LONDON: What does it feel like to win one of the region’s most prestigious awards in media and communication, after being told you “helped build” that very industry?

For Elda Choucair, chief executive officer of Omnicom Media Group MENA, this year’s Dubai Lynx Advertising Person of the Year is an award she accepts with clear unease — one she is quick to attribute to the teams, clients and partners who have shaped the region’s media landscape alongside her.

“Honestly, closer to the uneasy end,” Choucair told Arab News.

“I’ve spent most of my career in rooms where the work speaks and the people behind it stay a step back, and that habit doesn’t disappear because someone hands you a trophy. So my first reaction was gratitude, and my second was to think of the people who should be standing next to me.”

No one builds an industry alone, as she says, but few have shaped this one as much as she has.

The Lebanese-born executive joined Omnicom Media Group MENA in 2006 and rose from senior account roles at OMD Worldwide to lead PHD Media, which grew sevenfold under her, before becoming group chief operating officer and, in 2021, CEO of the entire holding regional group.

She was the first woman to head a major media agency group in the Middle East and North Africa, and she steered Omnicom’s shift from traditional media buying into data, commerce, influencer marketing and artificial intelligence-driven services.

But her influence also reaches beyond the agency. She is vice chair of the Advertising Business Group and sits on the boards of the Interactive Advertising Bureau MENA, Endeavor UAE and the Unstereotype Alliance, helping shape standards, talent pipelines and inclusion initiatives in a fast-changing market.

“I was part of several shifts, and I was lucky to be in a position to push some of them early,” she said ahead of the ceremony at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai on Oct. 8.

“The first was taking PHD from a new, small agency brand to a challenger that competes at the highest level. When it launched, the market was already saturated with media agency brands from every network.”

Choucair stayed at PHD for over a decade, until 2019. The challenge, she said, was to build a proposition distinctive enough to make the agency a “destination” for clients.

“It remains the most rewarding experiences of my career, because it proved that there is always room in the market, as long as you understand what clients want and focus on building a proposition that answers it.”

The second shift came with the group CEO role, which changed the job itself.

“The question was no longer how to run an agency, but how to make my team successful: how to create a culture that empowers people, challenges and supports talent, and where radical candor drives the conversation at every level of the organization.”

It also completed a journey that is rare in an industry where many people hop from one agency to another — and one that skeptics might say limits professional experience. Choucair sees it the other way round.

“In 20 years I’ve never had a boring day,” Choucair said. “Experiencing constant change within a familiar environment gives you a sense of safety that allows for real growth. It offers the chance to be challenged, to stretch your capacity and capability, while knowing that you have support around you.”

Her first big test came soon after, when she led Omnicom’s expansion into data, commerce and influencer marketing just as the region was cautiously leaving the COVID-19 pandemic behind.

“I don’t believe we really had a choice. A media agency that does not lead the innovation path for its clients becomes obsolete.”

Then came AI, just as the region was swept up in the industry boom. Choucair likens its impact to modern aviation.

“Most of the time, the plane flies on autopilot, but the pilot is still responsible for making decisions, anticipating challenges and navigate the unexpected. Human judgement has never mattered more than it does today.

“Automation is very good at getting you to the average, efficiently. But clients don’t grow by being average.

Creative risk, she said, simply moves upstream, and the talent that will thrive is “curious, comfortable with ambiguity and genuinely bilingual, fluent in both technology and human behavior.

“Some of our best people today came through apprenticeships and non-traditional routes, and that gives me a lot of confidence about what is possible.”

Dubai has been her home for two decades — a fitting pattern for someone whose career is defined by growth — yet she still carries the creative instinct of many Lebanese expatriates.

“What makes Lebanon unlike any other market is that the scale and calibre of its talent bear no relation to the size of its industry. Media and advertising spend in Lebanon is insignificant compared with other countries in MENA, let alone globally, yet the country produces a disproportionate amount of talent.”

Despite the hardship, she said, that talent continues to thrive.

“What I see again and again is a resilience that shows up in the creative work: people who have learned to make a great deal out of very little, to improvise, and to find humour and humanity even in the hardest moments.”

Resilience also runs through her view of women in a male-dominated industry. Their presence and influence have grown significantly in recent years, she said, but some dynamics remain culturally entrenched.

“The underlying issues, though, have not changed. The agency world is demanding and operates under constant pressure, and that makes it hard for women who also want a family and want to be actively present in their children’s lives.”

Her answer is to offer the same flexibility and support she received at Omnicom to all employees, men and women.

“I try to set an example for everyone,” she said. “I would like to be judged on the performance of the business and on the growth of the people around me. If that helps another woman believe she can do the same, that is the most meaningful part of it.”

Her leadership is another trait that has distinguished her throughout the career. Her style has been compared to mountaineering and charity expeditions, with their emphasis on “disciplined ambition" and “scaling peaks.

“The mountains are wonderfully humbling. They don’t care about your title, and they remind you very quickly that ambition without discipline is dangerous.”

She draws three lessons from them.

“The first lesson is pace. On a long ascent, the people who reach the top are rarely the fastest on the first day; they are the ones who manage their energy and look after each other. Business transformation is no different.

“The second lesson is that none of us really knows our own limits.

“The third lesson is that the summit is only a moment. What happens on the way up and on the way down is what stays with you, what shifts your beliefs, and what creates the friendships and the bonds.”

Asked which is harder, going up or coming down, she said: “Simply to keep going, whether up or down.”

She believes the region is well placed to go far, and the Dubai Lynx ceremony is a timely reminder of that.

“What makes MENA unique is its young population and its growth prospects. With that comes ambition, drive, and a real appetite to build the future.

“The change we need is to trust and believe in our own capabilities, to recognise that we can export talent, ideas and great work, not only import them.

Looking to 2030, she sees Omnicom Media MENA as a growth partner, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar playing pivotal roles.

“What that means in practice will be shaped largely by how far AI reshapes our business and by how we evolve the roles of our people so they can help clients navigate an agentic world, one where AI influences consumer decisions and becomes a utility in everyday life.”