Women to Watch 2021: Hira Mohibullah, BBDO

Hira Mohibullah

Executive creative director
BBDO
Pakistan

In a world of shrinking attention spans, Hira Mohibullah believes the future of creativity lies in fighting mediocrity. Producing globally acclaimed work in a country where advertising practices tend to steer towards formulaic is nothing short of a creative crusade, and yet, Mohibullah has managed to elevate her agency’s reputation to the point of global clout.

But Mohibullah's fight to reach the top of her field didn’t happen overnight. She began her career as a copywriter at Adcom Leo Burnett, and in less than 10 years, she has risen through the ranks to become the executive creative director of BBDO Pakistan. Today, she leads a team of over 20 people and has won over 215 international awards including Cannes Lions, D&AD, Clio and more. While the awards bring well-deserved recognition, Mohibullah's campaigns that have led to social impact are the ones she is most proud of, including reuniting eight missing children with their families, changing legislation around child marriages, and bringing down child-burn incidents by 50%.

A self-proclaimed 'introverted leader’, this hasn’t held her back. In fact, just the opposite. Being a natural listener helps her lead with empathy, recruit talent based on what they bring to the table rather than outward appearances, and be more insightful when it comes to cracking a campaign for the consumer. And it’s worked wonderfully. Even in the toughest year for business and an already nosediving economy, Mohibullah's razor-sharp vision for creative excellence has yielded a slew of business wins and, despite the pandemic, she has effectively steered her brands' communication into a profitable place, resulting in double-digit YTD volume-growth for her clients.

Mohibullah has not only made headway into worldwide advertising circles herself, but has consistently empowered her high-performing team with opportunities that have propelled their careers into the limelight. Being a gender diversity advocate and a Cannes Lions See-It-Be-It alumni, she has extended her mentorship to girls from MENA, as co-lead at Dubai Lynx See-It-Be-It, as well as sharing her expertise and knowledge on numerous industry panels.

Today, Mohibullah leads a creative team that is 80% women. As a personal initiative, being a mother-of-two, she has set up a daycare room at the office so that more mothers can join the workforce. In addition, her ‘act-vertising’ vision has set the tone for BBDO Pakistan to be an agency with ‘soul’ dedicating time to multiple cause-based projects pro-bono.