M+C Saatchi Middle East Names Lana Bdeir as Chief Growth Officer

M+C Saatchi Group Middle East has appointed Lana Bdeir as Chief Growth Officer, a new role created to bring together its portfolio of specialist services under a single commercial leader.

The appointment puts Bdeir in charge of driving new business and sharpening the agency's position in what the group describes as an increasingly competitive regional market.

A Role Built for the Moment

The Chief Growth Officer title is becoming more common at major agencies. As clients push for more connected, results-focused work, agencies need someone whose entire job is to make sure all the different parts of the business are pulling in the same direction.

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At M+C Saatchi Middle East, that means coordinating across advertising, media, sponsorship, talent management, PR, social, consulting, production, and Sport & Entertainment. Bdeir's job is to turn that breadth of capability into a compelling reason for clients to consolidate their work with one partner, rather than spread it across many.

Scott Feasey, CEO Europe and Middle East at M+C Saatchi Group, said: "Lana brings a rare combination of strategic clarity, creative instinct, and commercial rigor. At a time when clients are looking for more connected, outcome-driven thinking, her ability to turn brand into a true growth engine will be critical as we continue to evolve our offer and scale across the region."

What Bdeir Brings to the Table

Bdeir arrives with more than 20 years of experience across the Middle East, Europe, and global markets. Her most recent role was at SRMG Labs, the creative and strategic unit of Saudi Research and Media Group, where she helped transform it from an internal support function into a client-facing agency. Under her direction, the unit landed major external briefs including work for PIF and PepsiCo.

Before SRMG Labs, she served as Managing Director of FutureBrand Middle East.

Her track record is built on repositioning organizations at moments of change. That is precisely the skill set M+C Saatchi is betting on as it tries to consolidate its specialist arms into a more unified market proposition.

Bdeir herself pointed to M+C Saatchi's Cultural Power framework as central to her thinking about the role. The group's proprietary approach uses AI-powered analysis to measure how cultural relevance drives commercial performance. For Bdeir, translating that methodology into measurable client outcomes is the core opportunity.

"M+C Saatchi's belief in Cultural Power isn't just a methodology, it's a lens that changes how you approach growth entirely," she said. "What excites me most about this role is the chance to operationalize that thinking more commercially, connecting the Group's creative depth to tangible business outcomes for clients."

Building Brands From Scratch

Bdeir also spoke to the broader regional dynamic that makes this role particularly timely. The Middle East is not just a place where established brands compete for share. It is a market where entirely new brands are being built from the ground up, at speed and scale.

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That creates a different kind of brief for agencies. Clients are not just asking how to grow. They are asking how to build something from nothing, in a market moving faster than most playbooks were written for.

"The region is in a genuinely fascinating moment," Bdeir said. "Brands here aren't just growing, they're being built from scratch at a pace and scale that's rare globally. I'm here to help this agency own that moment."

M+C Saatchi Group describes itself as the world's largest independent creative network. Its Middle East client portfolio includes Aldar, Wio Bank, Aquaventure World, Pizza Hut, Dubai Humanitarian, Warner Bros. Discovery, and several major sports properties including the DP World Tour Championship, Longines Global Champions Tour, and Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open.

The Bdeir appointment is a signal that the agency intends to compete hard for integrated mandates, using a unified commercial leader to make the case that breadth and depth can coexist in a single agency relationship.