Manager, Brand & Digital Strategy
CPI Media Group
Total years of experience :4 years, 6 Months
• Responsible for the marketing and digital department budgets, website KPIs, social media KPIs, database management, event registrations and promotions
• Worked closely with the Chairman, CEO, senior management and other stakeholders to develop and implement the marketing strategy to strengthen the perception for the various magazines (specifically SME Advisor, Hospitality Business ME, BBC Good Food ME apart from Infrastructure ME, Climate Control ME etc.) amongst the client base which included government stakeholders like Dubai Economic Council (DEC) and other key stakeholders like Etisalat, NBAD, SAP, RAK FreeZone, DMCC etc.
• Lead the digital transformation project at CPI Media Group to revamp its digital content distribution strategy closely working with the senior management to understand business processes and slowly work on a phase wise roll-out to build the online presence of the magazines, build online ad-inventory, consolidate data management and email distribution systems and manage and lead the social media strategy of the brands.
• Conceptualized and lead the marketing efforts for the largest SME conference in the Middle East -
SME Beyond Borders, 2015 which included online, offline and PR components to drive results. The flagship business conference of CPI Media Group’s SME Advisor magazine had registrations and footfalls increase by 40% with over 1200 new attendees which was attributed directly to the marketing strategy
• Established end to end internal process starting from an effective briefing process, implementation strategy and follow up to post event evaluation and reports to improve productivity and deliver optimum results. Established global best practices to streamline the B2B social media, email marketing and content marketing strategy.
• Lead a team of six people which included social media executives, online marketing executive, web developers and designers
• Worked closely with the editorial team to build a comprehensive multi-media content marketing strategy to establish and build awareness and perception around the various events and activities under the respective magazines.
• Identified and developed brand solutions for partners to help generate better value for client associations while optimizing the brand value of the magazines
• Managed the social media channels related to the magazines SME Advisor, BBC Good Food Middle East, Hospitality Business ME and the associated events within these magazines and ensured timely updates across all channels including Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. Increased the social media channel user base of the magazines by 30% in three months.
• Optimized the lead generation activities to build and grow the databases for respective magazines by running relevant campaigns and amplifying reach through social media.
• Worked closely with the NBAD (National Bank of Abu Dhabi) marketing team to revamp the SME Academy series of workshops
• Worked with the New Zealand Trade Council for the Chef of the Year competition 2016 as part of Hospitality Business ME magazine.
• Ideation and brand solutions for advertisers on the magazine to leverage their spends with the magazines while providing value
• Leading digital and social content strategy for Jumbo Electronics, Clas Ohlson etc.
• Brand consultant for all on-going digital projects including website and mobile application projects across projects and clients namely Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (DAFZA), Emirates International School etc.
• Lead various projects for global multi-national company, Accenture India for their marketing communication strategy and execution in the areas including but not limited to internal communication, B2B communication, recruitment marketing, events, corporate marketing, social media strategy, diversity initiatives, videos and digital assets.
• Project lead for the digital assets ‘Infographic Resume Builder’, ‘High Performance Nation’ and ‘The power starts with you’ conceptualized for Accenture India.
• Lead and won a multi-agency pitch for the digital and social media mandate for Luxury jewellery brand ‘Zoya’ from Titan. Through the course of a year and six months - lead the digital strategy including revamping the website, social media channels of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube which helped Zoya establish itself as a luxury brand catering to the modern women and helped increase store footfalls by 84%.
• Involved in conceptualizing and ideating on creating an experiential branded space for telecom major Airtel at Pacific Telecom Conference (PTC) in the US market and solutions to market their enterprise solutions worldwide.
• Involved in conceptualizing the digital publishing strategy for the US markets for luxury magazine ‘L’Officiel’.
• Involved in conceptualizing the visual identity and brand DNA for financial products of ICICI Prudential Asset Management.
• Experience in Account Planning, Research, Strategy and Ideation, New Business development, Account management, end-to end project execution for marketing and advertising campaigns for events, digital and publishing
• Research into understanding the digital audience and building strategies to meet client objectives.
• Experience working in a multi-national and multi-cultural environment by virtue of close involvement in projects from the New York office of STC, adding to global exposure and perspective.
• Added 4 new clients to the existing client base of STC within two years driving revenue contribution.
Key Account Manager, Reliance Broadcast Network Limited February 2012 - July 2012
• A Business Development role whereby was responsible for handling key accounts for BIG FM namely, all brands of
Unilever, Aditya Birla Group, Cadburys and Marico.
• Responsible for providing Client solutions on an integrated media platform to clients like Hindustan Unilever and Aditya
Birla Group.
• Assess the market, find key insights, ideate and build a brand strategy to help in better brand communication.
• Relationship management with the clients and media agencies.
Summer Internship
Intern, Mudra India (South), Bangalore April 2011 - June 2011
• Project Title: 'Spirit of the Youth' - A Study of influencing factors in the Target Demographic to determine market
strategy and marketable product extensions for beverage (alcohol) market
• Market analysis, challenges in a regulated product category, consumer study and opportunity assessment for the beverage (alcohol) market and suggesting new product extensions and communication strategies
• Mini-projects and research, digital planning and engagement strategies
Other Information
Internships and projects
• Thesis paper on 'Consumer Archetypes in Social Networking Sites - A study of the behavior of Indian Youth on Facebook'
which tried to understand the various consumer archetypes amongst the youth TG and determine their brand
associations and information sharing patterns.
• Conducted a study on the influencing factors in the target demographic (youth) to determine market strategy and marketable product extensions for beverage (alcohol) market for United Spirits Limited (USL)
• Conducted a rural project in Naroa village in Goa to understand rural media consumption patterns and develop a
communication plan for the village