VICE Media Group Bolsters Creative Leadership in the Middle East Following Year of Growth

VICE Media Group, a global multi-platform media company, and its creative agency Virtue Worldwide, have made a number of senior hires and high-profile client wins in the Middle East as part of the Group’s continued growth in the region.

Tarek Khalil has been promoted to the position of Regional Managing Director, VICE Arabia, MEA, bringing with him a wealth of experience across the region in running award winning agencies and securing and sustaining large creative accounts. In addition, Carla Dabis has been appointed as Commercial Director, VICE, MEA. Carla will focus on forging partnerships at VICE MEA that deliver two-way value exchange, developing compelling equity content and creating meaningful narratives for progressive brands. The new appointments follow some recent wins for VICE’s commercial arm in the region which include Durex and OSN+ amongst others.

Tarek Khalil, Regional Managing Director, VICE Arabia, MEA said: “Our strong growth in the Middle East and Africa are driven by our understanding of culture as well as our commitment to champion young voices. Expanding and diversifying our team of talents in the region and amplifying our cultural insights and storytelling capabilities represent a natural progression of our creative momentum in the region. This sets us up for an exciting phase of growth to deliver culturally impactful work for leading brands who want to connect with audiences in a meaningful way, raising the bar on innovation and disrupting the digital landscape.”

VICE Media Group has also appointed Joseph Aquilina as Senior Director and Head of Experiential across MEA, charged with leveraging the group’s expertise in engaging with youth and harnessing the company’s proven success in the region to drive growth across the experiential offering of Virtue in MEA. Gina Allaf also joins Virtue as Group Account Director, MEA, and will work to engage with and drive brands with purpose while crafting powerful, positive and impactful market opportunities.

The creative agency powered by VICE has also appointed the award-winning industry veteran Sarah Berro as Senior Creative Director, MEA. Sarah, who was named one of the top Next Creative Leaders in 2020 by The One Club for Creativity, is working on projects that align brands with an authentic voice at the epicenter of culture.

Virtue continues to roll out best-in-class production capabilities in the region, giving brands strategic and creative expertise, with direct access to the intellectual and technical means to shape and create culture.