Another top lady is taking on the recession with gusto. Farah Ramzan Golant, head of Abbott Mead Vickers, knows her shop is going to weather the storm. The Independent is clocking the shop’s annual billings at 383m pounds for the past four years.
“I’m very happy in my own skin. Farah is Arabic for joy,” she says. “My ethnicity has never counted against me. People say to me ‘Have you ever had to work harder to play in a man’s world?’ I don’t believe that to be the case. You hear about agencies that are ferociously combative, but we are a very people-orientated culture and that has made it really easy for me.”
Advertisement
Now, there’s some pleasant words, some pleasant news on this bitterly cold Monday morning. Golant became the steward of the agency four years ago and spent the first battling to hold onto business. She maintained those account and went on to lead her team to win 14 out of 17 pitches in the past few years.
Andrew Robertson, head of parent company BBDO, has called Golant “a good man in a blizzard.” And perhaps, with her four languages and tough spirit, maybe he’s got a point. Asked about the advertising downturn in 2009, Golant said:
“If we are now looking at a significantly choppy 2009, I say ‘good’. Let’s get going, let’s grow our share.”
More: The Issues Behind The Issues Of BBDO’s AOR Win On Starbucks