For more than 40 years the Saatchi-style birthday stunts continued to be repeated by TBWA\RAAD’s staff, and every year the surprise factor never ceased to cross the boundaries of sanity and reason. One of the most memorable experiences took place on 26 November 2015, when my wife called to suggest that I join her for lunch at her favorite Salmontini Restaurant in Mall of the Emirates. After a sumptuous meal and a very pleasant two-hour chat, she suggested that I join her shopping, which I tried to avoid (as I always do) by using the office as an excuse. At this moment, I was faced with the eternal argument of “when are you planning to enjoy life and stop behaving like one of your staff who does not dare skip office for one afternoon?” I gave in and went along and soon we were on the patio of VOX Cinemas, where James Bond’s “Spectre” was premiering. My wife said: “This is a film that you’ll love, so let us get tickets and go in to view it.” I was greatly surprised, because all my many earlier attempts to drag my wife to the cinema had never succeeded. We walked into the theatre in darkness as the trailers had started. The moment we reached the top of the stairs and turned to climb up to our seats, the lights of the theatre flared up to the tune of “Happy Birthday Dear Ramzi!” The entire agency was seated there in the cinema and a giant cake was placed on stage, which I was invited to cut.
VOX Cinema seats are arranged in the form of a descending amphitheater, with the screen at the lower end. As I blew out the candles and helped in the cutting of the cake, I looked up at the applauding staff and 72 years of my life flashed before me like a feature film. This made me count my blessings for the many game-changing decisions that had allowed me to participate in the Middle East’s advertising story.
It had begun with my decision to disrupt the Raad family’s pharmacist tradition, resigning the role of pursuing a degree at AUB’s School of Pharmacy to my brother Raja, and choosing to study Arabic language instead. This was followed by my decision to decline the invitation of my uncle, Emile Baroody, to accept a job at his trading business, and opting instead to join the unwelcoming advertising agency he had been cooperating with for many years.
Many other important decisions and actions followed.
Leaving behind Publicite Universelle’s managerial position, as well as an offer to become a partner, to take on a more challenging regional account management role at HIMA, which allowed me to travel and learn about the Arab markets.
Breaking into the old men’s club at MEMAS and securing their acceptance and comradeship following the first advertising merger in the MENA region, which became a cornerstone in my gradual climbing of the Intermarkets ladder ahead of partners and more experienced staff.
My decision to leave Beirut, dragging my expectant wife and our first-born to Bahrain, rather than staying at home and continuing to rely on Samir Fares to maintain contact with my overseas clients via the Phoenicia Hotel’s telex machine.
Using the small Bahrain agency to contact all of Intermarkets’ clients with the help of Eddie Moutran, assuring them of our agency’s continuity via the Bahrain office, which then became an instrumental step towards bringing our regional agency to reality.
Responding efficiently to the flood of requests that poured from Unilever, Gillette, Johnson & Johnson, and most other clients, which led most of the agency’s seniors to follow me and move to Bahrain.
My personal decision to move to Dubai, where I sensed a brighter future for conducting regional business, although the colonial multinational companies retained their Arabian Gulf offices in Bahrain, which they considered to be the gateway to Saudi Arabia.
The three decisions above gave Intermarkets the lead in the race to regionally expand. It also confirmed a trend that became the norm for the entire industry.
Then leading the effort to fire Unilever, which was a bold and very courageous step in those days, before the prophecies of jealous skeptics could materialize. I then went after P&G and won some of its leading brands.
Following the Saatchi & Saatchi coup and their claiming back their global accounts of P&G and British Airways. I took on the challenge of making up for the loss and with the help of Nadim Sfeir and TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, soon won Saudi Arabian Airlines’ global advertising account.
My sudden stepping out of Intermarkets after Talal Makdissi bought my old agency and fighting to make sure that the full rights of Khalil Bitar and Nadim Sfeir were guaranteed in the transaction. My doing so not only surprised the industry but marred the deal for both the buyers and the sellers.
With the timely help of the Government of Dubai, I went back to the UAE, thus defying the unfair constraint that had been imposed on me by the new owners. Quickly, I rose again in my beloved operating base and what I came to consider my second home.
My staging of the most Disruptive coup when my partnership with TBWA was announced and TBVWA\RAAD was launched.
My establishing of a mutually respectful relationship with Carlos Ghosn and the positive vibes that this brought to the relationship between Nissan and TBWA\Worldwide.
My reversing of the role of a regional agency by placing such high-profile Arab accounts as Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, and the Qatar Foundation in the portfolio of TBWA\Worldwide. My disruptions continued to contribute to the further amplification of my image as a professional leader when I was named “Advertising Man of the Year” by both Cannes Lions and the IAA UAE Chapter in 2010.
My own life story continued to unfold in my mind, not only bringing into focus my professional achievements, but other more precious blessings.
The family my better half and the love of my life had built together. She had always stood firm next to me, and I remembered the many important moments of our marriage. The day I decided to leave war-torn Lebanon, she pushed me to do so, even though she was carrying a baby in her hands and had a second on the way. Or the day I returned home filled with desperation after throwing away the earnings of 29 years at Intermarkets, with the hope of starting again from zero. I will never forget her words of encouragement to not think twice about money, because she would always be next to me, come hell or high water. The sleepless nights we had spent together pondering our future upon arrival in Dubai, Paris, Limassol, and London. The houses she beautifully built and filled with joy for all of us in all these places, and most importantly in our two houses in Lebanon.
The additional blessings of my eldest son Reda, who I named after my father, and who named his eldest child after me. Reda, who had asked me to sell the red Mercedes he had won in a Dubai Duty Free raffle in 1986, and to send the money to his brother Rani at Syracuse University. He knew that at that time I could not afford to send two sons to the US to study at the same time. Reda, who accepted the TBWA challenge of leaving Dubai and settling in Saudi Arabia with his wife, who had to resign her senior position with a leading multinational and carry their two young children to a new life. To prove that he was progressing on his own personal merit and was not influenced by nepotism. Reda, who had remained by my side while building TBWA\RAAD and helped bridge the generation gap between me and the young ocean of international partners, multinational clients, aspiring consumers, and our own staff. All at a time when TBWA\RAAD was vying to overcome all the other agencies that had been around for so much longer.
The blessings that kept flowing with Rani, my second son, who was born in Dubai and with whom I had spent long nights painting famous cartoon characters on the windows of the children’s floor at AUB Hospital, his broken leg stretched out to heal during the Israeli occupation of Beirut in 1982. Rani, who joined his brother at Syracuse University and graduated with a double major in TV and radio production, as well as a degree in information technology management. His Newhouse School degree allowed him entry into Turner, where he climbed the ladder fast, moving from the viewer research department covering international markets to a position overseeing Middle East advertising sales out of London. Based on his performance, he received several promotions, finally being named president of CNN Worldwide Commercial. Rani was behind the establishment of CNN’s centers in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Other than his professional success, Rani made our family very proud when he insisted on holding his wedding at the Raad family home in the Chouf village of Ain Zhalta.
My personal blessings continued to flow when my youngest son, Rayan, was born at AUB Hospital. Rayan followed his two brothers to Syracuse University, but dreaded the snow and the cold weather, so he returned to Beirut where he revived the Raad family tradition of graduating from AUB. After graduation, Rayan helped launch Virgin Megastores in Lebanon, then created an event management company called Chic Alors. His novel start-up quickly developed to become one of the most creative event management companies, growing out of Lebanon to operate successfully in the Arab world, as well as on the European scene. Chic Alors was behind the launch of Hermès in the Gulf, the Dubai International Film Festival, Cartier, National Bonds, De Beers, and many fragrances for L’Oréal.
And then, of course, my most abundant blessing: TBWA\RAAD. The agency that I had established to “change the rules of advertising in the Middle East” and which, in 15 years, had succeeded in building a reputation as the most honest, professional, and creative agency in the region.
On stage in front of more than 100 TBWA\RAAD staff at VOX Cinemas, I decided that I owed it to myself, my wife and to the upcoming generation to bow out and leave the Middle East’s advertising stage to the aspiring young people who were eager to achieve.
Having grown up in a home that people referred to as the house whose family would always sit in front of the TV watching commercials, only to switch off the TV when the show began, I decided to disrupt my life one final time. I would not watch the commercials anymore but start watching programs instead.
I waited for the worldwide leadership of TBWA to descend on Dubai for our 15th anniversary celebration, then handed the torch to Reda, before packing and returning to my home country of Lebanon, where I would sit at my desk and write this story.
