Brainchild Promotes Fizzah Shahid To Associate Dire

Brainchild Communications Pakistan (BCP), which has a non-ownership franchising agreement with the Publicis Groupe since 2010 to use the trademarks for Starcom and MediaVest, has promoted Fizzah Shahid to the role of associate director of planning and strategy

Karachi (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th April, 2021) Brainchild Communications Pakistan (BCP), which has a non-ownership franchising agreement with the Publicis Groupe since 2010 to use the trademarks for Starcom and MediaVest, has promoted Fizzah Shahid to the role of associate director of planning and strategy.

“Fizzah Shahid is a fantastic practitioner and has been a driving force behind strategic thinking on clients like Easypaisa, more recently P&G & others,” said Benish Irshad, the COO of Starcom. “She has demonstrated skill, passion and always go beyond to support her peers. I am very confident that under her guidance & training, our strategy & planning department will only get more strengthened.”

The promotion comes at the ninth anniversary of her career with BCP, which she joined in mid-2012 as a management trainee and gradually rose through the ranks across strategy and planning roles. Prior to joining the leading media agency, she interned at Engro Vopak, Pakistan State Oil, and the Agha Khan University Hospital.

“I have known Fizzah since 2012 when she joined Brainchild as a management trainee,” said Urooj Hussain, portfolio director at BCP. “Since her very early years she has always shown a determination to grow and learn in all aspects of her career. Taking challenges head-on has been something which she thrives on; from award-winning solutions across MNCs like Mondelez and Coke to business building pitches to training and developing other people to grow in her footsteps, her journey during this time is an inspiration for all those who aspire for a model journey in media planning and strategy. It is heartening to see Fizzah take on this new role and I have absolutely no doubt that she will prove to be invaluable to business growth and Brainchild’s strategic skill in the coming times.”

Fizzah’s work has won BCP the Bronze at Dragons of Asia, Gold, and Silver at MAA Globes, with her clients including United Bank Limited (UBL), UBL Fund Managers, Total, Servis, and KIA. For her, she is most proud of the role she has played in mentoring and nurturing emerging talent within her core team and the larger parts of the media agency.

“Fizzah is a go getter,” said Farhan Khan, CEO of BCP. “Her leadership qualities along with dedication and commitment towards work is a true testament of this promotion. She has successfully led the Mondelez account and has delivered the most dynamic outcomes for which she has been acknowledged by both local and regional teams of Mondelez and Starcom. Along with several pitches in the recent past, she successfully led the pitch for Telenor GSM and Easy Paisa & converted the 2nd biggest telecom client in Pakistan for BCP.”

He added that Fizzah has helped Brainchild pioneer new ideas that have provided business solutions which helped advertisers grow their businesses.

The upper management are sanguine that Fizzah will bring the same passion, skill, and dynamism to her expanded new role.

In 2017, Fizzah and her colleagues were awarded Silver at the WARC Media Awards for Effective Use of Partnerships & Sponsorships for their Mondelez International campaign around the Tang powdered beverage. The award recognized communications planning which has made a positive impact on business results.

"I feel honored to be having the management and leadership team’s trust and being given this responsibility,” said Fizzah Shahid, the new associate director for strategy and planning at BCP. “This surely would not have been possible without the valuable guidance that I have had over the years from all my seniors, the incredible teams that I have been fortunate enough to work with, and the go-fail attitude inculcated by the company.”

In October 2020, Fizzah relocated to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, while being able to retain her job and continue working remotely. The seamless transition is among the plethora of optional flexible working arrangements facilitated by BCP for all its employees. Her promotion, while working remotely, is a first for any Pakistani media agency.

“This is a testimony to how well we have worked as a team within the company and with clients alike, whose expectations have constantly challenged us to do more and been pivotal in our development,” she said. “I feel proud to have been working with such great colleagues with whom we have aptly demonstrated the power of 1 - where nothing is out of bounds when we work as a team."

Fizzah’s work has won BCP the Bronze at Dragons of Asia, Gold, and Silver at MAA Globes, with her clients including United Bank Limited (UBL), UBL Fund Managers, Total, Servis, and KIA. For her, she is most proud of the role she has played in mentoring and nurturing emerging talent within her core team and the larger parts of the media agency.

Presently, BCP is the only media agency in Pakistan where women make up a third of the workforce, with Benish Irshad and Urooj Hussain leading the Starcom and MediaVest teams respectively. The promotion of Fizzah Shahid, despite her remote placement, is a signal to the industry to adapt to the new normal where productivity outcomes rank above all else, and where the culture must adapt with the times in order to retain and grow its prized talent.

Z2C Limited, the holding company for BCP, Spark affiliate Blitz Advertising, FinTech leader bSecure, sports media platform bSports, and a host of vertically integrated ventures, relishes in a culture of flexibility and an acceptance for failure & experimentation. This big picture approach is perhaps why the 2020 agency rankings report from RECMA consistently rank businesses under BCP as worthy contenders in the advertising & media industry of Pakistan, where it commands a 31% market share.