After years of disruption, conflict and economic uncertainty, MENA’s advertising industry is emerging with a sharper focus on accountability, performance and commercial impact. Samer Majzoub, Regional Managing Director at Mindshare MENA & WPP Media KSA, believes the crisis has accelerated the region’s transformation, pushing brands to make more disciplined investment decisions and embrace e-commerce as a long-term growth engine. In this interview, he explains why recovery has exceeded expectations, how creativity and performance have become inseparable, and why the industry’s next phase will be defined by measurable business outcomes rather than traditional marketing metrics.
After a period of disruption and reinvention, what does recovery actually look like for MENA’s advertising and marketing industry today, and what signals tell you the region is entering its next growth phase?
The honest answer is that recovery looks nothing like what we expected, it looks better. The conflict forced a level of strategic discipline on brands and agencies alike that years of comfortable growth never could. Budgets got scrutinised, strategies got stripped back, and everything that couldn’t justify its existence got cut. Brands that previously spread investment broadly are now making harder, more deliberate choices about where and how they show up, and the results reflect it.
The most telling shift has been in ecommerce. What started as a way to compensate for physical retail losses has become a core growth strategy. Clients who activated lower-funnel capabilities out of necessity are now building their entire commercial approach around them. That shift has matured the landscape faster than years of normal conditions would have allowed. The disruption, ultimately, did the industry a favour.
Which campaign, idea, or strategic shift from 2025-26 best reflects how resilience in MENA has translated into creative and commercial strength, and what does it reveal about the region’s future direction?
The most significant strategic shift is one the entire industry should acknowledge: which is that the pressure made us stronger. The industry has always balanced brand building with performance, but the balance has fundamentally shifted. Accountability is no longer optional.
What we’re seeing now across MENA is clients demanding that creativity and performance operate as one discipline, not two separate conversations. ROI isn’t a metric at the end of the process, it’s the starting point. That’s changed how we plan, how we buy, and how we think about the value we’re actually delivering.
The work that’s come out of this period reflects that. Stronger commercially, more considered creatively. That’s not a compromise. That’s the industry finally operating at the level the region’s ambition has always deserved.
