Memac Ogilvy and AUB conclude fourth Red Academy, focus on AI-era skills
Memac Ogilvy and the American University of Beirut (AUB) have completed the fourth edition of Red Academy, a short-form talent development programme aimed at preparing students for a communications industry increasingly shaped by data and artificial intelligence. The latest cohort brought together 32 students from AUB’s Suliman S. Olayan School of Business for a series of practical workshops, with top performers offered internship placements at Memac Ogilvy.
Program design and delivery
The Red Academy curriculum concentrated on blending creative strategy with analytical tools. Sessions were delivered by senior Memac Ogilvy staff across the region, including Bhaskar Bateja, Head of Strategy at the agency’s UAE office, Christian Safi, Creative Director for Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, and Adella Lakkis, Strategy Director. Instruction emphasised cultural context in data interpretation, the role of human judgement in creative work, and ways to pair human insight with AI capabilities to produce communications that resonate.
Organisers positioned the programme as a bridge between academic study and agency practice. Beyond classroom time, Memac Ogilvy awarded internships to standout participants, enabling them to gain exposure to agency workflows across departments. The partnership model is designed to supply practical experience to students while giving agencies early access to emerging talent.
Context: skills gaps, talent pipelines and the MENA market
Across the Middle East and North Africa, agencies and brands face a shifting skills landscape. The rise of generative AI, greater demand for data-driven marketing, and rapid changes in digital platforms mean employers are looking for professionals who can combine technical literacy with creative judgement. Short, intensive programmes that pair academia and industry address immediate skills mismatches and help firms diversify their talent pipelines.
For Lebanon specifically, initiatives that keep early-career professionals engaged with regional employers carry additional significance. The country has experienced prolonged economic and political strain, and partnerships that open pathways to internships and regional roles can help mitigate brain drain pressures by providing tangible career steps for students.
What Red Academy signals for agencies and universities
Programs like Red Academy reflect several broader trends in the communications sector. First, agencies are placing greater emphasis on upskilling rather than relying solely on traditional recruitment. Short, project-based training lets agencies tailor talent to new service offerings such as AI-enhanced creative development and data-informed strategy.
Second, the content of such programmes is shifting. Instructors stressed cultural intuition as key to interpreting data and ensuring campaigns remain locally relevant. That juxtaposition of human-led cultural insight with machine-driven analytics is likely to become a core competency across MENA markets where nuance and local context matter.
Third, the academy model creates a low-risk hiring funnel. Internships and short placements allow agencies to evaluate practical skills and fit before making longer-term commitments, while universities benefit from industry-aligned curricula and improved graduate employability.
Voices from the partnership
The programme’s organisers framed Red Academy as part of a long-term investment in human capital. Mariella Abdo, Managing Director of Memac Ogilvy Lebanon and Iraq, said the initiative is intended to spotlight and support emerging creative talent despite operating conditions in the region, adding that creativity can transcend difficult circumstances. Dr. Yusuf Sidani, Dean of AUB’s Suliman S. Olayan School of Business, described the collaboration as a way to strengthen students’ practical skills and broaden their professional horizons.
Implications and next steps
For industry observers, the fourth edition of Red Academy underlines how established networks and agencies are responding to the twin challenges of rapid technological change and a constrained regional labour market. While short courses cannot replace longer-term curricular reforms at universities, they provide an agile channel for addressing immediate employer needs and for experimenting with new teaching approaches that integrate AI tools into creative workflows.
Looking ahead, sustained impact will depend on scale and continuity. To move the needle on employability in the region, similar programmes will need to expand reach, involve a wider set of stakeholders from media owners to client-side teams, and be backed by measurable outcomes such as placement rates and career progression data. For now, Red Academy functions as a practical case study in agency-led skills development, demonstrating how targeted partnerships can equip the next generation of communications professionals for an AI-inflected marketplace.
About the programme
Red Academy is a talent initiative run by Memac Ogilvy in partnership with the American University of Beirut. The fourth edition focused on preparing students for digital communications in the age of AI, combining strategy, creative practice and practical internships to bridge academic learning with industry requirements.
