The best way to describe Sunil John – and I mean this as a compliment – is he is both the problem and the solution.
The problem is that in the media world, John has a knack of standing in front of every important door you want to open. The solution is that if you play fair, and by the rules, he usually opens it for you.
The announcement this week that John is stepping down from the pioneering PR firm he founded, ASDA’A BCW, also means the door is shutting on one of the most remarkable growth stories the industry has ever seen.
Sunil John’s legacy at ASDA’A BCW
John was the original CEO of ASDA’A, an independent agency he created, from 2000 to 2008. The firm evolved into ASDA’A BCW, one of the leading global communications owned by WPP, with John becoming the MENA president. Having recently sold his shares to WPP and decided to call it quits, ASDA’A BCW will now merge to a new Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region under the leadership of Scott Wilson.
Wilson has big shoes to fill. What started out as one man and his dreams by John 24 years ago, quickly turned into one of the region’s most dynamic and fastest growing PR agencies. Mega firms such as Emaar, Nakheel, Emirates NBD Group, DP World, Dubai Chambers, Etisalat (now e&), ADNOC, ENOC, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Masdar, Air Arabia, StarzPlay, GEMS Education and Jumeirah all became his clients.
At the same time, John carved up the global PR field with multilateral entities such as GE, Nestle, Microsoft, Cisco, Samsung, Huawei, Hilton Hotel, IHG, Starwood Hotels, Raytheon Group, Coca-Cola, VISA, MSD, JLL, UNHCR and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
By now, you get the picture – where the action was, where the power was, John and ASDA’A BCW were right in the middle of it all. But the truth is that John did a lot more than collect a remarkable list of blue chips names under his client belt, both on a corporate and personal level.
ASDA’ BCW’s influential Arab Youth Survey
On a corporate level, two stand-outs are worth mentioning. First, the ASDA’A BCW Arab Youth Survey, which is now in its 15th consecutive year. Collating the hopes, attitudes and aspirations of over 200 million youth, the survey has dived deep into often taboo areas such as religion and politics. But what is more remarkable is that it has done so with the blessing of Arab leaders in the region. The survey has now become the definite guide to what young Arabs are really thinking, and an extremely useful tool for predicting future trends.
It is well worth reading again the results from the 2009 survey released on March 7, 2010, which laid bare the frustrations of millions of young Arabs – just nine months before the start of the Arab Spring.
At the time of the first survey, I told John he was either brave, crazy or stupid (or all three) to commission a survey across the Arab world that asked young people about their religious and political alliances, and details of their financial situations. The truth is he was just smart – David Cameron, Tony Blair and the UAE ambassador to the USA, have all quoted excerpts from the survey to Arabian Business during interviews over the years.
It was also a very smart corporate move. Although entirely funded by John, with zero revenue and massive costs, the survey became the key to opening doors in the corridors of power across the world, with many leaders keen to know exactly what the youth are thinking, and how they should address their concerns. The survey also, for the first time ever, positioned a PR agency not just as the storyteller, but the story maker. That is a strategic move every other agency in town has sought but failed to replicate.
The second stand-out for me on a corporate level has been what John has done to put the UAE on the global stage. He was behind the launch strategy for the Burj Khalifa, with a relentless six-month campaign that literally had the whole world talking about it.
Ten years ago, when I was at an event hosted by Mohamed Alabbar on New Year’s Eve, I asked the Emaar founder where Sunil John was. “Sunil never stops working, he’s probably down there lighting the fireworks for the Burj Khalifa,” Alabbar said. (and I think he was right).
John’s role in key bids
John also played a big part in the successful bids for Expo 2020 Dubai, the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi, and COP28 in Dubai.
But for those of us in the media industry, it is John’s personal touch that will be most missed. “You better ask Sunil” is a phrase I have heard all too often from the likes of Alshaya Group founder Mohammed Alshaya, GMG Deputy Chairman Mohammad A. Baker and GEMS founder Sunny Varkey.
At first, it was infuriating. But as time went by, like most in this industry, I came to admire the fact that the bigger the name, the more likely they were to trust only one man: Sunil John.
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