Publicis Groupe MY promotes Emir Shafri and Andrew Michau

Publicis Groupe has promoted Emir Shafri as its chief creative officer and Andrew Michau as its chief strategy officer. Emir (pictured left) was previously ECD while Michau (pictured right) was strategic planning director. As chief creative officer, Emir will be responsible for driving the company’s creative ambition, while Michau will enhance the agency’s integrated, and data-led approach to connected solutions. Both Emir and Michau will report to Neil Hudspeth, CEO of Publicis Groupe Malaysia and global client leader, APAC. This move comes as the agency aims to reinforce its commitment to its clients' transformational growth. 

Emir joined Publicis Groupe Malaysia in May 2019 as ECD and according to the agency, has been instrumental in elevating creative products and helping various big brands win in the platform world. In his new role, Emir will be responsible for developing and heading creative communications, bringing together brand-building ideas with a modern approach. He will also be championing creativity across the company’s network, attracting and nurturing talent, and working closely with Publicis Groupe’s larger creative pool. 

He told A+M that he is excited about his promotion, "with a healthy dose of 'Wow, did the weight on my shoulders get significantly heavier?'. "Over the past two and a half years, I’ve had the honour of working alongside some really talented creatives in a place that has had a storied legacy. It’s quite sobering knowing that I’d have to live up to the trust earned from not just the clients, but more importantly, the people, by reinforcing a culture where they can thrive," he explained.

Meanwhile, Michau will continue to drive and lead strategy for clients, while maintaining close relationships with them. The Groupe said Michau has a proven ability to understand the nuances of brand-led storytelling, customer experience and earned media, and how they work together to create cutting-edge strategies that come to life across various platforms and communities. 

Similarly, Michau said he is both honoured and excited to take on the new role. "It has meant a great deal to me to be so warmly welcomed by the larger strategy, analysis and business transformation team. Their trust is something I will not take for granted. Excited to be given the opportunity to bring together a range of strategic disciplines to provide more data-driven, personalised and direct consumer experiences," he explained.

“Michau’s passion for crafting well-thought-through narratives with increasingly data-fuelled intelligence is highly valued and appropriate, and I am confident that working closely with the rest of the incredible talent we have in our strategy and insights team, our agency proposition will go from strength to strength”, said Hudspeth. 

At the same time, Hudspeth explained that Emir's passion, humankind, and commitment have enriched the Groupe's most important asset – its people. "He is driven by his love for understanding human behaviour, asking 'what if' and crafting experiences with the alchemy of technology, creativity and humanity. I am confident that as my creative partner, we will continue to grow and succeed," said Hudspeth. He added that this growth was not only attributed to the business, but also in terms of expanding the agency's capabilities in CX and innovation to support its clients’ growth acceleration and creative ambitions. 

In 2022, Hudspeth told A+M that he aims to continue accelerating the Groupe's growth in its people and its unique capability to deliver world-class end-to-end business impact solutions for clients. "These promotions will also support growth for our clients as they seek to optimise to win in a platform world, and growth for the Groupe as we continue to invest in our key tenets of domain expertise," he added.

Separately, Publicis Groupe Malaysia's PR arm, MSL Group, appointed Elya Eusoff in October to lead the business as GM. He joined from Ruder Finn Malaysia and has been tasked to lead and further strengthen MSL’s end-to-end integrated communications offerings, while accelerating Publicis' innovative influence proposition. Elya brings a wealth of experience in PR, digital marketing, and marketing communications to his new role.

Read the rest of the interview with Emir and Michau here:

A+M: What is your first order of business as CCO and CSO?

Emir: When taking up a new role, there’s a huge temptation to attempt doing many things as part of a so-called grand plan, at the risk of spreading oneself too thin when one doesn’t even fully know the ground.

So, the first thing I’d be doing is to listen, listen, listen, before doing. I’d like to spend the next few months truly understanding their vision for themselves and the agency.

What gaps do they feel exist – whether in terms of skills that require development, or in terms of our ways of working – that I’d need to support them in filling, so they could help clients thrive in this platform world we live in? And, ultimately, how can we reinforce and accelerate a shared culture where everyone – regardless of seniority and specialty – feels they could contribute to our next chapter?

Michau: People. People first. Support the existing team members as we integrate the various strategic disciplines. Reinforce and accelerate our culture of "Power of One":  a culture of collaboration, constant curiosity and learning, shared ownership and respect for ideas…wherever they may come from. Assist each team member to define a clear plan for personal development so they are driven by their authentic purpose and hone skills necessary to help our clients win in a platform world. 

A+M: What are some gaps in the market you'd hope to help clients fill?

Emir: Oftentimes, creatives work on our own little island. With that, comes executions that don’t seem connected in a cohesive journey. Experiences that stop short at building awareness, instead of going beyond to build relationships. Work that doesn’t empathetically listen to data and insights.

Instead, we need more connected creativity: ideas that are connected in a seamless consumer journey, experiences that help brands connect with people to foster direct relationships, and work that empathises with and connects to the needs of both brands and humans.

Michau: I believe clients need to get closer to their customers, so putting consumer identity resolution at the core of our clients growth strategy. Using our holistic view of consumer behaviour to create more connected consumer experiences and compelling value exchange. Foster direct relationship’s with consumers and brands.

A+M: What are some trends you're excited about in 2022? Why?

Emir: Especially during the pandemic, we’ve seen more clients demand for greater integration. Marketers don’t really want separate vendors that can give them media, creative, digital solutions, and so on in isolation. They’re increasingly looking for partners that can deliver integrated, holistic solutions.

I’ve had the opportunity to see how powerful integration is, through the Groupe’s “Power of One” way of working. On several of our clients, we have the best of media, creative, content production, PR and influencer, digital solutions as well as data and tech consultants working as one bespoke unit built for and around the brand.

So, why is that exciting to a creative dude? For one, I’ve seen how this experience unlocks more “connected creativity” that’s attuned to the customer at every stage of the experience. For me personally, by working closely with all these different experts, rather than in my own little bubble, I’ve felt like my creatives and I have grown so much more.

Michau: Discovery or social commerce. I'm excited about how seamless and fast-moving the consumer journey can be. How we can create connected fulfilment from our brand ambassadors, KOLs and content. Excited to bring some of Publicis’ exclusive partnerships (like TikTok Commerce) to our clients.

A+M: Could you share a valuable learning experience you've gained in the past year?

Emir: When we’re caught up in our jobs, it’s easy to forget who our most important bosses are: more than top management or clients, it’s our people (and family, of course). The pandemic has shown us how important a role the manager needs to play. To keep teams together even as we were physically apart, we had to make a conscious effort to check in regularly, help them grow, ensure they feel a sense of belonging within the team, remove roadblocks and keep them sane.

This is a lesson that I’ll carry with me even as the pandemic gets lifted and teams are physically together again. After all, in this business, we can’t function without our people.

Michau: Being isolated like everyone one else during the work from home lockdowns made me really value how much we get from being part of a team. Having a lot of time on my hands forced a certain amount of introspection.

My learning or at least what I have gained from the last year is to really consider how I turn up as a team member. How I improve my skills to encourage, support and learn from those around me.

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