VMLY&R CCO

Kalpesh Patankar made top creative at MENA agency.

WPP’s newly formed VMLY&R, which has been forged from a merger of VML and Y&R, has announced its global leadership. This includes KALPESH

PATANKAR, who has been elevated to regional chief creative officer for the Middle East and North Africa.

Based in Dubai, Patankar was previously Y&R’s regional executive creative director for MENA. He has led award-winning projects including “One Book for Peace”, a campaign tackling prejudice and aiming to spark positive conversation between Christians and Muslims, and “Dubai Font”, the first Microsoft font created for a city.

In 2018 he was named among the Top 10 Global Agency Leaders by Adweek. Patankar has been one of the most effective and awarded creatives in the region. He has created celebrated work for Coca-Cola, Harvey Nichols, Land Rover, Colgate and many others. Before joining the agency, he led creative in Asia with Saatchi & Saatchi Mumbai and Ogilvy Singapore. At Ogilvy Singapore he worked on DBS, the largest bank in the region, and at Saatchi & Saatchi his work for Ariel made him the No.1 ranked creative in India and helped the agency become the most awarded in 2000. At Cannes Lions, he helped Y&R EMEA become Regional Network of the Year in 2017. Bruce Clay MENA, the regional branch of the global independent digital agency network, specialising in SEO, PPC and social media, has announced the appointment of EMMELINE

BROWN as the agency’s client and strategy director. In the newly created role, Brown will be responsible for leading client growth and strategy, ensuring partners remain at the forefront of digital innovation. She plays a vital role in Bruce Clay MENA’s growth ambitions, which include the opening of an office in Saudi Arabia in Q4 2018 and further expansion into Asia in 2019. Brown has worked with large agencies and corporates including Jumeirah, Omobono and Commonwealth McCann.