28.03.2024

Farah Ramzan Golant returns with EMEA expansion brief for Sid Lee owner Kyu

Ramzan Golant: departed AMV for All3Media in 2012. Farah Ramzan Golant, the former Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO UK chief executive, is returning to the ad industry to lead Kyu, a Japanese marketing services group, in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Ramzan Golant: departed AMV for All3Media in 2012

She joins Kyu, which owns design agency Ideo, media and CRM shop Kepler Group and creative outfit Sid Lee, on 1 October as chief executive.

Kyu was set up in New York by former Omnicom executive Michael Birkin in 2014 as a subsidiary of Japanese advertising and media group Hakuhodo DY Holdings.

Ramzan Golant will be responsible for building a European hub “with a specific remit to look for new investment and strategic acquisition opportunities”, according to the company.

She quit the agency world for TV in 2012 to become chief executive of All3Media, the production company behind The Only Way Is Essex and Shameless. During her tenure, the company was sold to Discivery and Liberty Global for more than £500m in 2014.

Ramzan Golant has been chief executive of the Nike Foundation’s Girl Effect, a not-for-profit organisation that helps to empower girls, since 2015.

She said: “Passionately creative people collaborating across the whole spectrum, from design to digital from advertising to architecture, sets kyu apart.”

Ramzan Golant described her new role as “an opportunity to redefine the role of the creative industries in solving complex business and social problems” and that her experience “enables me to bring new thinking and energy to the sector and make a new footprint, drawing from my three CEO roles”.

Birkin, to whom she will report, said: “Her leadership experience in running global creative businesses and her track record in societal impact work speaks for itself.

“We know she’ll bring her flair, expertise and passion to Kyu, which will prove invaluable as we look ahead to the next exciting chapter in the building of our creatively led organisation.”

Hakuhodo DY Holdings posted annual revenue of ¥272bn (£1.9bn) in 2017.

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