creative Company of the Year at the 2023 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and, the year before, OMD was named Media Network of the Year at the Festival. Regionally, it collected to 18 wins at the MENA Digital Awards, 15 at the Effies MENA and two MMA Smarties MENA awards in 2023. Last year, OMD MENA was once again the Effies’ Most Effective Media Agency Office in the Middle East, making it the leader among media networks in the Effie Effectiveness Index for MENA in 2022. It was also named Media Agency Network of the Year and Media Agency of the Year in Egypt in 2022 by Campaign Middle East, and Agency Network of the Year at the MENA Digital Awards in 2023.

Omnicom Group, Inc. (NYSE: OMC) is the leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company.

For more details:
Eric Mirabel
eric.mirabel@omnicommediagroup.com