MediaCom’s global boss Stephen Allan on standing up to disrespectful clients, what worries him about the future of media, and work-life balance

Stephen Allan oversees 5,800 people in 106 offices in 86 countries for WPP media agency MediaCom, which was named media agency network of the year at the Festival of Media Asia Awards on Tuesday night.

In an interview with Mumbrella’s Asia editor Robin Hicks in Singapore – Allan’s third visit to Asia this year – the Brit talks about what winning awards means to media agencies, standing up to unreasonable clients, and why the days of global bosses visiting Asia to give the locals “a patronising pat on the head” are over.

MediaCom has just won Agency of the Year at Festival of Media Asia. Do you think media agencies care as much as creative agencies about awards these days?

I can’t speak for other agencies. But for me, awards are a way of benchmarking our work next to our competitors and our clients’ competitors. Awards are about seeing how our work stacks up against the rest; winning or not winning is an expression of everything you’ve done over the last year. Winning network of the year showed me that we’re getting great work out – and not just from one office. We had contributions from Singapore, India and Australia.