Saatchi and Saatchi to expand strategic offering

His appointment is part of the top creative agency's push to boost its strategic offering to clients across the region.

Atallah joins Saatchi & Saatchi's Dubai headquarters - which oversees all offices and operations across the entire Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, including the Levant region and Egypt.

Atallah joins Saatchi from FP7 McCann Erickson, where he established and led strategic planning as Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer MENA on accounts like MasterCard, McDonalds, Coca Cola and BMW.

Saatchi & Saatchi Chief Executive Officer for the MENA region, Elias Ashkar, says Atallah's appointment is part of the agency's bold regional expansion plan, which is happening at a time when other agencies are downsizing.

"Joseph has a strong regional understanding with a truly global perspective with the expertise to build strategic insights that lead to big organising ideas. And it is these ideas that have long established Saatchi & Saatchi as a true creative leader," he said.

Joseph started off his career in 1989 as a Research Executive with PARC (Pan Arab Research Centre) Beirut and moved up to become Deputy MD for the Beirut office, a position he held until he left them in 1996.

He then joined FP7-McCann Eriksson in Saudi Arabia as an Account Planning Manager, moving up to Account Planning Director and then Regional Planning Director.

In 2002 he was promoted to Vice President-Chief Strategy Officer, leading a network of 56 Strategic Planners across 13 offices, developing the planning and account team's strategic planning, communication and advertising expertise.