MUMBAI: The Dubai Lynx International Festival of Creativity, the leading awards for creative excellence in advertising and communications in the Middle East and North Africa, will this year honour Roy Haddad, Director of WPP MENA, with the prestigious Dubai Lynx Advertising Person 2013 Award.

This honorary award, selected by the organisers of Dubai Lynx, is presented to an individual who has made significant contributions to advancing the reputation and profile of the communications industry in the MENA region.

Roy Haddad, who is based in Beirut, is responsible for co-ordinating WPP’s MENA operations. As WPP’s first director for the Middle East and North Africa, his role is a direct result of the region’s increased importance and focus for growth for WPP.

His constant questioning “where are we adding value” coupled with a relentless drive for excellence, has seen him transform a small agency in London specialised in the Arab World into one of the most highly rated regional networks in the Middle East and North Africa, with a portfolio that carries the highest number of brand leaders in the region. It has also led him to introduce many industry-wide initiatives that radically transformed standards for the benefit of the entire industry across the region.

His long-standing belief that brand/consumer relationships are built from “broadcast to narrowcast” has also seen him lead a widespread drive for integration across his network. His solution-driven attitude has been instrumental in developing some of the longest-lasting relationships in the industry.

“Roy Haddad has tirelessly worked hard, and motivated all those around him, to achieve great success whilst elevating the industry’s standards of advertising and communications in the region,” says Terry Savage, Chairman of Lions Festivals, who with Motivate, joint organise Dubai Lynx. “His endeavours to continuously develop the business are carried out with utmost commitment and passion, and as such we are proud to honour Roy with this accolade.” 

Commenting on the honour, Roy Haddad says, “I am obviously, at one and the same time both ecstatic and humbled by this recognition. To be bestowed this honour somehow makes the 36 years I spent in passionate pursuit of the next big idea, all worthwhile, if not delightful.”

Haddad began his advertising career in 1977 at McCann Erickson, prior to setting up his own business in London in 1984. In 1987, his agency signed an association agreement with JWT. WPP subsequently acquired majority equity in 1999. Appointed Director of WPP MENA in 2012, he chairs many of its companies in the MENA region.

Roy Haddad will be honoured and presented with the Dubai Lynx Advertising Person 2013 trophy during the awards ceremony and dinner to be held on Wednesday 13 March at the Madinat Jumeirah Arena in Dubai, venue of the festival.

Previous recipients of this honour are Raja Trad, CEO of the Leo Burnett Group of Companies, MENA; His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline & Group; Ramzi Raad, Chairman & CEO of TBWA\RAAD Middle East; Tanvir Kanji, Head of Inca Tanvir; and Joseph Ghossoub, President and CEO of MENACOM (formally The Holding Group).