Sunil John, the region’s PR industry pioneer, is the Senior Advisor, MENA (Middle East and North Africa) of Stagwell. 

John heads Stagwell’s MENA office with a focus on spearheading regional growth, exploring strategic acquisitions, and enhancing collaboration among local agencies and partners. Stagwell MENA’s regional footprint now includes omni-channel media agency Assembly Global; strategic digital communications company Create.Group; government and corporate advisory Consulum and creative collective Forsman & Bodenfors.  

At the heart of the region’s PR industry for over three decades, Sunil founded ASDA’A in 2000 and has shaped its growth into the benchmark public relations consultancy in the Arab world, before selling his company to WPP in 2023.   

Sunil was the first PR professional in the Middle East to receive the Outstanding Individual Achievement SABRE Award (EMEA) from PRovoke, in May 2014. He was named the Best PR Professional in the Middle East by PRWeek Global Awards in May 2020 and 2023. He was honoured with the MEPRA (Middle East Public Relations Association) Fellowship Award in May 2018 and the MEPRA Chairman’s Award at the Middle East PR Awards in November 2016.  

Sunil is the author of the annual Arab Youth Survey, a unique thought leadership initiative, started in 2008 and has published 15 reports until 2023. The AYS is one of the most widely cited pieces of public opinion research on the region by media and policymakers across the world.