Jon Marchant is Group President at Memac Ogilvy, part of WPP, leading 450 people across one of the region's biggest advertising networks after 27 years in the industry.

Jon explains why he believes the real threat to the advertising industry isn't AI, it's mediocrity, and what that means for agencies trying to stay relevant. He also opens up about why he believes vulnerability builds more trust in leadership than authority ever will, and how his own definition of success has changed over nearly three decades at the top.

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction and imposter syndrome about the guest list 1:07 Moving to Dubai and running an international agency for the first time 2:01 "Dubai is not a city, it's an attitude" 3:25 Temping as a secretary and falling in love with advertising 4:23 Fighting for a job on the Manchester United account 5:21 The 1999 treble shoot and sneaking in with the European Cup 9:06 What mental availability actually means 9:45 Why billboards still work in a digital world 14:36 Getting inspiration and using AI as a spark, not a replacement 15:32 "The enemy is not AI, the enemy is mediocrity" 21:07 Why being an introvert is an advantage in leadership 22:46 The call to the hospital and the hole in one that changed everything 24:41 His father was 45 29:01 The car accident that reminded him who he does it for 30:32 Redefining success: is the ladder leaning against the right wall 41:00 The misconceptions Brits have about working in the Middle East 43:00 Dubai as the shop window, Abu Dhabi as the strategic engine 46:31 Never been fired, but he has had to fire people 47:57 Three things that make a good leader 49:19 From British fell running champion to endurance sport as de-stressing 55:03 Running the Lebanon office during the conflict 1:00:01 What roles AI will actually replace 1:11:10 The Go Compare story 1:12:15 End

Follow Spencer Lodge on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/madeindubaipodcast/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586194260076

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.lodge

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

https://www.facebook.com/spencerlodgeofficial/

Follow Jon Marchant on Social Media:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-marchant-70998324/

https://www.ogilvy.com/ae/team

https://www.linkedin.com/company/memacogilvy/

https://www.instagram.com/memacogilvy/?hl=en

Nick Watson is a former Royal Marine who moved to Dubai in the late 1990s and later founded Team Angel Wolf, a nonprofit built around his son Rio, who is 23 and lives with a rare chromosome condition. The wider mission behind Team Angel Wolf, teaching communities and schools across the UAE what real inclusion looks like.

Timestamps

0:57 Nick and Spencer meet after 21 years of near misses 2:12 Why Nick says the timing wasn't right before now 2:56 Growing up in Cornwall and his parents' cafe in Falmouth 4:06 Leaving school at 16 and the family's move to central France 5:38 Discovering art and the dream of designing cars 6:31 Finding triathlon and building a community in Toulouse 9:56 Choosing the Royal Marines over art school 10:35 Joining the Marines at 21 13:19 The hardest decision of his career, stay or leave 14:50 Meeting his wife Delphine on a personal training course 16:15 The conversation that led them to Dubai 16:56 Arriving in Dubai in 1996 with £850 to his name 18:41 What Dubai looked like before the Marina and the Burj Khalifa 22:06 Rio is born in 2003 23:44 "Something's not right" 24:18 The first time Rio stopped breathing in the bath 26:05 It happens again, and the hospital sends them home a second time 27:16 The four and a half year search for a diagnosis 29:41 The call from Paris confirming Rio's chromosome deletion 30:08 What Rio lives with today at 23 38:02 Holidays, and the last one they took 10 years ago 39:19 Delphine, the backbone of the family 40:30 Tia, and her bond with her brother 41:43 A day in the life of the family 44:37 Why Team Angel Wolf was founded in 2016 46:24 What inclusion actually means to him 47:56 Whether organisations are genuinely inclusive or just ticking boxes 48:44 The four step plan behind Team Angel Wolf 53:01 What it would take to fund the mission properly 55:56 Three practical tips to become more inclusive 58:29 Whether he sees himself as successful 1:00:22 How hard it is to ask for help 1:01:41 A brush with clinical depression 1:05:44 The conversations he has with Tia about the future 1:07:00 What he'd ask of Spencer's audience 1:09:37 How to follow and support Team Angel Wolf 1:11:38 The advice he'd give himself, looking back 1:12:58 End

Follow Spencer Lodge on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/madeindubaipodcast/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586194260076

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.lodge

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

https://www.facebook.com/spencerlodgeofficial/

Follow Nick Watson on Social Media:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickwatsontribewatson/

https://www.facebook.com/TeamAngelWolf/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-hasan-alogaily-mbbs-mrcgp-dipcd-iblm-icflm-6318a2171/

Dr. Hasan Alogaily is a global expert in longevity, and he's here to cut through the noise. Peptides, supplement stacks and expensive therapies dominate the conversation online, but he says none of it matters if the basics aren't in place first.

In this conversation, Hasan explains why lifestyle is the real foundation of a longer life, how often you should actually be getting your bloods checked, and why skipping your annual health check is a bigger risk than most people realise.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:09 Longevity vs health span: what is the actual difference?

04:00 The longevity pyramid and why Dubai has it upside down

06:41 The patient on 37 supplements who was still smoking

07:29 Peptides, RCT evidence, and what the science actually supports

09:30 Blue zones: movement and food as a cultural norm

11:06 "Lifestyle doesn't sell. It's not sexy enough till you're 80."

11:28 Why the blue zones data may not be what we think it is

14:06 Mental well-being and why no supplement addresses it

15:25 What health span medicine actually challenges about standard practice

16:01 "In my medical school, I was never taught to write an exercise prescription."

18:00 Ozempic, BPC157, and what the peptide space actually looks like

19:17 1 in 3 people in this region have fatty liver

22:10 Why even 10 minutes in the gym changes your mortality risk

23:13 Why muscle mass is a bank account you draw from later

24:29 Zone 2 cardio and the Maffetone formula

25:51 Why walking uphill on a treadmill might be all you need

29:29 "If you have an Emirates ID card, I guarantee you've got vitamin D deficiency."

33:13 Spencer's Harley Street story: two surgeons, one MRI, opposite advice

35:10 Spencer reveals his own lifestyle and Dr Hasan says it's really good, then asks the one question that reframes everything.

38:19 Sleep in Dubai and what the Arabic language reveals about why it matters

39:27 Wearables: the only two metrics that actually tell you anything

44:40 Spencer's 4:30am wake-up and whether he is getting enough sleep

47:08 Spencer books his health check at the clinic

48:49 "Do not pass go unless you've done a health check once a year."

50:03 End

Follow Spencer Lodge on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/madeindubaipodcast/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586194260076

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.lodge

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

https://www.facebook.com/spencerlodgeofficial/

Follow Dr. Hasan Alogaily on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/dubaifamilydoc/

https://kingscollegehospitaldubai.com/dr/hasan-alogaily/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-hasan-alogaily-mbbs-mrcgp-dipcd-iblm-icflm-6318a2171/

She grew up in a community that Nepal doesn't count. Below all 126 castes. Girls in her village had no access to education, healthcare, or transport. From the age of 11, they were sold.

Hannah Badi was nearly trafficked at 9 years old. She escaped at midnight with 32 girls and a stone in her hand. She went on to rescue 682 children. Her sister is now a minister of Nepal.

This is one of the most powerful conversations Spencer has ever had.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction 01:13 Hannah's childhood in far west Nepal 02:52 No food, no water, no school: what survival looked like 05:00 How the Badi community made money: selling daughters 08:03 What the Badi community is not allowed to do 10:18 There is no age: when girls are sold 14:15 A baby bought before she was born 16:36 Price tags on girls: Hannah's personal story 22:50 She collapsed. Her father took her to hospital for the first time. 25:25 What the doctor did 27:51 Her father's instruction: say nothing 28:14 The moment she realised it was wrong 28:31 Uncle Raju arrives in the village 29:48 Nobody believed him 31:20 The midnight gathering in the jungle 32:37 32 girls, one bus, a stone in her hand 33:41 Arriving in Kathmandu for the first time 38:50 Seeing a toilet for the first time 43:17 How long it took to change their mindset 44:41 At 13: her first rescue 46:11 682 children rescued 46:50 From that first group: doctors, bankers, a minister 47:18 Hannah's sister is now a minister of Nepal 51:06 Spencer's visit to Nepal and the documentary 52:00 Meeting the president of Nepal 53:54 The caste system: where the Badi sit within it 56:36 Below all 126 castes: not even counted 58:43 Hannah's message to the world

Follow Spencer Lodge on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/madeindubaipodcast/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586194260076

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.lodge

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

https://www.facebook.com/spencerlodgeofficial/

Follow Hannah Badi on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/hannah_badi_/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/hannah.badi.487845

linkedin.com/in/devisara-badi-168720250

Her son was 12. While she was on the waiting list for a donor liver, he went home and Googled everything she was too scared to search. She came through the surgery. And then sat with a question that stopped everyone in that room.

Dr. Kaiser Raja, her surgeon at King's College Hospital Dubai, is also in this conversation. And Spencer does something in this episode that Nadia did not know was coming.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction 00:17 Why Nadia chose to share her story 02:12 When the diagnosis changed everything 07:21 Waiting for a donor: the school run she will never forget 11:30 The operating theatre and what her son said before she went in 17:16 Did I really deserve this second chance? 28:06 Her first steps back: 30 seconds at a time 34:26 Living with someone else's liver: the fear of rejection 42:23 What Dr Kaiser means to her 43:22 The moment Spencer brought Dr Kaiser into the room 55:38 Dr Kaiser on the reality of liver transplant surgery 1:08:00 Quick fire with Dr Kaiser Raja

Follow Spencer Lodge on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/madeindubaipodcast/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586194260076

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.lodge

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

https://www.facebook.com/spencerlodgeofficial/

Follow King's College Hospital on Social Media:

https://www.facebook.com/kingscollegehospitallondon/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/king's-college-hospital-london-uae

https://www.instagram.com/kingscollegehospitaldubai/

Most people in the UAE assume their company medical plan is there to look after them. Sam Douglas has spent 13 years on the other side of that assumption. This is one of those conversations that changes the way you think about something you assumed was straightforward. Sam is honest, specific, and genuinely good at explaining a world most employees never get to see inside. Time stamps 0:00 Introduction 3:03 Corporate wellness: why it almost never moves the needle on claims 9:12 What an insurance broker actually does (and why everyone gets this wrong) 13:03 He works in insurance. He still couldn't claim. 23:30 The real reason he stayed in the industry for 13 years 36:03 Your company sees every medical claim you have ever made. You don't. 43:00 The single expensive claim that changes your entire team's renewal 52:43 Why insurance companies need brokers more than brokers need them 1:05:48 Mental health claims: the number companies aren't looking at 1:14:35 The questions you should ask before you hire an insurance broker 1:16:00 Quick Fire with Sam Douglas

Follow Spencer Lodge on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/madeindubaipodcast/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586194260076

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.lodge

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

https://www.facebook.com/spencerlodgeofficial/

Follow Sam Douglas on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/samdougydouglas/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuellewisdouglas/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/beneple

https://www.instagram.com/beneple.ae/ beneple.com

Most people in the UAE have spent years building a career and assuming their gratuity is sitting somewhere safe, waiting for them when they leave. Safa Bouzidi is one of the few people who will actually tell you what is happening to it.

If you work in this country and you have never asked your company where your end-of-service money is, this is the conversation that will make you start.

Timestamps

0:00 Introduction

1:11 Why gratuity was never designed to be your pension

3:31 The DIFC DEWS scheme and what changed

7:21 How your company has been using your gratuity as cash flow

9:20 The mistake most people make when they change jobs

17:31 Why companies are pushing back against the new scheme

21:51 The five approved providers and who is holding your money

28:23 The truth: your gratuity might not actually exist

31:58 Is Dubai actually built for you to retire in?

40:42 The freelancer and SME gap nobody is filling

44:19 Where financial habits really come from

48:18 Why fresh graduates spend before they save

51:36 Quick Fire with Safa Bouzidi

Follow Spencer Lodge on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/madeindubaipodcast/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586194260076

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.lodge

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

https://www.facebook.com/spencerlodgeofficial/

Follow Safa Bouzidi on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/safa_bouzidileterme/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/safa-bouzidi-leterme-5a515416/

https://www.instagram.com/daman.investments/

We talked about what the advertising industry actually gets wrong, and why most agencies won't tell you. We got into Jaguar, Ferrari, data, creativity, and the uncomfortable truth about what really makes a campaign work. And then halfway through, he said something that had nothing to do with any of that.

Sixteen years. That's how long he's been sitting with something most men in this part of the world would never say out loud.

This is one of those episodes you don't skip to the end.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

00:44 The Audi Campaign Flop — His Biggest Career Mistake

03:42 What Agencies Actually Do Now

08:51 The Scale of Leo Burnett and Publicis

10:55 B2B vs. B2C Marketing

15:34 Sales and Marketing: Stop Working in Silos

19:06 Calling Out Digital Agencies

23:08 Billboards Are Not Dead

30:44 Data vs. Creative Ideas

36:16 The Cadillac Win — A Facebook Road Trip That Changed GM

39:45 Clients Who Refuse to Evolve

43:11 Jaguar and Ferrari: Where Did It Go Wrong?

51:02 AI in the Creative Industry

56:56 The CEO's Hidden Battle — 17 Years of Anxiety

1:02:06 Disconnecting to Lead

1:03:34 Corporate Culture and Career Fulfilment

1:05:15 Legacy and What Really Matters

1:09:25 Quick Fire — Two Decades of Advertising in 60 Seconds

Follow Spencer Lodge on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/madeindubaipodcast/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586194260076

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.lodge

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

https://www.facebook.com/spencerlodgeofficial/

Follow Nadim Ghrayeb on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/ghrayebnadim/tagged/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadim-ghrayeb-848b2515/

https://www.instagram.com/leoburnettuae/

vero.co/babaghanouj

Paul Evans is the CEO of Solutions Leisure, one of the most recognised hospitality brands in the UAE with 23 venues across the region. But that is not the reason we brought him in.

He grew up dyslexic and spent years being told he wasn't enough, and the decisions he made in his early twenties landed him in a UK prison cell at 21. What followed was years of searching for something he couldn't name, until his body made the decision for him.

While building a business in Egypt, acute pancreatitis brought on by years of serious alcohol abuse put Paul in a coma for 77 days. He woke up with a different set of priorities and the kind of clarity that only comes when you have had to earn the right to still be here.

This conversation goes places most successful people never go publicly. He talks about what accountability really looks like when you stop blaming everything else, about the real price of starting over from nothing, and about why a man who has built all of this still believes that success has nothing to do with what you build.

Some conversations change how you think about things.

Timestamps:

00:00 — Introduction Spencer introduces Paul Evans and Solutions Leisure.

19:30 — Growing Up: Dyslexic, Bullied and Written Off Paul on his childhood in Cheshire, being diagnosed with dyslexia, the bullying, a distant father, and the moment at 14 when he decided to prove everyone wrong.

25:36 — Going to Prison at 21 An altercation. A 12-month sentence. Six months served across Walton and Kirkham prisons in the UK. Paul on what he took from it.

31:07 — From General Electric to a Bar in Egypt After prison, Paul builds a successful career in sales at General Electric. Then makes an accidental £30,000 investment in a bar in Hurghada, Egypt and never looks back.

35:43 — The Spiral: When It All Started to Fall Apart The Egypt years. Running his father's diving business, managing his own bar, and the heavy drinking and long hours that quietly took everything to the edge.

38:20 — 77 Days in a Coma Acute pancreatitis. An emergency flight to England. Seventy-seven days in a coma while his family lived in Singapore. The most intense part of the conversation.

56:19 — Building Solutions Leisure: 20 Venues in Dubai Paul on arriving in Dubai, founding Solutions Leisure from scratch, and building one of the most recognised hospitality portfolios in the UAE.

1:10:12 — Finding Purpose and Getting a Life Coach What do you do when you have everything and still feel lost? Paul on finding direction, working with a life coach, and the advice he gives people who feel stuck.

1:13:38 — The Daily Practice That Changed Everything Three things. Every morning. The gratitude habit Paul picked up through coaching that he says shifted everything.

1:14:04 — Selling 50% of the Business Paul on the decision to sell half of Solutions Leisure to Sunset Hospitality, the timing, and why he has no regrets.

1:14:58 — How He Saved 400 Jobs During COVID The pandemic. The decisions nobody talks about. Paul on how he kept 400 people employed when most of the industry was collapsing around him.

1:20:57 — Quick Fire Round No alcohol. Daily gym. Surround yourself with the right people. Fast, unfiltered, and completely honest.

Follow Spencer Lodge on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/madeindubaipodcast/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586194260076

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.lodge

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

https://www.facebook.com/spencerlodgeofficial/

Follow Paul Evans on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/pauljohnevs/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/solutionsleisure/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/SolutionsLeisure

https://www.linkedin.com/company/solutions-leisure-group/

https://solutions-leisure.com/

Sami Kayyali is the founder and managing director of Rekarda, one of the most specialist communications businesses in the UAE. But the work he does is not what most people think. He is not building slides. He is sitting behind the scenes of the rooms where the most consequential decisions in the region get made, shaping how CEOs, government entities and multinational boards communicate before they walk into the moments that define their careers.

With over 20 years of experience, Sami has watched brilliant leaders with brilliant ideas lose the room, not because the idea was wrong, but because nobody had ever told them the truth about how they were coming across.

This conversation covers building a specialist consultancy from the ground up in Dubai, the hidden work behind high-stakes presentations, what AI is doing to leadership communication, and the one pattern he sees in every single boardroom that almost nobody is willing to talk about.

Timestamps:

0:00 Who Sami Kayyali is and the work that happens before leaders walk into high-stakes rooms

3:30 What brought him to Dubai and the gap in the market he spotted that nobody else was filling

10:00 How a presentation design business became a full strategic communications company

16:00 The moment he realised the problem was never the slides, it was always the thinking behind them

22:00 The biggest communication mistakes CEOs make and why nobody ever tells them

30:00 What actually happens behind the scenes before a major board meeting or investor presentation

38:00 Can you tell within minutes whether a leader is a strong communicator and what gives it away

45:00 How AI is changing executive communication and why most leaders are getting worse, not better

53:00 The Kernel, cybersecurity and why it is a leadership problem, not an IT problem

60:00 Failure, what success means to him now versus ten years ago and the advice that changed everything

66:00 Quickfire: favourite books, the worst phrase in any business deck, the most underrated communication skill, PowerPoint loved or hated, AI as a creative shortcut or a creative risk, and one thing every CEO should fix tomorrow

Follow Spencer Lodge on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/madeindubaipodcast/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586194260076

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.lodge

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

https://www.facebook.com/spencerlodgeofficial/

Follow Sam Kayyali on Social Media:

linkedin.com/in/samikayyali

https://www.linkedin.com/company/wearerekarda/

https://www.instagram.com/wearerekarda

https://www.facebook.com/hello.rekarda