TBWA’s Ramzi Raad talks success

ENAR

Kicking off his career in advertising in 1967, Ramzi Raad is one of the architects of the industry in the region. Based in Dubai since 1986, Raad is the chairman and chief executive of TBWA Raad, a subsidiary of New York-based advertising agency TBWA. In Faraya, Lebanon for the MENA Cristal Festival, Raad sat with Executive to talk about the prominence of television in the Middle East, the growth of digital advertising and the challenges of the region’s industry. How did advertising on television become the prominent media avenue in the region? At one stage in the [Middle East and North Africa] region, back in the 1990s, television was the main communication medium because of the high percentage of illiteracy in large markets such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. Oil money made a lot of consumers have disposable income and become interesting prospects for international clients. At that