m25 Global Creative Series Episode 16: M&C Saatchi UAE’s Cristiano Tonnarelli on crafting purpose-driven campaigns across the globe

m25’s Global Creative Series highlights international creativity and how local cultures and technological innovations shape advertising across the region. In the final episode of 2025, we meet Cristiano Tonnarelli, Executive Creative Director at M&C Saatchi UAE.

 

Tonnarelli’s unconventional journey from writing poems in Rome to becoming an award‑winning Executive Creative Director spans JWT, Leo Burnett, Publicis, Ogilvy, and now M&C Saatchi Dubai. Shaped by art, history, and culture, he discovered copywriting through McCann Italy, went on to craft campaigns that defined brand purpose, and helped secure Singapore’s first Cannes Lion Grand Prix. Today, he continues to merge storytelling, culture, and technology, proving that collaboration and belief can unlock creativity on a global scale.

Can you tell us about your journey to becoming a successful local agency ECD, what inspired you to pursue this career, what challenges you faced while carving your niche in an ever-changing advertising landscape, and which campaign stands out as the most memorable for its impact on your market or region?
I didn’t study advertising. Since I was a kid, I’ve loved writing, and my dad, an architect, shared his passion for the arts with me. Growing up in Rome, I was surrounded by a lot of arts, plus stories, history, politics, architecture, football, movies, long nights, friends, and endless family dramas. A perfect training for a career in advertising.

But my dad wanted me to have a career in a big corporation, so I started to study Economics in my hometown. And since the beginning, I tried to avoid it. While studying, I entered the Italian Air Force as an officer serving in the South of Italy. At the same time, I had a second life in Paris, eating baguettes with some friends at Colors Magazine by Benetton. And it was all legal.

So, when I came back to Rome, I shifted my studies and graduated in political science, while I started wondering what to do next. I always had a passion for writing, without knowing I could write for advertising. The head of production at McCann Italy lived in my neighbourhood. I knocked on his door, looking for any job. He introduced me to the McCann head of copy, Fabio Bartolomei. I shared just my poems with him, and he liked them. Hence, he agreed to teach me copywriting, and it was love at first sight.

Then, I worked in JWT Rome for 2 years, and moved to JWT Milan, where I met Bruno Bertelli and Cristiana Boccassini. We worked on a project that taught us that everything is possible in our industry if you believe.

After 10 years came Leo Burnett Milan and Mark Tutssel. We worked for Samsung, and I learnt everything about brand purpose, brand belief, and how culture and technology can be super powerful.

Then I moved to Dubai at Tonic, Publicis, Dentus MENA, Ogilvy, and then Ogilvy in Singapore, where I had the chance to work on Vaseline, among other brands. One project secured Singapore’s first-ever Cannes Lion Grand Prix. I learnt that collaboration is a powerful tool for unlocking opportunities and solve cultural tensions.

After that, I returned to Dubai in 2024 and joined M&C Saatchi, where I continue to work on projects that combine culture, storytelling, and technology.

How has the UAE advertising market transformed over the past decade, and what factors have driven this change?
I moved here exactly 10 years ago. A decade in the UAE feels like twenty elsewhere: everything moves super fast. The market has become increasingly fragmented, with social media playing a crucial role. But I can tell that a bigger change happened independently of the Media. The ambition and the mindset. The region stopped following other regions and began to give voice to its own culture and its tensions.

Take AnNahar AI president, made by BBDO Dubai for Lebanon.

Many Grand Prixs came from the UAE in recent years, many good agencies found good clients who are not scared to go beyond performance media, and understand how powerful it is for a brand to have an impact on culture. And I believe we are still at the beginning: many things are cooking beneath the surface. The region offers abundant creative opportunities that only need to be discovered.

In what ways is UAE positioning itself on the global advertising stage, and what unique strengths does it offer that resonate with international brands and agencies?
Diversity is the UAE’s creative goldmine. I’ve worked across Europe and Asia, but I have never seen such cultural variety. Every day we brainstorm with people from up to 15 different nationalities and religions, present to clients from other 3 or 4, and produce with partners from other 4 or 5. And we all end up sharing food with extravagant taste and names. That’s why here you learn quickly how to handle cultural nuances and tensions. And you can easily gain weight.

Such diversity gives each agency the opportunity to find universal solutions to local tensions that resonate globally. Many agencies here are well-equipped to work with global briefs, but the region is often still overlooked. The good thing is that some clients are rising from Dubai to become global, and I bet many more global campaigns will come from here soon.

The talent moving to the UAE has also evolved. Many creatives who started in Dubai a decade ago now shine globally. Their successful stories attract new talent seeking opportunities or looking to capitalize on the awards they just won. And today, many agencies are earning international recognition for campaigns grounded in local insight. Being in the Cannes Lions UAE top 10 ranking has never been tougher, and that’s a good sign.

How do local cultural values and consumer behaviors influence advertising strategies in UAE?
They’re essential, like everywhere else. But here, tradition, culture, and innovation influence each other on a deeper level. It’s a multicultural society with strong Emirati traditions. But also, 85% of the population are expats, with their own aspirations and modern lifestyle.

A high level of digital adoption and a unique relationship with luxury, modernity, and national pride make this market quite distinctive. With a 99% internet penetration, one of the highest smartphone usage globally, the behaviour is highly influenced by social media and influencers.

See VML UAE’s ‘Safe at 3AM’ campaign.

In such a fragmented media landscape, marketers are under constant pressure to make the right move, which is why understanding people, culture, and behavior is everything.

And they need to stay ready. People here are smart. They know brands are here to sell, but they expect more: they want to engage with brands that blend heritage with modernity, and storytelling with technology.

In my opinion, it’s the mix of brand belief, local culture, and understanding authentic human behavior that makes a brand visible, unique, and engaging. Media comes after that. This is valid not only for the UAE, but for the entire region, as Dubai is often the regional hub. Each country has many unique behaviors and cultures that need to be understood.

For example, we are producing a project for a Palestinian brand to protect local culture through food. I cannot talk openly about it (it will be launched soon) but this idea uses traditional elements of Palestinian identity to preserve the roots of its culture.

With the rapid adoption of digital tools and AI, how is technology reshaping advertising processes and outcomes in UAE’s advertising industry?
AI has made it to our list of best friends. It is transforming anyone into a creative director. But it is when everyone can be a creative director that the bar rises. It gives us more time to think about what is human and unpredictable.

It’s already changed how we think and work. Everyone’s using it to edit, write, or create videos. Right now, it’s a great collaborator. And it is changing how content is distributed.

The good thing is AI can make everything faster, but not everything better. We still need a human to make it work and reach a high quality level.

What it will become after that, I believe, nobody knows. At least, I do not know.

What role does social media play in the distribution and impact of UAE brand content, and how are these strategies evolving to meet global trends?
It’s absolutely central. As I mentioned above, with 90% of the population made up of expats speaking dozens of languages, traditional media is weak, except OOH. Everything else happens on social. That’s our main infrastructure. But it is used in a very functional way, with many platforms available. Still lacking a lot of storytelling.

It has made the market even more short-term-focused. Many briefs now start with: “We need 15 to 20-second videos.” For safe results. That’s not a strategy. If you have a great story, it doesn’t matter if it’s 10 seconds or 10 minutes. People will be engaged and watch it. And if you have an idea able to populate social media and make people talk about your brand, even better.

The problem is, brand building and storytelling are being overlooked in favour of performance. What really makes the difference is an idea that makes people feel something. That’s what sticks. No one remembers if a video was 15 or 45”. They remember how it made them feel.

In the end, it’s still everything that makes us human to make the difference: taste, intuition, emotions, and illogical thinking. In that sense, the UAE can be an interesting lab for the future, if we find a better balance between brand entertainment and performance.

What advice would you give to young talent aspiring to enter the advertising industry in the UAE?
Curiosity is everything. It is important to keep your eyes constantly open. The UAE is a mix of fragmented media, diverse cultures, and people from all over the world working together. A beautiful mix for the curious. It’s inspiring, but it also takes patience, resilience, and adaptability. You need empathy and an open mind to navigate it. Do not be lazy, and believe that in this place, anything is possible.

With that mindset, you can create ideas that feel authentic here and still resonate globally. It’s important to choose your agency carefully. There are many, but not all of them keep creative work safe and offer the same space for learning and growth, find the one that pushes you creatively and believes in ideas, not in deadlines.

What are the key challenges that advertising agencies face when expanding their services within the UAE market, and how have they overcome them?
Local values, expat culture, innovation, brand building, media landscape. Even in a super-fast market, they take time to be absorbed and understood. It takes the right mix of experience and freshness. Scaling a creative business is tough, but doable. Protecting your people and the creative spark that sets your agency apart is crucial to your long-term success.

Looking to the future, what trends do you predict will shape the UAE advertising industry in the next 5 to 10 years?
Oh, I have no idea. Everything changes every two weeks. Predicting the next 5 or 10 years feels impossible for any human. What I know is that for centuries, humans have always wanted the same things: to be entertained, to learn something new, to solve problems, and to feel something. This is not going to change, even if AI replaces all of us (and I pinch myself to check if I’m still real. Good news, I passed the test.)

 

Read previous episodes of the m25 Global Creative Series

Episode 15: Saymon Medeiros, Creative Director at BigTime Creative Shop Saudi Arabia
Episode 14: Nayaab Rais, Executive Creative Director at FP7McCann UAE
Episode 13: Rachel Kennedy, Freelance Group Creative Director
Episode 12: Kim Pick, Group Executive Creative Director at VML NZ
Episode 11: Maan Bautista, Executive Creative Director at VML Manila
Episode 10: Pradeep D’Souza, Founder/Creative Partner at Nine:TwentyEight, Singapore
Episode 9: Jonathan Cruz, Creative Director at FP7McCann Dubai
Episode 8: Asheen Naidu, Group Executive Creative Director at Leo Singapore
Episode 7: Yubin Bang, Creative Director at Cheil Seoul
Episode 6: Jerry C. Hizon, Chief Creative Officer at Dentsu Creative Philippines and Dentsu Creative Manila
Episode 5: Jasmine Huang, MD & Head of Content Production at Prodigious China
Episode 4: Federico Fanti, Regional Chief Creative Officer at FP7McCann MENAT
Episode 3: Ratna ‘Sasa’ Puspitasari, CEO at Fortuna Indonesia
Episode 2: Livio Grossi, Group ECD at Dentsu Redder Vietnam
Episode 1: Merlee Jayme, Creative Chairmom and Founder of The Misfits Camp and Jayme Headquarters

 

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