Luca Lindner, President, Americas, Middle East and Africa for McCann Worldgroup visited the offices of MCN – Middle East Communication Network in Dubai, this last week of March, 2013. Lindner is a member of the Board at MCN, and is the representative for both McCann and Interpublic for the Middle East operations.
He spoke to all staff across MCN’s agencies at the MCN Hive lobby on March 27th, Wednesday evening. Although Luca has been to Dubai and MCN offices several times before, this was the first time he visited MCN’s new office tower – named the ‘MCN Hive’.
Akram Miknas, Chairman of MCN, introduced Lindner to the packed lobby audience as a ‘best friend’. Speaking to MCN staff in the large purpose-built lobby at the Hive, Luca shared a ‘best-of’ showreel that highlighted McCann’s renewed and refreshed creative energy across the globe. He highlighted McCann’s global strengths with 300+ offices, 18,000+ employees, 4000+ clients across a geography of 120+ countries.
According to Lindner, the group’s Top Ten global clients were GM, Nestlé, Coca Cola, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal, Martini, American Airlines, Sony, General Mills and Mastercard. Major new wins in the past year for McCann was the Chevrolet account in the US which accounted for more than a billion US dollars in spend with the agency group. He highlighted McCann’s lead position in countries like the UK, Brazil, Spain, France, India, the Middle East and Mexico. He added that the group needed to increase muscle in countries like Germany, China and Russia. McCann as a group are the second most awarded agency group at the Effie Awards globally, which underlines the philosophy and mantra of ‘Truth Well Told’.
Lindner said that the group ought to focus more on genuinely great creative work in the years ahead, being “less McKinsey and more Cirque Du Soleil’ – meaning a little less stiff and a lot more enthusiastic and entertaining. He highlighted the strong relationship with FP7 and MCN, and the wonderful understanding that the group had. He also particularly placed emphasis on the quality of the people in the Middle East at MCN – saying how he felt like part of a family every time he visited.
Lindner became President, McCann Worldgroup, Americas in 2012, becoming the first executive in the company’s history to head both North America and Latin America, which together represent McCann Worldgroup’s largest region in terms of both geography and revenue. The appointment recognizes Luca’s ability to navigate the complex needs of large multinational clients, as well as the increasing mobility of opportunities and talent across the Americas. Luca began with McCann as Regional Director for McCann Latin America/Caribbean and in 2011 added oversight of the Middle East and Africa to his responsibilities. In this multi-regional role, he drove remarkable innovation and growth on behalf of the agency’s roster of blue-chip clients, and under his leadership, the creative and professional reputation of McCann throughout Latin America has flourished, as have business results.
