Senior Manager - PR and Communications
dubizzle
Total years of experience :20 years, 3 Months
dubizzle.com is the leading free classifieds website for users in the Middle East and North Africa. Launched in 2005, headquartered in the UAE, which is currently our biggest market, and is also available in 10 other markets. dubizzle.com is ranked as the 6th most visited website in the UAE - according to alexa.com, it gets higher traffic than Twitter and LinkedIn in the UAE, with 4 million unique visitors a month.
Heading the PR & Communications team and developing dubizzle’s PR and Communications strategy. Leading the execution regionally as well as supporting and consulting the local market organizations in PR and Communications activities.
• Protect the reputation of dubizzle. i.e. The Brand Guardian;
• Disrupt Consumer Exploitation, while having fun doing it;
• Educate the public about the benefits of Classifieds in their community, whilst promote the Collaborative Economy concept
• Establish a solid connection with the movers and shakers in the local markets to benefit the brand’s commercial objective
• Defining, developing and safeguarding the dubizzle tonality and copy / editorial style in English and Arabic;
• Make sure we always sound like dubizzle by defining, developing and safeguarding the dubizzle tonality and copy / editorial style in English and Arabic.
• Setting company PR goals and creating the regional PR and Communications strategy and action plan as well as overseeing and managing the execution of it;
• Working with and aligning all PR and Communications plans to the regional creative and content strategy and roadmap;
• Branded entertainment/Digital content: feed and manage the CMS platform (Content
• Management System): TVCs, Infographics, testimonials, blogs and research;
• Brand Identity: lead a brand refresh project for dubizzle, where we redefined the brand's guidelines: How do speak, look and why we exist. the result is: www.dubizzle.uno;
• Media training / briefing for spokespeople to handle press inquiries/interviews;
• Working with and supporting the Product Marketing Managers with their local PR and Communications activities and planning;
• Working with all other internal parties to incorporate all necessary messaging to the overall PR & Communications roadmap and plan;
• Build and nurture media relations in the region and globally. In the past 12 months, I organized press events in Doha, Muscat, Riyadh, Jeddah, Cairo, Dubai and Abu-Dhabi;
• Tracking and analyzing the impact of the activities and continuously improving the approach based on the learnings;
• Oversee quality and operational performance of PR efforts, ensuring work quality and deadline adherence;
• Staying up to date with emerging technologies and trends and understanding of how they integrate into communications programs;
• Look for partnership opportunities with other brands that will result the birth of rich content to Brand partnerships. Latest brand collaboration was with MINI;
• Emerging Markets Support: dubizzle is expanding and the PR and Communications team is part of the SWAT team who goes to new markets to get insights, build connections with the right suppliers, agencies, press and influencers that will help dubizzle setup the launch campaign in the best localized way possible;
• Journalism/Writing: press releases, features, interviews, Op-Eds, briefing documents, key messages, speeches, and commercial communication with potential and existing users/clients;
I report to the Marketing Director at dubizzle
DAMAC Properties is the region’s largest private luxury property developer, the company engages with the world’s best brands and develop luxury serviced branded properties in the GCC.
I have been fortunate to promote DAMAC Properties' projects within the media-space that covers luxury products in the region - and the launch two of companies’ most important projects in 2013:
• AKOYA by DAMAC - a master development consisting of luxury villas and condominiums, surrounding Trump International Golf Club, Dubai - the first Trump course to be operated and managed by the Trump Organization in Asia;
• Three projects by DAMAC Properties in collaboration with Paramount Hotels & Resorts (PHR FZ-LLC) - the official licensing division of Paramount Pictures Corporation:
- DAMAC Towers by Paramount in the Burj Area of Dubai;
- Paramount Hotel, Jumeirah Waterfront, Dubai;
- DAMAC Villas by Paramount;
• Manage DAMAC Properties' reputation in all the Communications collateral at its partnering fashion brands such as Versace Home and FENDI Casa;
• Responsible of raising awareness of DAMAC Properties projects and sales roadshows through broadcast, print and online media in the GCC and worldwide;
• I was heavily involved in award submissions, compiling DAMAC magazine - a luxury magazine produced by DAMAC Properties on quarterly basis, internal communication and business development;
• I also managed the PR agency and the social media agency that looks after Facebook and Twitter;
• Compile and update DAMAC Properties key-message house, allocate industry reports about Real Estate, Fashion, luxury products demand and market growth, monitor the latest stats and use what is suitable in the communication collateral;
I used to report to the Senior Vice-President of Corporate Communication
I was the account handler for two multi-national brands in the region: BMW Group and flydubai airlines.
• Account Handler for the BMW Group account: BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Jordan:
- Press office and supervise the day-to-day activities done by my team;
- Conduct monthly market visits to the GCC markets mentioned above;
- New models launches across the region, such as Rolls-Royce Phantom Series II, BMW 3 Series, BMW 7 Series, BMW 6 Series (Coupe and Gran Coupe), MINI Coupe and MINI Roadster;
- Communicate business sales results and maintain a solid premium communication strategy for the three brands across the markets;
- Manage the BMW Group importers in the GCC markets and liaise between them and the BMW Group regional office;
- Conduct annual and semiannual reviews for each market and present them to the BMW Group management with analysis and recommendations for sales & communications improvements;
- Ensure BMW Group has the largest share of voice against competitors in each market on monthly basis;
• Account Handler for flydubai airlines in the UAE:
- Promote the low-cost travel and flydubai’s business model;
- Announce new destinations and inaugural flights;
- Organize and accompany UAE media on press trips to promote flydubai destinations, flew to Baku - Azerbaijan in July 2012 with 9 reporters from the UAE;
- Support and plan the best strategy to deal with International and regional media with the best interest of flydubai;
- Plan and organize on-site support plan for the exhibitions and conferences flydubai participates at, such as Airshow 2011 and ATM 2012. (we won Best Use Of Media Relations Award by MEPRA in 2012, for the Airshow activation);
I used to report to the Managing Director of the agency
2 recommendations available below for this job post
The account handler for multiple regional accounts
- Business Intelligence reporting for GCC media, to support the commercial objectives of my clients
- On-site support for my client's activities in exhibitions and conferences in the region (GITEX 2008/9, IDEX 2009/ 2011, Milipol 2008, GSM>3G 2008/9/10, IPTV Forum ME 2008/9, DIBS 2011, GESS 2010..etc);
- Media training for spokespeople, analytical and pre-media interviews briefings for clients and journalists;
- Organize events logistics from A to Z (media and event’s logistics management);
- Business writing: Copywriting and translation Arabic and English;
- Time Management: Manage work associates and vendors, Manage my team and supervising their admin tasks (weekly status reports, weekly tasks, MBOs, KPIs, appraisals…etc);
- Manage the team’s accounts, track time sheets, meeting schedule and reports deadlines;
My accounts were:
- Motorola Inc - GCC Region, Jordan and Egypt: Motorola Home and Network Mobility, Government and Public safety, Mobile Devices, Companion products;
- Rolls-Royce pls (Engines) - Aviation, Military, Marine, Defense, and corporate communication- GCC region and Egypt;
- Microsoft Health Solutions Group. The launch of Amalga and HealthVault;
- Atlas Telecom, Surveillance and Security solutions - GCC region;
- TruePosition, Location Based Management services - GCC region;
- BMC, Business Service Management solutions - GCC region;
- Convergys, Smart Revenue Solutions - GCC region;
- AspenTech, E&P and Refinery Oil and Gas solutions - GCC region;
- Autodesk, 2D and 3D design software for manufacturing, building, construction, engineering, and media and entertainment - GCC region, Egypt and Jordan;
- Promethean - Interactive Education Technology solutions - UAE and Pan Arab;
- ForgetMeNot unified communications - handled their software launch in GCC;
- Torex solutions - Launch in GCC during GITEX 2008;
I used to report to the Vice-President of the agency
1 recommendation available below for this job post
I managed the below accounts: Microsoft, Le Meridien Amman hotel, World Economic Forum 2007, King Abdullah II Centre of Excellence Awards 2007
Skills of employments & expertise:
- Analytical skill: by observing and generating reports of production and performances versus revenue.
- System analysis: by solving a problem on hand or establishing and testing a new system, where I need to try all the scenarios that a user would do and solve the potential bugs they might face.
- Time Management: multi-tasks I handled where I needed to solve problems instantly, but still I need to measure the weight of the problem before freezing the other task on hand.
- Work under pressure: the constant thing about ARAMEX is CHANGE, where a lot of new ideas, product, services and people appear in our environment; hence a lot of orientation and training will be conducted to adopt with them and the fact that I work for the Regional office, the whole Network is my client, beside my current duties, this enhanced my personality and work habits to keep on meeting dead lines and provide the highest quality of outcome anytime and any where.
My Duties in were:
- Creating, updating and publishing the Collect Charges service rates on ARAMEX Intranet.
- Preparing the monthly Production Report for the whole network.
- Maintaining an updated info on ARAMEX Linehaul Invoicing System and was Part of the team who established and tested it.
- Creating the Network's agreements data base using Microsoft Access 2003.
- Support the billing and invoicing process through the network's entities.
- Provide Regional sales support.
training coordinator, insurance packages, handover & exit forms, employee’s evaluations, scanning applications, letters, certificates & admin work.
update ARAMEX website (collecting & confirming updated information about ARAMEX stations, branches, franchises & agents) all around the world.
- GPA of (2.86/ 4.00). - Fifty (50) hours of community service for The Saudi Center for Rehabilitation & Training of Blind Girls - City of Amman – Jordan as a sales representative at the center’s exhibitions. -May 2006: Effective Business Writing and MS word 2003 advanced course by Arab Academy in collaboration with STS. -April 2006: Two-day Team building seminar Performed by Tanweer Business Consulting & Training. -January 2006: MS Access advanced course from Compubase International. -May 2005: Passed the TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign Language) exam, with a mark of (230/300), which equals (579/800). -May 2005: Finished Junior Achievement Int. association course of “Leadership Skills”, given by INJAZ. -May 2005: Selected by my University to represent it in a One-day Workshop, about “Strategies of Students’ Unions”, held in Al-Hussein University - City of Ma’an – Jordan, in Collaboration with the Hashemite University – City of Zarqa - Jordan. -April 2005: Selected by my University to represent it in a Four-day Seminar & workshop, under the theme of “Toward an active role of youth citizens at the Political life & Human Rights”, done by Adleh Center for Human Rights Studies - City of Amman – Jordan in association with the United Nations. -September 2004: Attended “Business skills” seminar, given by Queen Zein Al Sharaf Institute for Development - City of Amman - Jordan. -August 2003: Selected by my University to represent it in Peer education Workshop for prevention from HIV/AIDS with FHI (Family Health Int.), (IMPACT PROJECT) USAID funded project, in collaboration with University of Jordan Student Council. -March 2003: Finished Junior Achievement Int. association course of “Success Skills”, given by INJAZ.