Integrated agency BPG (Bates PanGulf, part of WPP) has announced several senior-level appointments to drive its regional growth and substantial new business wins. The internal promotions and new hires are across the agency’s comms, media, and creative teams. With these investments in talent, BPG has grown its talent pool in the UAE by 45%.

Spearheading the agency’s momentum on integration are former Business Director Benjamin Schwartz who has now been promoted to VP, of Client Services, and former Senior Business Director Mara Carpencu Pop, now promoted to VP, of Communications Services. 

An advertising professional with 14+ years of experience in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, Ben has previously worked at global network agencies (BBDO, TBWA, Ogilvy) on global brands such as Nestle, Lenovo, PepsiCo, and Ford. Mara brings 15 years of all-round experience in PR and MarComm to her role and has led integrated communications campaigns for global and regional clients, across tech, business solutions, telecom, travel, real estate, and consumer brands.

BPG’s newly promoted Creative Directors Aaron Leung, Ahmad Al Otaibi, and Nicolaas Van Der Merwe collectively bring decades of regional expertise to their roles, having worked on accounts like Porsche, HSBC, Nike, Harvey Nichols, Kraft, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Ford, and more, as well as regional powerhouse brands such as NEOM, FAB, Aldar, E&, and Government of Dubai.

Within BPG’s Client Servicing team, Sarah Rizvi has been promoted to Account Director. BPG’s newly promoted Account Managers include Avanthika Sivakumar, Oliver Harb, and Sriyaa Shah. In the Comms team, Stanislava Burianek has been promoted to Senior Account Director, and Iman Fathi Dawod to Senior Account Manager. 

Avi Bhojani, Group CEO, BPG said, “BPG has clocked up exceptional growth numbers in recent years, energized by its ‘Integrated by Intent’ positioning and customer-centric culture. This growth is driven by our people, who are our greatest strength, and we will continue to invest and reward our talent, coupled with the unique Culture at BPG, that empowers talent and enables them to take complete ownership, within a broad framework that is consistent with BPG’s offering. I cannot be prouder to lead TeamBPG into the next stage of our evolution, confident that we will leverage our creativity, knowledge, and more than four decades of regional expertise to deliver exciting outcomes for our clients.” 

Further adding to Bhojani's excitement, Darius LaBelle, President, of BPG UAE said, “BPG has opened January 2024 by securing several high-profile clients and unique mandates across sectors including automotive, culture, F&B and finance. A solid pipeline of existing business supplemented by exciting new business wins testify to the success of BPG’s ‘CX first, integrated by intent’ positioning. We look forward to our newly promoted team members defining future growth and evolution in our product and our culture, shaping a year of breakthroughs and boundless possibilities.”