Publicis Groupe has appointed a new chief executive for its media division in the Middle East and North Africa following its major global restructure.
Steve Parker, formerly CEO of lead agency Starcom Mediavest Group (SMG) London, is to relocate to Dubai to oversee the newly-consolidated Publicis Media.
He will report to Alex Saber, the new chairman of Publicis Media, who served as chair of the now-disbanded holding group VivaKi.
As part of the group’s consolidation plan, SMG and ZenithOptimedia are to be disbanded and the operation divided into four agencies: Starcom, Zenith, Mediavest Spark and Optimedia Blue 449.
The CEO of SMG MENA, John Antoniades, has returned to London where he will take on a new role at Publicis Media in the UK. It is not yet known what positions will be held by ZenithOptimedia MENA’s CEO Firas el Zein and CV Suvi, managing director of Blue 449.
All four agencies are to be re-located from the six Dubai offices to one Publicis Media centre in Media City within the next two years.
Publicis Media has still to confirm the fate of specialist agencies Performics, Ninah, LiquidThread and MRY.
