Louis Hakim, Vice-President of Royal Philip Electronics and CEO of Philips Middle East, has been elected chairman of Advertisers Business Group (ABG), formerly known as GCC Association of Advertisers.
Louis replaces former Unilever Chairman, Jan Zijderveld, who is departing from the Middle East on to a new opportunity at Unilever in Singapore.
Alongside Louis Hakim's election, the newly appointed members of the committee include Sara Sahely, Manager of Group Advertising of Emirates, who was re-elected as Vice-Chair, Raef Labaky from Nestle, Mark Butterfield from Unilever, Margie Gilbride from Beiersdorf, Chareeka Jolly from Kraft and Fadi Ghosn from General Motors.
"We will co-operate to form a strong representation of the brand community at large, ensuring the implementation of the ABG's vision of taking the lead in setting global best practice standards in Media and Advertising", said Hakim.
"We will also develop communication campaigns to raise awareness and drive interest around ABG."
Through his new role, Louis together with the team aim to keep the momentum on people meters and constantly evaluating the regular updates on the progress and results, in addition to pushing forward a quantifiable auditing process of print publications using Castor.
Formed in March 2005, the ABG is a pressure group with a remit to reflect the values and mission of the World Federation of Advertisers, tailored to local conditions and needs.
The establishment's objective is to bringing international standards and best practices to the local market and aims to foster a fair and accountable marketplace.
ABG members comprise the biggest names in the advertising arena, most of whom are members of the World Federation of Advertisers and who represent 75 per cent of the $300 million (Dh1 billion) regional television advertising market.