It has been revealed over the weekend that ad man Rohan Young is to take the role of executive creative director at TBWA\Raad Dubai. Young has been working on a freelance basis in Amsterdam for the past 12 months, as well as filling the creative director role at his own digital media company; 'Agnostic'. Previous roles he has held include executive creative director at FHV BBDO (also in the Dutch capital) and international creative director at CLM BBDO in Paris. Throughout the past decade, Young has worked on accounts for such established names as Adidas, Heineken, Nissan, Mars, Pepsi and Gillette, and that's just scratching the surface.
Young has been working on a freelance basis in Amsterdam for the past 12 months, as well as filling the creative director role at his own digital media company; 'Agnostic'
The ECD role at TBWA\Raad was destined to go to Marc Lineveldt, an internationally renowned award winner (with gongs at Cannes, D&AD and The Leories amongst others under his belt) who was set to return to the Middle East after nearly three years in the US working for Atlanta, Georgia-based agency, Fitzgerald & Co. The move was never completed though, due to what are thought to be personal reasons. Unfortunately, at this time, nobody from TBWA\Raad has been able to be reached for a comment on the move.
Rohan Young
The last person to hold the ECD title at TBWA\Raad was Martin Lever, and the role has been left vacant since he left the agency last August, when he relocated to Hong Kong for a job as global creative director for all Cathay Pacific business at McCann Erickson. Speaking at the time of Levar's departure, TBWA\Raad CEO and semi-namesake Ramzi Raad said that his colleagues “Strong creative leadership skills and work ethics will certainly be missed.” Since Levar left, the role has been handled by regional creative director Nirmal Diwadkar, who will hand over his duties to Young immediately.
“Advertising should be about creating content that people love and want to share.” Rohan Young
Young is a creative director with a passion for his work, who (in his own words) loves “Creating ideas that start a conversation or spark a movement.” The reasoning behind the 'Agnostic' name is his belief in “Agnostic ideas, which work across all media and screens.” He is especially enthusiastic about 2nd screen and mobile media, which he feels helps viewers to be “Engaged whenever and wherever they are.” He believes that people tend to overcomplicate the advertising business, which he believes can be summed up thusly; “It's about creating content that people love and want to share.” Aint that the truth!
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK, who has never been to Dubai. But then he's rather fond of drinking in public, so it probably wouldn't be the best of ideas anyway.
