Watch this space: The prime time of new global M&C Saatchi CEO Zaid Al-Qassab

Award-winning British-Iraqi marketer on channelling his compulsion for observing people, the need for conscious creativity, and the challenges of modern technology

You don’t have to be a self-described proud British-Iraqi like Zaid Al-Qassab to assert that the most famous name in the advertising business is unquestionably that of Saatchi.

Imagine the affinity Al-Qassab experienced, then, on walking in the door to take over as the global chief executive of M&C Saatchi Group earlier this year after a stint with broadcaster Channel 4 and a formative career at Procter & Gamble.

Perhaps surprisingly, he has never discussed with co-founders Maurice and Charles Saatchi the fact of their shared roots … but something left unsaid can still sit lightly in the background.

“It’s just a happy coincidence that one of the most famous British-Iraqi families set up this company and now I have the pleasure of leading it,” Al-Qassab tells The National.

“Everyone knows the Saatchi name. Which is, obviously, an incredible calling card but it’s also a weight on my shoulders having to live up to that reputation. We’ve got a fantastic business all over the world and actually our fastest growing businesses are in the Middle East at the moment.

“Nowadays, it’s much more than advertising – it’s consulting, it’s media, it’s a full range of creative services in pretty much every sector, and some brands that we work with are household names globally – so it’s a lot of responsibility but, let’s be honest, it’s also an absolute joy.”

At 52, Al-Qassab gives the impression of a man who makes the best of it as he progresses through life’s ups and downs.

There is certainly no looking back in anger at his early years in suburban Manchester. Childhood loyalties were forged, including one for Manchester United – a cherished photo wearing the strip while celebrating the 1977 FA Cup final victory has maddeningly been lost.

But there does remain an ingrained memory of bullying and the name-calling that, with typical wry humour, he has described as betraying his tormentors’ lack of geographical knowledge.

“I grew up in a lovely, friendly part of the world in the north of England. People are generous, open-hearted, and talkative but there were less pleasant things.

“Some that do stick in my memory were aspects of being teased or bullied at school because I looked a bit different and had a foreign name. The world's come a long way since then, although everyone who is in a minority experiences some forms of racism, and I still do.”

Over the years, Al-Qassab has never been afraid to speak out on the issues he cares about and such discrimination is no different. News that a British MP was stopped from boarding a Canadian Airlines flight with the rest of the delegation last year because his name was Mohammad prompted him to post on social media about enduring the same “my whole adult life”.

When people ask about Al-Qassab's heritage, the response is invariably the same. “I say: ‘Well, I’m 50 per cent Iraqi but 100 per cent British.’ I don’t see any confusion in thinking about it that way. I see it as a massive advantage as most multicultural people do.”

Stockport to Saudi Arabia

His parents met in provincial England, with Al-Qassab senior having relocated from Baghdad to take A levels. Between the ages of three and seven, young Zaid led a nomadic life, switching between the soggy climes of Stockport and the pristine dry heat of Saudi Arabia where his father worked as an engineer.

“That's fun when you're a child, when you just soak things up and enjoy it,” he says. “I've lived in different countries, I’m mixed race, which I think is fantastic in itself because you get to experience the different cultures as part of your family and upbringing.”

One drawback of growing up in a blended household 50 years ago was that he missed out on the more modern idea that children should share the native tongues of their parents. “We know that bringing children up speaking more than one language is advantageous, not just for them as an individual but as well for the growth of their brain and their abilities linguistically.

“In those days, people didn't do that. Regretfully, I was brought up only speaking English. My parents thought it would be confusing, both to me learning the language and culturally for me to be brought up speaking two languages.”

Chasm to cross

Within England, Al-Qassab soon discovered a different kind of chasm to cross – the yawning divide between north and south after relocating to the London feeder town of Reading where his “teensy bit” of a Mancunian accent drew some attention.

The Blue Coat School, despite being private and only 25 miles away, wasn’t one that traditionally sent students to Oxford University but Al-Qassab “felt like it was worth a shot”.

He was accepted to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics “before PPE stood for personal protective equipment” at Merton College, and took on the posts of junior common room treasurer and captain of the tennis team.

The people's people watcher

Al-Qassab notes that PPE gets a bad rap because “quite a few politicians did it which is not entirely surprising” but credits the course with instilling the critical thinking that allowed him to forge his way up in marketing. “I did a degree that was about understanding the world and how people interact with the world, and, in a funny way, that’s what I still do.

“I think I’m lucky to have found a career where watching people and understanding what motivates them is an important element. But when I’m not working I’m probably a people watcher, too – I watch politics, I’m really into offbeat movies, live music, art, theatre, sport.”

However, it was some years before he perceived just how privileged his experiences at Oxbridge had been. “I don’t think you realise when you’re there. You’re just a teenager at university.”

One of his professors was David Butler, the foremost election guru in the second half of the 20th century. On televised election night coverage, it was Butler who brought the country the swingometer, a graphics device used to illustrate how the wind had changed since the last time people voted.

“When you see someone on television and you think: ‘Oh, that person used to be my tutor’, you know you’ve been exposed to some pretty special people.”

The description also applies to Al-Qassab’s wife, a fellow Oxford PPEer and former fund-raising trustee at the Young Climate Warriors charity. In their decades together, the couple have not only lived in Britain but also in Switzerland and Greece, the birthplaces of their daughter and son, respectively. “You can imagine the fun we have when the Euros football tournament is on,” he quips.

A roaring success

It was a shared enterprise in terms of building careers, hers at the World Health Organisation. His own, in which he has accrued awards and accolades including the Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix twice, Brand of the Year twice, been named the UK’s No 3 Marketer of 2023 and served as a council member of the Advertising Standards Authority, got off to an unlikely start.

With no idea what to do after university, Al-Qassab sent in applications for management consultancy roles because that’s what many friends were doing. Mistakenly, one he applied for was with Procter & Gamble.

By the end of the interview, it had become clear that P&G was instead a multinational consumer goods company but the job offer was made and accepted.

The new intern found that he’d swapped one seat of learning for another, and the modus operandi there shaped his thinking that advertising is half art, half science requiring formal grounding as a crucial piece of the puzzle.

Crazy but it works

“P&G was an amazing school for learning about marketing, advertising, creativity and business. It does it by throwing young graduates out of university straight into running multimillion pound businesses and coaching them, letting them do the training on the job and make mistakes.”

This is a good thing since Al-Qassab almost came to an undignified end on his first project, throwing thousands of pounds away when the backs wouldn’t peel off any of the large number of promotional stickers he had ordered. Expecting to be fired, he was told that everyone makes mistakes but best not to make the same one twice.

“They trust that they have bright, motivated young people and management who care about those people.

“When you look at it, it’s crazy but it works. And that’s why P&G, along with others who have a very similar approach, are successful in turning out so many people who go on to have great careers in this industry.’’

While promoting companies such as Wella and Pringles, Al-Qassab worked “in a wonderful melting pot environment” with colleagues from every country in Europe.

Champion of diversity and inclusion

“I really benefited from that. I love working in different cultures and with people who come from diverse backgrounds. It’s part of why I’m a champion of diversity and inclusion. I just think that’s what makes the world go around.

“A lot of people say that it’s an increasingly divisive world. I know it sounds like a platitude but I believe there is much more that brings us together than divides us. Underneath superficial differences of what someone looks like, what food they eat or what their house looks like, you find that the values people have of family life, togetherness and community – the things they care about – are incredibly similar.”

He’d have happily stayed on the continent forever – “I mean, who wouldn’t want to live in sunshine most of the year and go to the beach after work every day?” – but the couple felt that the time had come to head home.

Returning to the UK, household names like BT and Channel 4 snapped him up in increasingly senior roles as he switched from consumer products to telecoms and media.

Mental health issues

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. As the children began school, Al-Qassab noticed that he wasn’t feeling quite himself, and, in the two decades since, has lived with anxiety and depression. Spending time with loved ones, eating healthily, getting fresh air and going to bed early, therapy, and shutting his laptop evenings and weekends all help as does possibly his greatest sanity saver: playing tennis.

Love of the latter might have given even him a small cause for envy after his brother, Usama, an important sounding board as a fellow chief marketer, was appointed in 2022 as commercial director of Wimbledon.

Publicly highlighting the issues, too, helps Al-Qassab – and he hopes others. It explains why he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the men’s health charity Movember after 10 years of involvement, first as a sponsor with Gillette, then as a media and marketing strategist on sabbatical, and lastly, as a supporter whose at-times zany facial hair has raised more than £30,000 to increase awareness of cancer and mental health.

But as we sit in Chelsea’s Saatchi Gallery, the conversation turns to the subject of digital engagement that was largely informed by the year after P&G spent immersed in an internet start-up in holiday home rentals. What once was a poster on a fence and then became an ad slot on TV is now often part of a stream of messages on people’s smartphones.

To Al-Qassab, the various means at his disposal to enable a client to interact with customers are like tools, as a factory might have. It’s just about selecting the most appropriate one for the particular job at hand. “Pretty much all the advertising we make nowadays is digital. In many respects, it’s our bread and butter.

“What we do now isn’t different. How we do it has evolved, and we need to be at the forefront of that but the creative challenge is exactly the same as it has always been,” he concludes.

Profits, people, planet

It bears mention, though, that his recent keynote speech at the Cannes Lions International Festival urged for a more “conscious creativity” that strikes a balance between making money, supporting communities and not damaging the environment.

Asked if his industry should have more safeguards against the technological arms unleashed by video and artificial intelligence, he points out that those in today’s younger generation are digital natives. “They have much better skills at managing digital media than we do. We’re right to worry but we’re over worrying because they grew up in that world.”

In part, this lies in the belief that AI is evolving rapidly but won’t leapfrog human ingenuity. He doesn’t see it as a threat at all. “AI will be a great help to our industry because it is a tool like everything else,” he says. “We will find lots of brilliant uses that are good for the world.”

And that just about sums Al-Qassab up, ever the optimist and people watcher on the lookout for opportunities and ideas that challenge the status quo.