MIDDLE EAST
AD WEEK
IMPRESSIONS
Joseph Ghossoub on Martin Sorrell
As the one-year anniversary of the buyout deal with WPP approaches, the head of The Holding Group
reflects on his relationship with—and similarities to—“one of advertising’s historical figures”
Do you get along with Sir Martin? You’ve built THG into a huge business, so without
I don’t see him much, but I get along with Sir Martin saying, “Oh, I’m great…”
very well. He’s a very, very interesting guy. This is You don’t want me to say that?
someone who has changed the industry worldwide. Look, THG did not come about because I found a
He is one of the biggest figures in the advertising world, million dollars at the end of the street. It came about
among the greatest ever. He’s one of advertising’s because a lot of people put in a lot of hard work,
historical figures. You learn from him every day. including myself. I don’t want to portray myself as
a genius, but we did things right. We did the right
What do you learn? things with the right people.
Every time you sit with him, there’s something. You To give you an example: We were probably the first
learn from his enthusiasm, his drive, his diligence, his to branch out into various disciplines. We moved PR
hard work. You’d think that someone in his position out of the agency when everybody else in town was
might slow down, but this guy is everywhere, every doing it in-house. People said we were crazy. People
day. I bet you I could send Martin Sorrell an email got angry. We even lost clients. But that didn’t stop
right now and within three minutes he will respond us, because we knew the full-service agency wasn’t
personally. He doesn’t stop. viable for the future. And now we’re sitting on the
largest PR agency in the Middle East.
He can be quite scary, though, no?
He can be tough. When it comes to business, he can Like Sir Martin, you have a reputation for being
be very tough, but he has to be. This guy is running tough.
one of the largest communications conglomerates in Tough is a big word. What is tough? I’m not
the world. And I tell you, communications is not an shouting and firing people left and right—that’s not
easy matter. You’re running from research to PR to my style, I’m a very patient man. There are times
advertising to digital to media to events to this and this. when you have to be tough, but not to the extent
It is not like running a factory. of being a butcher. There’s a fine line between
tough and serious. What’s tough? Fighting? I’m
Some might say you’re the Middle East’s equivalent of serious, I am a serious guy, and this makes you look
Martin Sorrell. tougher than you are. But in the end, I’m a very
[Laughs]. Well, I wouldn’t mind being called that. soft-hearted person.
CREATIVE
BIG BREAK
A FINE ROMANCE
WHEN I was 21, I started work at Lintas
VALENTINE’S DAY is but a week away, so
(now Lowe Lintas) in Manila. I’d been
keep your loins girded for some serious
working at a design studio and decided I bandwagon-jumping ads over the next
wanted to get into advertising. Lintas had few days. We’ve selected a couple of the
two creative directors: Diame Dumaup
finest current examples.
and Denis Garcia. Denis was a multi-award
Exotica—being a flower shop—at least
winning creative director. He was also a
has a decent excuse for tying itself into
well-known song writer. They owned their
Valentine’s. As the first and last resort
of every well-meaning but unimaginative
own record label.
male looking for a romantic gift, the store
I was a little intimidated when I took
will probably see a reasonable ROI on its
my portfolio in. But they were both really
timely reminder that ladies like flowers.
friendly—no ego—and put me at ease. In
This ad—like many Exotica ads—is
this industry, you have a lot of guys who
actually a pleasant change from other
feel like they have to show they’re the boss, flower sellers, most of whom would be
you know? They weren’t like that at all.
They were very cool.
When they saw that I had some ability,
Rany Francisco
they really encouraged me to share my
Creative director
thoughts and ideas with them. That’s
Venture Communications
unlikely to feature anything as unsexy as
something I’ve tried to do throughout my dentures in their promotional material.
career. My door’s always open. I don’t try It’s sweet. In a slightly nauseating way.
and keep the best accounts all to myself meetings—presentations to the president
Which brings us to Krispy Kreme’s
or anything. and stuff—and I saw how they would
doughnuts.
Within the first few months, they’d given apply strategy to their campaigns. It’s not
This ad is an almost heart-breaking
me the opportunity to work on the Unilever just about doing cute ads. You have to
exercise in wishful thinking. There are
many words one might expect to follow
account. I won four awards in my first year, apply competitive analysis to the brands
the line “Say I love you with our new
so they obviously taught me well. you’re handling. Then you can create
romantic ……”. “Doughnuts” isn’t one of
I think the most important thing I something better.
them. And look at the picture. The knife.
learnt from them was strategic thinking. That’s advice I pass on to my creatives for
The fork. The napkin. The crystal plate
I was used to thinking creatively—having how to create good ads. Denis and Diame on a table adorned with rose petals. We
worked at the design studio. I knew how made it easy for me to learn. And I try to know suspension of disbelief is important
to make things look good. But Diame and make sure that my team find it easy to learn
in advertising. But.
Denis would take me along to internal from me.
www.mediaweekme.com 08 FEBRUARY 2009 / 19
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36