Ghassan Maraqa, CEO – MENA, Memac Ogilvy.In this Industry Snapshot, Memac Ogilvy’s Ghassan Maraqa reflects on the true essence of commercial creativity and why agency partners must work alongside their clients to create lasting brand legacies.
In an industry shaped by acceleration and automation, what should creativity protect at all costs?
The single most important challenge, especially as clients seek large campaigns at scale across multiple platforms, is to ensure that we do not resort to ‘replication’ but instead deliver genuine creative ‘amplification’.
Automation excels in delivering speed and undertaking repetitive tasks, and it frees up creative professionals to deliver strategic thinking and elevate the creative output, which are key to delivering impactful campaigns.
That means while automation takes care of the ‘what,’ we must uphold the ‘why’ and challenge every insight and create afresh, so that we can stand out from the ‘sea of sameness.’ We must elevate powerful, human-centric ideas and protect the creative spark above all.
What does good creative leadership look like in today’s environment, and how is it changing?
Creative leadership is evolving from ideation and execution to building an end-to-end ecosystem, which addresses the pain points of clients, going beyond briefs and uncovering insights that add tremendous value to campaigns.
A great creative leader is a strategic partner to the client, focusing on their business challenges and addressing them through talent and technology.
How are agencies approaching storytelling beyond individual campaigns, as brands seek more coherent and connected creative systems?
At Ogilvy, we are already moving from delivering campaigns to co-creating entire brand ecosystems for our clients.
We adopt a truly integrated approach, underpinned by our ‘borderless creativity,’ and tap into the potential offered by WPP Open, our intelligent operating system. This enables us to challenge briefs from the word go and ensure that our narrative and campaign idea work across multiple platforms and channels.
Every creative campaign, no matter small or big, thus becomes an authentic expression of the brand story.
Above all, by engaging clients within the platform, they become collaborators – from writing to brief to ideation and execution, while ensuring that their data is secure.
How are creative agencies adapting their capabilities, team structures or ways of working to deliver meaningful work at scale?
As clients look for large-scale campaigns that work across diverse platforms, delivering meaningful work means focusing on delivering strategic value.
At Ogilvy, we leverage WPP Open to create specialised AI agents that is infused with the brand’s DNA and our own market intelligence. This allows us to build agile teams that can scale campaigns without diluting the core idea.
By Ghassan Maraqa, CEO – MENA, Memac Ogilvy.
