Title: Chief Strategy Officer, Havas Middle East
Years in the role: 1 year
Years in the industry: 20 years
Years in the Middle East region: 14 years
Power Essay: A beautiful mess – why strategy must double down on difference
It’s messy out there. AI is everywhere. Deadlines get shorter while expectations keep rising. Talent priorities are shifting on both client and agency side. And in the Middle East, visions become reality at a speed no other market can match. Tomorrow arrives today and today quickly turns into a new vision.
What a beautiful mess.
But mess is not the enemy. Sameness is. Everyone now has access to the same tools, the same data, the same trends. AI can churn out outputs in seconds. Efficiency has become the baseline. The risk is that our work starts to blur together, fast, polished, but interchangeable.
That is where strategy comes in. Not as a tidy framework or a neutral deck, but as a way of making sense of the chaos in ways others cannot. This is not the time to soften what we do. It is the moment to double down on what makes us different.
“Strategy without a point of view is just reporting. Our value lies in interpretation, judgment and the courage to take a side.”
As agencies, we already have assets that set us apart. Frameworks that decode culture. Distinctive ways of working. Thought leadership angles. The red threads that connect disciplines. Too often, these get treated as decoration. They should be our operating system. If we do not use them with conviction, we risk blending into the noise.
So how do we stand out in this beautiful mess?
First, by applying our own lenses with discipline. Clients do not need another generic best practice; they need a distinctive way of seeing the problem. Our frameworks and methods are not overhead; they are our edge.
Second, by having stronger opinions. Strategy without a point of view is just reporting. Our value
lies in interpretation, judgment and the courage to take a side.
Third, by drawing more from the world around us. The richest insights do not come from comms reports, they come from films, music, sport, subcultures and everyday conversations that show where culture is moving. Staying open to the world is how we keep our work alive.
Finally, by doubling down on human understanding. Tools get copied, empathy does not. Understanding consumers and our own people, their contradictions, their tensions, their ambitions, is what gives strategy its power.
The mess will not get tidier. That is the opportunity. Strategy proves its worth when it turns noise into meaning, ambition into action and vision into momentum. The beautiful mess is our arena. The only way to win is to be unapologetically distinctive.
Highlight of the last year
My highlight this year has been the growth of our team and the product we are so proud of, alongside the launch of Converged, our group-wide strategy for the Middle East. It has redefined how we unite strategy, creativity, media and PR into one system and one vision.
Rapid fire
What the industry needs to talk more about:
Work-life balance and the sustainability of our people.
What the industry needs to talk less about:
Brand vs. performance.
If you could change one thing in the blink of an eye, you would…
Make sure every child has food on the table.
What’s one thing about you that would surprise your team?
I love to draw in my spare time.
What mobile application can you not live without?
Apple Podcasts.
What word / phrase do people remember you for using the most?
“Teamwork makes the dream work.” Cheesy, I know, but true.
What’s one local / regional tradition that you love the most?
The ritual of Arabic coffee and the hospitality it represents.
If you could choose any two people, currently alive, in the world to share a meal with you, who would it be?
Rory Sutherland and Francis Mallmann.
What’s your top word of advice for Gen Z and Gen Alpha?
Embrace the messiness.
What’s your go-to comfort food?
Ribeye with mashed potatoes.
What’s your favourite ad from the past 12 months?
British Airways’ ‘Windows’.
