WPP
WPP plc
WPP runs the most consolidated PR operation in the Gulf. Four of its named agencies — Asda'a BCW, Burson, Hill & Knowlton and Memac Ogilvy — sit under a single holding company, and three of those four now operate inside the Burson umbrella established in July 2024.
The Gulf entry point was 2008, when Burson-Marsteller took a majority stake in Sunil John's Dubai-based Asda'a. That firm became the regional anchor, surviving two subsequent global restructurings — first the 2018 BCW formation, then the 2024 Burson merger — without losing its Gulf-native identity. Hill & Knowlton, historically a separate WPP PR brand, was folded into Burson in the same 2024 move and now operates regionally as the conflict shop inside the network. Memac Ogilvy sits adjacent to the PR stack as WPP's standalone creative-and-communications agency.
The 2024 Burson formation simplified what had been a fragmented WPP PR landscape in the region. It also concentrated risk: more of WPP's Gulf earned-media capability now sits inside one network brand than at any point in the last decade.
Regional leadership at the holding-company level is not consistently publicly documented for WPP. Agency-level leadership is on individual agency profiles.
Holding-company structural changes combined with agency-level moves under this parent. Sorted most recent first.
- 1 Sept 2025LeadershipBurson — Hire
Fouad Bou Mansour joined as MENAT CEO, coming from the Saudi Tourism Authority where he was VP Creative Studio, and prior to that COO of Impact BBDO Group UAE.
Source ↗ - 1 May 2025LeadershipBurson — Hire
Sana Ali Khan appointed Chief Client Officer MENA (from Amazon, where she led Policy and Crisis Communications for MEA and Turkey). Claire Lawson named Head of Burson Dubai, joining from a fifteen-year run across Impact Porter Novelli, Edelman, APCO and Text100.
Source ↗ - 1 Jul 2024AcquisitionBurson — Acquisition
Created by the merger of BCW and Hill & Knowlton, operational from July 1, 2024. Globally the largest PR network by revenue ($1.3bn), ahead of Edelman.
Source ↗ - 1 Jul 2024AcquisitionHill & Knowlton — Acquisition
Operationally merged into Burson in July 2024; retained as a distinct brand inside Burson for clients with conflict requirements and select strategic accounts.
Source ↗ - 1 Jul 2024AcquisitionAsda'a BCW — Acquisition
WPP's BCW and Hill & Knowlton merged globally to form Burson, with regional operations integrating under the Burson banner from July 2024.
Source ↗ - 1 Jun 2024LeadershipMemac Ogilvy — Hire
Al-Futtaim IKEA appointed Memac Ogilvy to lead PR and influence, while also renewing the broader creative partnership — a consolidation win that took the brand's earned-media work in-network.
Source ↗ - 1 Mar 2024LeadershipAsda'a BCW — Exit
Sunil John stepped down as founder after twenty-four years; regional leadership consolidated under BCW EMEA, then folded into Burson following the global BCW–Hill & Knowlton merger.
Source ↗ - 1 Jan 2024LeadershipMemac Ogilvy — Hire
Regional leadership overhaul with appointments of country leads and a regional director, formalizing the country-by-country MD structure under Ashraf Shakah's MENA PR presidency.
Source ↗ - 2024MergerBCW and Hill & Knowlton merge to form Burson
Announced January 2024 and operational from July 1, 2024. WPP combines BCW with Hill & Knowlton globally to form a single network branded Burson, with around 6,000 employees across 43 markets. Asda'a continues to trade as Asda'a BCW in the region; Hill & Knowlton's regional brand is retained as a specialty unit inside the new Burson structure.
- 1 Jun 2023LeadershipHill & Knowlton — Hire
WPP restructured H+K's geographies so that Continental Europe and the Nordics report into Dubai-based Bashar AlKadhi, previously CEO of METIA — a notable inversion of the historical London-led structure.
Source ↗ - 15 Jan 2023LeadershipAsda'a BCW — Hire
Rami Halawani appointed Executive Vice President — Client Services, bringing over two decades of strategic communications experience.
Source ↗ - 2018MergerBurson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe merge into BCW
WPP folds Burson-Marsteller into a global merger with Cohn & Wolfe, creating Burson Cohn & Wolfe. Asda'a is renamed Asda'a BCW. The combined network claims roughly 4,000 staff across 42 markets.
- 2008AcquisitionBurson-Marsteller acquires majority stake in Asda'a
WPP-owned Burson-Marsteller takes a majority stake in The Holding Group, parent of Sunil John's Dubai-based Asda'a, establishing WPP's first significant PR footprint in the Gulf. The firm rebrands as Asda'a Burson-Marsteller.
The strategic logic is consolidation. WPP has spent six years tightening a once-loose constellation of PR brands into a single network, and the Gulf reflects that more clearly than most regions. Asda'a's homegrown identity sits inside the structure as the regional anchor — the brand still trades on its Gulf roots and on the Arab Youth Survey, the proprietary research engine John launched in 2008. Hill & Knowlton runs as the conflict shop inside Burson. Burson itself carries the broader network mandate.
Memac Ogilvy is the exception. It remains outside the Burson grouping and operates as WPP's standalone creative-and-comms shop in the region, with a practice mix that leans further into integrated brand work than the pure-PR sister agencies.
The open question is whether the post-John Asda'a can hold its regional identity inside the larger Burson scaffolding, or whether the Gulf-native brand quietly converges with global Burson positioning over the next leadership cycle.