Head of Digital Strategy
Viola Communications
Total years of experience :18 years, 2 Months
My current role as Head of Digital Strategy at Viola Communications has taken me into the realm of Government Organizations, Banks, Large-scale events (public & corporate) & Shopping Malls etc. I design strategies, prepare & deliver pitches, win accounts and lead strategic execution.
• WON ACCOUNTS THROUGH STRATEGIC PITCHEs: I have developed and won strategy pitches for Ministry of Justice, Department of Education & Knowledge, Al Hilal Bank, Emirates Development Bank and Moroccan Embassy and some other smaller projects.
• LIVE EVENT COVERAGE for UAE INNOVATION MONTH: I have very recently planned and executed (with my highly capable team) a full seven days of live event coverage for UAE Innovation Month activities in Abu Dhabi. This exercise saw the development of over 70 live videos, hundreds of social media stories, several landing pages and a highly targeted social media ad campaign which lead to over 190K video views and over 230K engagements @ AED 0.13/result.
• INTERDEPARTMENTAL SYNERGY: A big challenge at Viola Communications was that several business units (Advertising, PR, Events, Producers etc) did not operate with a digital-first approach. I was mandated with changing this environment. I am doing this through a series of trainings, workshops, lobbying and real world exercises. This is still work in progress but I am happy to say that the situation is much better than it was a few months ago.
I was heading the digital marketing department at Belong Interactive. My work constituted the full 360 digital spectrum but there was a marked focus on mobile+content+search being the top channel strategies.
The focus of my work at Belong Interactive was;
1. DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT & EXECUTION of STRATEGY: I designed, developed & executed digital marketing strategies and campaigns for all our clients with the most important ones being Nestle, Majid Al Futtaim & Phillip Morris.
2. PITCHES & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT: I used all my communication, presentation & people skills to lead (and contribute to) pitches, presentations and new business development for the agency. I won the pitches for Philip Morris and Meraas.
3. BUILDING THE AGENCY'S DIGITAL FOOTPRINT: One of my core focus areas is to develop the agency's own digital marketing footprint with a very strong focus on content strategy. We aimed to be recognized as THE GO-TO agency for clients in the Middle East for all their digital requirements (design, development, marketing, mobile apps, analytics, lead-generation and online sales).
4. TOP CLASS WEB ANALYTICS: I helped all our clients revolutionize their analytics programs so that all their marketing initiatives could become data driven, customer centric and always contributed to the bottom-line.
I provide digital consultation services to clients in the UAE & give keynotes on on digital strategy, analytics and leadership in the digital era.
● CROSS CHANNEL DIGITAL STRATEGY: Designed and currently implementing cross channel digital strategy for MAF Malls (Mall of the Emirates & City Centre Malls across MENA) and three business units for Nestle (Nestle Family, Nestle Professional (coffee machines) and Progress Gold (Infant Nutrition Formula).
● DIGITAL STRATEGY for E-COMMERCE STARTUP: Created the strategy & execution plan for JustLounge.com which includes brand positioning, milestones, talent acquisition & integrated activities. Also performing monthly KPI analyses.
● KEYNOTE SPEECH: Secured my first public speaking gig on the topic, “Exciting Customers through Social Media Analytics”. Watch the keynote video on this Youtube URL: http://bit.ly/mti-keynote.
● WRITING on LINKEDIN PULSE: I also write insightful articles on Linkedin Pulse. Click on this link (http://bit.ly/mti-pulse) to read what I have to say about Digital Strategy, Omni-Channel Experiences, Performance Marketing and Leadership etc.
Dal Group is one of the largest and most diversified conglomerates in the region with most focus in FMCG (F&B, Automotive etc). I was placed as Head of Digital Media in its internal marketing agency, called MSU, which services all marketing needs of the Group and its sister companies.
● Digital Strategy Formulation: Devised the three year Digital strategy for the Group companies and MSU.
● Online-Offline Impact Measurement: Initiated work to setup systems to measure the offline impact of online campaigns and vice versa.
● Economic Value attribution: Lead the drive to attribute economic value to all online actions for example brochure downloads, email subscriptions, lead form submission and more.
● Web Design & Development Services: Lead the strategy, design & development of the Dal Group website based on business objective analysis and customer centric design practices.
MOXiT.com was a highly competitive and fast paced ecommerce company. It belonged to a German Group with a strong foothold in UAE.
● Achieved Ecommerce sales targets: The last target we achieved was AED. 1.8M/month
● Built a team of highly skilled marketers: Hired, trained and lead a team of highly skilled marketers to achieve tough targets set by the executive management.
● Managed cross-channel budgets: Managed budgets in excess of AED. 500, 000/month to be spent across all digital media channels.
● Excelled at Conversions: As a team we improved the following conversion rates within the span of 1 year
KPI: March 2013 - change - August 2014
Ecommerce Conv. Rate: 0.08% - increased to - 1.75%
Repeat Customer %: 2% - increased to - 18%
Facebook CPConversion: AED. 70 - decreased to - AED. 28
Email Conversion Rate: 0.01% - increased to - 1.8%
I have secured a number of local & international clients for developing their websites and/or for designing and implementing their SEO and Web Marketing Strategy. These clients were secured through Elance.com, Freelancer.com and personal contacts.
● Hosted a series of Google Hangouts for Social Anxiety Disorders
● Maintained social media accounts for more than 8 clients
● Achieved 1st page organic rankings for Online fashion shopping (UAE), Dubai online shopping (UAE), Cheap theatre tickets (UK), London theatre tickets (UK), Free international calls (UK), Order biryani online (UAE), Best laptop prices in Karachi (Pakistan), Social anxiety disorder (US).
● Managed web design and development for over 30 websites
2-Steps Solutions was a small web development and digital media startup in Karachi, Pakistan. As Team lead I managed 6 client accounts for their SEO and Content Writing requirements. I was also responsible for securing new clients through Elance.
● Achieved 1st page Google rankings for 6 clients. Maintained the rankings for over a year.
● Wrote content for clients over a range of subjects from Wedding Registry to Electronics to Language localization
● Secured 10 new clients through business development on Elance.com
Eleven’s Incorporated was a business venture dealing with outdoor advertising, printing and event management services. I entered a partnership with an advertising agency by the name of Adlive Advertisers. We organized events, fabricated stalls, installed and managed advertising billboards and offered printing services (both offset and panaflex) to the clients. During this time I secured a number of new clients through direct marketing, managed these client accounts for their advertising requirements and managed their cash flow also.
University was a time of great self-discovery. Together with twenty other mates from college, I organized two theatre plays at FTC Auditorium Karachi by the names of Working Class Hero and Working Class Zero. It was a brilliant and completely fulfilling experience. We put together more than Rs. 100, 000/- for the treatment of a breast cancer patient.
I was unable to complete my Computer Science Degree but I excelled in curricular activities, debating and organizing events. I was - Vice President, NU-FAST committee SIBSS (Software, Information, Books and Seminar Society) - President, NU-FAST Literary Society (2004) - Assistant Editor, NU-FAST Magazine (2003)